Thinking globally, acting locally

The tiny Hebridean island of Eigg, situated about 10 miles off the west coast of Scotland, has recently received special attention due to the environmental achievements of the community that lives there. The island is a finalist in the ‘The Big Green Challenge’ programme which is designed to stimulate and support community-led responses to climate change.

But what difference can the 86 people on Eigg make in the fight against climate change? Aside from reducing their own carbon emissions significantly, the community is seeking to demonstrate their achievements as far a field as they can. They may live on an island, but first and foremost they are a local community working together to make a difference. The islanders, via their website, promote the idea that other communities should imagine themselves as an island, working together to improve the local environment even though their ‘island’ might be a street, a building, or a school etc.

Small islands have always had to think carefully about the goods and resources they use, not least because of the cost premium of getting them there and the difficulties of dealing with waste within a limited area of land. Thinking of our local community as an island, and taking steps to protect that ‘island’, is a great way of ‘doing our bit’ in the challenge to address climate change. Whether it’s making sure our houses are energy efficient, using the car less or installing solar panels, the ‘quick- wins’ to be had by communities acting locally are enormous. They will aggregate to large steps forward in making a difference, both in carbon reductions and in ensuring the continuation of local services and nice places to live.

No matter what shade of ‘green’ we consider ourselves, acting locally is closely linked to a sense of enlightened self-interest. We can’t deny that it’s in our own (and our family’s) interest to look after where we live. It becomes less easy to say “what about emissions in the US or China? I’ll do something when they do something!” It becomes difficult to imagine that we can simply leave looking after our own ‘island’ to the politicians, and more difficult to convince ourselves that serious environmental impacts won’t happen where we live.
Some people are sceptical about blaming human activity for global warming and the effects that this has had on our climate. Irrespective of this, how many of us can seriously believe that our current use of the planet’s resources is sustainable? The term ‘think global, act local’ has been around for decades, but it’s never been more relevant than it is now.
http://islandsgoinggreen.org/
http://www.biggreenchallenge.org.uk/