Sandra Norval’s Blog

I recently was at an event where hundreds of school children were each given a balloon to release. As they drifted up into the sky the crowd clapped and everyone ooh’d and aah’d and told each other how wonderful a moment this was. My heart sank. I stood there wondering how much damage these balloons would cause to the environment. I refused to applaud such irresponsibility.

A couple of days later I received a link on twitter which showed pictures of the most polluted place on Earth. Among that list was the North Pacific Gyre, where a garbage island has gathered as a result of natural wind and water movement. The island is building, but it isn’t a perfect desert island, it’s a grotesque opposite causing the death of wildlife and the destruction of the ecological balance in the area. This is how ‘wonderful’ our actions are.

I wonder if there are labels from balloons somewhere in there. I wonder if they can be read at all. I wonder how the people on those labels would react if they were taken there and realised that we have all played a part in this. That carrier bag that you just couldn’t catch as it blew away, the condom you flushed, the lilo that burst and you allowed to float away and yes, even that balloon you released in the 70’s as a child (and yes, that includes me).

 Between us we can do something about it. We can stop adding to it, we can volunteer to collect other people’s rubbish, we can support campaigns to change attitudes. It would take hours and money to remove what’s there, even then, where on Earth would we put it? I would love to think that Governments would unite to address such a problem but that would take a miracle.

 Meanwhile, if I can just ask you to think. Have a look at these links. Let them seep into your mind and hopefully you’ll remember to refuse that carrier bag, hang on to your litter and refuse to support the next balloon release you come across.

Article on Environmental Graffiti.com about the North Pacific Gyre

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/north-pacific-gyre-million-tons-garbage-growing/14477

Marine Conservation Society (MCS) – Don’t Let Go Campaign – action against balloon release

http://www.mcsuk.org/mcsaction/pollution/b alloons

UK Rivers network – includes text of MCS leaflet

http://www.ukrivers.net/balloon_fact.html

Herts Canoe Club – Litter Pickers Extraordinaire!

http://www.hertscanoeclub.org.uk/5.html

This morning I spent a few hours at Roebuck Wood in Stevenage litter picking and cutting back some Hawthorn.

I hadn’t really visited the woodland before, having only walked alongside on the footpath. Why is it, sometimes the nearer a place is, the less likely you are to visit? I now know that I’ve been missing out.

 Chatting with Brian, the Chair of the Roebuck Action Group (RAG) I’ve learned that Dick Turpin used a path through the woods before staying at the Roebuck Inn whilst en route to London. There are trees which are centuries old, lots of ancient woodland indicators and also areas of recent planting, carried out by RAG around ten years ago.

 This combination of differing habitats makes this a wonderful woodland for wildlife, easily accessible with lots of nearby car parks, a network of footpaths and also a cycle path alongside.

 I was quite shocked to learn that this wonderful urban space was once threatened, seen as a piece of land only worth money. It is next to the Stevenage Borough football ground and a planning application was put in to remove the woodland completely.

Brian and a group of local residents weren’t having any of it! They formed RAG, fought back and won. As a result the wood is now managed for the benefit of the community and wildlife and is protected from planning threats in the future.

I am always impressed with individuals who try to make a difference. When those individuals join forces incredible things can be achieved. It is a wondrous fact of humanity that inspiration ripples from one person to the next and RAG is a clear demonstration of this.

Happily nowadays RAG and the council are working together and the site is an important area for the biodiversity in Stevenage. As a Tree Warden I’m looking forward to visiting again next time there is a work party needed.

Brian, and team, I applaud you. If only more individuals took responsibility and didn’t always assume that it was someone else’s job the world would be a much better place.

Hot topic in the news today? Artificial trees, salt sprinkling boats, reflective discs launched into space.

 Have we not yet realised that all our attempts to battle against nature so far have failed to some degree, sometimes disastrously. We need to help nature do her thing, not try and combat the outcomes.

The biggest failing of all these projects is the notion that we are ‘saving the planet’. No, we’re not. We’re trying to save our own backsides from the destruction that we have inflicted on a living breathing organism. Whether you believe in Gaia or climate change is irrelevant, the science clearly demonstrates that something is happening and it’s big.

If we are to survive as a species we need to stop seeing ourselves as something special and recognise the limitations of our own ecology. We are just as likely to become extinct as any other creature and more fool us.

Nature spent millions of years designing her creations. Do we really, truly believe we can do better with our own technology?