Plastic Free Matthew.

When I was much younger, I was decidedly environmentally conscious. The topic of humanity’s most recent contributions to climate change was just beginning to surface in school curriculum; likely the catalyst for my awareness. As with most children, I had an innate ability and an unrestrained impulse to ask simple questions which more often than not, yielded problematic answers.

“why can’t this change? Why are we doing this? why don’t we stop doing that?”

Easily mistaken for inquiries about the quantity of ice cream available, an unwillingness to remain present in a long car journey, or the visiting of an elderly and invariably smelly relative who struggles to hear what we are saying anyway. But on multifaceted matters of topical concern, the expectation of an uncomplicated answer is just the same. Because when the complexity of human emotion and experience is separated from an issue, it is betrayed by its basic facts and revealed as trivial to the young minds paying attention.

Recently, environmental activist Greta Thunberg has been reminding me of this mindset. Not that I believe in any way that what she feels or is expressing is naive or unconsidered, but really that her perception reminds me of a version of myself that I’d long since lost to adult life. I observed a shift in my nature, as responsibilities of young adulthood began piling up in front of me. Things got in the way, new priorities took possession, distractions materialised. I neglected and overlooked my feelings on (or at least my enthusiasm to do anything about) climate change. In fact, I noticed a similar pattern of indifference in other aspects of my life.

Surely, I was shirking responsibility.

Too often I made the excuse that if something wasn’t financially viable, then it would just have to wait. For me, this meant a personal regard for certain consumables or lifestyles as opulent and extravagant in equal measure. That electric car would just have to wait… I had an unwritten contract with myself…

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