“Maybe we could build a fire, sing a couple of songs, huh?”

I've been trying to write this post for a long time. Ever since the first Blue Friday post, in fact, and that was way back in November, last year. Every now and then, I open the draft and write a few more words, but mostly I just wonder how I can fashion this into something that people might want to read. That's what this blog used to be, mainly: opinion pieces. Not too many people read it back then, certainly not as many as drop by these days to see what YouTube video I've embedded.

I tried to touch on it recently. Well, I say recently, it was September 2017, but I tried to explain my pet theory of Earth as a spring, and how I feel this particular spring was reaching its inelastic point. I should add that I'm not an environmental scientist, and my theory hasn't appeared in any journals, nor has it been peer-reviewed. In fact, the only places it has appeared are here and in the pub. But that doesn't make it any less valid, does it? Maybe, maybe not.

Either way, I need to drag all this up again, sorry. It's just that the pace of change seems to be accelerating, beyond even the more pessimistic estimates. The spring is being stretched, further and faster. Something's got to give. Don't believe me? Here are some notable recent(ish) news stories that you may have noticed:

• 'Climate change moving faster than we are,' says UN Secretary General (BBC News, 10-Sep-2018)
• Plummeting insect numbers 'threaten collapse of nature' (The Guardian, 10-Feb-2019)
• Rain melting Greenland ice sheet 'even in winter' (BBC News, 07-Mar-2019)
• And if you want to model various levels of sea-level change, such as the 7m mentioned in the previous story...
• Water shortages in England 'within 25 years' (BBC News, 19-Mar-2019)
• Dead Philippines whale had 40kg of plastic in stomach (The Guardian, 18-Mar-2019)
• In case you think that's an isolated story
• Population and consumption causing extinction crisis and water shortage (Population Matters, 21-Mar-2019)
• Many British pollinating insects in decline, study shows (BBC News, 26-Mar-2019)

So. Let's have some sort of recap. There is undeniable climate change occurring. Whether you believe it is man-made or not, I don't care, just so long as you accept that it's happening, that's a start. Sea levels will rise. The population is spiralling. But the ecosystem is filling up with plastic, everywhere. An insect apocalypse is coming. There'll be no pollinators left. In other words... there will be more people than ever, with less land for them to live on and less to grow crops on (if we can even pollinate), let alone raise cattle, and drinking water will be a precious resource. It's not hard to imagine that the final roll of humanity's dice will be going to war over food and water, is it?

There is a school of thought that mankind is smart, and that we can invent or innovate our way out of this - the old idiom that necessity is the mother of invention seems to fit, doesn't it? But I can't help but feel that we're waking up too late, and that there are too many vested interests amongst the ruling classes for the kind of action and decisions that need to be taken to actually happen. When you have a political class whose prime objective isn't the national (or global) interest but self-interest, when being populist enough to stay in power is their key driver, what chance is there? And when policy and investment decisions are made to line the pockets of associates and backers... well, that's when the leader of the free world backs increased investment in coal. Heaven help us.

I'm a parent, like many of you, no doubt. I used to think that crunch time would come, not in my life time and hopefully not in that of my child, but I envisaged a difficult life for any grandchildren I might have. But with every new story I read, every new piece of peer-reviewed climate science that is published, the more I start to worry for this generation, the current crop of kids. We talk, at home, about our child's future, how we can ensure the best education, what skills to equip New Amusements Minor with. But on top of the traditional, scholarly pursuits, we've also talked about how we teach skills around growing food, building shelter and self-defence. And that's not because I'm turning into some kind of evangelical prepper, with an "End is nigh" placard and a cupboard full of tinned food, but I do think life is going to have to change, radically, for everyone if anyone is to survive.

So what can we do?

I mean, it's easy to think that we, as individuals, can't affect an impact on a system with 7.7 billion others in it. And maybe that's true. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. And it doesn't mean we shouldn't spread the word about it too. I expect we've all got low-energy light bulbs and loft insulation, bags for life and reusable coffee cups. That's great. Fuel-efficient, low-emissions cars too. Also great. But none of this is going to be enough. We have to reduce consumption of everything. Recycle and repurpose more. Have fewer children. Use less power, and source what power we do use from renewable sources. We need to grow food, encourage wildlife, pick up litter, don't ask our GPs for antibiotics when we've got the sniffles, cycle more, burn less, actively seek alternatives to single-use plastics, choose biodegradable detergents... Hell, we need to choose life!

All of us. All the time.

It isn't easy. We are all part of the problem, but all must do our best to be some small part of a solution. Otherwise, there is no solution.

Here are some charities that you might want to get behind: Greenpeace • Population Matters • World Land Trust • WWF

I'm also acutely aware that most of you don't come here for a lecture, or even a rallying cry. It's music, books, TV, film, all the usual. So here's a new song, Armatopia, from Johnny Marr, which he described on Radio 2 this morning as being "about ecology". Bright and breezy sounding but it sort of fits - check the lyrics. Oh, and +10 kudos points for anyone who can ID, without Googling, the quote that gives this post its title...