The last couple of weeks of broadcast news has been nothing if not apocalyptic. With the climate emergency pressing down on us ever nearer - floods in Europe, wildfires in the US and on the continent it has been difficult to escape the feeling of impending doom.

I think there’s a really fine line to be drawn in this coverage; yes, we need to be fully aware of how bad things are and how much work we need to do but we also need to remember that some of us struggle to mentally process the constant stream of alarming headlines. In our household there are young and old amongst us that feel this way, and not because we don’t care about the climate and the environment, but rather because we care so much.

So how to help my kids deal with this? How do we really begin to process the dire situation our planet is in without being completely overwhelmed and breaking down? I think we can start with two things. Firstly, on a personal level it is still really important to do our little bit. This often feels futile in the face of it all but you know the principle - if everyone who visits the beach removes five pieces of litter, we have a really clean beach (of course, it would be even better if nobody dropped the litter in the first place, let’s work on that too).

We’re blessed in Exmouth with some really forward thinking initiatives - take the newly opened Exmouth Treasure Chest, the beach toy library providing a free service for visitors and locals alike. Not only is it saving families money, it’s reducing the amount of plastic items in circulation. I know I can’t be the only one who has had to purchase an emergency bucket and spade for a beach visit that then languishes in the back of the shed for eternity.

We’re also blessed with a fantastic zero waste shop in Exmouth (called Zero), with a superb range of foodstuffs and housekeeping bits to help us reduce packaging and waste. A couple of years ago, using shampoo bars and refillable bottles was seen as an alternative and now, thanks to shops like Zero and Budleigh Unwrapped just down the road, it’s becoming a much more ordinary thing to do. They are shops we can walk to in our town centres reducing our car usage; fab little shops run by real families that are part of our community. Which brings me neatly to the second thing we can do to make a difference.

We as individuals are being bombarded with messages about how we need to do more, that time is running out, that we need to act to avoid disaster - all of which are true. BUT we also need to realise that the biggest changes need to come from big business; the oil companies, the supermarkets, the large scale retailers, the energy companies, the car manufacturers. Collectively we need to assert pressure at the top of the chain to make big commitments to change. One thing us little people can do in this respect is to choose where we spend our money and whose businesses we support. I’m not saying this from the luxury of being able to run an electric car or buy organic - we don’t have the budget to make all the ethical choices I’d really love to. But popping into Zero for loose porridge oats, rice or similar doesn’t break the bank and neither does choosing a greener energy tariff or choosing to walk rather than drive. Ironically to paraphrase the words of a larger retailer, every little does help.