We are definitely living in interesting times!

And frightening!

And transforming.

Many changes have been forced upon us within a very short time span. Many of the changes that are happening due to the Corona virus are changes that would occur eventually due to Climate Change – the lack of aircraft in the sky, fewer car journeys, more people walking and exercising in the fresh cleaner air, more local shopping, local deliveries by bike, neighbours caring for each other – the list could go on!

Hopefully this “pause” will help us to see that a more beautiful way of living is possible, we can live more simply and have a less negative impact on the environment.

There is still a long way to go though, on both crisis. The Corona virus pandemic still has a long way to go and in the next few months we may find that our bins are emptied less frequently, that there are shortages of certain types of food, there may be fuel shortages or rationing, we may see some civil unrest and many other things happen including the death of many people.

All of these could have been caused by Climate Change. Can we learn from what we are going through now and permanently change the way we live?

I love Chapel Allerton. I am saddened to see so many shops and restaurants closed. But I am heartened by the creativity and ingenuity of many of the smaller shops and local people who are finding ways to serve the community they are part of. Yes, they need to make a living, they want their businesses to survive, but they find that the way to survive is to serve the community – something I am not sure I see with the supermarkets and chain stores who seem to care more about profit above all else.

There has been a lot of talk from our leaders about the economy and fortunately they don’t seem to go as far as President Trump in their rhetoric. The important question we need to keep asking ourselves is “are we here to serve the economy or is the economy here to serve us?”

So, after a week of lock-down many of us have found that we can adapt, we can put up with the changes enforced on us and in fact some can even thrive.

Let’s keep working towards a more beautiful, fairer, greener and sustainable community and world.