Progress

We can often be far too radical in our reaction to problems. Yes sometimes where there are obvious direct dangers to life or clear criminal acts, we must react quickly and radically and have to face the fact we don't always find the perfect solution at the first attempt. Other issues we need to work on systematically and "take" public opinion with us.

Only issues that the public stands behind will in the long term be successful. Today worldwide we have the guns issue in the USA. I know a very contentious issue even amongst some of our own Blip community. I personally cannot understand why a law written over 230 years ago is protected more fiercely than any other matter in the USA, the largest so-called democracy in the world. Not any the possibility of discussing the matter freely, openly and sensibly. Thank goodness the youth are now fighting back with their voices.

Picking up from yesterday, today's Blip taken on the morning walk with Flash along the West Guenz river at Ottobeuren. A large section of the the river here now belongs to a group who are re-naturalising the river and as much of the land alongside it as possible.

I am sure that in 1994 when they started the water quality was very different to that which it is today. That's though largely due to the effect of the EU water quality regulations. Do any of my contemporaries remember booking family holidays in the late 1970s and 1980s and before booking, checking "Which?" magazines tables of where the beaches were less polluted. Most of the Med back then was dangerous.

We learnt and year for year matters were improved, the beaches got cleaner and safer and I doubt there is anyone nowadays who checks out beach quality. I just looked at the Which? online site and can't find any mention of beach/resort testing.

And as can be seen, the water in the Blip looks crystal clear and certainly Flash always enjoys a drink here on a bend which has formed a small beach that he can get down to the water's edge. The beavers are very busy, we even heard one on the walk and thus lots of tree branches get jammed up in places.

As in the big UK & worldwide current action to remove plastic from our waters, there is still work to be done. Here the deposit system on tin cans and plastic drink bottles has had an incredibly positive effect but sadly as can be seen in the Blip there are about 5 plastic bottles in the wood heap swimming on the surface as well as some plastic sheeting no doubt from a farmers silage cover. Just twenty metres trapped under another branch was a fully inflated plastic football. I couldn't get to it so just hope the beavers may have a game and free it to be collected up further downstream.

Plastic bottles for non-carbonated drinks and such things as cooking oils do not have a deposit. But pressure is mounting, the public is behind it and we will get there. Sadly, of course, we have 70 odd years of bad old habits to correct by getting rid of all the plastics swimming about in our oceans, rivers and streams.

A beautiful sunny day and our PV unit was working overtime. That was good news too.