I 100% agree with Chris Packham, we are not using the right language. It is astonishing that we do live on this planet!! Breakdown. Destroyed. Extermination. He won’t be thanked for this. He will be derided. He will be criticised. He will be accused of doom and destruction. Governments don’t have the courage or determination to change the narrative. They have no will or stomach for it. And capitalism won’t allow it. There are too many countries that are hell-bent on destroying their neighbours, and there are too many destructive dictatorial Governments for us to turn this around. There are a lot of individuals and some organisations that do care, but its like the bat in the programme I was watching on BBC3 a couple of nights ago…’They’ are in the minority and will be overwhelmed. The only way this planet will recover and new species to develop is for humans to become extinct. And so far some individuals and Governments are making good progress on that front.
If you care to watch the brief reel. It’s on Facebook
I’ve seen so many posts recently on Instagram and Facebook of posts sharing the loss of a child, whether it’s pre-birth, still-birth (born sleeping) or from SIDS and various accidents or illness (an alarming number to cancer).
Each and every one is heart-breaking 🥺😢💔 and I can’t imagine the pain of that loss.
And yet, so often, folks are uncomfortable with listening to or hearing about that loss. They try to change the subject or say things like “oh you can try again ” as if you’ve bought a chicken from Tesco and it’s off…thrown in the trash. That’s such a horrible thing to say “you can try for another one”.
Just listen…loss is loss, no natter at what stage or age, and especially when it’s a baby or child. It’s not something you ‘get over’. It’s a pain and trauma parents carry for the rest of their lives.
I know of a wee lassie, born sleeping in February; Maisie. I think about her often and about her Mama who is struggling so bravely. She shared her story on Facebook and its had the most incredible response, with people writing Maisie’s name in the sand at the beach and on mountain tops, right around the world. A small thing, but of great comfort to her mother. Support from around the world acknowledging that her little girl existed.
It’s also been a real eye-opener, quite shocking really, at how the medical profession, more often than not, are totally cold and uncaring and even brutal in how they manage miscarriage and death of tiny babies. Some of the stories have reduced me to tears in their stark brutality…at the death of the parents hopes, and dreams. The forever “what ifs”. This is such a beautiful quote I’d like to share. I hope folks, especially mothers, can keep this in mind and just listen It’s important.
Although it was a dream of mine to sail into Venice on a cruise ship after watching them sail into Venice from the sidelines, I’m really glad they’re taking this action. The damage caused is shocking and we really must take more care of the heritage of this fabulous place.
What are your thoughts on this action? Have you sailed into Venice on a cruise ship? Should cities like Venice be taking similar action to prevent further damage caused?
Every day I despair about the amount of plastic we are forced to use. There’s very little these days that doesn’t contain plastic in one form or another. Its even been found in the human blood stream and foetus’.
Yesss…..I know!! I said “no more challenges” – don’t criticise me please 🤪😁😁
But I signed up for not one, but TWO of the new Conqueror challenges….how could I resist…I mean seriously, just look at that medal. Is it beautiful or what!!! 🧡🧡
Mount Kilimanjaro https://www.theconqueror.events/kilimanjaro/ can you just imagine what the postcards are going to look like! 🏔🌄🐘🐘🐘 I’ve been hoping they would produce another short-distance challenge that I could squeeze in somewhere this year, and this fits perfectly 97km.
and please don’t tell anyone 🤫🤫🤫but I’ve also signed up for the Kruger Park challenge – since I have visited the Kruger National Park a couple of times in my life, this was a MUST DO. I’m going to do this challenge in memory of my brother Arnold who died when he was in his late 20s from a ruptured ulcer. He would have been 66 in August of this year…. One of my fondest memories of him is on our 1st visit to the Kruger National Park. We were in our mid teens, when my father took us, his 2nd wife, my baby brother Kevin and my younger sister Susan to the KNP. While we were driving there my baby brother threw up all over Arnold’s trousers…..so instead of walking around in his underpants, my father made me give him my bright blue psychedelic bell-bottoms (1970’s fashion) to wear…the top fortunately was long enough for me to be wearing a very short mini-skirt 🤭🤭 It wouldn’t have been quite so bad, except that Arnold had on a burnt orange stripped shirt…paired with bright blue psychedelic patterned pants…not so cool. And that is my over-riding memory of my 1st trip to the KNP. I’m sure we saw lots of animals, but mostly my memories are of that, oh and the breakfasts…I thought I’d died and gone to heaven! The breakfasts were sumptuous.
The pink outfit in this image is pretty much what it looked like, except blue with multi-coloured patterns. If I recall correctly, it was a suit my Mother would have made for me since she was a seamstress and made most of our clothes growing up.
Kruger National Park https://www.theconqueror.events/kruger/ these postcards are going to be amazing!! Looking forward to the information that comes with them.🦓🦏🐘🦒🦛🦁🌅
Anyway, they’re the very first African themed challenges so of course I simply HAD to sign up – Mt. Kilimanjaro whoop whoop Of course my reason for signing up for this one is that my sister and her husband have in fact climbed the REAL Mount Kilimanjaro. I wonder if maybe one day I too will climb it…..??? I got my race bib!! #29 I’m getting closer and closer to #1 But! to my utter dismay, the internet was very slow in my area today and so my race bib number for the KNP is #87 too sad!! 🥺😪😪 damn
This will be my 3rd mountain challenge 1. Mt Fuji 2. Mt. Everest and now 3. Mr Kilimanjaro
Mt. Kilimanjaro
Kruger National Park
My other race bibs were St Francis Way #149 / Giza Pyramid #178 / Mt Everest #218
If you’d also like to walk these challenges, you can find the details here https://www.theconqueror.events/all-challenges/#hw_card This is not my affiliate link….I’ve already had 39 people sign up under my link which is just crazy….so I’m not using it anymore.
This is a really old article, but sometimes my random and accidental keywords take me to interesting places. I also tend to follow a string of articles, clicking from one link to another.
I recently read this article and thought I’d share it with you. It will be interesting to revisit this in what is now only 9 years time and see how much has transpired.
In the meantime, a couple of those predictions are already heading in the right direction, and one of those mentioned, teetered perilously close to the edge of an abyss – the prediction was almost too close for comfort.
I was watching a programme on Blaze this morning; Ancient Aliens, and they were talking about the discovery of a place called Gobekli Tepe. It was fascinating, so I decided to do a bit of research, and found this article.
Let me start off by saying “I hate plastic!”. Strong words, but I do, especially soft, non-reusable, single-use plastic. Personally I think the manufacturers of the stuff should now be sued for negligence (of the planet), wilful destruction (of the environment) and ‘man’slaughter of our animals and sea creatures. There have been so many innovative ideas and new materials created to replace plastic, that the manufacturers no long have an excuse. But of course, that’s not taking into account the oil industry, and the hedge-fund industry. They stand to lose billions of dollars if we stop making plastic.
The issue of soft, disposable, non-reusable plastic and the pollution and destruction they cause/d has been common knowledge and widely spoken about, written about, advertised and poor David Attenborough has been banging his head against the proverbial brick wall for years now. I understand that plastic has it’s uses and certainly the medical industry benefits hugely from soft pliable plastic, but that like other such industries should be the exception.
Think about all those MEGA TONS of plastic rubbish that gets exported from China to the west each year…all those plastic toys that break within a few weeks and even days…all the novelty toys, the junk that comes out of christmas crackers…that stuff all ends up in landfill or rivers or the ocean. We are quite literally choking the life out of our planet with junk. There is NO ‘away’. Just because we bin it or toss it, doesn’t mean it’s gone…it’s there for centuries.
Cheap plastic products from China
If you live in a Western country, or any other country for that matter where you have a TV or access to a smart phone – YOU KNOW THAT PLASTIC KILLS. Think about the high incidence of child cancer in recent decades, and getting worse. About breast cancer, and bone cancer and any other cancer you can think of. I remember in the 70s maybe 1 in 10 people got cancer, now it’s 1 in 2!! Read that again ONE in TWO people now get cancer. Every year we donate millions to fund cancer research, to find a cure. This too has been going on for decades…they haven’t found ‘a cure’, they manage to cure a lot of people, but there is no cure for cancer per se. If they spent those millions on finding a solution, an alternative to plastic or the hundreds of deadly chemicals sprayed on our food each year…then we may get somewhere.
#5 🥺🥺🥺
And that’s not taking into account the effect on our oceans…vital to our continued wellbeing. We’ve seen the footage of the whale trying to swallow the plastic bin, we’ve seen the endless number of whales and dolphins and seabirds and fish washed up dead or dying on our shores with kilograms of plastic in their gut. The sheer agony those creatures must have suffered is beyond comprehension.
And then there’s the fishing industry – destroying the very place they depend upon for their livelihoods.🤬🤬🤬🤬
And yet…..
Death by plastic
I subscribe to the UK Rivers & Canal Trust newsletters and when I can, I contribute financially to support their work. I recently received this newsletter:
Every year an estimated 14 million pieces of plastic rubbish end up in and around our canals and rivers. Sadly we can’t clear all of this plastic up, so 500,000 of those pieces are washed out into the ocean, becoming part of a much bigger global problem.
If everyone who visited one of our waterways picked up just one piece of plastic, the water and towpaths would be clear within a year.
Pledge to fight plastic in your area
We’re (the Canal trust) asking if you and your family can make a pledge to do a litter pick along a towpath near you. We understand it might not be possible for you to meet up, or to get out and about right now. So please do wait until it’s safe and make sure you follow national and local government guidance. You can also read through our safety tips to get yourselves prepared.
This is plastic collected off a UK beach – 1 beach!!
It seems extraordinary to me that even after all these years, so much plastic pollution is still ending up in our waterways. Much as I despise how the manufacturers like to shove the responsibility for the pollution onto our shoulders (if there wasn’t any plastic…), we too have a responsibility to avoid buying the stuff. That said, its easier said than done. Its virtually impossible to buy anything without some form of plastic either attached to (clothing, shoes etc), wrapped in (food, magazines, products etc.) or transported in (think Amazon plastic wrapping). There are an uncountable number of ways plastic is used in our daily lives.
It’s a big fight, it’s a good fight, it’s a depressing fight because no matter what, no matter how much we ‘pick up’ today, tomorrow there will be more.
Death by human pleasure
But it is a fight we need to continue. I remember in 2018 when my daughter was pregnant with her son, my 1st grandchild, I used to spend hours on the beach every day I was home between bookings, picking up 1,000 pieces of plastic. I never left, no matter the weather or my physical discomfort until I’d picked up 1000 pieces. And yet, 2 years later….
The above images were all taken during some of my walks along the Thanet (Kent) coastline in November year, the last 3 images from Pegwell Bay. This area is home to spectacular bird life and designated as a protected area under UK and EU legislation and is also considered a world class wetland.
If that is what is littering the tide line, I shudder to think what is entangled in the wild grasses and mud flats that get covered each day by the tide. The area where the birds that inhabit this area nest.
The Nature Reserve is a Ramsar Site of International Importance and yet its inundated with humans plastic pollution. On the day I was there, besides all the plastic in the above images, on the side of the pathway there was a pile of dog poo bags. 🤬🤬🤬 What is it with dog owners? Why don’t they dispose of the bags in the bins provided or take them home? And let’s not even think about cigarette smokers who throw their disgusting butts into the streets, on the beaches or out their car windows wherever they are. It’s ALL pollution
Will there ever be an end to this horrendous situation we humans have caused?
It is actually just disgusting and we are all responsible.
I just wish there was a solution, but so long as money and profit is more important than people, and people continue to buy convenience products in plastic, there is no hope.
It’s extraordinary…we supposedly put a man on the moon and yet we can’t solve the problem of pollution.
“And beyond that he is, in my view, the most horrible human being who has ever sat in the Oval Office. In addition to being the worst president, he’s a terrible person. What a combination. I hope we’ve learned this lesson. This ought to remind all Americans what happens when you make a mistake with your vote.”
And thank the dear lord he’s on his way…..hopefully never to he seen again
I wish I could share this story a million times, so that a million people could see it, perhaps share it to a million other people, so that a million people could stop polluting and dumping their trash.
With my frequent lengthy walks, and long distance walking, I see trash along the sides of the roads, in the hedges, the fields, and bizarrely even in trees. Its disgusting.
As he says, ultimately those people who dump their trash along the roads and elsewhere, are hurting themselves.
Fly-tipping at its worst
Edit: if you want to see what Curtis is up to, he’s on Instagram under creekrunner242 What a hero, and he turns the trash into art 👏👏👏
Not Just a Granny 
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