Category: Ecology and animal protection

People need wild spaces and green spaces and other species need them too. Sharing our world with other species is part of the joy of being alive, when we cage and abuse them, or destroy their habitat, we demean ourselves in the process

Jenny works to increase green spaces and protect animals and wild space

Read on to see her latest posts on this these topics

Public Order Bill arrives in Lords

Published on by jonesjb

The Government really do not need the sort of repressive powers in the Bill that are worthy of Russia, China or Iran. We should vote against this legislation—again—to protect the right to freedom of expression, the right to freedom of assembly and the right to protest, which is what we expect in a free society. Of course protest is inherently disruptive; that is its nature. But do the Lords know what is more disruptive? The fossil fuel companies and extractive industries that are destroying our planet, and the billionaires who are amassing huge claims over the world’s resources while everyone else worries about how to pay our energy bills this winter. BP has made £7 billion profit in three months, yet we will pay the extra cost of coastal defences and higher food prices for the next three decades or more. Shell makes £9.5 billion profit in a quarter. They have billions in the bank; we will have a country that swings from drought and wildfires to floods of sewage. Every dollar or pound that the oil and gas companies make equals the world becoming a worse place for generations. That is what real disruption means, and we have a Government encouraging it with tax breaks and licences for big business. Continue reading “Public Order Bill arrives in Lords” →

Emergency Motion: government’s attack on nature

Published on by greenlordsmedia

Please sign (if you’re a Green Party member) my emergency motion to this weekends national conference. Thius motion supports the RSPB campaign against the government’s attack on nature. Let’s stop the Investment Zones and Freeports from wrecking what biodiversity we have left. Follow this link https://spaces.greenparty.org.uk/content/perma?id=110945 and click ‘like’

Continue reading “Emergency Motion: government’s attack on nature” →

The CPRE’s Environmental Land Management recommendations

Published on by jonesjb

This morning I spoke at the parliamentary launch of CPRE‘s Countryside Next Door report, I said:

The Green Party welcomes moves to improve the stewardship of green belt land and protect access to the countryside for all. These green spaces are vital for the health and wellbeing of those who live in urban areas. Recreation and access to land, which we know are so crucial to human health and well-being, need to be considered alongside what crops we grow on that land. We need to re-localise our food supply, restore the ring of market gardens and orchards that not that long ago surrounded our cities and towns. Instead of vast tracts of monoculture the Green Party wants to see the growing of fruit and vegetables, ideally in a mixed system and managed in ways that are excellent for biodiversity and nature. Continue reading “The CPRE’s Environmental Land Management recommendations” →

Action to ban fur and foie gras imports

Published on by greenlordsmedia

I recently joined organisations campaigning to save the promised Animals Abroad Bill – which would ban imports of hunting “trophies”, fur, and foie gras as well as the promotion of elephant tourist rides overseas. I joined representatives from the “Don’t Betray Animals” Coalition who launched two enormous balloons, shaped like an elephant and a lion, above Parliament to send a clear message to Boris Johnson that animals need action, not hot air.  

Continue reading “Action to ban fur and foie gras imports” →

Minister for the Seas

Published on by greenlordsmedia

My oral question today is: “to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the creation of a Minister for the Oceans?”

We’re a maritime nation. Fish and chips on a Friday night and national icons like Nelson and Sir Walter Raleigh. Our history is connected to the seas and our coastal waters are becoming one vast energy source with wind farms and the prospect of tidal power.

So it seems odd that both France and Portugal both have Ministries for the Oceans, but not us. We have a Space Strategy but not an Ocean Strategy, despite huge under-explored expanse that makes up two thirds of our planet.

Continue reading “Minister for the Seas” →

The Subsidy Control Bill Committee Stage Day One: Net Zero

Published on by jonesjb

The Government keep bringing us these thin Bills that ought to include things such as the ecological crisis and climate change, but do not. The subsidy principle should ensure that all our environmental and climate targets are met. Ecologically damaging, polluting industries should be weaned off public money completely and, ultimately, binned. My Amendment 8 would ensure that subsidies contribute towards limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees centigrade of warming. My Amendment 33 would prohibit subsidies for fossil fuels and extend the definition of fossil fuel subsidies to include any government policy that makes fossil fuels cheaper than their true cost. Continue reading “The Subsidy Control Bill Committee Stage Day One: Net Zero” →