Spell it out

Hello mellow, familiar moon, you constant, calming balloon of mysteries that throughout human existence has drawn eyes upwards to remind us how small and dim we are. Sorry to tell you this, though, but it seems you may be next on the hit list.

The dire paradigm of insatiable Earthling economic growth/profit is (you can probably see well enough from what is, er, was a safe distance) wholly at odds with ecological integrity.

As for we Earthlings, I think the light is finally coming on. There is a contagious sense among the crowd that something is going weirdly wrong. Despite insatiable, habitual consumerism a seam of awareness, of culpability, now casts doubt.

How on Earth can we keep growing? We can’t, naturally, so we look to the heavens. Everything has a price and if there is profit to be had then we can blind-eye the negatives. Well, dear moon, you are fair game as you are about 400,000km away. But hang on a minute.... there may be lots of handy titanium up there, I hear you say, but probably no lithium which is desperately needed to power up everything from electric cars to laptops and mobile phones. How will we cope? Well there is always Mars, that mustard globe in the night sky.

Here in our beautiful Priorat I worry so much that I am getting it wrong. Woodburners? Wrong? Solar panels and state of the art lithium batteries? Wrong? Wood burners and the whole carbon cycle is a massive debate. A mining boom in an arid Andes region of Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia, home to half the world’s reserves of rare lithium, is impacting eco-systems. So will someone please tell me what is right? Step one has to be to moderate everything I do. Less not more has to be the hard answer. And we need to keep planting trees and seeds, protecting the soil, valuing and nurturing nature.

While arms traders and shrewd investors rub their hands over another gruesome war, there is talk of sustaining growth a bit longer by some destructive, noisy, polluting mining for lithium and other resources at the bottom of the sea. How low can we go? Nope. I am not going to stand for that and will .... what? Write an article? Go out and protest? Yes. Sign me up. Constant growth has to be challenged. Nothing that is unsustainable can be allowed.

Meanwhile, I am beginning to wade through the new Catalan Strategy for Adapting to Climate Change Horizon 2030, just approved by the Catalan Government. I am, amid the scientific density, looking for hope as those with knowledge, power and sense define how this forested, coastal, mountainous, precious country can adapt and reduce vulnerability. Key, though, Generalitat, is incorporating the people; inspiring, ensuring acute attention and immediate positive action. This is our home. What can we do now as individuals and communities? Spell it out. Make us part of the answer not just the cause.