The Problem

A trip like this gives plenty of time for thought. In my case, it's often fragmented - ideas pop up, float around for a bit, then submerge again. Some things resurface, though, or other thoughts lead to one central thought.

Perhaps the core thought that others bring up most often is one of scale. I can do my bit - I can stop flying, stop driving, grow my own food and reduce consumption drastically, and live a "one earth lifestyle". I can send emails, write blog posts, contact politicians. But for each "me" doing this, there are others pretty much directly opposed, and many more apathetically opposed (as in, as long as there's petrol at the pump, and food on the shelves of the supermarket, and their wage - or credit card - covers those costs, they don't care) to any significant change towards sustainability.

And even if all we Westerners did our bit, there is the rest of the world's population to think of - China and India being the giants, but the other countries are far from insignificant. They want television and mobile phones and cars and and and... How we can convince them that simple living can be much more rewarding, and much less destructive, I don't know.

Since being in Australia, I have become much more aware of how comfortable our Western comforts actually make us. A few times I borrowed Max's little car to take "stuff" down to look after his cows or work on his lime trees, when I could have walked down. We rented a car to get from Brisbane to Sydney, where we could have taken a train or bus.

But then, what is the point of guilt over these little things when the scale of the problem is so large?! I could buy a 4x4 vehicle and drive up and down the UK all day long, and it would make virtually no impact on anything (except my bank balance, of course!). It's when we all do such things as commuting, every day, that it adds up.

So this is the stick that I'm constantly beating myself with - that the problem is too big, and I'm too small and insignificant.

Of course, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop doing what I'm doing, and just go back into the mainstream - that's no fun at all. In the grand scheme of things (should there even be such a thing), we're pretty small. Just to see each day is an extraordinary blessing! And I'd much rather be learning and growing, than cooped up inside a stuffy office all day long.

It gives me great comfort to look up into the night sky, and get some sense of how small we are. Perhaps the solution is simple - accept what I am, a tiny part of a huge Universe, and get on with doing what I can, what I enjoy, and what I care about. And hope that, along the way, some other people will become interested and inspired.