“I sometimes think my vision of the sea is the clearest thing I own” – Sylvia Plath This month, I wanted to write about the sea and its importance for two reasons – firstly, because of David Attenborough’s popular new documentary ‘Ocean’ (which I unfortunately still haven’t had the opportunity to watch as yet) and, […]
Let me start by saying straight off that I think everyone should read this book. If you are feeling bleak and despairing about the future of the planet, or utterly disgusted about the seemingly inexorable rise of the far right or just plain fed up with the way things are, then you definitely need this […]
You may have heard about the ‘flex-collect’ three-year trial currently under way, which involves kerbside collections of specified soft plastics as part of the usual weekly collection by some councils. Recoup reported that the UK produced 309,000 tonnes of flexible plastic packaging, but only 8 per cent of this was collected for recycling. The aim […]
Hi there, my name is May and I’m a 17-year-old from East Devon who’s passionate about finding solutions to the climate crisis. Although local elections can seem less important than general elections, in reality they have a significant effect on setting the agenda for local policy, including on issues surrounding the environment and climate change. […]
Let’s take a look at the recycling of aluminium cans. Did you know that it takes 95 per cent less energy to recycle aluminium cans than it does to make new ones? Making them from raw materials (bauxite) is an energy-intensive process, using the same amount of energy to make one new can as it […]
Environmental groups, local organisations and concerned residents, demonstrated on April 3, 2025, outside Bournemouth’s Civic Centre where the Planning Committee were meeting, to oppose the granting of planning permission for a waste incinerator in Canford. The demonstrators held placards, signs and banners which showed their opposition to the incinerator. There were also drummers and singing. […]
“Wherever it is found, hunger highlights the fault lines of inequality that run through that society.” In our society, that could indicate the effects of political austerity measures, including the latest benefit cuts. On a global level, it could point to the people in the world’s poorest nations whose crops are being destroyed by the […]
On Saturday, March 29, 2025, Extinction Rebellion Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (XR BCP) and Extinction Rebellion Wimborne (XRW) joined forces in a powerful protest at Poole Quay, marking the second anniversary of the Poole Harbour oil spill caused by French oil company Perenco. The demonstration featured the rhythmic beats of XR BCP’s drumming band, striking […]
Hi there, my name is May and I’m a 17-year-old from East Devon who’s passionate about finding solutions to the climate crisis. On 12 March, I was a panellist alongside Natalie Whitehead (one of the Founders and Directors of Exeter Science Centre) and Regan Mudhar (PhD) at a film screening and panel discussion event organised […]
UPDATE: The latest from Martin. Not great. “This afternoon our landlords have released a public statement (https://www.dartington.org/forest-garden-update/) which contain a number of misleading statements which we feel we have to correct. “We have had constructive and productive discussions with Martin over the past week.” No, we had one meeting on Weds 19th March when positive noises […]
President Trump intends to unleash a timber cutting spree within the U.S. and has already given oil companies permission to continue ravaging our environment with the instruction “Drill, Baby, Drill”. These follow the worst wildfires in U.S history with an estimated $250bn in damages in California. This was the gold medal crisis – 26 other recent events in […]
Let’s face it, amid the winter gloom, of which there has been plenty lately, planning a holiday is a lovely distraction. Something to look forward to if we are fortunate enough to be able to go. However, there are things to consider so that our breakaways don’t impact hugely on the earth. It is reported […]
Greenpeace Bournemouth and Poole is inviting the local community to an eye-opening exhibition that puts a human face on the climate crisis. Taking place for one day only on Saturday March 22, 2025, the event will be held in the downstairs function room of the Triangle Taproom (formerly Poole Hill Brewery), with doors open from […]
The aviation industry’s reliance on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) as its medium-term decarbonisation strategy is under increasing scrutiny. While the UK government is targeting 1.2 million tonnes of SAF production by 2030, evidence suggests this strategy risks delaying urgent climate action. HIGH-LEVEL SUMMARY CURRENT CONTEXTGlobal aviation emissions are growing, and the UK is one of […]
“To members of the judiciary: you are all climate judges now… Lawyers have a responsibility to adopt a climate-conscious, not climate-blind, approach in daily legal practice”, UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen told the UK Bar Council in 2021. While some lawyers and judges took her words to heart, others didn’t. Climate campaigners have won some […]
A record-breaking 74 Tiverton Tree Team volunteers turned up on February 8, 2025, to help create a new wildlife recovery zone on the banks of the river Exe just outside Tiverton. At the top of the site, running parallel to the existing Devon hedge, a 200 metre line of hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, dogwood, elderberry, dog […]
Campaigners from Devon were among around 1,000 people who staged a peaceful protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Thursday 30 January. The Strand was closed to traffic as a 90-minute mass sit-in took place, patrolled by large numbers of police officers. Inside the building, judges were hearing an appeal against the […]
Extinction Rebellion Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (XR BCP) have put up the plaques in nature reserves, green spaces and popular dog-walking spots to highlight the plight of many of the UK’s most iconic species. The message the group wants to send to locals is that it is not too late for us to turn things […]
Do you remember way back when a storm like Eowyn was something of a freak event? It was , in fact, so unusual that a certain weatherman blithely denied the threat back in October 1987. Storms did not even get names until 2015, when the Met Office and Met Eireann started a joint initiative to […]
Local residents joined Extinction Rebellion (XR) Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole (BCP) and XR Wimborne, who once again gathered outside Bournemouth’s Civic Centre to demonstrate against the building of waste incinerators in the area. They are concerned about the detrimental effect of the proposed incinerators on local residents’ health, the local environment and increased global warming. […]
May Puckey is a 17-year-old from East Devon who is passionate about the environment and politics. We are very keen to encourage young citizen journalists, so please get in touch if you want to have your writing considered for publication. Happy New Year! This year, I have pledged to be flight-free for the sixth year in a […]
How are the plans for ‘decking’ your house for Christmas going? With 125,000 tonnes of decorations and 68,000 plus miles of Christmas lights going to landfill or incineration each year, maybe we need to re-examine our seemingly insatiable desire for all things sparkly and glittery. Who doesn’t love a bit of twinkle? However, so much […]
May Puckey is a 17-year-old from East Devon who is passionate about the environment and politics. We are very keen to encourage young citizen journalists, so please get in touch if you want to have your writing considered for publication. The media has focused on what Donald Trump’s second term of office as president will mean […]
Use paper straws! Turn out your lights! Don’t run the tap while brushing your teeth! So I have such an impact on the environment? If I died tomorrow I wouldn’t even save the equivalent CO2 emissions across my lifetime that the private jets flown into the latest COP conference produced – but god forbid I […]
We’re all familiar with the concept by now: a day of frenzied shopping, with the odd fist fight thrown in! Around the early two-thousands, the last Friday in November became the season’s busiest shopping day, taking over from the Saturday before Christmas. This import from the US is now firmly fixed in our calendar, along […]
As the 29th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference is getting under way in Azerbaijan, I’m on a train from Devon to Edinburgh to attend court hearings into the Rosebank and Jackdaw North Sea fields. The last government permitted exploitation of these two oil and gas fields in 2023 and 2022 respectively but was challenged […]
Discussions about building a proposed waste incinerator in Canford were deferred by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole’s (BCP) planning committee in September 2024. There is no confirmation, yet, about when it may be discussed, but the committee was due to meet on November 7, 2024. On that day, concerned residents, environmental groups, and local organisations came […]
Highlighting a week of protests and actions in London and across the UK focused on the “Achilles heel” of the fossil fuel industry setting our planet on fire: their insurers. Extinction Rebellion’s (XR) major national campaign, demanding that the insurance industry stops insuring the climate criminals setting the world on fire, hit the streets of […]
Anyone who has read Rory Stewart’s book, Politics on the Edge, will have learned the uncomfortable, shocking truth that MPs frequently go through the division lobbies with little or no knowledge of the content, purpose or justification for the proposed legislation on which they are voting. Unless they have a particular personal interest or are […]
In 2021, we published an article urging readers to oppose planning permission for a new waste incinerator to be run by Eco Sustainable Solutions, in Parley, Christchurch. It was granted planning permission in December 2022, but the Environment Agency has not yet received an application for the necessary permit to operate it. In July 2023, […]