Read in full the submission of our Creative Writing Competition participant, Barbara Wood.
Now retired, Barbara Wood looks back on a world reshaped by convenience and consumption, yet still holds to the hope we have the power to mend what we’ve broken.
You can read the winners announcement here, as well as a full list of all submissions published.
Fears and Hopes
by Barbara Wood
‘The blood weeps in my heart when I do shape
In forms imaginary, th’ unguided days
And rotten times that you may look upon
When I am sleeping with my ancestors.’
Baby boomers are now of retirement age and, if our pensions are adequate, we can step off the hamster’s wheel. For those of us who’ve made it this far, and are not carers, our time is our own and as long as we are healthy enough we can spend it as we please. (I know, that’s a lot of provisos). Some of us will go back to bed with a cup of tea while others will do outlandish things. One man I know, much to the concern of his family, sold his house to fund a cycling trip around the world. He’s had enough of being sensible and responsible, just wants to make the most of his freedom; one of the SKIers, spending his kids’ inheritance.
Most of us want to help our offspring as life is not so easy for them. Burdened with student loans, unable to get enough money together to find a deposit for a house, generation rent have difficulty saving for retirement and will have to work longer than us. But these problems pale in significance compared to the elephant in the room. I remember a lecture on the Population Explosion from back when I was at school. Even then we were learning about pollution, despoliation of the planet and impending disaster. Although the world’s population is set to level off about mid century, human existence is heading for collapse unless there is a change in direction. We thought, ever more amazing innovations would continue to improve our lives and those of our children into the future. Many of the things that have given us better lives than our parents and grandparents are leading to the demise of humankind. The world’s resources have been overexploited, especially fossil fuels. Too much of that precious, carbon storing coal, used to fuel industries and heat homes has been removed from the earth, upsetting the natural balance in our environment. Clean Air acts of 1956 and 68
only temporarily improved our air quality. Ominously, smog has returned to many of our big cities, this time due to poisonous fumes from petroleum fueled motor vehicles. The 1989 Water Act enabled privatisation of the water authorities and we now have a problem of sewage contamination of rivers.
Labour saving devices with built in obsolescence and outdated technology are now in landfill, now more appropriately called ‘landfull’. I hear that former landfill sites are being excavated to recover finite resources such as rare earth minerals carelessly discarded in the past, actually a cheaper way to obtain them than extracting them from mines, and it must be cheaper than looking for them on Mars. We need more Davids and Gretas and less billionaires who think they can just go on to exploit potential resources on other planets.
We need more Davids and Gretas and less billionaires who think they can just go on to exploit potential resources on other planets.
There are positive things happening. Some waste companies are capturing the heat from decomposing rubbish on old landfill sites, or burning waste to provide heat for buildings in a neat way to help solve two problems.
But plastic. I thought it was the answer when I heard a bacteria had been discovered that would eat plastic. Was this going to be the way we would get rid of all that stuff now forming the anthropocene, the layer round the earth recording our impact on it; a bacteria that would deny future archaeologists the chance to study our excesses? Or is it a nightmare scenario where this superbug escapes from the lab. and much of the structure of our modern, plastic world falls apart: food spilling out of disintegrating packaging, our built environment and all our material possessions, clothes, curtains, carpets, our cars, even our toothbrushes! I can’t think of much that doesn’t contain plastic, and what about the plastic already in our bodies?
But seriously, bacterium Ideonella Sakaiensis, discovered, not in a laboratory, but near a plastic recycling plant, is capable of breaking down and consuming plastic. It has potential importance in recycling and upcycling plastic. I may have to admit that this is a piece of good news.
Those other marvels developed in the laboratory, antibiotics; the truly wonderful antimicrobial substances that saved us in the past are still being overused and have been defeated by some of the clever, old bugs that have developed resistance. New superbugs outside the labs. are rapidly mutating, ready to jump onto our species with ever more devastating pandemics as scientists race to anticipate them. Taking something positive from this; the recent pandemic vastly accelerated advances in knowledge of viruses with consequent new preventive measures and treatments. It is fascinating to know that 5% of our DNA is made up of an ancient virus, a dormant part of our immune system that can be woken up to fight cancer.
One source of new pathogens is cross-species virus transmission caused by loss of wild spaces and wildlife habitats in the world due to ever encroaching human habitation, cattle and monoculture farming. This is contributing to the extinction of our wonderfully diverse animal species and, along with over use of pesticides, to the massive decline in pollinating insects, threatening crop failures and our very existence through starvation. The balance of nature is upset. While many insect species are in decline there have been Biblical style plagues of locusts in Africa. Yet there are increasing numbers of people, especially young people trying to live sustainably, working allotments and going vegan. And while there are still those, young and old, who go out planting trees and meadows and fighting to protect habitats and conserve biodiversity there must still be hope.
Listening to the radio I heard entomologists talking about another organism that has evolved to use pollution as its food. It seems that research concerning a type of wasp that voraciously eats waste organic products may soon lead to the addition of their protein-packed offspring into animal food and later into our own food in powder form. Though I have to admit that I am filled with revulsion, I know such projects will play a part in resolving world food shortages in the future. It is estimated that over two billion people in the world already eat insects on a daily basis. The cochineal is an insect from which a natural dye called carmine is obtained. It is used in red food colouring and this is the reason why vegans will not drink Iron Brew, Scotland’s other national drink.
I am struggling to find something positive in every paragraph. The most intelligent of creatures seems bent on destroying its own home
I am struggling to find something positive in every paragraph. The most intelligent of creatures seems bent on destroying its own home. Global warming is still increasing due to the continued burning of fossil fuels and we are already seeing devastating effects all over the world. The oceans are warming faster than the land with alarming consequences. We still have ‘Green Washing’ by oil companies instead of genuine efforts to move away from fossil fuels. Governments and multinationals are too slow to realise the economic possibilities of renewables and not moving fast enough to cut emissions so that the world faces ever more devastating floods and fires, with the spectre of more wars, disease and famine on the horizon. It seems we are back to the four horses of the apocalypse that our grandparents lived through, though we, as a species, might not survive this time.
I don’t understand why politicians talk continually about economic growth. Shrink would be better. And what even is ‘sustainable growth’? It seems like a contradiction in terms. It is for the economic geniuses and business entrepreneurs who want to sell more and more consumables to people who do not know they need them. We are in a giant ponzi scheme whereby a continually growing population of young people is needed to spend money making those at the top of the pyramid wealthier still, and to pay taxes to look after us old people. There is very little of the planet left to exploit and much of our overpopulated world is on course to be rendered uninhabitable by Climate Change.
What to do about this rapidly ageing population? Perhaps in the future people like me will be euthanized when we are no longer doing anything useful. There are historical accounts of elderly eskimos walking out onto the ice floes to die when food resources were short. Perhaps I could do this, minus the ice. I could put stones in my pockets and walk into the floods. Am I thinking the unthinkable?
David Pilling has a much clearer understanding of all this than I do. In his book ‘The Growth Delusion’, written in 2018, he condemns the modern measures of success, GDP and the economy, as delusory and out of step with reality, saying we need to value what makes society better, and not what makes the economy bigger. If growth continues unchecked the limits of physical growth on the planet will be reached this century. We need to find a way to live on the planet without the need for constant physical expansion.
I have to hope there is still time to avert complete disaster; that responsible humans will lead the world to a better future.
I am a member of the generation born in the Western world in the 1950s, the lucky generation that has had opportunities and possibilities that were not available to those who came before us and are not here for our descendants. The world we grew up in was healthy relative to that of today. We have had the opportunity to follow our dreams and realise our potential, (all the while hoping that no one would be crazy enough to press that nuclear button). But we have been blindly and thoughtlessly heading into a different existential threat, playing our part in the despoliation of the planet that will be largely left to our successors to clear up.
While the world is changing exponentially it seems science knows no bounds. A race is on to come up with innovative technology that will remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere on a scale big enough to reverse climate change. Scientists and engineers made the industrial revolution possible. They can shape the future.
But politicians are still not listening to the scientists and they aren’t listening to me when I shout at the television. We need politicians and world leaders who are equal to the challenge, who have integrity and don’t promise us tax cuts and pension increases, while rigging the system in favour of themselves. Britain is the small country that started the Industrial Revolution and we should not underestimate our importance in dealing with its legacy.
Climate anxiety can affect our mood and behaviour putting some at risk of depressive illness or substance abuse. But for others, on learning about devastating climate events, psychological defence mechanisms can come into play. Some use denial or rationalisation, while others who are horrified and frightened, put it out of their minds and get on with their routine as usual. But individuals are not powerless. By making changes in our own lives and doing something positive for the planet we can feel less helpless.
‘You are never too small to make a difference’. Greta Thumberg.
I have to hope there is still time to avert complete disaster; that responsible humans will lead the world to a better future. We don’t want to turn the clock back to our grandparent’s days, but we need to lead simpler, less materialistic lives, stimulated more by social interaction than technology. Perhaps we will even be happier relying on our own resources, getting in touch with the soil and planting things, in a world where we don’t ask Alexa to turn the lights on, but where there isn’t so much light pollution and we can see the stars again. This is a version of the future in which the planet can repair itself and humans living on it build a society that is fairer to all its inhabitants.
