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.”

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

Deborah Tabart OAM is Chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation

And today, she sent out the most beautiful picture of an adorable koala, thinking it’s what we need right now.  Deborah, thank you.  It certainly cheered me up.

 
Save the Koala - Join the Koala Army

One of the things Deborah said in the email she’d sent us was that she thinks the issues we are facing – the wildfires around the world and the coronavirus – stem in part from our lack of respect for the natural world, our lack of care for animals and our need to develop at all costs.

I agree.  I remember once reading a phrase, Look after the earth and she will look after you.  Well, we have not looked after the world and she is finding it increasingly difficult to look after us.  We reap what we sow.  As Deborah says, we do not respect our planet, our forests, our rivers, our oceans.  We exploit them and abuse them far too much.

My hope is that this virus will give us all the chance to reflect on what really matters and that it will give the planet a chance to do some healing.  We need to look at how we are living and what we are doing, and really start thinking about what we want going forward.

The 21^st March is International Day of Forests.  

We need to love our forests around the world and to care for them like never before.  

We are dependent on them. 

Without forests that are in good health, we cannot be healthy.  They are the lungs of our planet.

Without oceans and rivers that are in good health, we cannot be healthy.  They are our blood supply.

Without air that is clean, we cannot be healthy.

Without biodiversity, the right balance of species across the planet – I include humans in that – we cannot be healthy.  Every species has its place in nature – she has planned things pretty carefully and we are destroying that balance through activities dedicated to our own ends.

So back to our Koalas.   Will you help put pressure on the Australian government to nudge them in the right direction and protect the koala, with the Koala Protection Act?  Protect one species and you protect far more. 

Save the Koala - find out more about the Koala Protection Act

Find out more here.

And keep safe

WCS (that’s the Wildlife Conservation Society) has emailed to warn that US government programmes helping to conserve species such as tigers, elephants, rhinos and others are under threat.

WCS works to save wildlife and wild places in nearly 60 countries and across the ocean.

Trump’s Administration is looking at cuts to programs that protect wildlife.

WCS need as many people as possible from the US to urge their Congress members to support international programmes.

These include programmes such as the USAID Biodiversity Program and the Multinational Species Conservation Fund. Key efforts at USAID and the Department of State fight international wildlife trafficking programmes.  The Global Environment Facility which plays a key role fighting the wildlife trafficking which is driving the slaughter of elephants and rhinos.  Programmes that conserve vulnerable species in the wild and protect the last wild places on earth are at risk. 

If you are in the US, Please tell Congress right now: stand up for wildlife.

If you are not living in the US and don’t have a Congress member, please share, share, share, the message people can sign.  Sharing is vital because it spreads the word.

You could also donate here

Did you know that the UK Government (i.e. you and me, if you are a UK tax payer) are funding climate-wrecking projects?   Our hard-earned cash is being used to fuel the climate crisis and make things worse!

The UK is due to host the UN climate talks in November 2020 and we must be seen to be leading the way.   Ending investment in oil and gas projects is a golden opportunity for the government to look good at the climate talks – and we all know how governments like to look good.   JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are doing it – why can’t the UK government do it too?

Most people have no idea this is happening.   Friends of the Earth say that between 2016 and 2018, our money funded 16 oil and gas projects in Brazil, China, Myanmar, Mexico and India.   Tens of millions of £££ went towards building power plants and drilling rigs in Ghana, Nigeria and Bangladesh. 

Friends of the Earth have a petition we can all sign (and/or share) asking the UK Government to stop funding fossil fuel project abroad. 

Please sign the petition here.