Cambria Magazine - Editorial June09

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Summer 2009

Editorial June09

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Cambria Politico

CAMBRIA POLITICO

Editorial June09

‘THE LAND IS IN ITS PRIME’ SAID TONY, WHOSE COWS INHABIT THE FIELDS AROUND US. I had been commenting on the beautiful weather and luxurious growth of grass. Looking down the Tywi Valley bursting with health and vitality, it seems the perfect description of a promising early summer. Long may it remain so.

It seems to me that recycling is common sense, if something can be used again, use it again, otherwise it is sheer profligacy. We live in bounteous times, in many ways no other generation has had it as easy as we have, yet we take it for granted; many of our day-to-day luxuries have become necessities. I don’t ever want to have to do without a washing machine. The thought of having to heat water manually for a bath is quite exhausting and off-putting. If we at cambria can use it again, we do. Many of you, perhaps, have experienced our recycled envelopes - I hope you don’t mind. We have had the odd rare complaint, but I believe that most of you will applaud our intentions. Please forgive this quirk as it is something we believe we should be doing, and we will continue to do so.

In the last issue of the magazine we ran an article on bio-mass. In this issue we are following it up with a piece on wood burning boilers. We hope that over time, this series of articles will build into an overview of the options available as against contemporary electrical, oil-fired and hot water heating systems. Until recently alternatives to electricity or oil were prohibitively expensive to install, but this is no longer the case. Perhaps in the future many of us will become self-sufficient in terms of power, perhaps harnessing energy via individual small turbines (not from those state-sponsored environmentally inimicable monstrosities), or from streams, solar panels, ground-source heating systems, or using wood-fired boilers.

Cambria certainly gets around, and sometimes surprises even us with its whereabouts. The other day we gained a new subscriber after the magazine had been found on a coffee table in the reception area of an hotel in Indonesia. Over the years we have had tales of babies, boats and even a farm in the Yemen (the banner of Owain Glyndŵr is flown on the gate posts) being named after Cambria.

As an afterthought, I do not think of myself as a particularly political animal but it staggers me when I find that people don’t - or even can’t be bothered - to vote. I regard it not only as a right but as a privilege for which I am extremely grateful - less than a hundred years ago women died so that I might have the vote. I would guess that the majority of our readers do vote, but I am sometimes surprised hearing about those who don’t. Every vote matters, even if you think many politicians are a useless lot! Your vote is Wales’s defence - and her future.