What if you weren’t taught to stand up? : Charmian Love's episode

By Sandy Glanfield

When I first spoke to Charmian Love about being a guest on Let’s Reboot the Future, she wondered whether she had ever really been considered naïve for what she believed in. What became clear when we recorded the podcast was that she had grown up with two remarkable parents who had encouraged her to have convictions, to act on them and, importantly, to be comfortable being a little bit different.

It got me thinking about those of us who may have grown up with rather different messages. Play it safe. Don’t stick your head above the parapet. Climb the Ladder. Be realistic. All perfectly understandable advice, and probably given with the best intentions. But what happens when we look at the world around us and something doesn’t feel right? If we’ve never been encouraged to challenge the norm, how do we find the confidence to do it?

There was another part of my conversation with Charmian that made me wonder whether the answer might be simpler than we think. She talked about the importance of her own experiences in nature and the places she has loved throughout her life. Not as an abstract idea of ‘nature’, but places she has known, enjoyed and felt deeply connected to.

Perhaps that’s a place to start.

We don’t have to wake up one morning and decide to become an activist. We don’t have to have the perfect argument or be the loudest voice in the room. Maybe we start with something much more personal: what do I care about?

And then, perhaps, what am I prepared to do because I care about it?

It could be a river we walk beside, a patch of woodland we know intimately, the community we live in, the people we love, or simply something in the world that we want to protect rather than watch disappear. Our own stories and experiences give us a reason to care, and sharing them may give someone else a reason to care too.

I think this is where the Golden Rule becomes useful to me. Treat others and the planet as you would wish to be treated. It doesn’t tell us what campaign to join or what position to take. It asks us to pay attention to our relationship with the world around us, and perhaps to behave in a way that reflects what we value.

Maybe courage doesn’t always come first. Maybe we start by caring about something, then find the courage to protect it.

Perhaps caring isn’t naïve. Perhaps it’s where change starts.