Rae Howells has written a community article for MODRON about her involvement in the campaign to save West Cross Common and her latest poetry collection This Common Uncommon:
'I find it hard to read the news about climate change. How often I have felt small and helpless in the face of articles that seem to offer no hope, just dismal predictions and downward trends. From animal species under threat to melting glaciers, footage of terrifying wildfires or catastrophic floods. What can one person do against such huge, complex – often global – problems?
'Like most people I am hungry for practical things I can do. There are the usual culprits – reduce flights, take public transport, stop single-use plastic, eat less meat, go solar. I do my best. But an action point that has really stuck with me is this: use whatever skills you have and get involved in something local, something community-based.
'The wonderful thing about this one is that it gives tangible, rewarding results. Plus you get to meet people and make new friends.
'So when I became aware that a section of Clyne Common at West Cross, a well-loved green space near my home, was under threat of development I thought: this is it. Maybe I could try to make a difference.'
This Common Uncommon is out now from Parthian Books and you can see Rae reading from it at the Cellar Bards, Cardigan (13th) and at Ye Olde Murenger, Newport (18th) in Wales this month.
Read the article in full on MODRON
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