Tell the Tardigrade - 3 mossy actions (blog #3)
We've had a busy couple of months of workshop and event delivery, speaking with thousands of participants and hearing an incredibly varied range of small actions being taken for a better future... we struggled to pick just three for this blog!
Have you got an action you’d like us to share? Call the Tardigrade to tell us all about it! (More info at the bottom of this page).
Be kind to yourself (and to us!)
Chatting to a member of the Devonport Timebank group during a Mossy Carpet workshop, I asked whether she was a regular.... "Well, I come when I can, it depends on my health, on my family, on the weather... but I love it when I can be here, everyone makes me feel so welcome even if I haven't managed to for a while". Time and again, visiting groups like this I've witnessed what an important role these spaces hold in terms of non-judgmental, friendly, welcoming communities, a respite from the busy, complicated world outside.
When I started this series of blogs I set myself the target of publishing one per month... December, done! January, done! February, nope. March.... hmmmm... well yes, but only just before the end of the month. My excuse? The Art and Energy team have been super busy with developing and delivering the wider project. Personally, any time at my laptop has been spent wading through my overflowing email inbox!
It struck me recently that, if you look at a patch of moss then you'll notice that when conditions are right they flourish... but when it's too dry, too warm, too cold, etc... they sort of shrivel up, waiting for those conditions to be right again. As the Art and Energy team have been exploring the world of mosses, we've adopted the mantra 'Be more moss', and so I'm going to take away the goal of a blog a month and instead write when the conditions are right... at every group or event we visit we hear about so many inspiring actions... I look forward to sharing more with you!
Charity Shop Clothes
"When I get bigger and grow out of my clothes I take them to the charity shop"
"I try to buy all my clothes from charity shops, they have such great stuff"
"I volunteer a day a week in a charity shop - I get first pick of new donations and meet really interesting people, plus I'm supporting a great cause towards a better future"
I'm not sure I can add much more! In addition to the social benefits, there are also environmental advantages; whether it’s a t-shirt, a jacket, a pair of jeans…. whatever treasure you donate or find, know that you’ve rescued it from landfill, and that you're extending the lifetime of the resources invested during the manufacturing and delivery.
Happy rummaging, and don't forget to say hello to the person (often a volunteer) behind the till!
“I take more showers”
This message, recorded by a 7year old, made me chuckle. What he really meant was replacing baths with showers to reduce water use, which not only saves us money but also to reduce our environmental footprint.
We're so fortunate in the UK to have Clean drinking water supplied to our homes, but every drop requires resource- and energy-hungry processes to ensure safe quality. This info-graphic from www.watersworthsaving.org.uk gives a few other suggestions for reducing water use in your bathroom... we'll cover some other water-themed actions in future blogs
(The reason I chuckled - at a Mossy Carpet workshop last year I witnessed some v happy boys, and panicked mums, when the children petitioned their parents for fewer baths based on the logic that being smelly helped save the animals!)
Have you got an action you would like us to share? We’d love to hear all about it. Give the Tardigrade a call and record a short message, this will be incorporated into the carpet, sharing encouragement and ideas as we face the climate and ecological emergency.
Mosses might be small, but they make a big difference.
What tiny things are you doing for a brighter greener future?
Leave a message: 07460 488650
(Discover more ways to send in your message and how we’ll incorporate it in the artwork Tell the tardigrade messages — The Art and Energy Collective)
