There was a time when it represented progress. It meant making something once instead of cutting down another tree. It meant building products that lasted instead of replacing them every few months. That intention wasn't wrong. What changed was us. Somewhere along the way, we stopped seeing plastic as something worth keeping and it became something to throw away. That's a very different idea, which is why I don't think the answer is to clear the house of everything made from plastic. If you've got a bucket that's been in the shed for twenty years, it's doing exactly what it was designed to do. The bucket isn't the problem. Throwaway thinking is. That's one of the reasons I like the idea behind Plastic-Free July. Not because anyone needs to be perfect for a month, but because it creates a pause. A chance to notice how often convenience quietly wins, or how quickly we replace something that's still perfectly useful simply because replacing it has become normal. Once you notice those moments, they have a habit of staying with you. The next decision feels a little different, not because someone told you what to do, but because you've started seeing the choice in front of you. I believe most lasting change begins with that.

Welcome @Adam Nealis, who is based in Thailand. As Adam joins us I have been preparing focus groups within our local Green Party to work on key areas of the Climate Crisis at a local level. The idea is to translate global and national issues into local narratives. How are these huge events playing out, or going to play out, in our local communities? What actions can we take now as a political party, but also in collaboration with our fellow citizens, to start mitigating the worst effects and preparing for or adapting to effects that we cannot avoid? The energy in our local group is growing. The seemingly thankless task of political campaigning is made bearable by becoming more active and making these connections. The food in our town is 95% imported from elsewhere - we think. Now we start the work of determining the real number. The next step is working with local growers to increase the amount of food we produce for local consumption. To do that, we need to know who is already working on this and what help they need to make it happen. One example might be to get around 100 families to commit to buying produce from a local grower; this guarantees the grower's income and allows them to change how they farm. Making the variety of crops wider. The risk diminishes for the farmer, and clients/supporters know exactly how many "food miles" their food has travelled. Through this work, we learn more about the fragility of our food supplies and make changes to reduce the risk of food shortages. Our party members feel that at last they are doing more than making donations and voting once every few years - they can see the results. Now, when they vote, they have a better idea of who they are voting for. Even if we are not elected to office, we will have changed the outcome for our community.

@Alexander So , thank you for joining. The last two months have been quiet for her as I have been working hard to help with a local election in the UK - we were aiming to get at least one councillor out of the possible seven districts. We had high hopes of riding the Green Party wave in a local town. But it was not to be. This is a Conservative stronghold - a safe seat. We may not have won, but for the first time, we developed an amazing team. Typically, candidates are left on their own to do the best they can - this time, 40 volunteers came together to distribute leaflets to 6000 households twice. In a rural area, this is not a small achievement. But now that we are past that, I am already back in her working on new sections in the classroom. They will be going live this coming week. So welcome, Alexander. Feedback is always welcome and sought.

Interesting to see this post today about a new electric airport fire appliance.

I am feeling overwhelmed. I wrote about the making of billionaires, and it is still valid for the old school billionaires of just one year ago. But now what is going on in the USA is creating a whole new batch of billionaires that is no longer constrained by any morality, concern for reputation, or sense of honour or duty. But it would be foolish to think that it is restricted to the actions of one person, one leader. But it is a step change in scale and speed. No longer do you have to wait a decade to become a billionaire, or another decade to 10x that. If you are willing to sacrifice people's lives, whole nations and not give a damn about the enviroinment ot legacy... You can become a billionaire within a year. The old billionaire system seemed so hard to change - the systems put in place over the last decades, the ones that allow tax evasion, offshore accounts, public subsidies, exploitation of foreign or domestic workers, were all constrained by the desire to look good and noble - there was at least a nod at public service, public good. Drop that, and can get rich so much quicker. You could get richer by buying shares in planet-destroying industries. But you can join the billionaire class by buying a drone company, then starting a war and then getting a share of a $35 billion contract for new armaments. You just need to ignore the impact on human lives, nature and the environment. And you need complicit political leaders who are willing to disregard the duties and laws that they swore an oath to uphold. That is the big - the world stage, the leaders of the world's richest and most powerful countries. Now to the small. We have managed to get a candidate elected to local office. Her first days in office have been beset by political shenanigans, as those in power felt threatened by her energy and demands, which made them look ineffective or incompetent. We have moved to elections for seats on a council two levels up, past the district level to the county level.