We all have at least one neighbour who has become despairing about the state and trajectory of the UK. And despair is not a basis for change. This article suggests three simple and powerful messages that you can share with anyone open-minded enough to listen and which, once they are aware, might give them cause […]
Trainers. Comfortable, ageless and fashionable, whether you’re a committed runner or a sofa-based Olympics’ fan! We probably all own at least one pair, and for some people they’re an obsession, but the facts around their production and its effect on the environment are pretty stark. Approximately 25 billion pairs are made every year, most from […]
Dear Editor, ‘Culture wars’: the phrase seems to have originated in 1990s America but is now bandied about in many contexts. Events of this summer – 2023 – have opened a clear new front in today’s culture wars in the UK, by actually engaging Joe Public in the question of whether there is a climate […]
Listen up! Pay attention! This affects us all! There can hardly be a politician anywhere in the world who does not yearn for economic growth. It was the mantra that won Liz Truss the key to number 10, and now economic growth is central to Kier Starmer’s vision for the future: he wants to achieve […]
Dear Keir Starmer, I heard you may be thinking of further watering down environmental pledges in light of the narrow loss in Boris Johnson’s old seat. I certainly hope this isn’t true in light of the raging fires in Greece and the absolute necessity to tackle climate change and reach net zero even faster than […]
Bournemouth residents today joined Extinction Rebellion Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole (XR BCP), who gathered at Horseshoe Common while chanting and ringing bells. The group cycled around Bournemouth in a mass bike ride, in support of better sustainable transport infrastructure. Cars were slowed by the procession cycling around Bournemouth centre, while protesters carried placards and flags […]
As a young man I took a holiday in the West Country in my van, carrying a small home-built sailing boat, looking for beaches and slipways from which to access the endless ocean. The map showed a slipway in one small town on a beautiful Cornish estuary, so I headed off the main road and […]
Chris Packham lends Dorset campaigners his support for local ‘COP’, urging Dorset attendees to ‘shout above the noise for the future of humanity’. Three of Dorset’s leading climate action groups have come together to organise a pioneering event with the aim of spurring the local community into urgent action to combat the threats posed by […]
We’re well into Plastic Free July and here’s another area where you can cut your plastic usage and help stop the blockages in our sewers and the pollution in our waterways. Wet wipes – why are we so addicted to them? Surface wipes, face cleansing wipes, floor wipes, make-up remover wipes, baby wipes, personal hygiene […]
Renewable energy specialist James Miller finds reasons to be cheerful as the demise of the fossil fuel industry looms into view. We’re bombarded daily with doom-laden stories about climate breakdown and natural disasters that threaten our very existence on this planet, and many devastating aspects of climate change are already inevitable. But emerging from the […]
Two women from the South West were among a group of campaigners at the Supreme Court last month fighting to ensure that fossil fuel developments are not given planning permission without a proper assessment of their climate impacts. Sarah Finch, from Exeter, fronted the case on behalf of a network of campaigners called the Weald […]
I have just finished reading Professor Dave Goulson’s gripping, disturbing but ultimately inspirational book – Silent Earth. Averting the Insect Apocalypse. I cannot be alone in noticing that insects seem to have almost vanished from our gardens, parks and countryside, particularly this summer. No more walking through fields kicking up a squadron of grasshoppers. No […]
We import nearly 50 per cent of all our food in the UK …. and yet waste one-third of it. Food waste alone, if it were a country, would be the world’s third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions after China and the United States, and the way our food is produced is a major […]
Dear Editor, Great to see that the CEO of the parent company of South West Water (SWW) has only earned 1.6m in the last year. I really can’t see how we expect her to manage on such a small amount!. She obviously doesn’t invest in hose pipe manufacturers. We have a hose pipe ban in […]
I was recently invited onto the board of trustees of an inclusive cycling charity called Wheels for Wellbeing, which is doing amazing work, changing attitudes and the road network, to make it safer for everyone who cycles, regardless of ability or disability. I had to go to London for a meeting with the other trustees; […]
Dear Editor, Some of your readers may have seen coverage of the protest by Just Stop Oil at Chelsea Flower Show. The Daily Mail reports a Conservative MP as responding: “When a very, very tiny minority is ruining the lives of other people, action needs to be taken.” The MP totally misses the irony of […]
Not a single arrest of climate, ecological and societal crises protesters: a report from the front line at Extinction Rebellion’s (XR) United Action, April 2023 I and around 50 others from North Devon and Torridge attended the massive climate and ecological crisis event in London, on 20-24 April 2023. This report is from the XR […]
The Conservatives are now criminalising peaceful protesters for no more than demanding that we follow the science and stop drilling for new oil and gas. What are people supposed to do when their Government ignores the world’s scientific experts who say we are ‘firmly on track to an unlivable world’? Would you sit meekly on […]
Dear Editor, A recent video released by members of Insulate Britain has chilled me to the bone. Young people protesting our national lack of action on the climate emergency are not only on trial for causing disruption but are now also being arrested on charges of perverting the cause of justice for stating their […]
The CPRE (formerly the Council for the Protection of Rural England) seeks to protect our countryside and accepts that its biggest threat is from climate change. CPRE’s strategy on renewable energy forms an important part of its remit, but some have questioned whether its approach is being influenced by a CPRE membership that is often […]
In a parallel universe, the Government’s update of its Net Zero Strategy (NZS) with a suite of new policies would have addressed the multiple flaws identified in Zero Hour’s Ambition Gap report. The hard-hitting report by the campaign behind the Climate & Ecology Bill, reviewed and endorsed by an array of top climate and nature […]
Thursday 30 March saw the first of a trumpeted series of open meeting events led by Anthony Mangnall MP to allow constituents the chance to “submit a question for South West Water”. After a media and public backlash over the dire state of Britain’s waterways and coasts, MPs have been scrambling to find a way […]
New Year resolutions have been made and broken, Valentine’s Day has come and gone and now we are about to be bombarded with Easter consumables, most of which are encased in single-use plastic! It is estimated that the UK will spend a mind-boggling £800m at Easter; £381m on eggs (ouch that’s a lorra, lorra calories!) […]
Farming from the ground up – George Monbiot’s latest book puts food production under the microscope. It’s time to harvest the last of the main crop potatoes, but I have a dilemma. How do I get them out of the ground without disturbing the soil? I have been reading George Monbiot’s book: Regenesis. He devotes […]
A new farming documentary launches on 5 January 2023 at the Oxford Real Farming Conference, taking a ‘behind the headlines’ look at the claims around the climate impact of livestock farming – and what this means for Cornwall. Food for Thought – the latest film from charity Cornwall Climate Care (cornwallclimate.org) – is presented by organic farmer Lisa […]
For the second part of our review, here are some articles which were read by hundreds rather than thousands. We think you might have missed some of them! We are particularly anxious that the passage of time and the power of propaganda does not wipe our memories of some of the terrible people who have […]
BREAKING: a public inquiry is due to get underway at Newton Abbot Town Hall today into the controversial proposal to reopen the Bullers Hill Quarry at Haldon, near Teignmouth. The site is designated as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) as it contains outcrops of flint-bearing gravels. It is one of the few places […]
It was 17° a couple of days ago and it’s mid-November. In the summer it was over 40° in London. According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of deaths here amongst the over 65s due to the heat was c.2,800. Floods this year in the UK have been far worse than normal; ask people living along the […]
On October 29, there was an excellent turnout of activists at Bedford Square Exeter from local Extinction Rebellion groups (Exeter, Totnes and Teignmouth/Newton Abbot), co-organised by Exeter XR and Exeter Samba Band. The objective? To call out Barclays yet again: the dirty bank of Europe. Barclays remains the number one bank in Europe and number […]
Warning: contains reference to a distressing incident of animal cruelty. Ed Some notes towards understanding why we find ourselves so alienated from nature. Isolated events can sometimes coalesce together to make a coherent pattern. On a scorching day at the end of August I was driving past some pasture-fed cattle in a parched brown field: […]