As the year nears its end, I find myself wondering about the sanity of starting a blog. Hanging out your washing to dry for all to see was not the intention but more an evaluation of whether we could live more sustainably in a society that buffets us consistently with consumerism dilemmas. Should we try to live in an environmentally moral way that takes into consideration the climate change that is evident all around us, or should we hold up our hands and say, well no-one else is doing their bit so why should we? The more I have travelled on this journey, the more I have found myself questioning my principles and the society around us. I think you become more aware of what people are doing to combat the problem of climate change as you open yourself to the possibilities of alternate lifestyles to the ones you are used to or are told society should follow. Questions start to be asked such as do we really need avocados or dragon fruit for our New Year celebrations? Should we upgrade our tech and vehicles yearly because the Jones’ do? Is the business trip abroad really essential with the advent of lightning quick internet? Is air travel more important than our children’s rapidly changing future worlds? Is that product really “green” or are we just comforting ourselves in the smothering blanket of denial?
The first question was whether to have a blog to chart perhaps only a minimal progress in some people’s eyes. In hindsight it meant taking huge strides towards living sustainably. I think publicly being accountable on a journey where goals are set does force us into being perhaps more aware of our actions. Sometimes you do find yourself put into situations where you are automatically more carbon-friendly, though throughout this year the majority of the time we have had to make conscious and deeply thought-out decisions. Some of these have included whether to buy an electric car, which composting scheme would be appropriate in a tiny village garden, and what sorts of shopping habits should we adopt.
At the beginning of our journey we had two cars, both diesel. We worked more or less full-time and our jobs were travel-intensive. We did do the “recycling” thing that everyone does and felt good about it. Sometimes we thought about food miles, organic products and other “hippy” issues. However, looking back I realise that although the word “woke” has become overused and even exasperating, we definitely had a “turning point in our lives that forced us to stand still in all the commotion for a moment, and realise that our lives were not what we had aspired to when we were young.
Since then, we have dispensed with both diesel cars and now have a new “clean” petrol-driven one. The choice of not going electric was a hard one to resolve, but the problem of the lithium batteries being not environmentally friendly a hard pill to swallow. The other issue was the suitability of this product in a town or mountain setting when you have to park on the road. The predicted distance travelled becomes more hazy when you have to climb up a mountain, and the cold apparently is still a factor that affects battery life. I think we are happy with our decision. One thing we were forced to experience was the public transport in our remote location. Having no car for nearly 2 months meant that we had to use the buses and trains of the region. It is easy to say you will use public transport but when push comes to shove, if you have a personal car sitting outside your door, you are more likely to use it. An interesting solution that one of my students talked about was the “pick-up-and-go” rental scheme they have in Germany. A great solution to solving the over population of vehicles.
Over the past year we have had the opportunity to work full-time online in the education sector, something we had never thought possible. With the arrival of fibre in our village it has made this business much more easy. Even though the remote location, poor weather (causing issues such as power-cuts or problems on the roads), the positive change of our working lifestyle has been paramount in our lives. The commute is now a few metres from the kitchen to the office, the staffroom now being the little snug. Parents evenings have become a brief friendly chat or message. The wonderful thing about the job is meeting fascinating people from all walks of life across the world, as far afield as Australia or as remote as Uzbekistan…
Moving to the Pyrénéen mountains has been a complete eye-opener. Firstly, we chose a house that was the polar opposite to our previous one. Suddenly we had the main road outside our front door and a neighbour over the fence. We had the main cinema a couple of metres away, and the shop just down a flight of steps and through a carpark. There is public transport almost right outside our door, and the health centre attached to a party wall of our house. We have street lights! This all compares favourably to the remote farm in an islolated hamlet, but only because we had reached that point in our lives where the change has become a positive one. This move itself has contributed to a huge decrease in our carbon footprint as now we can walk to most things. The cost of going by car by ourselves to major supermarkets or shopping giants is now less cost-efficent than using delivery services which are prevalent in this area.
The area which has been more complicated has been the change of diet. In the end I have stuck at being vegetarian for the year, and not only that but I found myself unable to face eating meat and meat products. There have been a few slips, but I think not more than 4 or 5. For the first year, not bad. I have taken the decision to incorporate all cheese products and a few times a month fish dishes. I have to say that as the end of the year comes closer, even these options become less appetising than they had been before. The other big change has been in the family’s eating habits. Because I am the main cook in the family (mainly due to necessity from work hours), and as I am a vegetarian, I find myself unconsciously trying to create dishes that we can all eat rather than having multiple separate meals. This has meant that overall our meat consumption has fallen.
I could bore you and carry on, but little things like food choices are topics that are in progress. In conclusion, we have started out on our journey rather than completed it, and it has made us realise that so much more can be done. Perhaps we could look at our pets’ food or what sort of holiday would be the most sustainable. It would be easy to say,
“There. Done it now,”
and fall back on old habits. But that is not the point, is it? We as a population should not get despondent that progress is not fast enough, and throw our hands up in the air and relinquish the battle before it is even started. Progress can sometimes be small, but think about it in terms of a massive ocean liner. It takes time to change direction, however once started the imperceptible change of orientation will continue. We have to remember that we have decades if not centuries of engrained cultures to change. How to introduce to a people’s mindset that any travel has consequences, food choices produce knock-on effects, having money doesn’t exempt you from helping to solve the world’s issues, and hiding your head in the sand won’t make the problems go away. Spending money on war and space travel won’t take away the issues just outside each and every door.
If a leak happens in our liner, what would you do?
Changes have to be made. We are culpable. We are all in the same boat together. Surely it is better to change our world together than to criticise each other or hide away.
We could say “… time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” -Andy Warhol.
MidLife Crisis In France
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