Green, happy and connected

By Aarti Bansal

A couple of years ago I went to watch a documentary film called ‘Happy’ at the Sheffield Friends of the Earth film festival. The film examined what makes us happy as humans. One of the parts of the movie that stayed with me was where they examined the possible impact of communal living in Denmark on their high levels of national happiness. Children living in such housing said they felt they had an extended family of friends to play with and parents to look after them. I remember feeling very similarly growing up in family hospital accommodation with 8 flats in a building where the entire building became our home and the people in it our family.

Having recently and unexpectedly retuned to Sheffield from Australia, my family and I found ourselves without anywhere to live. Kind friends offered us their homes. We didn’t expect to take up these kind offers for more than a week or two, expecting to find somewhere to rent in school catchment for our boys. This proved much more difficult than we could have imagined and we ended up living with friends for 3 months. It was wonderful. It may not have been as materially comfortable as living in our own home, but our friendship has deepened and their open-hearted example has inspired us to notice how others may need help and support and to offer what we can.

Interestingly, current research shows that giving is receiving in terms of happiness. Yet we don’t generally see acceptance of generosity as an act of kindness. We feel obligated to people when accepting help, burdened, somehow ‘less than’. Perhaps these negative feelings prevent us from asking for help. As well as fear of rejection, fear of crossing a line of appropriateness… Yet asking for help and sharing gives us the opportunity to connect with our neighbours and build friendships, expand our sense of community and our sense of self. It is a kindness to others.

We are social creatures and thrive from being interdependent rather than independent, connected rather than isolated. So let’s ask for help! Or if that is not so easy, lets offer help before it is asked.

As well as being intricately interconnected on a personal and local level, we are also inteconnected on a global scale. Politically, economically and most importantly via earth, air and water. It’s an illusion that somehow our choices don’t influence the lives of others. We need to see ourselves as part of the community of humans and indeed life on planet earth.

We can do this at an individual level and make positive choices such as changing energy provider, using more public transport etc. But what about what we can do together? We can share the lawnmower between houses. We can share car journeys. We can help look after each other.

We can also do this through being part of the global climate movement which can make our voice heard at events like the UN Climate Conference in Paris in December. That is why I am actively supporting the #Timefortheclimate event in Sheffield on 28^th November 2015. This event is part of the Global People’s Climate March taking place on 28^th and 29^th November across the world.

For me, most importantly, being ‘green’ through building community is not overwhelming, upsetting or paralyzing, it is motivating, uplifting and energising.

Post Flash Mob High

 

By Emily Pickles

So; we did it! We sang our song and had our flash mob on 7th March at Sheffield train station and it was fantastic.  Personally I did not really want it to end – it was a magical feeling being with  a group of like-minded people all doing the same thing and for the same reason.  In the past I have been on numerous marches, demonstrations and rallies and I find that feeling of collective cause & purpose simultaneously motivating, humbling, enlivening and almost paralysing (in the sense that I want to do nothing else but continue in that collective moment). I lost count early on of how many times we sang the song; in the ticket hall, by the fountains, on the bridge on the platform, waving the train off…I’m getting a bit emotional just thinking about it now…Music is powerful and very important to me, lyrics matter and stay with me for years, our song plays over and over again in my head and the message is a clear and powerful one that resonates again and again, take a moment now to re-consider them:

We need to wake up, we need to wise up, we need to open our eyes and do it now, now ,now! We need to build a better future and we need to start right now…We’re on a planet, that has a problem, we need to solve it get involved and do it now, now, now! We need to build a better future and we need to start right now…Make it greener, make it cleaner, make it last, make it fast and do it now, now now! We need to build a better future and we need to start right now…No point in waiting, or hesitating, we must get wise, take no more lies and do it now, now, now! We need to build a better future and we need to start right now…We need to build a better future and we need to start right now…

Who could disagree? Who would not feel motivated by such words? My kids insisted that we did not drive or get the bus to the flashmob as they worried that doing so would cause climate change.On one level of course they are right and I am glad they have an understanding of how their actions impact on our world.  I can remember teaching my kids the words to our song – it did not take long– my 4 yr old had the chorus nailed in 5 minutes, complete with foot stomping & punches to the air and my 7 yr old was humming the tune for the rest of that weekend.  But what struck me the most about introducing them to the song & rationale behind it was the emotion it stirred in me – as ridiculous as it sounds it was a kind of  (relighting a) lightbulb moment – remembering that this is about their future and future generations after them; this is our planet and it is our responsibility to safeguard its future and time is running out.

Personally, for my family, we are still considering our ‘next move’ – what I / we can do ‘extra’ to help combat climate change – current considerations include how to divest, fitting solar panels, best use of my vote in the election, how to get more schools / youth groups singing for the climate in Sheffield,  getting  the  boiler  serviced  &  radiators  cleaned  out  to  improve  their  efficiency,reorganising our recycling, passing on so many things in our house that we do not use enough any more to new homes…the list goes on and often overwhelms me to the point where I do nothing. However, one thing on my list is now done – this blog, and that’s what I am doing – small steps, one at a time – when I have the time and if we all pledge to do one small thing every now and then,when we can, then we can make it greener and build a better future.

Why it’s normal to take action for the climate

By K. Louisa Knight

On 19^th September 2014 I stood outside my daughter’s school with a small group of friends, trying to encourage other parents to join the Sheffield Rivers Rally two days later. The rally was part of a Global Day of Action organised to coincide with the World Leaders Climate Summit in NYC. I spoke to lots of people, some I already knew, others I didn’t. Everyone was kind and encouraging, but only a handful joined us.

The following week, two different parents made a similar remark that really got me thinking. Alongside a supportive comment they expressed surprise, because apparently I am too “normal” to be involved with climate change action.

Aside from feeling slightly aggrieved at being described as “normal” (my younger self was definitely aspiring to something more edgy than that!), I got to wondering what they actually meant. It’s true, I don’t look much like your stereotyped environmentalist. I own a car, my holidays are often abroad and I’ve never been much of an activist. I think my day-to-day life is probably not very different from most of the parents at my daughter’s school.

But “normal” or not, I can’t ignore what I now know about climate change. I was in Corfu when I first really engaged with the idea, and with what it might mean for the planet and for humanity (and yes, before you ask, I flew there). I read James Hansen‘s book “Storms of my Grandchildren” and was immediately persuaded. It’s hard not to be convinced by a former NASA scientist with a lifetime of climate research behind him. Dr Hansen is now in his 70s, but won’t stop campaigning (including getting arrested) because he is so determined to ensure a viable future for his grandchildren. I was conscious throughout the book that his grandchildren are the age of my children. And I got scared. Actually, I got really scared. Which may be why it isn’t that normal to engage with climate change. None of us want to be scared.

But it is essential that we do engage. It is not too late (although we are dangerously close to that point), and it is crucial that we begin to see it as normal to raise our voices and demand that policy makers take proactive steps towards a carbon neutral future. You don’t have to be a scientist or an eco-warrior to do this. The facts are no longer in question. We can already see the planet changing around us. If we dare, we can imagine what these changes might look like in 20, 30, 100 years time.

In the last three years I think I have found my own way to be normal and to care, passionately, about our planet and its future. I have made some changes to my lifestyle. Earlier this year I declared myself to be a vegetarian for environmental reasons (much to the horror of my daughter, who seems able to identify Quorn as “not meat” from a ten mile radius). But by far the biggest thing I have done is to get active. I have talked about the climate in unlikely places. I have made myself uncomfortable standing at the school gates. I have been on a march. I have signed petitions and written to my MP. I have joined the Sheffield Climate Alliance. All the action has made me less scared, which may be why I now find myself helping to organise a climate action event. I know that there will always be more things I can do to reduce my own impact on the planet, but I started where I was ready to start, and I’m moving at my own pace.

For me, it was my children who led me to believe that I don’t have to be the perfect environmentalist before I take action. Who knows if I’ll be around in 2050? But my daughters will be 39 and 42, and I want to do whatever I can to make their future lives comfortable and happy. What could be more normal than that?