It’s fair to say that the last few weeks have been challenging for those who hope to see a world with a more sophisticated attitude toward diversity, environment, social justice, and efforts to bring people and their various cultures together. The current US administration’s lurch toward isolationism, environmental negligence and bullying seems a lifetime away from dreams of a better world. Looking through this magazine, it seems we are also at odds with what might be seen as a less caring philosophy. There is a common thread that seems to link many of the articles. Dr Owen Day has been, and continues, to work tirelessly to save dying coral, which is being bleached by over heating seas due to global warming. Dying coral has a direct impact on the food chain. Baroness Floella Benjamin talks about the impact coming to England had on her perception of what she had grown up to believe was the ‘Motherland’. Part of the Windrush generation, her insights into life as a migrant couldn’t be more relevant today. Declan Duffy, whose one-man show is at Bridport Arts Centre on the 8th of February, gives a flavour of what it’s like to be born in one country with parents from another, while John Davis writes about Alexander Selkirk, the man who chose to stay on a desert island rather than sail back to England. His story is a real-life tale of Robinson Crusoe. These articles may share a common theme of exploring difficult circumstances and showing resilience in the face of adversity, but they also share a view of how different people respond to difficulties and changes in their environment, whether they are natural, cultural, or social. They show a healthy quest for preserving culture and environment which is definitely at odds with the concept of climbing into a giant shell and crushing anything that gets in your way.
