War bothers me. I mean it’s one thing if two opposing forces want to blow the living daylights out of each other, and people die who have volunteered to fight. At least there’s a personal choice there. But what upsets me is that it is innocent bystanders who suffer the most. The perpetrators, the aggressors, sit back in their fortresses, twisting words into false justifications for their cruelty. Thousands of innocent people in Palestine, Ukraine and Sudan have senselessly died so that men can justify their pathetic aims and ambitions. Families ripped apart, lives broken. For what? The only thing achieved is a desire for vengeance. And so the cycle continues. 

Climate Change bothers me. We have the technology to switch most, if not all, of our power to clean, renewable energy. So, even if you don’t believe climate change is a thing, why not switch to clean energy to end pollution then? Long-term exposure to air pollution causes chronic conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as lung cancer. Air pollution costs 6.5 million lives globally every year. It’s a pretty good reason to switch away from fossil fuels on its own. But, we all know the real reason. The hugely powerful oil industry has a vested interest in keeping us hooked on their products. They are the ones lobbying, politically manipulating and lying to people that there is no risk.

The loss of the environment bothers me. We have made land a commodity to be bought and sold. Now, I’ve benefited from this personally, but there has been a tragic cost nationally and globally. Nature isn’t a commodity. It can’t profit from its sale and so it suffers. We are losing species at a frightening rate. 43% of birds, 31% of reptiles, 26% of mammals, 54% of flowering plants have been lost in the UK alone in the last fifty years. That bothers me. 

What can I do about it? I have to try. I have to do my bit, even if that seems paltry. I have written to my MP and signed numerous petitions to end the war in Palestine and recognise it as a state. I have donated to charitable organisations such as the Red Cross, that help civilians in war-torn areas. I have switched to an electric car, insulated my home and made reductions in my energy usage. I recycle, and I’ve created a wildlife space in my garden with a pond and area of long grass and wild plants. It probably isn’t enough. I don’t know if it will make a single bit of a difference. But I’m trying in the smallest way, and sometimes that’s all we can do.