Sometimes we need a sobering thought. Without any wokey word crafting.
Earth Overshoot Day. Is this concept as new to you as it was to me? Like many things associated with the environment, what is known cannot be unknown. No amount of pretending or posturing or looking the other way can detract any of us from an issue that is wholly, intimately and intrinsically linked to our very existence.
A definition in a language I can understand:
Earth Overshoot Day lands on August 22 this year, 2020. Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity has exhausted nature’s budget for the year. For the rest of the year, we are maintaining our ecological deficit by drawing down local resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
At a time of established economic recession on the back of an established global pandemic, we are suddenly faced with a depressing platter of consequences akin to the witchetty grubs crunched between celebrity teeth. Do they choose that or the kangaroo testicle? Much like the tragic thread that joins grub to testicle to celebrity, thankfully a visual circus we can turn off (before actually being sick!), there is another less erasable thread that joins planet to pandemic. For the non-science buffs among us, did we know that the more humans that encroach onto the environment of animal and plant species, the more likely we are to be impacted by zoonoses like covid-19 (viruses originated in non-humans that jump to humans making them ill)? The more species we eradicate by our crawly encroachy (my word) behaviour, the less these non-human species can eradicate the viruses in their own kingdoms, meaning these viruses are more likely to invade ours. The human kingdom is being quietly, tirelessly, thanklessly protected by an army of animals and plants and yet we do so little to protect them in return?
This makes me fearful of covid-20.
UNLESS. UNLESS. We slow down.
And I don’t mean harp back to the days of horses tugging ploughs (sigh) or travelling everywhere by foot and bike (however we know we could all walk, run and bike more?). I mean learning to obtain more from less. The current situation is highlighted below using maths I can understand, taken from the Population Matters website (www.populationmatters.org)
WORST COMBINATION: LARGE POPULATION + HIGH CONSUMPTION
With one million people being born across the globe every 4-5 days and an estimated 1/2 to 2/3 of these children unwanted or unplanned, what on god’s earth are we doing?
CHOICE is key here. And for those who are not given choice, through no fault of their own, it is the capitalist world’s DUTY to clear as much space and time as possible to facilitate choice. Just take a look at the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation bringing millions of women in developing countries contraception and family planning education, or their work on vaccines, to see the good that vast wealth (and immense energy and vision) can deliver. I can also recommend Melinda’s book ‘Moment of Lift.’ An enlightening account of how simply throwing money at problems isn’t the answer to long term empowerment of local communities.
Listen to the voice of Nina Steele who dispels the ‘myth’ that having children protects you in later life as they will always look after you. This is already proven to be nonsense as so many of our elderly in this country are isolated and relatively forgotten by their children, who are too busy to look after them as they had hoped, or lack the wealth to support them in the way they’d prefer to. That is not to say that the good intentions aren’t there in the most part and we are all doing our best. But we need to look at the reality.
Yes, we can do some most excellent things like sign up to the plight of the brilliant Anna Hughes, author, cyclist, campaigner and director of ‘Flight Free’. I salute you Anna and all your flight free comrades. Make the pledge to be flight free in 2020 or 2021?
But if like me, you are a weaker mortal and don’t feel this is something you can keep up life long (I can and do however, now think much more carefully about any flight and will seek an alternative where humanly possible), then please join the mission for only the ‘wanted child.’ Let us not sentimentalise large families going forward. Something that can pile pressure on women and most definitely, the planet. A small family need not be any less happy or supportive than a large one. Implying anything other than this, in this day in age when medicine is so good, life is so long, money is harder to make and natural resources and plant/animal species are rapidly dwindling (already decreased by 60%), is surely questionable?
And to finish on a man who can say more eruditely in one sentence, something I could never match in a hundred..
“All our environmental problems become easier to solve with fewer people, and harder – and ultimately impossible – to solve with ever more people.”
– Sir David Attenborough, Population Matters patron
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Michelle is an experienced operational and strategic senior manager with 10 years experience in the NHS. She is currently studying an MBA in Strategic Management and recently accomplished the Board Directors Programme. Michelle has an interest in the governance and development of services.
Kelly is a registered nurse and has had a varied career that has crossed both education and health and usually involved supporting young people. She joined You Before Two in its infancy, initially to support with delivering Workshop around Sexual Health and Contraception as that was her ‘day’ job at the time. She has more recently moved into a Safeguarding Children’s role in nursing and so has become the Safeguarding Lead at the charity. Its great to see how You Before Two has grown in the last 3 years and it’s a pleasure to be part of it.
Andrea is from Brazil. She emigrated to England around 15 years ago and she loves it. She has always worked with people in her life, and it is something that really fills her soul. During her early years in Brazil, she used to work as a volunteer in her church providing free soup for people in need and also visiting hospitals trying to cheer up those in need of a chat or a cuddle. She has always believed that we should help each other and now more than ever. We are living in a very busy world where sometimes even when you are surrounded by many people you are still feeling lonely. Therefore she believes that if she could help the next generation to go through life without all the worries and concerns that she had when she was that age, is just an amazing opportunity.
Fiona has over 20 years experience as a Solicitor. She is a Senior Partner for a firm in Rotherham. Fiona has an avid interest in education and supporting young people in an increasingly challenging world. She has a wealth of experience of being on charity boards and is You Before Two’s legal and policy expert. Fiona has been with You Before Two since its inception and is a dedicated and dynamic member of the team.
The day you stop learning is the day you stop living.