Back in September 2020, I began to write articles for the local press for Transition Cornwall+, a local organization dedicated to making the shift away from oil and other fossil fuels by reducing our dependence on them. The main reason for this is to address the climate crisis we are currently facing. For over twelve years, the group has been advocating for more locally grown and sourced food, for more active transportation infrastructure, for less waste and for more tree canopy in the urban areas.
Transition Cornwall+ is grateful that, over the past two years, several talented guest writers have stepped up to contribute to the column, contributing ideas and energy to this locally based work.
We are now into a new year and the work to address the climate crisis grows ever more urgent, and at the same time the call for personal action is becoming much more mainstream. As we have stressed before, by acting together locally at the community level, we can quickly and effectively generate solutions to the climate crisis, without waiting for larger organizations and agencies to act. If we wait for government to act – it will be too little, too late.
The question for everyone should be “am I part of the problem or part of the solution”?
I like to use the following quote to guide my actions: “Every dollar I spend is a statement about the kind of world I want and the quality of life I value.” This can help each of us as we examine our actions – whether we buy something that will shortly end up in the landfill, choose a larger vehicle than we need, or whether we are buying a vegetable that has been flown in from California. All have a negative impact on our carbon footprint. Each of us has the power to collectively ensure a world that does not heat up to the point where it is unlivable. Locally and around the world, individuals are seriously taking action to address the climate crisis.
Over the next year we’ll be looking for stories from everyday folks, to learn what they are doing in their daily lives to be “part of the solution”, and which we hope will to provide some inspiration for us all.
