"Fair to Middling"

Many of us may think it's not worth posting about something unless we can say it's brilliant, amazing or outstanding on one end of the scale, or terrible, awful or disastrous, on the other.

Anyone asking me how my first Climate Rest went this weekend would be honestly told it was 'fair to middling'.

The truth is that changing the world is not a dramatic event whether one, two or many people are doing it. It's not headline news, especially when it took us humans over a hundred years to get to this place. The challenges I experienced could be considered first-world problems at best and hundreds of thousands around the world live without power every day. Why bother? Here's what experienced in my 24-hour Climate Rest this weekend and why I will bother again.

I'm sharing my home with someone who did all the legwork on installing solar panels with a battery and switching to a renewable energy company. He's currently reading Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom?by Dr Patrick Moore, founder and dropout from Greenpeace. While he doesn't agree with a lot of it, it does make one question some of the politics around Climate Change. The tension we experienced as a result of this is no doubt a microcosm of what is going on in the world, yet we are able to live in harmony and have interesting conversations about the choices we're both making.

Two people signed up on Eventbrite within an hour

That's not dramatic but one is known to me and the other a stranger. It's encouraged two people already to take a day off from consumption. It's a mindful activity, not just an actual event. Several interesting conversations have started as a result of this 'hair-brained' idea as people engage and think about this.

We switch on when we switch off

I became much more aware of my surroundings. My senses were heightened and I wasn't distracting myself constantly. In 1845, Karl Marx wrote that religion is “the opiate of the masses”?believing it disconnected disadvantaged people from the here and now, and dulling their engagement in progressive politics*. I wonder what the modern opiates of the masses are doing to dull our engagement in important debates. Social media seems to have encouraged an alternative, the cancel culture. Sadly, the UK educational system doesn't teach or promote debate.

Journal entry, 7pm Saturday 5th August 2023:

'It has begun. The clock is ticking in a quiet room, it's raining and the sky is reflecting a rather dull light. My appliances are plugged out, as are the fridge, freezer and microwave. The cake I've made for tomorrow's barbeque won't be iced as I can't melt chocolate; I'll just have to be creative!

'I'm upstairs because Andrew is watching the rugby. Although I'm sad that he isn't coming on board, he will happily refrain from kettle and microwave use and lights in shared spaces. Running the Tesla from battery only tonight won't work because of an emergency trip to the airport this afternoon [to help out a friend in need].

'Still, I feel content. There's a certain surrender in this that feels right. I'm going to read for a bit while there's natural light.' I had 40 winks after reading, possibly because of the deep sense of being tuned in to my body at the end of the day without electronic distraction.

There's beauty in simplicity

Having had a main course lunch, I had a lovely fresh chicken and salad sandwich made from leftovers and Andrew had other leftovers. We ate by candlelight and then set up for a game of Scrabble. We were members of a Scrabble Club many years ago, so this is a lovely memory we share that takes us back. I lost on Saturday but redeemed myself on Sunday!

Night and Day

Winding down with only candlelight and silence was very calming and led to quality sleep. By contrast, washing with a basin of cold water in the morning was very 'refreshing' and I thought of women who stand in the river to wash in countries like Bangladesh and parts of India. It was colder this weekend so I didn't experience the benefit of summer weather! I've since discovered how badly women are affected by lack of access to clean water**.

It took longer to prepare for bed and for the day, especially having slept longer due to a greater sense of rest, but everything felt less hurried too.

Appreciating Water

I hadn't realised how much our lives revolved around water - hot, cold and clean - when we need it, how we need it and how quickly. I boiled three kettles before starting and I realised what a precious commodity it is and how much I take it for granted. We had about 2.3L of hot water for 24 hours and it was adequate for me. I'm sure Andrew and the church appreciated that he had a hot shower after his 15-20-mile cycle first thing in the morning! I didn't have coffee because I only enjoy proper decaf and that's not possible without making water and coffee hot together - perhaps I need to invest in coffee bags but I need to check out their sustainability credentials.

24 hours without power-sourced entertainment, mostly

I missed the radio most - music and chat and possibly the distraction of it, but was surprised how quickly I adjusted to the quiet. I intended cycling to church but got a lift with Andrew in the Tesla as I wasn't in time to cycle. And when we got there they were serving breakfast, kept warm with tea lights, but I know it was cooked in someone's home before that. Of course, the slides and sound were all powered too and I appreciated that.

We spend the afternoon gardening in the beautiful sunshine and that was glorious and long overdue before our second game of scrabble, slicing up the cake and heading off to the barbeque on foot. Our braai (South African barbeques) would be done on a Webber with wood and coal as opposed to gas, so a question was asked as to which one was worse for the environment. Answers on a postcard please...

I did manage to melt white chocolate in a little bowl on the barbeque lid and drizzled it over my legendary Chocolate Biscuit Cake which I'd decorated with several foraged blackberries. As I've always known from my days as a Speech and Drama teacher, limitations make us more creative. Sadly, I didn't take a photograph, having abandoned technology at this stage in the Climate Rest.

What is the conclusion of the matter?

We managed to do this in harmony, with debate and enough solidarity to make it work. On a practical level, I won't save so much cold water and perhaps just get on with it and have a cold shower. I won't charge my phone, MiFit and toothbrush in the afternoon this weekend, as I'll get by without them during the Climate Rest period.

A little bit reminiscent of lockdown, I went back to normal that evening but I would definitely say it's a new normal and it will become newer as this one-day-in-seven of Climate Rest becomes part of my life.

I started this article with the title 'Fair to Middling' - that seems like a weather description we will aspire to have in a world where extreme weather conditions are destroying lives and livelihoods. I'm going to keep up this one-day-in-seven Climate Rest as far and long as possible, raising awareness and appreciation of my environment. I hope more people will have a go and join me here. Will you?

*Religion: less ‘opiate,’ more suppressant, study finds, article by Kate Blackwood, Cornell Chronicle.

**'Ten worse countries for access to clean water', article by World Vision