Killing With Kindness

Listening to all the debates and discussions about Ash Die-back has been disheartening.  Finger pointing with the benefit of crystal clear hindsight is all very easy. It's the governments fault!  It's the Woodland Trusts fault!  Etc etc.  But for me there is a much bigger picture behind this disease.  It isn't just the fault of the government for not acting more quickly, it isn't just the fault of NGOs and others who have encouraged planting trees without checking their provenance, it is the fault of the environment movement itself which has fallen into the contemporary desire for quick fixes.

For years now "plant a tree and save the planet" has been the accepted way of doing our bit to counteract our high output of greenhouse gases.  It is a guilt tamer, a conscience salver and a quick fix for the destruction of the habitats we have degraded and the species we have lost.  Most of the time it didn't matter what tree or where it was planted  as long as it was a tree and as long as it grew.  This has been our very modern approach to a problem - get a quick fix, get a sound byte and get over it.  The trees that are/were planted are often quite well grown, we can't even wait for seeds to germinate.  It all has to happen now with instant gratification because we want to feel better about being Westerners quickly.

So - we grow lots of trees from nurseries abroad, we plant great forests or small woods and we think job done.  But it isn't.

Maybe this crisis will help us all to think about our relationship with nature more deeply.  Nature doesn't do quick fixes, it beats to its own rhythm at its own pre-determined pace and history shows that whenever we try to manipulate that pace or its rhythm we run into deep trouble.  The history of catastrophic introductions to counteract pests are prime examples.

If we want to replace trees we have lost then each place has to be seen in in own right, having its own local ecology and it can't be replaced quickly.  Woodlands are like societies, we need different ages, different types to fulfil all the different needs of complex interactions, most of which we barely understand.  Most specialists struggle to fully comprehend the mysteries of a woodland, how can the rest of us re-create it with little or no knowledge?

The environment movement has made us all into ecologists - "ecology" is such a misused and misunderstood word.  It has tapped into our desire to make amends but given us the wrong toolkit to do so.  Too many people talk about ecology and conservation without a clue what those terms really mean - and damage continues to be done - we are killing with kindness.

Now is the time to step back, to accept we must wait and be patient and be more controlled in our responses and more informed in our choices.  Yes we have made a mess, yes it can be fixed, but not necessarily that quickly - and this generation may not see the benefits.  We have to have a mentality more like Capability Brown, the great landscape gardener.  He designed his great gardens with no expectation he would see the end result, he knew he had to wait for seeds to grow, for landscapes to fill in.  This is a mindset we have lost with our instant age.

I think this is a time of re-awakening of deeper truths which we have tried to bury as we have scrambled for the fast acting solution.  Lets stop finger pointing and start reconsidering our approach to making amends with nature - and let nature be our guide, not the zeitgeist of our fast and furious age.

Equality and Ecology

Tina Beattie has restarted her blog - and I'm delighted. I too - like so many - am horrified by the recent Dublin Diocese findings, and the many other terrible crimes that have lain undiscovered and unchallenged for decades under heavy, immovable clerical respectability. The light of truth and penitence needs to shine on these findings and nothing short of a Truth and Reconciliation process will begin to heal the wounds.

Tina and I have been talking about all things Catholic for a while, and as she has made the case for a review of sexuality and the Church so much more clear and human, I have - hopefully - tried to show that care for the planet we walk upon and the creatures who share our space is not to be reduced to campaigns to change lightbulbs or hand wringing over extinction rates. Our relationship with the natural world embraces all that it is to be fully human, to live dignified, compassionate and empathetic lives, and to view oursleves as humble creatures of God, alongside all others.

We are changed by our actions and we can become more or less human by even small acts of disregard and disrespect. We are diminished when we fail to see the deeper meanings and teachings behind the everyday, and that can apply to how we view a robin in the garden or how much we recycle. Archbishop Rowan Williams puts it beautifully:

"If I ask what’s the point of my undertaking a modest amount of recycling my
rubbish or scaling down my air travel, the answer is not that this will
unquestionably save the world within six months, but in the first place
that it’s a step towards liberation from a cycle of addiction that is keeping
me, indeed most of us, in a dangerous state – dangerous, that is, to our
human dignity and self-respect".

And if we cannot respect ourselves because we are distorted by acts which leave us with a dissonance that sets up conflict and uneasiness about what we are, then we cannot wholly respect others.

By adopting a more mindful approach, a more humble view of who and what we are - without ever compromising our sense of self-respect - then it will be impossible to dismiss the right to equality and full dignity of millions of people in the Catholic Church who feel dis-empowered, under-valued and marginalised. When we gain a true understanding of ecology, behaviour, interconnectedness and whole-functioning of life then we begin to touch on what it means to be fully human, and that doesn't mean fitting an idealised model.

Wobbly Tables, Big Ideas

Gave a talk in the Cotswolds last night, I love eccentric English events.  No one had a key to get into the village hall so we all sat outside while the vicar, Methodist minister and Catholic priest made panicked calls on mobile phones, so when we did get in no chairs out, screen had to be balanced on wobbly table, no cups of tea ready etc.  All very good notes for a novel if I was a writer, and I'm always delighted at how lovely people are in mini crises.  But what I have noticed recently is that ideas which seem so second nature and obvious are new and revelatory to others who are not versed in ecology and environmental issues.  Two people recently have said how they had never thought about how interconnected we are with all of life and not just observers on the outside.  Others wonder if nuclear testing underground is shifting the earth on its axis and causing climate change.  One lady asked me once if we are leaving huge holes that collapse under the sea when we extract oil - did that cause the Tsunami?  Many others have asked why it matters if animals go extinct because we have survived very well without the dodo.  And from a faith point of view a clergyman wondered how a right relationship with the natural world could be "sold" from the pulpit, it seemed such a strange idea.  There is so much information out there about everything now, people can look up, find out about, immerse themselves in any subject but it is so hard to make sense of it all.  I feel overwhelmed by the amount of politics, history, literature, the arts, I feel I should know,  but very few can be polymaths, not me for sure.  It is easy to be confused.  But many people are talking about these issues now and that is great.