Anyone looking for new blogs on this site over the past year will have been disappointed. On the face of it, the lockdown should have provided lots of opportunity for creative writing. As it turned out, we channelled all of our energies into garden projects, some made possible by the absence of visitors. We very much hope that this year the developments in the garden can be enjoyed by many people: at an open weekend at the end of May, and from then on by arrangement until the end of July. This plan is entirely provisional on the two us receiving the Covid vaccination prior to those dates. And, for various reasons, we have decided that this will be our last year opening Airdlin Croft under the auspices of Scotland’s Garden Scheme.
It is customary to begin each new year with something akin to optimism. Perhaps encouraged by the lengthening days and the first signs of new growth, we imagine the opportunities for a fresh start. We make resolutions, usually involving behavioural changes that we identify as potential improvements. Though generally, on the basis of experience, we don’t necessarily expect to fulfill those resolutions. We are hopeful rather than optimistic.
I recently came across two people’s ideas on the subject of optimism. One thought that it constituted a moral imperative while the other declared it to be another word for complacency. I tend to side with the latter opinion, though think that hopefulness, at least, has some virtue.
The danger of optimism, I would suggest, is that it can inspire complacency. The optimist often correctly identifies positive developments while turning a blind eye to everything that is counter-productive. For example, in the case of man-made climate change, it certainly is good news that finally, a phenomenon known about for more than a hundred years is beginning to take centre stage. It may be that Covid-19 has rammed home the reality that humans are part of a biosphere over which they have limited control. Greta Thunberg also deserves enormous credit.
But we could listen to the ambitious targets announced by Boris Johnson – of 60% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, or net zero by 2050, and think good, he’s got it sorted; but only if we choose to forget that at every phase of the Covid crisis he has over-promised and under-delivered. Likewise, on the other side of the Atlantic, those who believe in Donald Trump overlook an important point: the man is a liar.
A more realistic view on tackling the climate emergency can be found in the Scottish Government’s publication, ‘Net Zero Nation’, which suggests that ‘60% of the changes required to reach net zero will be, at least in part, behavioural or societal’. In other words, we can’t depend on someone else to do that in which we all have a vital role to play. Nor, incidentally, should we forget that the climate emergency is only one symptom of a damaged planet. From the same publication, ‘biodiversity and climate change are inextricably linked. Nature-based solutions to mitigating climate change are integral to achieving net zero’.
Is it perhaps that optimism, rather than being synonymous with complacency, is just another word for faith? Which is just another word for wishful thinking?
Faith in non-realities has, over centuries, created a gulf between humans and the rest of the living world, affecting how we use or abuse it.. The notion that we are in some fundamental way different, immune from natural phenomena, has in no small measure accelerated our journey to the brink – the position where we are not only trashing a myriad of lifeforms but endangering our own survival. And faith, for countless millions, continues to engender the belief that a higher authority will intervene on our behalf; that it is not down to us, individually or collectively, to get our act together.
If the insidious influence of Big Book is still not apparent to many, simply because it has permeated our culture for so long, the structural role of falsehood in our society has been illuminated only too obviously in the last few years: by Boris’s bus, Trump’s America First, and the social media-driven hysteria of the anti-vaxxers. (I write this as Trump’s deluded disciples run amok in Washington. And it should be remembered that he has used both Big Book and Big Tech to further his personal ambitions. And he didn’t invent Fake News). But over the same period, science has also shone its light, perhaps most spectacularly in the development of anti-viral vaccines and genome sequencing; and, over a much longer period, correctly predicting how anthropogenic climate change would affect our lives in the 21st century.
Incidentally, I am not suggesting that there is anything inherently bad about either historical texts or information technology. It is how they are used which creates the problems.
It is my hope that more and more people are taking notice of the science and paying less attention to mythology. That hope is strengthened by the general consensus that the majority of UK citizens comply with lockdown restrictions once they understand why they are necessary. As the message and evidence of climate catastrophe become clearer, those protesting that nobody is going to tell them what they should eat will become as marginalised as those who currently refuse to wear face masks.
While I find it hard to be optimistic on this score, there are still some certainties which will contribute to a happy new year at Airdlin Croft. Come hell or high water – and some are experiencing both – a percentage of the seeds which we are now sowing will germinate. Some of them will develop into mature plants and produce flowers, fruit and seeds, and that cycle will continue. Likewise, the majority of the trees in our wood and shelterbelts will continue to increase in stature, even though some might succumb to disease and storm damage. It even seems likely, at least in the short term, that our tally of recorded bird species, now standing at 101, will continue to rise.We encourage all who can to come and share our enthusiasm and enjoy the garden which we are still fortunate enough to develop. By doing so you will help us to raise more funds for Fauna and Flora International. But please check the SGS website before arriving.
Thank you.