Time Wasters?

“It’s a waste of time,” she scoffed at the Insect Extinction Walk to London.

Anyone with any sense knows we are in extraordinary times, and that doesn’t mean Brexit, which is a flash in the pan. Yet a thousand years ago Chinese scholars abhorred deforestation, what would they think today?

She went on, “We want high living and nobody wants to cut back, so protest marches are useless.”

She’s missed an essential point. It’s about communicating an idea. Humans evolved due to their refined ability to communicate, monkeys can warn of , snakes, eagles or lions, but we can pin point what each looks like, where it is, what it’s up to, that’s a huge advantage. Neanderthals only used materials found locally, whereas we traded over great distances to get what we precisely required, another huge advantage which propelled us to the top.

The marchers are raising awareness of the massive loss of insect life world-wide due to chemical sprays and loss of habitat. That this woman was aware of them is a success. But we need more than awareness, we need action, but effective action only arises once we cooperate and join together to work out a sustainable future. Yes, that word sustainable again. Things just must be sustainable if we want a future.

No, that’s not dramatic. The consensus is now that humanity’s future is in the balance. It is up to use to forget winging about this, calling a waste of time and get on with it.

David Attenborough, bless him, has shot a new programme with Netflix to make as many people world-wide aware of the issues. The BBC team he has always worked with have continued with him, much to the surprise of the BBC who initiated this approach and are world leaders in the field. But Attenborough is more concerned about the world’s long term prospects than the finances of this greatly respected broadcasting institution.

It’s been a year since BBC’s Blue Planet made everyone aware of the plastics problem, and look what’s happened in that time! People everywhere are now trying to cut back on plastics and find solutions, so publishing issues helps. People like me who’ve worked on this issue since the 1980s got very little attention, so good on Sir David!

Well, I’ll not waste any more time and sign off now that I’ve communicated.

PS. do excuse last week’s slightly disorganised argument, I was quite feverish…

#massextinction #davidattenborough #netflixnature #nature #globalwarming