WEarthwhile

09/10/2020

Amongst the current atmosphere of blame and uncertainty resulting from the pandemic, some solace can be found in the benefits of our earth’s environment. Hopefully, this decrease in carbon pollution can be aided by our everyday actions learned during this ‘new normal’ period of 2020 life.

By Victor McMillan

https://medium.com//covids-eco-effect-21016508a0ec

05/10/2020

“At age 18, I started solo traveling around the world during my semester breaks. At first, it was to satisfy my curiosity, my deep desire for freedom, and my adrenaline thirst. After covering a few countries, I realized that I needed to add a deeper dimension to my travels. Something that would step out of my personal desires or aspirations. Something that could be useful for others and for our planet.

After my bachelor's degree, I decided to leave university for good and to enter the most passionate school I have ever stepped in: the school of travel. I left Paris, my jobs, my tiny student apartment, packed a bag, hopped on a plane, and here I was, heading to the Pacific Ocean with one goal in mind: study environmental issues and write about them.

I first stopped in Hawaii in order to learn about the impact of the plastic pollution (from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch but also from the locals) on the islands, the fauna, and the solutions people and NGOs are experimenting to solve this problem. I stayed there for one month and a half.

I then pursued my trip to Tuvalu, where I stayed for four months. There, I studied the way climate change impacts those tiny atolls and how locals’ vision of the future gets modified by the threat of rising sea level and increased natural disasters - mainly induced by the CO2 emissions of the most polluting countries on the planet.

Those six months have been sponsored by the Zellidja French foundation based in Paris, which supports young people between 16 and 20 in a solo travel project oriented on studying the subject of their choice in the country of their choice.

After observing, interviewing heaps of people, and learning from it all, I wrote an essay about my studies alongside a daily diary that I have submitted to the French Foundation which allowed me the grant. I also massively shared stories and pictures of my project on social media. I wanted to make the issues of tiny Pacific islands more notorious and listened to in a country such as France, where the majority of citizens don't even know the existence of Tuvalu.

Spreading awareness through any means of expression - it doesn't matter whether it's by your pen, clicks or tweets, is, to me, the best hope we have to make people realize the serious environmental crisis some lands are already facing at the moment in the world - and that developed, wealthy countries will eventually face too within a bunch of years."

[Elizabeth THOUVENIN - Suva, Fiji]
By Alexandrine Boufflers

02/10/2020

“Last week, there was a train derailment in Llangennech, Carmarthenshire, involving ten wagons, carrying up to 750 tonnes of diesel. It caused a fire that could be seen for miles and some fuel contaminated the land and entered the water.
I know there are some nice sites around there, they will be affected.

I have been planning to see what damage has been caused. Not sure if there is much that the council can do? Repairing the railway or other cleanup activities may be a big job. If need be, I can and will help out, where possible. It's an important time of the year for some animals, getting ready for winter. So, I hope it doesn't damage too much of the habitats.

I'm sure if the diesel hits the sandbanks and soaks in, it could be dangerous for years to come. A mop-up squad, straight away, could help for the future. Thankfully, the RNLI are close and may lend a hand, in the deeper waters, or advise the clean-up team on safe areas. Has the line been cleaned? It is an important train link to West Wales. It is also close to the Gower and the WWT Wetland Centre.”

[Neil Smith- Swansea – Carmarthenshire, Wales, UK]
By Damien Rosser

29/09/2020

“My love for nature was sparked by my high school geography teacher. He was a passionate educator whose care for the environment, in particular, Australian species (e.g., Burramys Parvus) and habitats (e.g., Box Gum Grassy Woodlands) sparked my interest in pursuing a career in Environmental Sciences.

Now studying my Ph.D. and having worked in the field for 6 years it has become apparent to me that resource use is inextricably linked with our fe**sh for never-ending economic growth. In order to create sustainable post-growth futures, we must reconnect our economy to ecological limits and social systems (grounded in equity and solidarity). Although known prior, COVID-19 has revealed to us that we must democratise the economy, provide free healthcare to all, focus on human wellbeing, and re-evaluate how much we work going forward. I'm privileged enough to be pushing for this at various levels (local to international levels) and won't stop until we reduce our impact to within ecological limits and provide a good life for all.”

[Nick Fitzpatrick - Sweden]
[By Lia Alvarez and Sebastian Balart]

27/09/2020

Mugume Elias from Uganda reached out to WEarthwhile to help raise funds for the school that creates nature walks for the students and other environmental education services for the local community children.

If you would like to donate, follow this link: https://gf.me/u/y2ugmx . 100% of proceeds go to Lake Bunyoyi school in Uganda.

Here is the story about the school:

“I was a Tour guide at lake Bunyonyi in Uganda when one day I met a tourist where I was working; she told me that she wanted to create a nature walk! I took her in to show her our community and its beautiful nature. On our way, she asked me, ‘Elias, where are the schools in your community?’. I told her that there are no schools in our community but when you want to go to a school, you have to walk 10 kilometers, She asked me how I managed to do education and how other children go to school if they have to walk that far. I said to her that we start education at the age of 8-10 years when we can manage to walk!

Later we ended the nature walk and after reaching the hotel, she asked me if she could help open a school in the community. We said yes! We planned to buy materials for the temporary building and within one month we finished construction and started registration for the school. We received 20 pupils from the start! With one teacher! The school started then after one year we received the news that Zara had died; the women who helped us start the school. I almost fainted because she was the hope for the community! From that time, the school started declining because there we had no food, salaries for our teacher, and I was also getting little money from my job! I felt like I'm lost in the world but I couldn't give up on the school because it was a big chance to not lose! I chaired a general meeting, we agreed parents and guardians pay $8 and 2 kilograms of beans to help me in paying salary and buying some other materials for the school and food. There we kept on moving slowly until I met a volunteer who donated all the money to build an administration house, which is still under construction and we added one more teacher, a cook and we are planning to hire one more building to work as classrooms since children are increasing in numbers. We did almost everything with volunteers until COVID-19 came in, schools were closed and I also lost my job. So now I'm facing the hardest time to help manage to reopen the schools. I'm requesting if anyone has some help or advice to kindly help.”

Story Mugume Elias from Uganda reached out to WEarthwhile to help ra… Rachel Patteson needs your support for Help Build Schools in Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda

19/09/2020

“I was raised in Delhi and had the privilege to escape the toxic blanket of smog occasionally that exists in my hometown. However, when I returned to the city after Diwali, I was devastated to feel the thickness in the air along with the visibility; the weather had a weird kind of stillness and grey skies. It seemed to be choking us all. It really is a wakeup call when you see your city’s name being flashed on global news as the most polluted city on Earth.

It wasn’t just the weather that I saw changing during my stay. I had grown up seeing sparrows around our vicinity. Now, I barely see any in the city. The recent years have been particularly affected by rising air pollution.

I finally moved away after school, to a more remote port town. I thought I’d finally escape the urban habit of being indifferent towards the environment. Staying away from home during college and seeing people with different upbringings was rather insightful. From wasting food in the mess to unattended running taps in the common bathrooms, I realized that people might have received the best education and have the best interests in mind, but continue to pollute. It really made me think of how ‘a raindrop never feels responsible for the flood’. We need to hold ourselves accountable for contributing to the damage before we point fingers at others

This is not the world we wished for; this is not the life our future generations deserve. The environment was an integral part of my childhood while I was growing up. We owe it to our coming generations to let them have the same bond with nature in their lives. Climate change is irreversible, and it is happening. We need to have an empathetic approach to the problem to collectively work for it.”

[Mansha Kannan – Bangalore, India]
Story by Ish*ta Singh

12/09/2020

[English Translation below]

« Ça ne passe que par l’éducation!

Je suis photographe-journaliste free-lance et membre du Collectif Argos qui est basé à Paris depuis 20 ans. Le Collectif Argos est spécialisé dans les sujets environnementaux et sociaux à destination de la presse française et internationale. Notre tout premier sujet s’est attaqué aux réfugiés climatiques.

Depuis, le plastique l’un de mes chevaux de bataille. Le collectif Argos choisit chaque année une grosse enquête que l’on décline en plusieurs approches : expo, livres, presse, radio, télé etc. Le plastique a été un sujet choc qui m’a vraiment remué. J’ai marché, littéralement, sur des montagnes de déchets plastiques!

Le dernier projet du Collectif Argos, AMER, porte sur l’accaparement des océans. Cette pression sans précédent et à grande échelle sur le milieu marin met en péril la biodiversité et engendre de graves problèmes de pollution que les changements globaux vont amplifier. Or, près de la moitié de la population mondiale dépend directement des océans pour sa subsistance.

Ce projet qui veut alerter les consciences sur la fragilité des océans, donnera lieu à une expo à Marseille ainsi qu’à une expo itinérante et un livre. L’idée est de sensibiliser le grand public en utilisant différent medium.

Ce qui compte est de montrer des solutions positives, des alternatives à la transition écologique, pas de faire la morale.

Ceux qui font bouger les lignes ont souvent moins de 25 ans ; comme les deux sœurs de l’association « Bye, bye, plastic Bag » qui se sont investies dès l’âge de 12 ans en montant leur association pour lutter contre l’utilisation du plastique jetable à Bali.

Pour faire bouger les choses, il faut ÉDUQUER ; une fois les jeunes éduqués, ils transmettront leur savoir à leur parent : c’est le circuit le plus efficace! »

https://www.collectifargos.com
https://www.laurentweyl.com

[Laurent Weyl – Strasbourg, France]
By Alexandrine Boufflers

[English Translation]

“There is no other route than the one that goes through education!

I am a free-lance journalist and photographer and also a member of the Argos Collectif that has been based in Paris for 20 years. Argos specializes in writing social and environmental articles for the French and international media. Our first topic was on climatic refugees.

Since then, plastic has become my warhorse. It has really had a sounding echo in me especially after walking on huge plastic landfills!

Argos every year selects a topic as a major investigation that is then broken down into several approaches: TV reports, books, press articles... our last one is called AMER and it deals with ocean monopolization that jeopardizes marine biodiversity whereas almost half of the world population depends on ocean for their daily intake of food.

This project will give birth to a major exhibition in Marseille and to a book. Our objective is to raise awareness via different mediums. Because what matters is to offer alternatives and positive solutions not to lecture people.

Those who move the lines are often under 25; like the 2 sisters of the association “By, bye, plastic bag” who set up their NGO in Bali when only 12 years old!

Through the education of young people, we will eventually educate the older generations because they will be dealt with in family circles where messages are the best conveyed!”

11/09/2020

“They think that we’re disgusted because of the way it looks, but it’s not. If they stay out here, if anybody stays out here long enough, they can feel these pollutants letting out, and it’s hurting us. I have one medicine I’m taking now if you hear the crackle in my voice, that’s because this mess has gotten into it, and it has [hurt] my vocal cords, and I have taken…all kinds of medicines. So, this needs to go, that’s it. Because it is killing us. It’s not so much about the beauty or anything else, but it is actually killing us.”

[Marsha Jackson – Shingle Mountain, Dallas, TX]
By Alex Holland

07/09/2020

“I work as a manager, snake rescuer, cactus gardener, eagle healer among many other duties at the family managed rescue center for exotic animals of the city of La Paz, in Baja California Sur (Mexico), who the local folk kindly nicknamed “El Serpertario” or “the house of snakes”, due to its fame of rescuing snakes from unjustified violence.

El Serpentario functions as one of the sanctuaries for misunderstood animals, a kind of place to find the beasts and mesmerizing flora of the Baja. I am the daughter of the director Don Victor and share the same values as the rest of their family.
I grew up in a home where nature was respected and loved – that was my school, my education, and when you grow up with that, it becomes part of yourself.

A perspective that if more people shared, we would be in a much compassionate place – a philosophy of life, acknowledging our responsibility as a society.

We all come in life to enjoy nature, not to destroy it. We are all key parts of a chain of the planet. We cannot deny the joy of enjoying the planet that we were born to future generations.”

There are many unheard hero’s that people do not recognize. To me, El Serpentario, is one of those, is a center that functions from Adriana’s family good-will, young volunteers in the non-profit endeavors. They risk their own life when rescuing venom snakes or brown eagles, maintaining them in their own house, to preserve our natural heritage, while making actual labor of it. Not your everyday rescue center.

https://www.facebook.com/elserpentariodelapazbcs/

[Adriana Velazquez – La Paz, Mexico]
By Sebasitán Balart & Lía Álvarez

31/08/2020

“I like to think of me as a world citizen, free and without borders, who loves her country but who loves her planet even more!

I have been traveling all my life and especially in those last past 5 years, which I spent hopping from place to place, working then and there, just visiting or only passing by...

I love discovering new places, meeting new people, learning about new cultures and trying new practices... shaking and challenging my habits, pushing my boundaries, opening my mind, adapting and renewing myself day after day!

Those experiences rise inside me a deep feeling of belonging on a global scale and a better understanding of my connection to my environment, not only a natural environment, but also a social environment, and therefore of my rights and duties, my impact and contribution to it...

I am not an activist, just a conscientious and responsible human being.

I come from a family where the waste was banned, both for economic and moral reasons. Everything needed to be used and reused until it becomes useless. Throwing away was not an option. I grew up with a fair and healthy respect for the value of things.

A few years ago, I oversaw an association dealing with environmental and social issues, by managing second-hand shops. This experience showed me how we could help people in need and the environment; and this convinced me on the positive impact of an ethical and wise way of consuming.

On top of that, having been traveling for years with only my backpack, I realized how less we really do need in life and it strikes me how much our society's overconsumption is absurd.

Not only it is absurd, but it is also criminal, judging by the amount of waste it produces without having the capacity to deal with it...
Being a scuba diver, I am sadly facing every day this waste impact on the environment especially in countries with no means of treating their waste and no education program to sensibilize their population.

That is the case of the country where I am currently and the story behind this picture...
This sign on top of this trash that stood uselessly empty surrounded by the garbage in the middle of beautiful nature, made me think of the "this is not a pipe" painting of Magritte and the irony behind that that illustrates perfectly the hypocrisy of our society when it comes to dealing with the mess we create...

We must start taking accountability for it and stop hiding behind fake solutions in order to wash up our consciousness from our guilt!

So, following the "Kaizen" philosophy, let's take small steps that lead to big achievements.

You can act at your own level without having to wait for the next generation to be better educated or for a revolution to downcast our current economic model. You can start now simply by consuming wisely. You have no idea how much impact, your consumption behaviour has on your social, economic, and environmental environment.

By asking yourself this simple question every time before buying anything "Do I really need this?", you can save money, reduce your waste, and encourage the fall of a destructive economic system.”

[Laëtitia Jacquot – Mexico]
By Alexandrine Boufflers

24/08/2020

“I usually go places by car; the family takes international flights a few times a year. In the last few months, this has not been possible due to COVID19 and international travel bans. As the lockdown is being released, we are starting to make new plans. Just this afternoon, I tried riding an electric mtb bike for the first time. On a cycle path, from Swansea to Mumbles, it seemed quicker than by car, as there were no traffic lights or the usual congestion seen in Swansea on a weekend. The views were great on the path with the tide coming in – something new to see hear and even smell at every turn.

I was a bit disappointed with the bike motor, as it is limited to 15 mph and you had to pedal. It was really a pedal-assist bike. The battery and a motor made it much heavier than a usual bike. At the same time, it was great fun and it could go down and up the hills of Wales with ease. It certainly costs less than my car, for the same journey!

A bike seems fine in the summer, but would not be so enjoyable in the rain or wind.
I just wonder, how people could be convinced to make short trips by bike; new cycle lanes and places to lock up your bike and outside shops will certainly help. Maybe they should include bike accessories as standard so people can easily connect bags etc. to an electric bike. I would certainly consider renting one on a holiday. Not a clue where I could charge one if I wanted to cycle a longer distance.

My family has been lucky during this global pandemic; our attitudes are changing over time. I need to try other fun local activities before the opportunities are lost.”

[Shameem - Swansea, Wales]
By Damien Rosser

23/08/2020

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