I apologise in advance if this blog turns into a political rant. There is a risk of this, as I am combining two passions of mine into one blog; not just that of mental health issues but also the sorry decline of our beautiful green spaces. I am also writing this at a time when my job, which isn't to do with ecology or the rural environment per-se but rather is focused on environmental sustainability which is still closely related, is probably at it's most vulnerable in terms of security than it ever has been. And there is no other explanation than to blame our new elected Government for this.
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| Cannock Chase - if anyone cares |
So I promise I will try my best not to rant at them, but to keep the ranting to the human race as a whole, which is also to blame. I also appreciate that many of you reading this will disagree with some, if not all, of my perspectives here, but frankly what is a blog for if not sometimes to give an opinion?
Combating mental health conditions is a huge challenge - I imagine everyone reading this blog will empathise with that viewpoint. I have been with anxiety (trying to avoid the term 'suffered from' these days!) for around eighteen years now, and yet my recent immersion into the social media world and through writing this blog, I've learnt that I have still been quite lucky compared to what some others have gone through from a mental health perspective. Hospitalisation, decimation, destruction and sometimes worse.
Consequently trying to 'fix' mental health 'problems' provides therapists, individuals and families with a myriad of dilemmas, some of which will work, some of which won't. But one simple method that mental health therapists and charities alike both state helps people with mental health conditions is that of getting outside, 'being with nature,' and exercise. Outdoorsy stuff, basically. Being able to access green space can allow you to exercise without having the pressure of people being everywhere, without having the noise or air pollution, and we all know that physical exercise and staying fit can generate mental health benefits. This could be through walking, running, cycling or anything of the like.
Green space can also generate peace, as can our incredible rural areas that we are blessed with in the UK. The landscape can benefit our creationism, channel our thoughts into creative arts, can allow us to take ourselves away from the stresses of reality and again, provide physical health benefits. All of these will help to combat mental health problems.
Our biggest mental health charity, Mind, has even set up an Ecotherapy programme, which connects people with nature, that relies on the preservation of our rural heartlands or our urban green spaces.
In summary, green spaces and rural environments have huge benefits for mental health and physical health. They are also home to our wonderful array of creatures and species. Green spaces have multiple other benefits as well, such as reducing the urban heat island effect in large cities and trees can also help to alleviate flooding, and not least provide us with a hugely critical resource - oxygen.
And yet we, as a human race, have absolutely no regard for our precious natural environment whatsoever. We destroy it at a rate of knots, willy nilly. 'Oh look at that spectacular view,' as we discard a piece of litter on the floor, or burn another bonfire or remove another tree for the sake of landscaping the garden. We spit in the face of the beauty of our environment because as a group we're lazy and disrespectful people and don't appreciate what's right in front of us. I'm the same, and yet I feel that I'm generally a conscious person. Do I go round and pick up every piece of litter I see when I'm out walking? No. I'm just another person spoiling this land that we have been blessed with.
OK, so rant number one.
The problem is, no-one can change the attitude of our collective existence, so the last thing we need is further destruction of our natural environment on a bigger scale (mostly ignited by the Government). And yet what are we doing?
- We're building a brand new high speed railway system (HS2), that conveniently destroys acres of woodland, farmland and other areas rich in biodiversity. All, in my opinion, for the sake of a plaything for the rich that happens to cost billions of pounds at a time when everyone's jobs are at risk - apart from people who are involved in constructing HS2, of course. I'm against HS2 for all sorts of reasons, but those that are against it seem to be against it purely for economic reasons. Yes so am I, but have we thought about the environmental damage? No. Does anyone care? Probably not. Not least, from a mental health perspective, what must the poor people living in HS2's proposed path be going through at the moment?
- Then of course, there's roads. Yes roads are congested - ironically because our public transport system is appalling. People love new roads. Because of course, they won't damage any natural environment at all. Not much(!) Does anyone care? No, because we can travel somewhere 10 minutes faster than we could before.
- Now, I don't know how much green space would be destroyed if a third runway is built at Heathrow, but it's probably more than I care to wish for. What if there are people living there with a mental health condition who use the potential green space for clearing their heads? I'm hypothesise, but you get my point. Not least what damage a third runway would do from a pollution perspective (yes, planes do pollute on a massive scale. So do diggers, chemicals and construction techniques used in building a new runway).
- We need thousands of new homes. This point will make most of you think I've gone, well, mental I suppose. But do we care where we build these new houses? No. I catch the train everyday and go past acres of land that is rotten and already destroyed by our previous developments. Are we thinking of building there? No, let's build on the green space, shall we? I know we need more housing, I'm not disputing that. What I'm disputing is the lack of care over where we build them.
- Did you know that we can now build mobile phone masts wherever we bloody well like? Sod the quality of the land and whether they destroy it. The thing is, people will favour mobile phone masts in remote, rural locations because a) they won't be visually intrusive upon where we live and b) these are the sorts of areas where you currently get poor mobile phone signal. And let's face it, we all need a good signal don't we? Let's get a life, first.
- Then of course, there's the new phenomena that is known as fracking. Now, fracking basically involves building huge great big tanks and generation stations, as well as digging huge holes into the ground and fiddling with the geology - which, by the way, is one key element that provides us with our majestic natural environment - until we get something out of it which puts your light on. By the way, it may cause minor earthquakes. But it's okay, because most fracking sites will be on previously habitat-rich land so said earthquakes, or pollution caused by the fracking process, or construction traffic, won't affect too many people. It'll just destroy somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
- All of this probably won't lead anyone to be surprised that species in our country are in decline. So much so, we're considering re-wilding (see the link for definition). But it leads me to ask the same question as I did before... does anyone really care? What's the one species not in decline? Humans. And pigeons, but they live on food that people litter parks with.
I think one of the many stories of things that sums it up for me was when a friend and I were out walking on our nearby Cannock Chase AONB one day to find a rich, pretentious woman who lives in a village on its outskirts spraying Jeyes Fluid onto her hedge to stop the deer from eating it. Not only would that potentially kill the deer, the irony was she was also killing her hedge. But no doubt, she lives there because she loves the beautiful surroundings and wildlife that Cannock Chase provides. Think about this for minute.
When it comes to the environment, we are disgustingly selfish and hypocritical. Most of us adore our rural landscape and use green spaces more than we probably even appreciate. We complain if our local green space is destroyed by development or by idiots kicking up flowers or dropping litter. And yet as a nation, we turn a blind eye to the railway building, the road constructing and the house erecting on other area's wild landscapes if it doesn't directly affect us. Then, of course, there's the collective damage we appear to be doing to our climate, which seems to be becoming ever more volatile. I don't need a scientist to tell me that the weather is doing increasingly weird things. What happens if it becomes so erratic that nature can't cope? All in the name of our selfish, materialistic and over-consumptive lifestyles. Well I hope everyone is happy.
OK so this has, unsurprisingly, turned into a rant. But don't come crying to me when your local green area has been damaged or destroyed. The impact on our mental health could be catastrophic if there is no 'green' escape from the reality - the chaotic world we live in, or at least, the chaos that our mental health condition conjures up for us on a daily basis. Green spaces are a vital tool in mental health recovery, but our blasé attitude to our natural environment will render this more and more difficult in future. We're all to blame. And yet most of us will dismiss this blog as nothing more than a tirade from a crazy man. The irony is, this isn't far from the truth.
Nothing like some light reading on a weekend afternoon, hey?
Best wishes
Al
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