"The best time to plan a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
Kindness in The Community
DAKtivism also includes care and respect for our environment. This may include reducing packaging and waste; and planting our own fruit or vegetables. More information will follow shortly.
Ways to be Kind
Making Communities Age-Friendly
An Age-friendly Community is a community that enables people to grow older in-place or in their own homes. Often that means people remainign in their homes as they grow older to participate in the activities they value, and contribute to their communities, for as long as possible. Communities that are friendly towards older adults are friendly for all incl those with disabilities, and young mums with buggies. At The I Can Centre we are proud to help make communities kinder and more supportive for older people and indeed all ages and backgrounds.
Checking in with others
Being kind can mean checking in on neighbours and especially the growing numbers of people who live alone, often very successfully. In fact, this population group has skyrocketed. For the first time in human history, greater numbers of people are living life on their own. In fact, recent statistics show that around 34% of the UK population live alone. This can be for many reasons incl getting married later; kids moving away; separation / divorce; or just staying single. Often such groups can have their own peer or wider family networks, but checking-in from time-to-time can be kind both ways and make life better. Equally, if the person declines any contact, that too needs to be respected.
Growing Plants and Vegetables
There's nothing more rewarding than planting food and watching it grow from seed. It's such a joy to walk out to the vegetable garden / pod for a snack or dinner ingredients. Starting a garden / a community garden has many other benefits:
- it can drastically reduce grocery bills.
- Locally grown vegetables can also reduce carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels and no plastic packaging is required when you harvest vegetables straight from the garden
- Pesticide and other chemical inputs can be much less.
- Gardening can also be a natural stress reliever, a fun topic of conversation with others, and a way to get out doors / exercise / meet with like minded others.