Choosing the first subject was easy. I immediately knew I wanted to write about urban eco, so I made that my starting point.
I had been swayed from pessimism to optimism by the similarity between London Wetlands and the famous Okavango. The project proved beyond doubt that rehabilitation of nature, even in cities, is possible.
I searched London Wetlands to find the cute otters that had inspired me so, when I discovered I had been donating to ww-F (World Wildlife Fund) instead of ww-T: (Wild Fowl and Wetlands Trust responsible for cute otters) for how long?
Thank goodness I was not in charge of the world. Pesky acronyms, there are so many of them – some easily recognisable such as DOB, ASAP and UFO but others? Ambiguous. Even so, I thought one day I might be able to do more.
When I was a bit older, of course! A responsible parent, that kind of thing. Qualified – was the word I was looking for.
How much older did I think I was going to get before qualification kicked in? I was already a parent. Add to that sorted enough with material possessions , love life, other things (hair) to have a bit of headspace for something altruistic.
So this future me I was thinking about – the kind of person who might be interested in gardening – or joining the WI – thus becoming qualified was…ME?
But I drive a car. I’ve been known to use cling-film. I am indirectly responsible for the death of an innocent guinea pig. And I don’t like lecturing people_Pot_Kettle_Black. That kind of thing. Conservation is a word I associate with people who know what they are doing, and I’m not one of them!
Still, a watched pot does eventually boil (with or without a frog in it) and my conscience was definitely at a fierce bubble, so I started donating to ww-T for a start and kept donating to ww – F for now. (I’d got quite fond of them.)
“London Wetlands Centre is the ideal model for how humankind and the natural world may live side by side in the 21st century.” Sir David Attenborough
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When a leap of faith is your only hope
The Frog Theory