Seeing sustainability in action can be a powerful force
Andy Adler, innovator, facilitator and company director at an agricultural firm, says there are lessons to learn from a transformative trip to Ireland.
We informally call ourselves a ‘book club’, one without any set reads. We talk weekly about the world and how it can be made better. Last month we visited one of our members, an Irish farmer, to see sustainability in action. If there is one thing I would recommend to people, it is to try to ‘experience’ sustainability, see it, feel it, smell it!
Back in 2021, I had shown curiosity around the farmer’s use of peat as a fuel in his house. I knew it was bad from an environmental point of view (essentially burning a type of non-renewable fossil fuel, releasing carbon dioxide to the atmosphere where it contributes to the climate crisis).
However, I also knew, as with many aspects of sustainability, everything is complex. We were told great stories about the local community and the tradition of cutting peat, drying, stacking and collecting it. However as a group who regularly discussed climate change, we challenged the farmer to identify another ritual that the community could undertake instead of digging and burning peat.
A warm welcome
In July 2022 we travelled to Ireland to meet up for the first time. It was delightful. We got to see honey bees, we were fed and entertained in the traditional Irish way by the family, and given a tour of the farm and the now-famous Irish peat bog.
In front of the farmhouse was a field that had been kept as a wildflower meadow for over twenty years. Seeing it, for the first time I really understood what a shifting baseline was. Having spent my life in fields advising farmers on grazing management and discussing how best to extract the most grass from each acre, suddenly I could understand what real biodiversity was about. The insects, the grass growth, the abundance of different grass and flower species, as well as the birds. It was a sight I had never seen before. It was marvellous and inspiring, and now I am able to discuss the concept of shifting baselines with my regular customers back in England, because I have seen what biodiversity means in practice. (Shifting baseline theory describes the process by which future generations normalise degraded environments).
The bog in action
As for the bog, in reality this is open cast mining of peat wetlands which have developed since the last ice age (10,000 years ago). The peat is acidic and made from decomposing sphagnum moss in a wetland mat. The moss is drained by cutting a ditch and then is scraped away into small logs of peat which are left to dry. Once dried they are stacked to dry more, before being collected and taken home to be burnt in the fire.
Most families in the community have a ’line’ of peat, they are charged £250 a year for it, and it is sufficient to heat their homes. Running the bog, the drying, stacking and carting away is a community event. Each tonne of peat that is burnt, will have released approximately 3 tonnes of carbon on its journey to make heat.
The trip enabled us to see first-hand, and talk about, the issues of sustainability observed around climate change, biodiversity, as well as cultural heritage and minority rights.
Next steps
The farmer had already taken a risk by discussing the future of the bog with the community. He has now enlisted a young local to help him think about how to take a community tradition and change it to be less environmentally destructive. They have won some funding and intend to get an ecologist to come to talk to the community about the ecology, and there is support to find alternative sources of energy for the community.
Already, new wind farms have been built on some dugout bogs in Ireland. If these can be community owned, this could enable transition to a new environmentally-friendly energy source.
Some tips
So, generally, what can people do to take action to protect the planet? I try to follow the recommendations set out in Paul Hawken’s book Regeneration – Ending the climate crisis in one generation.
People could create a simple list of actions for themselves, or, even better, set up a group to address climate issues (our ‘book club’ works well). Such groups can propagate knowledge about what works. But it is important to understand how knowledge and actions should be adapted to fit places, people and cultures. It is also important to take a look at and analyse outcomes, so that insights can continuously evolve. New technology, such as conversational software could help. This software can give feedback on conversation tipping points, and teach how to think about influencing conversation. As with all AI applications, the ethics can be complicated.
I’d also recommend ‘cross sector’ collaborations between people, neighbourhoods and organisations. These can accelerate progress.
The carbon generated by the trip was offset by supporting the Woodland Trust.
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Andy Adler
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