18 — Friday, Aprit 12, 1991 - North Shore News Over ‘the wall’? and back on track SUNDAY EVENING Staring at my blank computer screen, | came to the conclusion that | was experiencing a sedentary version 1 understand this is a term used by runners to describe the point at which any further exertion seems impossible. As I am not and will never, ever be a runner, I must take this on faith. The feeling constituted more than just your garden variety “‘writer’s block’’; I knew jolly well there were lots of things to say. I just had no inclination to say them. Hmmm, thought J. This does not bode well. The future of our planet depends upon me getting this environment column to the editor (well, I like to tell myself that; it keeps me going). If nothing else, the future of my relationship with my landlord and assorted creditors depends upon me getting this environment col- umn to the editor. Suitably perturbed, I did what every able journalist does when faced with an unprecedented and disturbing lack of professional passion. | telephoned my mother. And she, who is the consum- maie queen of green, could em- pathize with my lament, having recently pulled herself out of a similar environmental funk. The cause of her burn-out? The Gulf War. **With ail the oi] wells burning, North Shore New?” ren * Plus PDi & Freight 1570 MAIN ST. NORTH VAN of The Wall. Peggy Trendell-Whittaker ECOINFO I just thought ‘what's the use?’ ” she said. ‘‘l found | was making excuses to take the car instead of the bus.” I asked what helped to renew her vim, “The big thing that keeps me on track is looking at my grand- children,” she replied. ‘‘Even if I don’t succeed in saving the world, at least I'll know I've tried.” { felt, rekindlings of my reporter's instinct. How many 2$14,395 PARTS & SERVICE OPEN 8 AM TO 5 PM 988-7973 SAFETY IGNITION SYSTEM STAINLESS STEEL SEAR GRIDS * 3 TOP PORTED BURNERS * QUICK DISCONNECT & ROTIS-A-GRATE & STAINLESS STEEL LA-VA-GRATE x CERAMIC BRIQUETTES DON’T SMOKE F British Columbia Lung Association other environmentalists had hit The Wall, and what did they do about it? Is it something that could be talked about, or would admitting to such feelings be an open invita- tion for reactionary status quo types to nudge each other smugly and say ‘See, I told you it was just a fad.”” So I spent the next few days surveying other participants in the local environment scene. Sure enough, they'd all encountered The Wall. However, they’d all managed to hurdle over it. Bryn Johns, North Shore Recycling Program assistant coor- dinator, says he sometimes gets discouraged with society’s ap- parent lack of progress on the green front, but any feelings of hopelessness never last. “If we don’t follow through with our day-to-day commitments, it’s yoing to get a lot worse,’’ he said. ‘‘I recommend a trip to the transfer station if you want to remind yourself of the problem at hand.”’ And don't count on seeing im- mediate, magic results or you'll be sure to be disappointed. This advice was echoed by Sue Cameron, director of WHEN (Worldwide Home Environmen- talists’ Network). “We like instant results,’’ she says of North Americans in gen- eral, ‘‘but what's really needed is patience and hard work. It’s a tough road to keep going along, but it’s the only one.”’ She says that she and other WHEN members do go ‘in and out of stages of burn-out,’’ but are cheered by the ‘‘remarkable changes taking place at the grassroots level."’ “To snap out of (the feeling), | organize something, like a meeting. After I get depressed, [ get angry and say ‘nobody's going to take my power away from me.””” Cameron says it’s important to acknowledge the negative as well as positive feelings people experi- ence on their personal eco- crusades, and make time to cope with them. That might mean taking a break from all your meetings for a few weeks and spending time with family or friends. lt might include going away for a weekend and, cliche though it may sound, ‘‘get- ting back in touch with nature.” And if you decide vou need to let go of one or more of your commitments, so be it. You'll be good by thereby doing no one any overloading yourself. burning out twice as fast. Cameron and the rest of the WHEN team are nosting a ‘‘cof- fee party’? with environmental en- thusiast Andrea Miller on Thurs- day, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the West Vancouver YMCA, 17th and Inglewood. Open to all (and bring your own mug, of course!), the party is intended to be a shot in the arm for anyone suffering any degree of the recyciing blues. Knowing An- drea and her contagious energy, I’m sure it will be successful. But she has her lows as well. “The war really wiped me out,’’ she recalls. ‘‘lt seemed a betrayal of all our energy.’’ “*But nice things always happen that make me feel like I still do have a message to pass along,”’ she says. ‘‘It’s not until we get it together individually that we're going to heal the earth.”’ This week I'm finding that coming off a peak and hitting a valley provides a good opportuni- ty to rethink and reshape the way I choose to act in the world. And in that process I'm discovering lots to be enthusiastic about. 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