Dear LPG, 

This has been a glorious UK summer, if glorious means hot and, like everyone else, I have spent so many of those really hot days trying my best to stay cool.    The internet tells that our winters are warming up too but my personal body thermometer remains secure in the knowledge that they are still cold enough to present their own challenges.  I don’t think that I am the only resident of our great island who spends a lot of time wishing for weather at the opposite extreme end of  its spectrum when the sun is really showing its true colours as well as when it is really cold.   

I am so old that I remember a time when very few elements kept us away from getting on with our lives but things are changing and we all know why.  

I am sure that many pensioners will recall as I do, glorious summers  when even school, work or whatever your mundane plans for even the most humdrum day’s activities were seemed better because you did not have to clutter your arms with extra protective clothing that it was too hot to wear.   Whatever our destinations, we all seemed to be more ready to embrace it with a warm sunny backdrop and we could not wait to experience more of outside.  

Picnics and days out with our families and the sun were truly special, and the memories of those days live with me still.  But the weather forecasts were less sophisticated and did not feature as one of the evening news’ headline stories quite so often as it does today.  Our televisions have allowed us to know so much more about the story as sun, snow and rain battle for the most mentions by the weather forecaster.  The News has also allowed us to be witness to the international COP summits, which focus on what the nations need to do to keep everything that Earth has to offer a bit cooler. 

Recently and in the light of the hot summer days we have had this year, I imagine that nearly everyone opens their eyes each morning with that initial thought about how hot the next 24 hours will be.  Running alongside the appreciation of another beautiful day but, for all the information and warnings about the reasons why, I know that my mind often skips the idea that we humans may have a lot to do with who is to blame.  

Most of us don’t put loads of industrial waste into our rivers or build houses on parts of the world which were once more green and pleasant.  However, if each were asked I bet we are just a bit guilty of mismanaging some of those everyday tasks that we all so readily start being mindful about before dropping back into our neglect of them.  

How many times do you hear someone tell you that your little bit of mismanagement will not make a bit of difference when it comes to the big picture?  It is easy to think that when you are flushing a wet wipe down the toilet or leaving a light on overnight.  
We younger pensioners are the people at the stage of life where we have the most spare time to choose what to do.  If we could make the time to change one personal everyday habit to a more environmentally friendly one it might be a start.  

When I wake early on one of our violently sunny mornings these days, my questions about how hot the day will be are still there but I read something online with a similar message recently and it reminded me to make a point of checking that light switch just a bit more often…

NP, Dartford

NP reminds us of  some suggestions …

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