Small Steps to Walk the Country
On Monday evening, we had the humble and yet humourous Roger Morgan-Grenville in to talk about his newest book Across A Waking Land. For those who were unable to make it, I’ve summarised the evening as best as I can.
Roger is a an esteemed nature writer, who is passionate about encouraging and inspiring us, Joe Public, to take small steps to help support nature and the world to heal. His talk was educational without being judgemental, as he wove his way through his slides to tell us about his journey.
Starting in Lymington in March last year, Roger wanted to focus on the importance of spring and the impact it has on our country, so he followed it as it moved across the country. Spring starts first in the South East of the country and moves toward the North West over a period of several weeks, waking new flowers and rousing animals. Creatures (great and small) use winter as a time to rest and recuperate, and the ever early spring is taking time away from these animals being able to rest. Roger said something that has stuck in my mind, “seeing daffodils on boxing day is not a good thing”. The milder weather, that can cause plants to bloom earlier, has wider complications for our environment. It can change the locations of migrating species, alter the awakening time of hibernating animals, and increase the seasonal insect populations.
Changes of habitat, through commercial means, have left areas of land desolate and without wildlife. In his talk, Roger focused on the unnecessary draining of peat bogs, to the token attempts from governments and corporations to “reverse” climate change by planting trees without any consideration for what trees, and whether they are actually helping. Something that I learnt was that some trees are more beneficial to animals and insects when they’re rotting, especially evergreens as they carpet the ground below, preventing creatures from being able to live.
We all hear these messages about non-new-able energy sources, about shopping local and being much more environmentally friendly. Some of these things can feel insurmountable to some; or perhaps we feel that change needs to come from the top, but the message from Roger was this: individuals can all help by taking small steps. We don’t all need to trade in our cars and start cycling, nor start living solely off the land. We can stop cutting our grass, we can plant wildflowers instead of roses, we can double check where our meat is coming from and make sure its as ethical as possible, we can join conservation groups and charities and get involved in securing a future for our forest, wildlife and future generations.
If you want to read more in depth about Roger’s journey Across A Waking Land is available at the Imaginarium, Hardback : £18.99.
