As we enter the last few days of walking we are fitter than ever. The emotional tiredness feels less as we all look forward to heading towards our various homes. But the hardest part of the march now is answering questions.
The hard questions are not: "What would a fair international agreement for emissions reductions be?" but: "How are your feet?, "Have you walked all the way?" and "What will you do after you finish". There are only so many times you can answer "fine", "almost all of it" and "go back to work".
The one marcher who does not have to tackle such questions is Portuguese speaker Geanis from Brazil. She has had the much harder challenge of marching for two-and-a-half months with a group of people who have been unable to communicate in Portuguese. I think Geanis has been the bravest person on our march.
Geanis has been here because her community have been directly affected by climate change, but not in the way you would think.
Geanis comes from an African-Brazilian agricultural community. They have been removed from 9,000 hectares of land by a European multinational company which is growing eucalyptus. As well as taking land from local people the eucalyptus monoculture takes huge quantities of water away as well.
The eucalyptus plantation is funded by carbon credits, the system where Europeans avoid reducing their emissions by paying for 'emission reductions' in impoverished countries. In this case the planting of eucalyptus.
Geanis told her story again in New Arlesford in Hampshire on Wednesday. Join in the conversation with her and tell your MP to get carbon credits out of the climate bill.
Distance covered so far: 956 miles
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1 comment:
Dear Tim,
I'll see you before you get this now, but I know what questions to avoid now.
Welcome to the capital town of comfort zone activist apathy. I'll bet £5 to Christian Aid that Farnham wins the "highest rate of SUVs" award, payable in London on Oct 2nd.
The bit-chilli-er-than-intended lamb hotpot's simmering nicely on hob, almost ready to revitalise hungry walkers in 3 hrs time. At least, it looks, you'll be dry. The alcohol in the Sainsbury's Basics Spanish table wine in the hotpot will have evaporated for meat-eating non-drinkers, so I hope you'll be fired up enough after food to manage a pint of Tongham TEA, a popular local brew, in, perhaps, the William Cobbett, named after the famous campaigner/reformer for the rural economy and the workers, a conservationist before his time, and a son of Farnham.
Rob
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