“I was fined for pouring away a small splash of coffee, yet Co’s that release harmful chemicals into our rivers often face no consequences. If we’re serious about protecting the environment, responsibility has to start at the top” www.rsc.org/news/burcu-yesilyurt-coffee-polluter-pays-partnership

How’s #Labour doing on its environment claims? A view of the first year + a bit in power: Tues 4 Νov to #Bromley Friends of the Earth. #aviation #biodiversity #climate #energy #planning #housing #planningandinfrastructurebill #biodiversitynetgain #bng #rights #justice #transport #democracy

Rosebank's emissions revealed: Equinor and Ithaca Energy say nearly 250 million tonnes of emissions would be released from using oil products from the Rosebank oil field, if it starts operating. That compares with the UK's emissions of 371 million tonnes in 2024. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Nothing to do with us, guv! Intensive livestock firm denies it has a role in the decline of the supposedly ‘protected’ River Wye that’s seen pollution rise as intensive rearing units have proliferated. Largest UK environmental lawsuit over river pollution www.bbc.com/news/article...

No surprise. Root cause is govt cuts to Environment Agency - and ministers directing it to go easy on polluters. That led to less monitoring of water pollution, and less responsiveness to reports of pollution - whether sewage or the other pollutants damaging our rivers. www.bbc.com/news/article...

" #Defra should swiftly legislate to stop the digging up of horticultural #peat for #garden #compost..." New blog from Green Alliance calling for legislation on peat sales in #horticulture as part of Emma Reynold's to-do list: greenallianceblog.org.uk/2025/09/18/n...

The government is not only undermining its 2024 manifesto pledges to protect nature – it is sliding into Trumpian, post-truth politics. Me in The Big Issue www.bigissue.com/opinion/mini...

The penny’s dropped - sewage is not - and never was - the only pollutant harming our rivers, freshwaters + coastal seas. Govt now needs to end austerity funding of Environment Agency + Natural Natural and assure their independence from more political meddling. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Labour’s first year: the verdict of Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace: - Climate and Energy: Reasons to be cheerful - Nature and Environment: Cause for concern - Homes and Transport: Glimmers of hope, perhaps - Justice and Democracy: Poor friendsoftheearth.uk/system-chang...

Royal College of Physicians (RCP) says “there is no safe level” of air pollution and that 99 per cent of the public in the UK are breathing “toxic air”. RCP reports the health costs - “30,000 deaths per year” - and the costs to the UK economy of £27-50 billion a year www.rcp.ac.uk/policy-and-c....

Rachel Reeves fails to mention in her #SpendingReview (SR) speech the UK’s poor state of nature. That’s reflected in the modest (at best) SR funding for nature restoration, nature-friendly farmers. Spun as historic investment when it’s a 2.3% budget cut for Defra on top of 45% cuts 2010-19. Fail.

UK Govt says the cost to public purse of #Sizewell is £17.8 bn. I make it £24bn. The latest £14.2bn adds to £5.5bn given in Sept ’24 = £19.7bn Add £4.3bn given by the last govt: £1.3bn in Jan 24; £511m in Sept 23; £100m in Jan 22; £700m in Nov 22; £1.7bn in Oct 21. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c3...

The UK government is going ‘further and faster’ in allowing UK nature to be destroyed. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Integrity, always integrity. The ‘integrity’ buzzword abounds in UKgov’s new consultation on how Voluntary #Carbon & #Nature Markets #VCNM can be high integrity, transparent, trustworthy etc and not just another dodgy deal on the way to #climate chaos and nature’s demise www.gov.uk/government/n...

‘Anthropocene Illusion' - Zed Nelson’s shot of a bored-looking chimp in Shanghai wins the Sony World Photo Award. Nelson explores humanity’s fractured relationship with nature, from safari parks to synthetic green spaces, and reveal a world where the wild is staged and the natural is anything but.

Defence Ministry: Shoreline defence force Gentoo’s prepare mortars. Our Navy Seals conduct clandestine training, and teach tactical camouflage and concealment to juveniles. We stand ready. Flippers Up.

Congratulations to our friends in Chattanooga, Tennessee which has been recognised as North America’s 1st National Park City. From the most polluted city in the USA in the 70s to an unrivalled outdoor destination and biodiversity hotspot. Full announcement buff.ly/Zpg0HRD

Me in The Telegraph: “We can only imagine how bad sewage pollution was before real-time monitoring… Water customers – who are about to be hit with even higher water bills – will wonder what happened to their money which should have been used to prevent pollution long before now”

Confirms what we knew. Biodiversity loss in all species and every ecosystem linked to humans – report www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Paris votes for more “greening” of streets. Parisians vote by 66 per cent for 500 more city streets to be calmed of road traffic, with 34 per cent against www.reuters.com/world/europe...

PM Starmer challenged over his “I’m not making this up” claims about Jumping Spiders blocking housing sprawl. Charities accuse Starmer of misleading spider claims www.bbc.com/news/article...

Another way to view the cost to taxpayers + water bill payers (ie everyone) of Thames Water collapsing is that EVERYONE already pays through the nose for decades of a) mismanagement + financial chicanery by Thames Water’s owners b) lax regulation by govt + ‘regulators’ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

You couldn't make it up - Amazon forest destroyed by four lane highway to climate summit conference site. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Windermere - “only rainwater” to enter “national treasure” Sounds great, but as sewage is only part of the problem this pledge only works if govt also addresses pollution run-off from land, farms, and roads, and airborne acidic pollution. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... www.gov.uk/government/n...

Clean air capital Better breathing in #London thanks to a Mayor with the guts to end decades of Londoners + visitors breathing dangerously bad air - not just talk about it. Note the benefits to people in boroughs that opposed extending #ULEZ to the entire capital. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Mr Sunak is as wrong on net zero now as when he was PM. 2025 - NZ is a ‘noble’ aim but shouldn’t be a legal target. 2023 - “absolutely unequivocal" about hitting NZ. He then cast NZ as a burden ignoring how high gas&oil costs will rise esp as he cut home insulation www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

When They Say There’s No Money #2: UK to scrap windfall tax on North Sea oil profits www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... In Oct ‘24, it committed £21.7bn to Carbon Capture & Storage. Oil firms gave just £8bn, but use CCS to appear ‘green’ while using it to ‘max out’ deposits. #WhenTheySayTheresNoMoney

Compare and Contrast: Trump ❤️ Putin Trump ✋ finger points at Zelensky

When They Say There’s No Money #1: Feb 25: UK cuts £6bn pa in overseas aid to boost defence budgets. Jan 22: Labour finds £13bn in "wasted" defence spend incl £4.8bn in cancelled contracts + £5.6bn overspends. #WhenTheySayTheresNoMoney Minister quits over aid cuts www.bbc.com/news/article...

OK, but a vision without execution is just hallucination. Govt’s and businesses habitually fail to hit nature + climate targets. And they spend more of their time and $€¥£ destroying nature + ecosystems than protecting and restoring them. #COP16Resumed #PeacewithNature phys.org/news/2025-02...

This plan for the 4 🇬🇧 nations has admirable aims, but is a cut-and-paste of existing inadequate policies. Reversing nature’s decline UK wide needs a credible strategy. This isn’t it @jncc.bsky.social @daera-ni.gov.uk @ukgovernment.bsky.social @scottishgov.bsky.social @welshgovernment.bsky.social

Happy Birthday Richard Mabey, Britain’s foremost ‘nature writer.

“Farming's top of the agenda as far as I am concerned..." That’s Sir Kier Starmer at PMQs replying to a question by Harriet Cross MP who asked if his farming minister, Daniel Zeichner, was right to say that farming’s down the pecking order. See ALT text for the full Q&A. #FamilyFarmTax #Farming

Multi-millionaire owned estate fined £20k for taking water from sensitive chalk stream during drought. Meanwhile, the UK govt has shelved the #ChalkStreams Restoration Strategy + Implementation Plan. Both bad. Wondering which is worse. #Rivers #NatureRecovery #Water www.gov.uk/government/n...

New research: Multiple planetary boundaries preclude biomass crops for carbon capture and storage outside of agricultural areas - i.e. #BECCS has v little potential unless it takes over existing farmland www.nature.com/articles/s43...

England’s wildlife watchdog failing to protect crucial sites, say campaigners www.theguardian.com/environment/... great piece by @patrickbarkham.bsky.social on Natural England's failure to do its most important job: notifying Sites of Special Scientific Interest, to protect them in perpetuity.

We've put together a handy digest of Professor Tim Lang’s new report: Just in Case: 7 steps to narrow the UK civil food resilience gap buff.ly/4jT0h4Y concluding that we need to move from reactive food policies to proactive, community-centred resilience planning 📋

Beavers cut costs and ‘red tape’. Of course they do. english.radio.cz/beavers-buil....

When ministers say there’s no money… MPs "unconvinced" by the govt's £21.7 billion 25 year splurge of public funds on unproven on Carbon Capture & Storage www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Note the fossil fuel firms are only investing £8bn but will cash in by using 'green' CCS to pump more oil/gas.

Global leaders put environmental decline high on their list of concerns. If only these leaders actually did something about it...! The WEF 20th Global Risks Report continues the trend of previous risk reports putting environmental decline high on the list. www.weforum.org/press/2025/0...

“An end to the annual pantomime of granting the ‘emergency’ use of these deeply harmful #pesticides is long overdue.. we’re not out of the woods yet - govt must follow through by fully committing to a complete ban..” And in print next to another Paul (McCartney) www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Another major report shows how climate instability, declining nature, and food insecurity are linked. Wake up time was some time ago. It’s time to get to work. @ipbes.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The government likes to blame the water companies for the sewage scandal. No longer. Ministers weakened regulations and the Environment Agency’s ability to track & trace pollution. Now, the govt has been investigated for allowing breaches to happen in the first place www.bbc.com/news/article...

My hunch turns into a pre-Christmas news story. The UK govt’s legal nature targets are at risk due to most (59%) of councils lacking local plans to help restore England’s dire state of nature. See i news and The Independent (pictured) + local nationwide: www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news...

Women show up the men - again. This time on football, climate, rights, oppressive regimes, and dodgy sporting bodies. If only the top male players had the guts to back this by Wycombe Wanderers’ David Wheeler Female players show way to fossil fuel-free sport www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Three years and counting - water pollution criminal investigations enter 4th year Today, 18 Nov, is the 3rd anniversary of the start of nationwide investigations by #Ofwat and the #EnvironmentAgency into whether water & sewerage companies breached agreed environmental permits. Any update?