Is HOPE the most important word in the world right now?

How environmental actions on climate change provide us with hope.

It can be very easy to dismiss individual local projects or actions to tackle the global nature and climate emergency as being a drop in the ocean.

After all, what's the point of planting sea grass when rising sea temperatures are likely to kill the sea grass being planted? We're currently warming the planet quicker than cooling it and unless we stop with the harmful actions then starting with the healing can seem like a waste of precious resources. Much like hot dry conditions threaten all the young tree saplings we're busy planting in a desperate attempt to stave off Armageddon, our warming seas are a direct threat to sea grass. So unless we turn off the taps in Greta Thunberg and her overflowing bath, what is the point of calling in the plumber?

I've had similar thoughts with regards to litter picking, why pick litter when the flow of litter into our communities is relatively unimpeded? As long as the litter keeps being dropped then picking can seem pointless. You could say the same for 'Balsam Bashing' and many other things people do to try and improve their local environments. But watching the Star Wars movie Rogue 1 recently I was remined that in the midst of despair, what movements for change need most is that state of being we call HOPE.

If you've not seen it, Rogue 1 is set before the first ever Star Wars film which made overnight stars of its young largely unknown actors. The Death Star has just been completed and the Rebellion is fracturing in the face of certain defeat. But a small group of rebels decide that there is still a chance to turn things around and they set out on a mission against impossible odds, and they do just enough to restore that key element which is fundamentally lacking within the rebellion, HOPE.

OK so it's only a movie. But in the fight against overwhelming odds, stories of hope provide us with a very important narrative; that individual actions can make a difference and that we can in our lifetimes do just enough to pass the baton of hope on to the next generation. No, we probably won't solve the climate crises by our own individual actions or small local projects but we do do enough to make that one crucial difference. In taking action we provide others with hope.

And HOPE might just be the most important word in the world right now.

So simply do what you can, where you can, when you can and ignore people like me who tut and say that your actions are too small to make enough of a difference. After all, to quote Edgin Darvis from another fantasy movie; "We must never stop failing, because the minute we do, we've failed." (Dungeons &Dragons, Honour Among Thieves - for the movie buffs amongst you, he also plays Solo, the prequel to Rogue 1).

So do take action. Do fail. Do feel like a failure. Because it is only through failing that we will ever have any hope of ever succeeding.

#climatechangeaction #environmental #people #change #projects #robots #film #starwars #Rogue #dungeonsanddragons

And here's the article about robots planting sea grass that was shared by @DavidBlair that got me thinking about all this... Climate change: Robots help seagrass restoration - BBC News