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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world;
indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." 
Margaret Mead, American anthropologist, 1901-1978
 


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  1. Stop Rosebank oil and gas field

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    350.org have a petition about a proposed new and enormous oil field called Rosebank. 

    350.org say that if this Rosebank oil field goes ahead, the annual CO2 emissions would be more than those of the 28 lowest-income countries in the world put together.

    350.org say that the Government should help tackle the cost-of-living crisis and our climate by kick-starting a fair transition to renewables and mass-insulating UK homes.

    It says that the only way the Government will reject those Rosebank oil and gas field is if they see HUGE public opposition to new North Sea oil and gas.

    Here’s the Conservative party manifesto for 2019, when they won the general election.  Check out their promises on climate change and fossil fuels.

    The UK Government could be:

    • Investing money into renewables for everyone
    • Help fossil fuel workers transition to other jobs
    • Take insulation and energy-saving measures to help us through the cost-of-living crisis.

    (Personally, I think it could also remove VAT off all products which mean we use more energy from renewables from washing lines for the garden and clothes horses (use the sun and wind to dry clothes) to solar power and wind power.)

    Add your name now: Demand that Liz Truss rejects Rosebank and ALL new North Sea oil and gas!

     

  2. Fauna and Flora International have an urgent appeal to help the Grauer gorilla in Kanyama

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    Fauna and Flora International (FFI) have an urgent funding appeal at the moment.

    It’s to stop the crisis in Kanyama in the Congo Basin in Africa.  The area has been hit hard by poachers.  Gorillas drifting outside the Maiko National Park are being hunted. Not much could be done to stop it.

    The Maiko National Park is a carbon sink.  It helps to fight climate change, and regular local climate patterns 

    A huge portion of the habitat of the Grauer gorilla lies outside the boundaries of the national parks. These forest areas are vulnerable to deforestation. 

    BUT change has happened! 

    Thanks to a recent change in legislation, FFI have the opportunity to formally protect the forest area by Local Community Forest Concession Kanyama.  The forest will be managed by the local community.  Teams of community rangers will patrol it, supported by FFI.

    And Fauna and Flora International think this change – in legislation – could mean the turning point for the Grauer gorilla.  The Grauer gorilla is endemic to the area. If they are lost from the DRC, then they are lost forever.

    60% of the beautiful Grauer gorilla has been lost in just 25 years.  They have been hunted and eaten.  Their homes have been eradicated by illegal mining agricultural conversion and logging.  They risk infection from human-bourne diseases.  They are critically endangered (IUCN Red List). 

    Please help FFI help the Grauer Gorilla!

    Find out more about this appeal here
    Please donate here
    image credit: Lindsey/Adobe Stock


    FFI want to act FAST

    They want to make the most of the opportunity this change in legislation has given them.

    Now, they need donations.  

    The donations are essential to train and equip local people to become effective community rangers.  They can then go into the field, monitoring gorilla movements, patrolling the forests and removing threats.

    What’s more, a very generous donor has agreed to increase every single donation made to the project by 400% until £88,963 has been raised.

    Donations will pay for:

    • Community rangers and training
    • Urgent supplies and equipment
    • The establishment of a protected area
    • Community outreach and awareness raising
    • Surveying and mapping gorilla habitat
    • Personnel and operations

    Illegal mining businesses are increasing their interest in the forests day by day so the sooner we can get the rangers out there protecting it, the better.  The mining businesses will destroy the habitat the gorillas need and an influx of poachers will arrive. 

    The Congo peafowl (the national bird of the DRC) and the endangered Opaki are also endemic to the Congo basin.  It’s also home to the Ground pangolin. 

    Please help FFI help the gorillas and other species

     

     

  3. Panorama: The Green Energy Scandal Exposed - on BBC1 on 3 October 2022 at 8pm

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    Take a look at Panorama:  The Green Energy Scandal Exposed

    The programme's website says that Drax power station in Yorkshire provides 12% of the renewable energy in the UK.

    It's received £6 billion in green energy subsidies from the government. 

    Reporter Joe Crowley looks into where the wood comes from.   

    We need our forests.   Wildlife needs the forests.

    Visit the programme's website to find out more.  

  4. International Red Panda Day is on 17th September 2022

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    It’s International Red Panda Day on Saturday 17th September – are you ready to celebrate red pandas and raise awareness of them?

    How much do you know about red pandas?

    Here are 15 Fantastic Facts About Red Pandas  from the Red Panda Network - for instance, did you know that they glow in the dark? 

    Threats to the Red Panda

    The biggest threat to red pandas is habitat loss and fragmentation.  Agriculture and settlement conversions have fragmented forests.  These areas have been degraded because of herding and resource harvest.  Now there are 400 forest patches – unprotected and isolated.  They are reducing the ability of the red pandas to survive

    Other threats are livestock herding, free roaming dogs and disease, bamboo lifecycle and world climate change.  And wildlife crime is also a worry.

    We need to protect red pandas from poachers and restore their forest habitat so that they have everything they need to both survive and thrive!

    But the good news...

    The Red Panda Network, who celebrate their 15th birthday this year, say there is a LOT to celebrate.  For a start, red panda numbers are improving in eastern Napal, a project area, according to population data. 

    So how can you help the Red Panda Network help red pandas?

    Plant a Red Panda Home to reverse the effects of deforestation. 

    The Red Panda Network is working with local communities to plant trees and to restore and reconnect the habitat of red pandas!  This is in Nepal.  The aim is to establish a biological corridor, which enables red pandas and other species to survive and which is protected by the community. 



    This year, over 84,000 trees have een planted, and roughly 10 hectares have been purchased.  54,815 saplings have been planted over 35 hectares!

    Since 2019, 336,380 trees have been planted, thus reforesting 461 hectares of red panda habitat in Nepal.  The trees are planted and fences installed to protect the saplings.  The network buys private lands in key habitat areas - it also helps the local community by giving green jobs to locals.

    Not only that, there are now 12 anti-poaching networks in Nepal!  In 2021, the teams patrolled for 437 hours.  They covered about 197 km in 36 Community forests!  That's some going! 

    Join the Party for Red Pandas!

    Ways to help the Red Panda Network:

     

    Visit the Red Panda Network here

  5. Frozen Planet II starts tonight, Sunday 11 September 2022, on BBC1 at 8pm

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    Sir David Attenborough is back with a new series, Frozen Planet II.   It starts at 8pm on Sunday 11th September 2022 on BBC1.

    He starts in Antarctica. Emperor Penguin parents leave their chicks as spring arrives.  And to survive, the chicks have to find their own way across dangerous sea ice to the Southern Ocean. 

    Killer whales and Weddell seals feature in tonight’s programme, the former generating their own waves to wash the seals off their ice floes.   

    Frozen Planet II by Mark Brownlow and Elizabeth White

    with over 250 stunning photos.
    Available from Hive.co.uk

    From Antarctica, the series moves on to the Himalaya, home to the Pallas’s cat who has incredibly dense fur (needed for the Mongolian winter).  And then North of the Great Steppe is the boreal forest, frozen for six months of the year, home to the majestic Siberian tiger who is on the look-out for black bears in winter, as they  hibernate in caves.

    The Arctic Circle’s tundra is home to musk ox, whose calves face the danger of hungry grizzly bears in spring.

    And north of that lies the Arctic Ocean, where the hooded seal lives.   Males can produce a bright red balloon out of their left nostrils to make themselves irresistible 

    All the areas are threatened by climate change. 

    We still have time to save these frozen wildernesses.  But we need to act

    Visit the Frozen Planet II’s website.