The Green Revolution starts here

"The Green Revolution starts here" is a call to action

It's pretty clear that the politicians and powers that be are not interested in environmental matters and the climate emergency. So we must each take our own small revolutionary steps.

What might the Green Man might say and think about the current state of the planet. He would surely urge us - each of us individually - to make small changes in our lives. Imagine if millions made these small differences what an ENORMOUS difference that would add up to?

And so I thought I'd paint this very thing, and the result is the Green Revolution starts here. I'm not trying to tell you how to live your life - you can only do what you can according to your conscience.

Making small changes to a greener life

My hope is that the Green Man will encourage you to make some small, or maybe some big, changes in your life. Despite all the global summits and the international resolutions, the powers that be are not going to help us. We have to take personal responsibility immediately. The first thing we can all do is buy less stuff, and use what we have. This, of course, terrifies economists and politicians as our global capitalist systems are based on perpetual economic growth.

Our personal Green Revolution

These are the actions my husband and I have taken in our own personal Green Revolution.

1. We have switched to an environmentally-friendly energy supplier - Ecotricity.
2. We have invested in a solar PV array to generate our own power. We have also invested in a battery so we can store the surplus electricity we generate to use when the sun's not shining.
3. On cold evenings we burn locally grown logs in our stove. Our woodshed was built from pallets wombled from skips.
4. We eat a vegetarian diet. And we have cut down massively on dairy.
5. We have reserved one area of our garden for wildflowers, and I plant insect-friendly flowers in the rest of the garden.
6. I am trying to grow some of our own food.
7. We have only one car (now 10 years old and bought second hand) and a motorbike. I hardly ever ride the bike, but we need a second vehicle as there is no bus service any more to our village.
8. We work from home (no commuting!) and did so from well before lockdown. (We have a visionary employer.)
9. We buy second-hand stuff whenever possible.
10. We use our things until the end of their natural life - and crucially we repair things as we go along.
11. We wear our clothes for an extra day or two to cut back on laundry. (Undies excluded!)
12. We try not to buy new stuff at all - my purchases are usually art materials and books.
13. We give away or sell stuff we don't use or need anymore.
14. We don't shower every day.
15. In the bathroom we use eco-friendly products: bars of soap, and hair products that we can refill from The Market Garden.
16. I have had the same thermal 'travel' mug for 12 years now and have always asked coffee shops to refill it. It used to be a struggle to get baristas to use my cup but this has suddenly got easier.
17. I 'womble' useful stuff out of skips (I know, I have no shame!) - 'waste' wood for the fire mostly, but all sorts of marvellous stuff can be found.

But I accept we're not perfect at all! We can all only do what we can do. We have some notable failures:

1. Of course we buy loose fruit and veg, but plastic food packaging is constant struggle. Our local zero-waste shop The Market Garden has been a great help.
2. With friends and family living all over the planet, to pledge never to fly is not possible. We need to see the people we love.
3. Both my husband and I enjoy vaping. The plastic bottle waste this produces bothers me - come on, multi million £ vape industry, it must be possible for you to allow me to refill my vape juice bottles? I hate having to put them in the recycling bin where I can't be sure they'll be properly sorted and not just shipped off to China.
4. We have cats which I love dearly. But they are carnivores. Nature made them that way.