Barnes in Common

the magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
July/August 2007

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'Tis the merry month of May!

By Fanny Ward

As I write there is definitely something strange going on outside. A Force Nine gale is blowing all the VERY early blossom off my trees and the poor old blue tits' offspring, early arrivals, are shivering in the icy blasts! This is not what we expect at this time of year and Prophets of Doom are wringing their hands.

The English race has been having a field-day moaning about our favourite topic - the weather! One minute we are boiling in our beds, the next we are searching for our long-johns. It's marvellous for communication. Silent bus queues have become a breeding ground for mutterings about the end of the world and such-like.

I just wish all these murmurings led to doing something about what seems to be an inevitable and now fast approaching climate change.

It is all documented and you don't need me to expand on the cause and effect of our mis-spent time on Gaia's precious plot.

The best thing we can do is to pull together and try and help our ailing planet. Here, let me quote from a report I read recently:

"... It is possible and desirable for people to live and work within their environments not as enemies, nor even as uneasy bedfellows, but harmoniously under God. If humanity can understand that all creatures, including humans, are under God, it might then use it's God-given intelligence to find out how to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth rather than thinking of it as an adversary and using human intelligence to dominate and control it."

We are a lucky lot living in comfy Barnes, although some of us are more comfortable than others. Are there ways, other than the long-lasting light bulb and turning our washing machines down to 30 degrees, in which we can help?

There has been a lot written about the felling of our valuable trees in London. Trees contribute so much. A large beech tree produces enough oxygen for the daily requirements of 10 people. Plane trees very kindly absorb air pollution through their bark and then shed it.

Plane trees also provide us with cooling shade and sturdy trunks for us to lean against and apparently they have the power to cure a headache if you rest your forehead upon one.

The sight of a beautiful tree is wonderful thing. So, if you have the room in your garden, and some of us have very large gardens, PLANT one for the sake of us all.

Anthony Gardiner has written a piece for this issue extolling the virtues of allotments. There are several sites in Barnes, most of which do have waiting lists. However, if you are interested you can find out more by ringing the Allotments Officer at Richmond Council.

Growing your own cuts down trips to the dreaded supermarket, saves on the packaging that shops use, shoe leather and/or smelly petrol.

If you have enough space in your own garden, try making your own grow-bag using a sturdy old plastic compost bag. With the sides rolled down and filled with the appropriate growing matter, you could produce a fine crop of potatoes.

"Water!!!" I hear you cry. Get yourself a water butt and save it or buy a drought-buster; the hose you can put in your bath which drains the water away out of the window and on to your plants or into that butt you have just bought.

Encourage our wild-life by helping your children to make their own bird boxes out of re-cycled wood. You and they will have such pleasure watching birds moving in and hatching their young. Those birds will provide a chain reaction in the plant and insect world, which all helps us to reduce pesticides.

Don't use chemical slug pellets. I bought some really effective environmentally friendly ones the other day called "Slug Stoppa", made by Fito.
Do nag your friends about re-cycling. Our council people are trying to do their bit by giving us different bins. We really should repay their efforts by using them.

The list of things to "do" is endless and, as I said at the beginning, we should be aware of what we can do. So, come on. Let us start the healing process right now for our children and their children - and above all our most precious Gaia.

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