Mindfulness sounds like a panacea for modern day ills: it’ll boost your self-esteem, ease your stress and make you happier! So why aren’t we all doing it? In principle, mindfulness sounds simple enough; just pay full attention to whatever you’re experiencing right now, without judgement. But in practice it takes just a few seconds…
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Alighting at Pembrey and Burry Port Station I face the intriguing possibility of walking on for two months, keeping the sea on my left, then clinging to Offa’s Dyke down the Welsh border, before arriving back at this very spot. Instead I will taste a modest, introductory 12 miles of the Wales Coast Path…
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Our greatest river begins under a protective spinney in a Gloucestershire field. Did Isambard Kingdom Brunel deliberately route his London to Cheltenham railway within yards of this spot, drawing support from the watery spirits? My train to Kemble Station, a short stroll from the source, started at Paddington, which is only a mile from the…
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I run a regular Death Cafe, and although I tell the attendees in advance that it isn’t grief therapy, most people arrive carrying the baggage of loss, whether it’s a slender case or heavy trunk. During the general discussion about death, between sips of tea and fingerfuls of cake, the loss presents itself. Within this…
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For 30 years, we have been waiting for world leaders to act on the biggest crisis facing humanity, and now we have to accept that politics is not going to save us. The system transformation we need will not be driven by our leaders – it will come from us. When it comes to climate…
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I study Art & Design at a college in Totnes, Devon, where I have been very lucky to meet some truly inspiring teachers who have developed my understanding that art gives me power; a voice I wouldn’t otherwise have. I was inspired by several collage artists, particularly Ines Koudis, to produce a large-scale mixed…
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COP25, the UN’s annual climate conference, failed to reach consensus on a number of key issues that must be resolved before the Paris Agreement can be put into action. Almost 27,000 delegates deliberated over the ‘rule book’ for the Paris Agreement over two weeks of negotiations at the summit in Madrid in early December.
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According to the latest figures from the Climate Emergency Network, 265 district, county, unitary and metropolitan councils in the UK have declared a climate emergency, out of a total of 408. With most of the authorities declaring across eight months in 2019, the UK represents one of the fastest-growing environmental movements in recent history.
Read full postDear Readers, We’re back in the ’20s but the ‘roaring’ aspect of the decade isn’t so great; literal fires have been raging across Australia, killing over half a billion animals, while flooding in Jakarta in Indonesia has left tens of thousands of people homeless. Meanwhile, world leaders deny the new climate reality, and…
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For decades, the fashion industry has been built on a ‘take-make-dispose’ model. According to The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a charity that works with businesses, communities and the UK government to improve resource efficiency, around 300,000 tonnes of clothing ends up in household bins every year, with around 20% of this going to…
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