Hmmm! We thought we were celebrating but…whilst all of us who wrote, shared and spoke out against the sewage scandal have had an effect, we aren’t there yet… Flooded with negative press, irate public, powerful memes and fantastic pressure from social media, the government have SEMI-capitulated in an attempt to arrest the political and public […]
Back in January David Warburton, Conservative MP for Somerton and Frome, was happy to announce support for a a private members bill to stop water companies discharging untreated sewage into rivers. He took the trouble to write to Sue Everett of the Friends of the River Frome (FoRF) after his meeting with her and colleague […]
By now there can be very few people who have not seen the headlines about the astonishing number of Tory MPs who voted down the Lords’ Amendments after clause 78 of the Environment Bill to require sewage companies to make improvements, and to demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage. […]
This government is trying to con us into believing that the trade deals being struck benefit the UK. They don’t and now there is talk that the NFU are resigned to the demise of cattle farming in the UK and are prioritising compensation for farmers put out of business by Brexit. And this film from […]
“Lords’ Amendment 45 to the Environment Bill would have placed a legal duty on water companies in England and Wales “to make improvements to their sewerage systems and demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage.” “Despite the horrendous environmental impact of the disgusting practice, shortly before the vote, the Conservative Environment Secretary George Eustice recommended to his […]
At 6pm on Saturday 30 October, I’ll be standing on my doorstep banging a saucepan more often used for stews. Not because I’ve taken leave of my senses (yet) – it’s part of a big national action called ‘Clang for Climate’ that’s encouraging people in communities across the country to raise the alarm about the […]
The BBC’s new docudrama The Trick dramatises events around ‘Climategate’ – the hacking and subsequent false representation of thousands of emails between climate scientists, just before the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit. It’s an episode that can now be seen as a blueprint for a later – and even more devastating – disinformation operation. Writer Owen […]
COPnes26: 31 October – 14 November 2021 COPnes26 is a two-week series of planned events across Totnes, an opportunity for the town and wider community across our region to respond to the global climate crisis. Mirroring the international COP26 negotiations held in Glasgow during this same period, the town’s inclusive, conscious community will lead reflection […]
On Friday I took part in the launch of 26 Voices for Change, a new anthology of work by Cornwall-based writers responding to the climate and ecological emergency. Held in the splendid new performance space at The Cornish Bank in Falmouth as part of the Falmouth Book Festival, the event showcased an incredible diversity of […]
On 11 October it finally became clear that, the last objection having been withdrawn, the Compulsory Purchase Order to enable the completion of the ‘Stop Line Way’ cycle and walking route between Seaton and Colyford would be able to proceed. This was momentous for the local community in East Devon, and the news quickly gathered […]
With just weeks and days to go until COP26 – the international global climate crisis summit – the environment is centre stage in the news. Hardly a day goes by without a fresh release of scientific data stating some bald and hugely concerning facts about the state of our natural world and ecosystem. Now (almost) […]
West Country Voices have been sent a copy of this letter from South Hams Cimate Action Network to MP for Totnes, Anthony Mangnall. It was sent on 15 September. To date there has been no response. Dear Anthony Action, not promises Thank you for setting out your reasons for saying no to Devon County Council’s […]
There have been a lot of letters in the Western Morning News about methane emissions from cattle sparked by a columnist claiming that there was a “spurious and completely unfounded presumption that methane from cows is a problem.” The columnist is a Dartmoor farmer and his response was, in my view, misleading. Methane is a […]
Helston Town Council and the Downsland Charity have failed to allay concerns over the sale of a wildlife corridor to developers. Last month, West Country Voices reported on a tangle of conflicting interests that has enmeshed Helston Town Council and a charitable trust that is meant to be acting in the interests of residents of […]
Dominic Langdon and Niall Jones took up the challenge posed by Vissla and the Surfrider Foundation to convert waste into something that can be used in the ocean and created a surfboard that is made out of…surfboards! More specifically, those single use bodyboards that tourists buy and then discard once their holiday is over. The […]
As is so often the case, the biggest barrier to the required step change for us to reduce our transport emissions is the media. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, they are pushing electric cars as part of the solution to the climate and ecological crises. Electric cars are part of the problem. Globally […]
“It’s crazy that our banks and pensions are investing in fossil fuels, when these are the very things that are jeopardizing the future that we are saving for.” Sir David Attenborough Campaigners from across the South West set up camp on the lawn outside Devon County Hall in Exeter for four days to demand that […]
On 10 June and 29 June 2021 we published a pair of articles highlighting the lack of engagement by Somerset County Council Highways Department with those seeking to develop rural cycle paths. We turned the spotlight on local ambitions for a short extension to a path near Wells which offered a useful commuter route to […]
There is a rich history of direct action targeting transport in the UK. Transport Action Network (TAN) evolved from the activists that took direct action to help stop the road building programme in the 90s. I am in the process of helping Extinction Rebellion set up Roads Rebellion to help tackle transport issues in the […]
Our sister publication, Sussex Bylines, has been publishing a series of eye-opening articles – “Toxic Shock“ on the dirty practices of Southern Water. The same appalling abuses and breaches of regulation are occurring right across the country. Readers have been horrified to learn that it is cheaper for these companies to pollute and pay the […]
A tangle of conflicting interests raises questions over how developers have managed to push forward plans to build a new supermarket and a McDonald’s on a wildlife corridor on the outskirts of Helston in Cornwall. In 2019, Helston Town Council declared a climate emergency and announced that Helston was becoming an ‘Earth Protector Town’, a […]
“Climate change is widespread, rapid and intensifying” Surely no-one could have missed these headlines on the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on 9 August 2021? The UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the Working Group’s report was nothing less than “a code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening and […]
So many of the things we hold dear in our communities and local environment are threatened by the accelerating climate emergency. Tom Scott writes of one spot in Falmouth that’s close to his heart. As Cornish beaches go, Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth is pretty modest – without the thundering surf and miles-long stretches of sand […]
Dear Editor-in-Chief, You have recently published two contrasting articles on electric cars. Without wanting to contribute to the for-and-against debate, I wish to offer a view on an aspect of these vehicles which seems to be overlooked in most reports about them. I well remember an item on electric cars – the vehicle of the […]
Climate activists held a sit-in protest at Taunton McDonald’s on Saturday, demanding that the fast-food chain moves towards a plant-based menu. Branded a McSit-in, they brought their own plant-based lunches and occupied areas of the restaurant for over two hours, insisting that the fast-food chain takes responsibility for the destruction they say it causes on our […]
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report published on 9 August 2021 was clear: “Climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying” The Guardian’s verdict on the IPCC report: “As a verdict on the climate crimes of humanity, the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report could not be clearer: guilty as hell. The repeatedly-ignored […]
Every day on the television news and in the newspapers we see huge parts of the world on fire and other parts submerged beneath exceptional flooding. The recently released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report makes it clear that this is undeniably the result of global warming caused by human activity. This report goes […]
As the owner of an electric car (my third!) it was with a mixture of emotions that I read your article on the pros and cons of EV ownership. Dismay at the negativity – deep dismay that every word was true – and sadness that it does not reflect my own positive experience. Our first […]
“We bought an electric car thinking we were doing the right thing… but it’s cost us a lot to set the whole thing up.” So said my friend Trisha, after she read my “Net zero” article in West Country Voices and thought our readers might be interested in her experience of buying her first electric […]
