Green Resolutions
I wonder how many people have made planet-friendly resolutions for 2022? It seems likely that reducing plastic use will feature high on many lists. For those raised in the shadow of the ‘make do and mend’ culture that lingered long…
Food Matters
What does food mean to you? It could be one of the most important aspects of your daily life or it could be no more than an essential, biological, fuelling operation. But apart from a few ‘Breatharians’ who allegedly survive…
Wild at Heart
Rewilding has become a familiar term these days, even finding its way into Radio 4’s long running series The Archers. The ‘everyday story of country folk’ has been keeping up with current trends from solar-power to kombucha production. Rewilding takes…
The Long Road to Sustainability
On a recent road trip to Scotland, Kent Barker and Susan McFie were on the lookout for a changing environmental landscape and to see if the UK government’s carbon neutral plans could outpace Extinction Rebellion’s worst fears? You don’t have…
Failure to Roundup Glyphosate
Looking out of my window the other day I was greeted by an unexpected sight… a municipal vehicle spraying the weeds with herbicide. As our local council has spoken out strongly against this practice I was rather hoping this was…
Foraging close to home
Lockdowns and restrictions have been a mixed bag as far as our environment is concerned. On the positive side, many of us have found more time and inclination to engage with nature. Humans that had spent much of their lives…
The Green Shoots of Spring
There’s an old saying that ‘the answer lies in the soil’. During WW2 people were encouraged to ‘dig for Victory’; during the Year of Lockdowns people headed for their gardens for something to do, to keep fit, to stay sane.…
Lockdown Artists
During one of many dog walks in Alexandra Park I found myself in conversation with photographer Tim Clifton. We discovered a mutual admiration for kingfishers. Co-incidentally we had both had our first sighting of the bird many years earlier, from…
Invisible Enemies
Not long ago few of us had heard of the coronavirus, and yet this curious entity has rapidly altered life as we know it. The spiky bugs have been around for millions of years infecting almost everyone but seldom killing…
Power To Our Elbows
Brexit and climate emergency are on the back burner. Our attention has been redirected. Some of us have gone from elbow greetings to complete isolation. Bombarded by scary stories and the notion that we are completely defenceless, many tune in…