By Orla Price
On 30 September this year the Free Word Centre held a discussion on the topic ‘Trust and the environment’. The discussion centred on what sources of information we could trust in the face of climate change, and how education, the media, politics and the public perceived threats to the environment. What I found most innovative and indeed engaging about the nature of the discussions was the choice of speakers and the input from the audience. Chairing the discussion was comedian Tiernan Doueib, and the panel included seventeen year old student and activist Claudia Delpero as well as Tony Birch, an Australian novelist. Also, they happened to have me doing a poem.
Often when trying to access debates and discussions on political subjects we are confronted with ‘experts’, academics and politicians who distance us from subjects that affect us constantly. Speaking in languages of their own, these arenas become intimidating, we are made to feel opinions on these matters are ‘left to the experts’ fostering a culture of helplessness at best and complete detachment at worst. By the end of the discussion an audience member pointed out that if the opinions of front line communities that are experiencing the worst of climate change were taken more into account in the media, as well as having their opinions heard by politicians, the public would find it easier to trust the information about climate change and our future, and would then become more engaged with these issues.
| Tommy Clark, “Harnessing Nature” |
Taking part in this event and also participating in SHAKE! has shown me there are alternative ways to communicate, and that experiential knowledge and telling our stories can have as much –indeed, probably more- impact than passively listening to expert opinions purposely convoluted to distance us from engaging properly with important issues, just in case we pose a threat.
We’re told Change and flux are a part of nature
So nothing or no one can be sure
No magic calculator
Calculating the sums of the future
No equations to justify pure
So we go round in circles with no end
Inaction, the only theory to defend
Can’t see the destination, this road has too many bends
People are showing us the answers
Others tell us to step back
Say we can’t understand
Palms up, overturned hands
Cash is passed on
They’re passing the blame on
Thinking how long this will go on
And I’m doing my bit
But truth is, I’m getting scared of the news
And truth is, I don’t know what more I can do
Cause I’m following the advice
But the TV’s shouting crisis
Worrying how much time there is
In a society with no off switch
So I’m doing my recycling
But they’re making more packaging
Taking the bus to work
Elsewhere they’re selling mercs
Checking the labels on my food, trying not to import
Climate refugees moving country, trying not to get hurt
Somewhere in the back of my mind,
I’m thinking it wasn’t us that overstepped the line
We’re coming to a point where doing our bits not enough,
There’s got to be someone out there we can trust