Shark Fin Fishing

The issue of shark-fins encapsulates the human problem that we have in our relationship to our planet. There is an attitude among a vast majority of people—particularly in this House—that the planet is there for us: it is there for us to rape and pillage, to use as and when we need. As a Green, I can see that simply is not true. The majority of people think that this whole world is at our disposal—animal, vegetable, mineral—and I argue that it is our lifeline. It is our home, and we ought to be looking after it better. Humans have been around, more or less in the form that we are at the moment, for about 100,000 years. In evolutionary terms, that is like being tiny little toddlers, and our behaviour is often like toddlers; we are greedy, we grab and we do not follow common sense. We certainly do not seem to understand that earth is our support system. Continue reading “Shark Fin Fishing”

Clean Air Bill letter to PM

On Friday Jenny went with Caroline Lucas MP and Ella’s mother, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah to 10 Downing Street to deliver a letter to the PM – urging him to take up #EllasLaw and to make clean air a human right for all. The longer it takes him & his Govt to clean up our dirty, toxic air, the more lives will be put at risk – they *must* support this Bill.

The 2nd reading of Ella’s Law (Clean Air Bill) in the Commons is scheduled for 24th March.

Caroline has an Early Day Motion (EDM) in support of the right to breathe clean air, has your MP signed in support of the EDM yet? Please email your MP and ask them to sign Caroline’s Clean Air EDM

Open Letter from the Wildlife Trusts on HS2

I signed this open letter today:

Rt Hon Mark Harper MP and Rt Hon Thérèse Coffey MP

Dear Secretaries of State,

An urgent call to address new evidence of ecological assessment errors by HS2 Ltd

We write collectively to bring a new report to your attention which shows that the environmental cost of HS2 is far higher, and more serious, than HS2 Ltd has claimed. Continue reading “Open Letter from the Wildlife Trusts on HS2”

Environmental Targets: Marine

As a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UK failed to reach its target of restoring at least 15% of degraded ecosystems by 2020. It was adopted by the UK as part of target 2 of the EU’s biodiversity strategy, and the lack of progress is most pronounced in the marine and costal environment, where habitat degradation continues and restoration remains in its relative infancy. I believe that nobody in the Government understands the ocean, it is crucial to our well-being, and these new Government targets related to the Environment Act 2021 are utterly insufficient. Continue reading “Environmental Targets: Marine”

Life at 2 degrees of warming

COP27 failed to make progress on reducing emissions and the awful reality is that our current economic and political system can’t deliver the necessary change, quickly enough. So have you started wondering how everyday life is going to change in the next ten years due to the climate emergency? It is a timescale that many of us can grasp. My grandchildren will be in their late twenties and I will be retired and struggling to keep the allotment in shape. What will your life be like and what will be the new normal?

Continue reading “Life at 2 degrees of warming”

Natural state

The water framework directive was a very precise, scientifically based measurement of ecological well-being that the Government quietly dropped in 2017. They have replaced that with this talk of “natural state” for 75% of rivers. What does “natural state” mean in scientific terms? I would argue that it is incredibly woolly and totally meaningless and that this Government do not have a suitable plan. Continue reading “Natural state”