‘Is that Mr McGregor?’ said the little tot to his mum as they spied my straw hat among the trees in the orchard. ‘Maybe’, I replied, and went on to show the toddler the raspberries and blackberries almost ready to be picked. I enjoy this sort of moment. It is often the first time these children experience where fruit comes from.

The massive heat of the past week will have made us us all too aware of climate change and the wider environmental crisis and it is so easy to feel overwhelmed by it all. There seems to be nothing that us ordinary people can do. It seems to go so deep and ask changes of us that we don’t want to bear. How do we even start to do something?

I have come to think that the heart of it all lies in our relationship with the natural world. If we can learn to love nature and feel our impact on it, then we will change inside. And that will be a new day. Also, if we can combine together in local areas to care for nature around us, that could build community life and give us a common purpose. I sense that happening here in Emersons Green as more and more people express their support for our work. This year’s festival, for example, was a gigantic work of cooperation, with loads of people volunteering time and energy to make it happen.

This sort of thinking about our relationship with the natural world lies behind all our work in Emersons Green including the festival, the gardening for wildlife open day, Green Lane, the community orchard, the wildlife garden and the dome. Of course it is all small beer in terms of the global need. But what if every neighbourhood did it? Everywhere. Perhaps humanity could change its path and embrace a truly good future? That is the hope that lies behind a new movement just being launched called ‘Neighbourhoods for the Earth’. Emersons Green is a founder member. We shall see if it takes off.

One of our regular toddler volunteers, Ben, was exploring the grass in the orchard this week. He enjoyed running his fingers up the grass head and collecting the seeds. We thought about those little seeds and how they might spread. I guess our work in the park is a bit like one of those seeds.