There is now a Facebook page Zero Waste Skibbereen. The name says it all, but is it seriously achievable?
Unless you have been hiding under a rock for a good while, you will know as well as anyone that this poor planet is suffering, possibly terminally, from misuse by the human race. If we do nothing then the chances are that the word ’possibly’ will be removed from the sentence. It does not matter where we live, our practices are killing the wildlife, wrecking the atmosphere, the oceans, forests and countryside and the ecology upon which we ultimately depend. We can wring our hands in despair, blaming everything on ‘the system’ and demand that ‘they’ do something about it, or (against current scientific thinking) insist all this has nothing to do with us, and carry on as normal, as there is no point in changing anything as ‘it’ was going to happen anyway.
Alternatively, and this is why I am writing this blog (!), we can look around and see what we can do ourselves and just get on with it! Outside the areas of the world that are so wracked with war and famine where pure survival saps all energy, there is a stirring in the grassroots of people with a huge dissatisfaction with their own government’s lack of will and/or lack of urgency in dealing with the problems in hand and who are taking on these challenges themselves. In amongst the despairing articles in the media, a scroll through Facebook will bring to light the positive efforts by people to clear their beaches of rubbish, reduce their use of plastic, upcycle otherwise unwanted items and tend their gardens in a way which encourages wildlife.
Organisations abound with postings to help us live more lightly on the Earth, some useful and others with ideas that just won’t suit our lifestyles and which make the task seem insurmountable, even if you are really keen to take some positive action. Others are just plain kooky. How can we steer a path through all this without wasting days glued to a small screen, or giving up entirely and retreating under that rock with a nice book and a cup of cocoa?
Zero Waste is part of the Sustainable Skibbereen platform. Its aim is to fish out the more useful hints and guides offered to help us move to a more sustainable lifestyle, and reduce our footprint on this planet; to use less and to waste less. We would like to share the positive experiences of doing this, and provide practical tips that will work here, where we live. How the group moves forward depends on its members and their input. If you find useful websites and useful links please post them. If you have a suggestion, or a story, let’s share it, if you think there is something we can do collectively, let’s hear about it..
Zero waste is our aim, but is it achievable? Only time will tell. But if you’ve not begun, we could start the journey with the David Attenborough clip shown here.. sign up if you are on board!
