We have had enough! Our rivers are full of poo because water companies haven’t updated ageing sewage systems. They prefer to pay millions to shareholders and in bonuses to directors. The government says water companies must reduce the dumping of raw sewage, and of course customers must pay, so our bills could go up by […]
On a visit to Cornwall at the weekend, the Green Party’s co-leader Carla Denyer slammed Michael Gove’s plan to tear up the rules preventing water pollution by property developers. Speaking alongside Green Party Truro City councillors beside the Truro River, opposite the Newham Road pumping station that dumped untreated sewage into the river 28 times […]
On Friday September 1, activists from Extinction Rebellion Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (XR BCP) travelled to Hanover Square in London. Why? To continue our campaign against Perenco, following the spill of reservoir fluid into Poole Quay in March 2023. The spillage occurred just days after it emerged that Perenco were warned in June 2022 by […]
Hello South-westerners, My name is M I Birtwhistle, retired secret service officer, and I live in a small Somerset village where I’ve kept my neighbours up to date on government thinking almost every month for the last fifteen years. By a strange quirk of family history I recently found I was entitled to a place […]
Madam, While Dr Richard Lawson is right to call for a voluntary movement to cut speeds on our roads, the 50/60 Campaign, might I ask why there isn’t a campaign to get government to cut UK speed limits as this is without a doubt one of the simplest actions that could be taken both to […]
This year’s intensely hot weather across the world, with its consequent rash of wildfires from Hawaii to Canada and around the northern hemisphere, presents humanity with an urgent and challenging call for effective action on climate. Sadly, our millionaire prime minister has met this challenge with a firm commitment to add as many tonnes of […]
Dear Editor, A pair of ringed plovers has raised two chicks in the fenced area at the tip of Mudeford Sandbank, on Christchurch Harbour, for the first time since 1984. The fenced area was created in 2020 by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council and Christchurch Harbour Ornithological Group (CHOG), after oystercatchers bred there in 2019. […]
What follows is information from event organisers, Wild Card. There are details of a zoom to explore the strategy and plans for the day at the end of the article. Ed Dartmoor is dying, its wildlife is declining and disappearing, and the time to do something is now. Will you be a voice for nature? […]
Dear Editor, As a campaigner who has been arrested eight times for obstructing roads, gluing myself to paintings, blocking Rupert Murdoch’s printing press and smashing his headquarters’ windows, I can’t throw the people protesting at the Heavitree & Whipton Active Travel trial under the bus. Their bold actions – ripping out bollards, blocking the bus […]
On Sunday 13 August, Extinction Rebellion held a ‘Dirty Water’ protest at Dawlish seafront in Devon. [What follows is an edited version of their press release.] This is part of ‘Wave Four’ of an ongoing Extinction Rebellion campaign running throughout 2023. Through a combination of theatrics and public engagement, protestors yet again peacefully highlighted the fact […]
Dear Editor Thank you for your great article on gaslighting. It made me wonder if there’s a ‘how to spot a climate change denier’ type exercise or set of questions anywhere? There seem to be various myths which are trotted out in meetings or conversations as excuses for inaction – not just fear of change […]
It’s amazing how, as a country, we seem to let Sunak and this government do things which are bad for us, bad for our kids, bad for the planet and then suck it up while they tell us it’s all good or use their actions to create more division and anger in society. It’s pretty […]
Trainers. Comfortable, ageless and fashionable, whether you’re a committed runner or a sofa-based Olympics’ fan! We probably all own at least one pair, and for some people they’re an obsession, but the facts around their production and its effect on the environment are pretty stark. Approximately 25 billion pairs are made every year, most from […]
We’ve all trodden on it and got it lodged on the sole of our shoes; we’ve found it lurking under the rim of a table at a cafe or stuck to our clothes! The original chewing gum was made from chicle, a natural product from the sap of trees native to Mexico. Now it is […]
Where to start with the recent Farmers Weekly piece on the right to roam (RTR)? It seems to have no idea what is being proposed and bemoans the loss of opportunities to “monetise partnerships with healthcare providers as solutions to the UK’s health and wellbeing crisis”. Firstly, the RTR proposals are not an “all-access approach”. […]
Bournemouth residents today joined Extinction Rebellion Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole (XR BCP), who gathered at Horseshoe Common while chanting and ringing bells. The group cycled around Bournemouth in a mass bike ride, in support of better sustainable transport infrastructure. Cars were slowed by the procession cycling around Bournemouth centre, while protesters carried placards and flags […]
As a young man I took a holiday in the West Country in my van, carrying a small home-built sailing boat, looking for beaches and slipways from which to access the endless ocean. The map showed a slipway in one small town on a beautiful Cornish estuary, so I headed off the main road and […]
Chris Packham lends Dorset campaigners his support for local ‘COP’, urging Dorset attendees to ‘shout above the noise for the future of humanity’. Three of Dorset’s leading climate action groups have come together to organise a pioneering event with the aim of spurring the local community into urgent action to combat the threats posed by […]
Nature in Dartmoor National Park is in a poor state. A new piece of legislation being debated this week in the House of Lords could help change that – and put nature’s recovery at the heart of the purpose of all our National Parks and AONBs. But will the Government do the right thing? Dartmoor […]
We’re well into Plastic Free July and here’s another area where you can cut your plastic usage and help stop the blockages in our sewers and the pollution in our waterways. Wet wipes – why are we so addicted to them? Surface wipes, face cleansing wipes, floor wipes, make-up remover wipes, baby wipes, personal hygiene […]
Renewable energy specialist James Miller finds reasons to be cheerful as the demise of the fossil fuel industry looms into view. We’re bombarded daily with doom-laden stories about climate breakdown and natural disasters that threaten our very existence on this planet, and many devastating aspects of climate change are already inevitable. But emerging from the […]
Two women from the South West were among a group of campaigners at the Supreme Court last month fighting to ensure that fossil fuel developments are not given planning permission without a proper assessment of their climate impacts. Sarah Finch, from Exeter, fronted the case on behalf of a network of campaigners called the Weald […]
On Friday 14 July at 19:15, we will be hosting a panel event to be live-streamed from the Byline Festival, which is being held for the first time at Dartington Hall. The theme? Dartmoor’s future from political, agricultural, societal and environmental perspectives. Your panel for the evening: Caroline Voaden: the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for […]
I have just finished reading Professor Dave Goulson’s gripping, disturbing but ultimately inspirational book – Silent Earth. Averting the Insect Apocalypse. I cannot be alone in noticing that insects seem to have almost vanished from our gardens, parks and countryside, particularly this summer. No more walking through fields kicking up a squadron of grasshoppers. No […]
We import nearly 50 per cent of all our food in the UK …. and yet waste one-third of it. Food waste alone, if it were a country, would be the world’s third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions after China and the United States, and the way our food is produced is a major […]
Environmental campaigners from across Dorset met on Sunday June 11, to protest about the continued extraction of oil in Poole Harbour by Perenco. Daniel Glennon from Extinction Rebellion Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (XR BCP), said that “local groups from Wimborne (XRW), Purbeck (XRP), and Dorchester, Weymouth and Portland (XR DWP), supported the event, demonstrating against […]
Vote for the Changemaker of the Year Award! Voting is open from 12 June to 17 June. ‘The Changemaker of the Year Award celebrates devoted volunteers, individuals or groups who have gone above and beyond their role working in National Parks. Their passion is unmatched and their dedication to a future where National Parks and […]
Following their successful march to Perenco’s Wytch Farm facility in Dorset, environmental campaigners Extinction Rebellion are returning to Poole Quay this Sunday, June 11 from 12:30. On this, their third family friendly protest, they will gather to demand that Perenco’s operating permits and license be revoked as the risk that Perenco’s extraction poses to the […]
One of the easiest, cheapest and most visible means at new councillors’ disposal to prove that they are different, is to act like nature is a priority….because it should be! The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and the simple truth is that if we wipe out invertebrates, we not […]
Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth is renowned for sand, rockpools and clean water – at least that’s what the locals and tourists expect to find when they visit. In recent years, however, would-be paddlers and swimmers at Gylly have been met by the products of a nearby Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO). These include everything you’d expect […]