Making YOUR difference – small steps towards a greener world

Making YOUR difference – small steps towards a greener world

It’s a subject that has had plenty of lines written about it, but for many seems just an abstract concept, too vast and unscalable a problem to contemplate. How do I make a positive contribution to our natural world?

The scale of environmental challenges humanity faces (and caused exclusively by ourselves), such as climate change, species extinction/biodiversity loss, unsustainable use of resources and the contamination of natural world are truly mindboggling! How can we possibly have an effect when I am repeatedly told that changes must happen at a government/international level? How can I make a difference and reduce my use of plastic when everything comes wrapped in plastic at the supermarket and I suspect a very small percentage of the plastic I place in the recycling bin ever gets used again in a meaningful way? How can I make a difference picking up rubbish from the street corner when those three guys walking down the street in Granada in front of me decided to dump their trash on the street corner only 1 meter from an empty bin? Does anybody else actually give a shit in the kind of world that has chosen Trump and Bolsonaro as presidents?

These questions swirl uneasily in my head especially in those dark, depressing moments when you wake up and read about the latest coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef (the 3^rd in 5 years), then on the next line about the opening vast new coal mining projects just inland from the reef itself…or, closer to home, a mass die off fish in the Mar Menor near Valencia, due to agricultural pollutants? The depression and the helpless feeling this creates is in-itself a part of the disease. You must start somewhere, even if it just inspiring some of your students to take an interest in environmental issues in a country (Spain) where any kind of radical activism or action seems to lag months or years behind the latest ‘Greta’ effect.

Sometimes I have to feel that just writing these words, contributing to an NGO, or participating in a beach clean-up, is doing my ‘little bit’! Because there ARE millions of people feeling the same, frustrated, wanting to make a difference – and the more you try, the more you encounter and hear these concerned voices. And we MUST believe that we can make a positive difference in the world. More than anything, because if our species and our world is to survive, we must succeed. When your back is against the wall and you’re out of options you must fight, regardless of the odds!

There are many small NGOs and organizations trying to make that little difference, and now and then what starts as a small ripple of activism can suddenly gain momentum and turn into a surging wave. When we feel that energy of concerned, like minded individuals, coming together and making that ‘visible’ difference, that can be truly inspiring. Just as important, the ‘energy’ and inspiration that ripples away from that event, can become a great wave energy for change in the community, as people feel newly empowered. From a defeated individual, nervous and powerless, you can become part of a community that says ‘YES, WE CAN AND WE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE’. Not only that, but you’re privileged to watch others experience similar emotions.

The last time I felt this energy was at an event in La Herradura on Andalucia’s Costa Tropical last year. A small local NGO called Playa Patrol, set up by a Canadian expat Ann Jenkins, was inspired to organize volunteer beach clean-ups for interested groups and individuals, while partnering with local businesses who benefited from a more pristine environment (bars, water sports operators etc). I’d been involved in this several times. All that was required was to turn up on the beach in teams and clean for an hour or two, picking up cigarette butts and general trash across the beach, then, after receiving a free drink and tapa, the rest of the day was ours to hang out with our (sometimes newly made) companions, have a swim and do as we pleased.

What impressed me as much as the amount of trash we collected (you wouldn’t BELIEVE the amount of toxic cigarette butts pulled from the beach – items that might take 20 years or more to biodegrade), but also the awareness that this exercise instilled in participants; especially young children who cleaned the beach with more focus than they might give to FORTNITE on their PlayStation or Football, and the huge positive energy that possessed people on the beach. People felt they’d made a difference, and old and young, girls and boys and families or singletons radiated smiles and positive vibes. For a brief time, people felt they were part of the solution, not part of a problem that had to be ignored.

I believe these positive vibes spill out into people’s lives far beyond the time and place of the action itself. Action can inspire more action and a feeling of empowerment. Playa Patrol is an excellent example of community activism at a grass roots level, but really any similar project, from planting a tree in the Sierra Nevada, to joining a climate march or putting in time at an animal rescue centre is equally valid. I would recommend doing something with face to face contact with other environmentally concerned individuals though, in order to FEEL that positive energy, to sense that empowerment. In our modern computer orientated lives, it’s all too easy to feel separated, alone and disempowered, with the weight of the world on our shoulders.

With this in mind, Ann is looking to educate and inspire young children in schools with the development of a multi-lingual card game focused on issues of marine pollution. The game can be used in many ways, as a memory game to enable vocabulary learning or to stimulate conversation/discussion on environmental issues (and potential solutions) with older learners. It’s critically important that today’s children grow up with a passion and understanding of the environmental issues facing the world today, and with a sense that they can influence and shape a better, greener world for tomorrow.

Ann and Playa Patrol are currently looking for funding and assistance with this project, which is in its development stage. For more information, or if you would like to know more about Playa Patrol and what you can do to assist with making a cleaner, greener Andalusian coast and marine environment, please contact Ann through her facebook page (PlayaPatrolBeachCleanUp) or on Instagram at Playa.Patrol