I made jam last week and it was a delicious revelation! Inspired by the sweet blackberry flavour of success, I’m now agitating my jars of blackberry brandy with as much tender loving care as a thorough shaking can allow. It should be ready for Christmas and, if we get a frost in the next couple of weeks, I also have grand plans to be sipping sloe gin in the New Year.
If you are wondering why I am quite so pleased with my culinary prowess, it is because it is one of those little perks and realisations that has come from residential volunteering. Sure, I have developed all sorts of skills and knowledge during my volunteering placement, such as: how to dismantle and reassemble a brushcutter blindfolded*, how to identify a dragonfly from the merest of glimpses at twenty paces* and how to knock together a field gate and wing capable of withstanding a herd of charging wildebeest*, but the most important realisations have perhaps been more mundane in character. Indulge me if you will....
Prior to beginning my volunteering placement, I was obviously concerned about environmental issues, but detached from the solutions. The problems seemed too big for me to have any bearing on. However, my time here continues to enlighten me to all manner of ways that we can make a difference on some of the big issues:
Heard of the Pacific Garbage Vortex? If not, look it up; it is shocking to learn that an estimated 12 million tonnes of plastic finds its way into the world’s seas every year. Anyhow, my fellow housemates and volunteers have recycling down to a fine art. I’m not just talking about your run of the mill kerbside collection; I’m on about sorting and recycling anything and everything. After all a trip to the local recycling centre every month or two isn’t any real hardship is it? Plus, with our newly acquired MacGyver skill-set*, acquired through a mastery of all power and hand tools, very few items are truly rubbish; they can always be repaired, reused or turned into a rocket launcher with the help of a penknife and a roll of duct tape.
Climate change is often an emotive subject, but what is not disputed is that vehicle emissions and burning of fossil fuels deteriorate air quality. My daily commute is now a short cycle ride to the reserve, but it has lead to a change in mindset. Okay, perhaps the mindset change is also triggered by the fact I gave up work to do this volunteering placement, so fuel is a luxury, but the end result is still the same. Whereas before I would jump in the car without thinking, I now make a conscious decision about when to use the car and if I am, where I need to go and whether I can do other things enroute that save multiple trips. Any journey that is within cycling or walking distance is a real no-go area for me now unless there is a really good justification. Of course this isn’t going to be practical for everyone or indeed all the time, but I figure every occasion I avoid the car helps a little, plus it may not be too late for me to show Bradley Wiggins a thing or two.
It would be remiss of me not to mention the need to support conservation charities. The stickers on my car are testament to my belief in this, and while I found the windscreen-bling mildly distasteful to my minimalist ideals at first, I rationalised that if my advertising of these charities lead to a new member, it is definitely worthwhile. Of course, given how little my car moves these days, I should look at putting stickers on the bicycle!
Anyhow, what I have learnt since being here, and what I think comes across in almost all the blogs, is how much effort and resource goes into conservation and organisations such as the RSPB can only do this thanks to the membership and contributions of time and money it receives from supporters. If you are interested in volunteering your time, we have a Thursday working party and are always happy to welcome new members, please phone the reserve office on 01392 833 311 for more information. Equally if you aren’t a member and are interested in becoming one, you can find details here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/joinandhelp/join/
Before I started volunteering I don’t think I appreciated how important my membership to organisations was, but it is honestly one of the most important things anyone can do to help increase and improve the conservation effort.
Life in the residential volunteers’ house has also introduced me to a range of products that I was unfamiliar with. Eco-friendly cleaning products are available in place of regular household detergents, washing powders, liquids and soap. My initial scepticism over the efficacy of these products has become a realisation that my laundry not smelling of ylang ylang is a small compromise to make if it improves water quality and biodiversity in our water ways.
And with great power, comes great responsibility; which brings me back to jam! As consumers we can buy environmentally friendly products, we can reduce rampant consumerism and we can make informed decisions over the products we buy. Whether we are considering the packaging of the items to reduce waste, the sustainability of the manufacturing process, the inherent harmfulness of the product or the distance it is transported to be on our shop shelves. So, I particularly enjoy tucking into my locally grown seasonal blackberry produce with a clear conscious – albeit I may have deprived a blackbird or two of the best ones, but plenty were left on the bush!
So, maybe I could be feeling virtuous, but that isn’t really my point. Residential volunteering is having a bigger impact on me than simply helping me understand practical habitat management and conservation, it is encouraging me to become better informed about the day to day decisions I take and it seems to me, for the sake of the future of our planet, that isn’t too much to ask of us all!
* statement possibly subject to exaggeration!
This is such a brilliant blog - intelligent, amusing, inspirational. You've really made me think back to my own environmental concerns and actions - and how I've gone a little off course (or 'lazy', tbh). Thanks for the kick up the backside.