If I’m driving along in my car, I always find the wildlife flowers on our verges to be very uplifting to see.

And whilst I’ve been having my daily one walk during the lockdown because of the coronavirus, I’ve really enjoyed seeing all the wild flowers which are about.

Please give Plantlife your support with their Road Verge Campaign

Plantlife is a charity that works nationally and internationally to raise the profile of our wild flowers, plants and our fungi.  They support our wildlife and they are vital.  Their colour and character give us cheer and brighten up our day and journeys.

It’s really important to protect our wild flowers, our plants and our fungi.  And our roadsides have been much quieter of late, as lockdown is observed.  The drone of many councils’ mowers have also fall silent as councils may have reduced grass cutting down to the minimum required to maintain visibility and make sure our roads are safe.

Plantlife hope that reduced cutting frequencies may help verge wildflowers to grow, flower and set seed.  Flowers such as the white campion, betony, greater knapweed and harebell, the chance to grow, flower and set seed. 

The good news is that a more wildlife-friendly management regime will help tackle climate change.

Over 300 local authorities have now declared a climate emergency.   Reducing their cutting regimes, as recommended in Plantlife’s management guidelines, will also help councils bring down carbon emissions. 

Hopefully it won’t be long before we can all get outside and enjoy the wild flowers along our roadside.  Meantime, please visit Plantlife’s website to see how you can support their “Support the road verge campaign.”

Did you know that the food you and I eat could be killing the last endangered orangutans in Borneo?                              

Orangutans are being burnt to death and starved as the forests they live in are razed to the ground.  Why are these forests being destroyed? 

Well, the forests are being cleared so that farmers can make room for thousands of miles of oil palm trees.

A UN report discovered that palm oil is in about half of all products sold in supermarkets – it is in everything from cooking oils and margarine, pizza and ice-cream and soap.

It is often used as an “eco-friendly” alternative to fossil fuels – but every time a farmer sets fire to the rainforest and underlying peatlands in Borneo, it destroys one of the world’s largest natural carbon sinks.   And it kills orangutans.

Borneo, an island located in Southeast Asia, is split between the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Sign the petition to tell governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei to crack down on palm oil fires, and save the orangutans before it's too late!

Borneo orangutans cannot be found anywhere else on earth.  If we don’t act, they won’t be found in Borneo, either.

Governments are fighting back.  The EU is very worried about this deforestation and it is phasing out palm-oil based biofuels for now.  Indonesia is contesting this decision at the World Trade Organisation, and hoping it will make the EU back down and change its mind.

Luckily, some governments are fighting back. The European Union is particularly concerned about this deadly and rampant deforestation, and it is phasing out palm-oil based biofuels for the time being. Indonesia has responded by contesting this decision at the World Trade Organization, hoping to force the EU to back down and change its mind.

Sign the petition to tell governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei to crack down on palm oil fires, and save the orangutans before it's too late!

If you’re looking for products which don’t have palm oil in them, take a look at Natural Collection who have over 2,400 products which are palm oil free on their online shop. 

 Visit Natural Collection’s website here. 

Can you help Four Paws rescue the President Bears, Leo and Melanka?

They were found when they were three months old in 2006 and they've been kept in barren enclosures since they were small cubs.  They live in the president residence of Syniogora, in the south east of Lviv, Ukraine.

The conditions around them is awful. They are kept separated. They are in two small enclosures, with concrete floors, and no natural vegetation or enrichment at all!  There's no protection from the sun or rain.  The bears receive food just chucked over the fence.  Their water and food containers are dirty.  And the bears show stereotypical behaviour.  

Four Paws want to move the President Bears to the Bear Sanctuary Domazhyr in Ukraine as soon as possible.  Here they can enjoy a new life, full of care and freedom.   

The good news is that Four Paws addressed the Ukrainian authorities after the recent change of presidency, and they've given Four Paws the thumbs up to relocate the bears and look after them.  

Will you help Leo and Malenka enjoy freedom and the grass between their paws?

Make a donation here and make a difference to Leo and Melanka!

Spend £40 today, 21 March 2020, on organic beauty products with Green People
and they will plant a tree for you with the World Land Trust 

Just use the code GIFTATREE

All you have to do is to spend £40 or more, and Green People will plant a tree.  The World Land Trust know what they are doing.  Since they were founded, they have planted over 2.3 million trees worldwide.  And they work with local conservation groups to help save land for wildlife;  their current appeal is to save forest and a wildlife corridor in Colombia.   You can find out more here.

©Lucas Leuzinger-Shutterstock

The lowland tapir is one animal in the Barbacoas in South America

Now, this is only available on 21 March 2020 - but Green People are doing this sustainability offer one Saturday a month in 2020.  Sign up for their newsletter and you can discover more about them and their offers and how they work.  

The 21st March is International Day of Forests, so that's even more reason to give your support to the World Land Trust!

Oh, by the way.... did I mention Green People have an Organic Children Hand Sanitiser?  And a Manuka and Lemon Tea Tree Antibacterial Hand Wash???

Head to Green People's website anyway, and go shopping!  I use their products myself and I just LOVE them!

How did the coronavirus start?

Its outbreak in Wuhan, China, was suspected to be the starting point for the coronavirus.  And a harsh light was cast on wildlife markets.  

Huanan Seafood Market has a terrible range of live and freshly killed animals is thought to be the starting point.

The meat of 30 terrestrial animal species is at the market, as well as seafood.  Pangolins, civets, squirrels, pheasants, scorpions, snakes and various rates are available there.

Shut down wildlife markets NOW!

Wildlife markets do 2 things:

1. They spread disease – it’s easy to see why when you just have to look at the terrible conditions in which these animals are kept
2. These markets are driving species towards extinction.

We are heading towards a massive extinction – the 2019 UN report warned that up to one million animal and plant species could vanish forever. 

In October 2020, China is due to host a UN conference on the Convention of Biological Diversity.  Representatives from nearly 200 countries will look to find ways to stop the mass extinction.

Let's put pressure on China...

Now is a good time to put pressure on China and push for a worldwide ban on the wildlife trade.

Rainforest Rescue has a petition to shut down these markets once and for all.  They are utterly barbaric and it’s high time they were stopped.

Please sign here and let's get wildlife markets STOPPED