Nature is in trouble – and her cries are largely falling on deaf ears. Yes, there are vast numbers fighting the good fight, being nature’s voice in this bizarre, worrying time. Inevitably, there are also vast numbers who aren’t, can’t, won’t… Those who need a little more encouragement to the idea that nature is essential,…
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Have you heard this said before? ‘Global leaders were driven by a primitive fear that the present ambient warm weather is somehow caused by humanity; and that fear – as far as I understand the science – is equally without foundation.’ That is the view of a resident in No.10 Downing Street. Yes, the…
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Having worked in the film industry for two years I’ve seen first-hand how wasteful it can be. Stars and crew jetting over the globe, poor waste management. Assistants sent off in diesel cars to the same supermarket three times a day. Set build materials being scrapped and thrown away. Sometimes not even making it into…
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“As I went walking that ribbon of highway/I saw above me the endless skyway/I saw below me that golden valley/This land was made for you and me.” These are the immortal words of Woody Guthrie, the grandfather of 20th century protest music. There’s no question that critical music contributes to periods of significant…
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I alight at Dent station, at 1,150ft the highest in England. Up here even the names are short, as if to save breath. It’s from a lonely stop like this that I imagine Mary Lennox being driven in a carriage up into the moors to remote, mysterious Misselthwaite Manor in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The…
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I’m strolling in deepest Britain, on a course originally set by a Victorian theodolite. Empty fields stretch silently away. A wren, an animated ball of feathers, tizzes urgently across my path to break the purest peace. Far in the distance a dot gradually grows. Once it might have been the Oxford to London express,…
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Over 90% of adults under 55 own a smartphone, with excessive use linked to anxiety, social and behavioural problems. Technological advances such as smartphones are also cited as causes of the growing human disconnection with nature. We surveyed people about their smartphone use, their relationship with nature and anxiety. The results showed that higher…
Read full postResearchers have found that green spaces with greater ecological diversity are particularly beneficial for our mental health. Professor Jorgensen who works at the University of Sheffield highlighted the importance of “experiences of nature – including diverse trees, plants and wildlife.” Across the world increasing numbers of people are moving to cities and 80% of…
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According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), Southern Africa’s temperatures are rising at twice the global average rate. While it is mainly industrial nations that are responsible for producing greenhouse gases, such as CO2, that contribute to climate change, the main victims of climate change are already suffering, in the countries of the…
Read full postI am a mother of three and a practising Muslim woman, originally from Yemen, a country torn by war. I’ve lived in Britain for 20 years. I have been environmentally aware for years. My first education on environmental issues came from the Quran when I came across verses that alerted me to environmental problems…
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