Worth looking after...

This is the view as I walk down the road to the village. It's beautiful. And surely worth looking after. 

So this is a letter which I have just sent to Jacinda Ardern, our PM:

Dear Jacinda,
 
In a week when fires burn out of control in the USA, Canada, Spain, Italy, Greece and Russia, storms flooded undergrounds in Zhengzhou and London, and record rainfall creates havoc in central and western Europe, further signs and reminders of the huge existential threat hanging over every single one of us have appeared in various parts of the media.
 
Frankly, I’m frightened. I am not alone. I wonder if you are aware that people are genuinely profoundly scared of the future.
 
There are days when I can ignore the planetary crisis: put it into a small compartment and get on with my life. But increasingly I find that the signs of disaster press me to find ways to discuss it and to influence people around me. It’s exhausting. And sometimes I feel it is futile: I’m a very small voice.
 
After years of banging my head against a brick wall from within the system (as an ecological policy advisor and project manager working in various levels of government in the UK, Australia and NZ) and making only small differences, I did the only thing possible. I gave up work to pursue what I consider to be a globally responsible life.
 
It is a life of simplicity, where economic gain has no place, and where I acquire what I need (not what I want). My time is focussed on growing all my own fruit and vegetables. I barter with friends and the wider community for those items which I don’t produce myself. My monthly disposable income of $900 covers all those items for which money is essential.
 
And yet it’s not enough. It’s not too late to prevent the worst outcomes, but there are too many signs that economic growth and big-business are unrelenting in their pursuit of monetary gain and influence.
 
It was my personal choice to live this way: in recognition of the fact that I had to start somewhere and I had to be radical (compared to my previous life). But it’s not enough. I don’t have sufficient influence over any other individual, let alone corporations or government, to open their eyes to the reality of the threat hanging over us.
 
I trust your government more than any government since I started voting more than 40 years ago. My feeling is that NZ could be a world leader in working out how to face the climate future. While we can’t do it alone, we can surely show others that change is crucial and possible.
 
So please can you reassure me that you have your eyes open? That your government is committed to working hard and fast to divert the worst of the climate crisis.
 
Please help…
 
Yours still optimistically and hopefully,
etc....