On Saturday 30th October 2021, on the eve of the COP 26 global meeting, all cathedrals and churches within the UK  are to sound their bells for 30 minutes to ring out a warning to humanity, drawing attention to the climate catastrophe ahead. 

COP26 is the 2021 United Nations climate change conference. The UN has brought almost every country on earth together for global climate summits, and it stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’. Climate change has gone from being a fringe issue to a global priority.

Our local church has sounded the bells somewhat early. As I sit and listen to them, I am moved and filled with sadness—great towering thunder clouds beyond drift by interspaced with blue sky. The clean, fresh autumn breeze flushes my space, and I wonder how we could have arrived at a situation of this nature.

A short article written by a farmer in our local village newsletter reflects the state of the world. 

He comments that fertilizer for next years planting should have been delivered in June, five months ago. Currently, there is no sign of it, and it is unlikely to arrive any time soon.  It is apparently in the country, but there are no truck drivers to deliver it.

There is no Roundup in the country until next year. This herbicide is essential for autumn planting. It is used to kill weeds before the cereals are planted. The number of cultivations on the fields can be reduced using less selective but expensive herbicides.

Rape meal,  the residue after the oilseed has been crushed, is used as cattle feed, last weeks order has not arrived, and we have a day worth left.

Feed supplements that are imported are not available until November, so their use is limited. The price had doubled in 12 months. By reducing this, the fat levels in the milk have dropped. Combine this with poor quality first cut hay, and milk production has been reduced.

Staffing is a problem. It is a mix of lethargy, physical and demanding, long hours; it is hard to find willing workers.

 After 86 years, I cannot help reflecting on the past and how different it was. I must nevertheless hesitate and take note of everything going on in the world around me. 

Before 1963 when American medical researcher Dr Jonas Salk announced that he had successfully developed a poliomyelitis vaccine, we mostly disregarded the threat of infection and continued with life as usual.

The MMR vaccine was announced in the USA in 1963, and I was 28 years old. Published measles cases in the United States fell from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands per year. These illnesses were regarded as a fact of life; before that, we stayed in bed until we recovered.

Now we have COVID, and it is regarded to be a pandemic because its effect is widespread. The pandemic is reported to have negatively affected many people’s mental health. It is worth considering that measles affects about 20 million people worldwide a year. In 1980, 2.6 million people died of measles, and in 1990, 545,000 died. (Wikipedia)

One cannot help wondering if this pandemic is a self-inflicted wound driven by opportunity and profit. It has become manifest that more than a third of 26 significant trials of Ivermectin for use on Covid has serious errors or signs of potential fraud. (BBC News)

Wednesday 06

Having had a week of disagreeable weather, Myrtle and I decided to take an early morning walk into the pastures surrounding our home. The days throughout the past week have been dark, cold and wet. A few days ago, I was shocked to see that our barometric pressure was the lowest I had ever seen, 980 hPa.

Our morning today was a clear sky, cold and dry. We felt invigorated; a few high altitude clouds formed a pattern seldom seen. We aim to walk at least one mile every day, but we decided to continue being such an exhilarating day. Despite our season being well into Autumn, the vegetation is still lush and green.

We were excited to see a butterfly, and it evoked thoughts of how few insects we encounter when on walks. Beautiful scenery, enormous fields with straight rows of growing crops and a tiny train passing in the distance. It reminded me of pictures in the encyclopedias I had in my youth.

Marcus Aurelius inspired me. We don't control the world around us; we only control how we respond; he is a student of stoicism and the last of the five good Roman emperors. It was good to be alive on a day like this. It is good to embrace adversity, to challenge ourselves, as Seneca said, stay in the present, stay in reality. Our big mistake is to think that we anticipate death, but most of the death has already passed; time passed is owned by death. Death is not something that lies ahead of us. In the uncertain future, we die each day, and the past is irrecoverable. We returned home, exhausted.