IMPACT (Inspiration Meets Positive Action and Creative Thinking)

Every one of us has a larger, cultural `family’. Mine are the Travellers, the nomadic peoples of the Uk and Ireland. Others are Roma, Australian Aborigines, African tribes…all have one more thing in common. All these `families’ know what hunger is. They know what hope is too, even though at times it seems as much out of each as a decent meal.

At Blogging4Change there is a most moving post about the sufferings of a cultural family, in Serbia. I expect to read many such posts in support of Heifer International and its worldwide blogging event to raise awareness of hunger and give hope to those who are hungry.

What is it like, to be so poor that you cannot even afford a loaf of bread? It means you are living in a world where you can no longer help yourself. It means you cannot go down to the stream and catch a fish, you cannot go out into the fields and hunt a hare, as Travellers used to do. When all that is considered lawless behaviour, you have to resort to stealing, or poaching, as it was known, hunting game that belonged to someone else – someone who didn’t need it, because they could affrd to buy their food.

But worse, if there is no game in fields and streams, if there are no fields and streams, i there are only the streets where nothing grows, or barren land with no clean water – how can we even begin to imagine how powerless people become, as we drive down to the supermarket to stock up?

It’s been many decades since I knew what it was like to be hungry, but I have never forgotten. You never do forget how it feels to be denied something that nature provides for all, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless.

The answer of course is for those with more to share with those with less. IMPACT believes every little thing you do helps to make the world a better place. Here are some ways to make a difference:

Give a gift of a goat to Rwanda

Click to feed the hungry – costs nothing!

But the hungry aren’t always in far flung exotic places – they are right in front of you. If you have enough to share, resolve that in your own `family’ no one will go hungry. Work in or donate to a soup kitchen, or a charity that collects food gifts, volunteer at a charity shop, never hesitate when you see a way you can help, even if it is only sharing your lunch with a homeless person in the park. Every little thing we do helps, and brings hope.

The Earth’s a junkie
Craving toxic waste
Hooked on CFCs
Shooting up on CO2
Until we all
OD

I can’t believe I wrote this 11 years ago – back then it was all about fridges and aerosols, the ozone layer and dwindling oil supplies. Now it is about global warming, alternative power and dwindling oil supplies.

Have we moved on, closer to solutions? Have we made any real and measureable differences? Time is running out.

Back in the day, I read Grass Roots (the Australian self sufficiency magazine), grew herbs and veges, made my own pasta sauce and took the accusations of being a tree hugging hippie with good grace.

Today, I read Grass Roots, grow my my herbs and veges in boxes, make my own pasta sauce and am no longer called a tree hugging hippie, because I live in a community where everyone else does the same.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not still part of the problem. I still drive a car (petrol at that), I still use grid power for most things, and I still don’t recycle as much as I should. I advise people to recycle and use plastic bottles for plant pots and funnels, but there are only so many plant pots and funnels you need.

I firmly believe that big problems can be tackled by people like me just by doing what is at hand – every small action is important to the overall job of making the world a better place. That is what IMPACT is all about after all. But we need to know,while we are tackling what is in front of us, that people in power are tackling what is in front of them.

We have hope, at last, that the larger issues are on the table and being acknowledged. It is good to see the world’s leaders moving forward on climate change, it is good to see them even acknowledging what is happening.

But so much more can be done. Sustainable housing and communities need more encouragement. In Australia, I would like to see public housing upgraded with water tanks and solar power, I would like to see future public and low cost housing follow the lead of the ecovillages that are now being created. These developments are out of the reach of low income families, but if they became a public housing project, they would ease the housing shortage in this country and help homeless families in Australia. It’s a matter of doing what is in front of you.

We don’t really need to save the planet – there have been five extinctions of life, to a greater or lesser degree, so far and each time life has started again. We need to prove ourselves worthy of living on it, work toward giving everyone a chance to live with decency and pride. Sustainable communities can be built anywhere, and should be. Extreme poverty and degradation has horrible consequences, but the answer is not to try to raise everyone to the level of the greatest consumers. Not everyone can follow their dream of living at the expense of everyone else. It is to lower expectation, accept less in some cases, so more can be given to others.

I gave up credit cards a long time ago, and I have never looked back. But still private debt is our biggest burden. If people could afford to simply save for what they need, and weren’t bled dry for interest when they do borrow, maybe money would once again be no more than what it was meant to be – something in lieu of bartering.

So much greed has contibuted to our present situation that it is hard to see where we cn start to mend it. But once again, we can start small. Pay cash, save up, do without what you can’t afford.

Yes, it’s hard. But Earh Day is meant to remind us that is always something we can do to make an impact, no matter how small.