Hugely cheering news in the Green Party’s summer newsletter, ‘Greenleaf’. A resolution to ‘support efforts to move Lewes towards becoming a plastic bag-free town’ is unanimously adopted by the town council. A thoughtful editorial outlines the environmental devastation caused by plastic bags. Those that end up in the sea, for example, endanger marine wildlife. Turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish and swallow them. Obviously this can’t be allowed to continue, although I suppose the jellyfish may feel that a plastic bag-free ocean has its downside. The article’s infectiously upbeat ending even raises the dizzying prospect of matching Modbury in Devon in our emancipation from the plastic bag. Heady stuff and to sceptics I would quote Tom Paine’s words, prominently displayed, I am told, above Yvette Cooper’s desk, ‘we have the power to build the world anew’.
Meanwhile local green sleuths have tracked down a recycling plant to deal with the ubiquitous tetrapak. Admittedly it is in Fife, but this may just serve as a stark reminder of the increasing importance of car sharing.
Reducing one’s own carbon footprint demands unceasing vigilance. I make a note of Lewes Climate Concern’s campaign for everyone to switch off all their lights for five minutes from 19.30 on 16th October. And somehow I’ve got it into my head that, following the lead of that eleventh century Mercian eco-warrior, Lady Godiva, taking off all ones’ clothes whenever possible is eco-friendly doubleplusgood. Pusillanimously I had been waiting for more clement weather, but now that August’s here I can procrastinate no further. At bedtime I cast aside the winceyette pyjamas and slip between the silken sheets.My wife starts screaming.
Back to the drawing board, I guess.