Photo plant nursery by Jonathan Kimel
I took part in the Green Museum Specialism, taught by Dave Unwin, world-renowned cake connoisseur. It was a bumpy ride because the introduction to our course was about climate change and the jaw-dropping impact we are having on our planet. It was hard to stay positive after some of the classes, but that is where the most valuable part of the module came into play.
Each year Dave asks his students to make a commitment of their own choosing to reduce their impact on climate change. I gave myself three actions to commit to for those three weeks:
● Limit my takeout to once a week at most.
● Stop purchasing meat products.
● Get someone to commit who is not part of the specialism.
I wanted to involve family, and I asked my mom and grandmother to join me in choosing their own commitment. I spent some time discussing some easy commitments, and they chose to use reusable bags. My grandmother even reached out to some family and neighbours to ask them to commit to using reusable grocery bags to shop. It was a fulfilling exercise because I felt I had contributed more just by asking someone else to join me, and I could check in with them, and we could discuss our commitments together.
While keeping my commitments for three weeks, I added some extra challenges, such as looking for foods that were not wrapped in plastic and saving some food scraps for my partner's garden. We ended up keeping eggshells, pistachio shells, and orange peels to bury in the garden to act as additional fertiliser.
I am also looking to add more ways to reduce my carbon footprint since the module has ended. While the topic was somber, my cohort and Dave remained positive by remaining consistent with their commitments and supported each other in doing so.
Dave's passion and consistency have kept me hopeful that climate change and environmental damages can be reduced and reversed if we all stay consistent and motivate one another in our efforts to sticking to our goals. #greengang
Photo by Jonathan Kimel. Photo caption: We used some netting to keep cats and the occasional squirrel out of the garden. We have a mixed garden here with pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, broad beans, cucumbers, climbing green beans, lavender, nasturtium, sunflowers, borage, sweet marjoram, and rosemary
Written by Jonathan Kimel
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