Amid the madness that has become day to day reality for many - a sliver of light can sometimes creep through to bolster even tiny hopes things can change.
That’s how I felt this week after months battering out stories about oil and gas exploration, energy strategies, our two Climate Bills and countless trees facing the axe.
Hand on heart I love my job and I truly see it as my role to shine a light in the darkest corners and show people what is happening in the world around them.
But I’m also very aware the news can seem all doom and gloom, with only the worst of what’s happening ever seeming to make the headlines.
I’m here to tell you today there really is a lot of good stuff going on out there because a lot of good people are being the change they want to see in the world.
While I applaud DUP Economy Minister Gordon Lyons’ announcement that his party does not and will not support oil and gas exploration, extraction or fracking in NI after months, if not years, of community fears - it’s the campaigners and community activists working behind closed doors that got us here.
Honestly, hats off to all those who’ve worked so hard to make this happen from the ground up. Their tireless campaigning and protesting to protect nature, biodiversity and our environment for the generations to come never ceases to amaze me.
Right now in this wee place there are countless communities organising against a range of issues they worry could change our landscape for years to come.
From trees facing the axe across numerous council areas, to mines and gas caverns, overflowing sewage pipes, factory farming, pollution of all sorts and the ongoing use of pesticides on roadside verges - communities are on it.
They shouldn’t have to be but they are - and their enthusiasm to protect the world around them is infectious.
Real change happens from the ground up - and it’s amazing to see people who were never interested before take up the environmental mantel when something happens on their doorstep.
Big things like oil and gas exploration, however, impact us all because of climate change. And while the Energy Strategy that’s been published paves a pathway for Northern Ireland renewables - we still have continued gas use, blue hydrogen and gas caverns in Islandmagee on the table.
It’s because of that I never thought I’d see the day a DUP Minister would come out so clearly against the fossil fuel industry when he said his party and the Department for Economy support a moratorium on gas and oil exploration in NI as well as fracking.
Miracles do happen it seems - and I’ll take it.
But we’re not quite over the finish line yet on the oil and gas ban he spoke about. DfE’s preferred option, announced just before Gordon Lyon's own party saw to it that Exec ministers couldn't approve the decision, hasn’t got the Executive seal of approval, nor is it written into law.
I’m sure campaigners are delighted at the win but I just hope the DUP puts its money where its mouth is when the Executive is back up and running and deliver said moratorium alongside the promised legislation banning oil and gas exploration and extraction here.
It really wouldn’t be a good look to say one thing in the run up to an election (and after they toppled the Executive) - and then do the opposite when they are sat comfortably back in position up on the Hill after May.
Farmers are keen to play their part
The cows, pigs, sheep and chickens reared in their hundreds of thousands across Northern Ireland feed not only the people here, but around 8.4 million elsewhere.
And while that industry creates about 27% of our greenhouse gas emissions - the Climate debate here appears to have become all about farming.
In my heart of hearts, I think it’s because farming is at the centre of everything for DAERA Minister Edwin Poots. As a ‘former farmer’ I don’t blame him but I worry this single-minded focus on the industry has coloured everything he’s done in office.
Following an Environment Strategy with no mention of fossil fuels, many thought his Climate Bill lacking on ambition because he wants to protect farming and now he’s asking for our views in his Future Agricultural Policy consultation.
As important as it is, we can’t keep rearing animals in the way and quantities we have been. I don’t care if the law says a chicken needs so much space or a mummy pig can lie caged on a concrete floor for weeks - it’s not right.
There are tons of farmers out there keen to do the best for their animals, their land and the world around them. What people like Edwin Poots’ need to do is listen to them - not the lobby skewed towards agrifood corporations keen to make as much as they can, damn the consequences for everything else.
RSPB NI is calling for ambitious agriculture reform to help NI farmers deliver climate solutions following the Climate Change (02) Bill assembly debate.
John Martin, Head of Policy and Advocacy RSPB NI commented: “We are delighted to see that the Climate Change Bill has now been amended to include an additional clause on nature-based solutions and the addition of a Just Transition Fund for agriculture, but it must also align with the environmental ambitions of future agriculture policy which is set to change for the first time in a generation.”
David Laughlin who owns Culmore Organic Farm, the longest established organic dairy farm in Northern Ireland, commented: “Every farmer can do great things for nature and climate.
“On our farm, we have boosted our income through nature-friendly practices. We only coppice our hedgerows every 15 years, which has increased our ability to sequester carbon and benefit the local wildlife. But this change of approach requires government support and funding that is accessible to farmers.”
Ban plastic bags
Did you know the carrier bag levy for shopping bags, plastic or otherwise, is going up from 5p to 25p across Northern Ireland from April 1?
I know with the ever rising cost of living, it seems like another gut punch when you forget your reusables.
For me, I’ll do just about everything to avoid buying a supermarket bag when that happens. But I still see people happily packing their groceries away in a handful of now heavier branded bags that have cost them extra without a thought. And that’s the mindset we still have to change.
Since the levy was introduced in 2013, it has removed almost two billion bags from circulation and made millions for environmental causes. And that’s all great.
But I just can’t quite grasp why we haven’t totally banned all throwaway plastics yet - as that’s the only thing that will ever create the change we really need to see.
In the meantime,all we do is try to refuse all the unnecessary packaging we can.
