This week's column is about something that's arguably more important than anything in the news, crucial as some of the other issues are. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

*JOB ALERT* Do you have a passion for landscapes and have professional experience in ecology, placemaking and visual impact assessments? If so, we may have the job for you! We're recruiting a new Landscape Officer for the National Park. Closing date is 8 February 😊 🔗https://webrecru.it/1vk2Rc

Happy Monday! 😀 Loving the winter sunrises - providing inspiration for the rest of the week 💚 📷 "A gem of a morning" in Graffham by Stuart Gerrett

NEW: @lukegooding.bsky.social @robdphillips.bsky.social and Jeremy Keenan share their #EcologicalCitizenship Technologies Framework. This generative scaffold encourages a planet-centred approach to the creation, development and governance of new technologies. Read on: buff.ly/EHPMIHV

The #EcologicalCitizenship Technology Framework is a new methodology to help designers, technologists and citizens engage in planet-centred technology creation and governance. See how it can be applied: buff.ly/EHPMIHV @luke.gooding.bsky.social @robdphillips.bsky.social #EcologicalCitizens

Making the most of some recent winter light on the South Downs. These three photos show the rolling hills never disappoint when the sun eventually comes out. #sussex #southdowns

The 100km Serpent Trail passes through terrain unlike any other in the National Park. ⠀ The route connects what remains of lowland heath - one of the rarest habitats in the world.⠀ ⠀ Plan your own Serpent Trail adventure: www.southdowns.gov.uk/get-active/s... 👋 📸: SDNPA

A moment of reflection. 📸: Tim Squire

Blue and Gold. Time for more ice patterns from last Sunday at the Grand Union Canal, down the hill from me. The way the colours reflected on them - with the blue sky and golden sunlight on the weeping willows - was just magical. So surreal too. #abstract #Berkhamsted #IceisNice #CanonR5markii

Veganuary & the Future of Food ➡️ www.collectiveforclimateaction.org/diet-and-cli... 🎥 Check out the Civil Service Vegan Network talk video

The Detectorists — A Short Film About Otters and Detection Dogs. “Shot from a dog’s-eye view with immersive cinematography, the film offers a poetic glimpse into conservation through the nose and eyes of a canine detective.” [kottke.org]

The last jewel of autumn

Did you know the 100-mile South Downs Way is the only National Trail that sits entirely in a National Park? 🥾 People have been walking this ridgeline of the South Downs for as far back as we can discover, all sharing the views we've come to admire. 📸: Sam Moore

Just five more minutes... 😴 #BackToWork

See the full programme for today's event, which took place on the eve of #BES2025 www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-med... @ect-uk.bsky.social @britishecologicalsociety.org

When it comes to equitably tackling the pollution, biodiversity, and climate crises, nature always brings more to the table! Here are the experts you can follow to learn more about the many ways nature-based solutions help us build a better world. Day 5 of my 20 Days of Climate Starter Packs

💡 What makes an MDes Design Futures student different? Thinking beyond the present 👀 looking at the big picture 🌍 and using design as a tool to understand complex systems 🔧 Find out more ➡️ https://bit.ly/3L3txcH

Lord of the Rings film set? No, it's Kingley Vale. The reserve contains one of the finest yew forests in western Europe, including a grove of ancient trees which are among the oldest living things in Britain. Pure magic. 📸: Chris Doyle

Dale Baldwin spotted this female Kingfisher in a reed bed. Stunning photo.

What's the Point to Global Tipping Points? 🎥 youtu.be/QFp_R9ZXPs0 ➡️ Discover: global-tipping-points.org/resources-gtp/ 💬Join: linktr.ee/cfca

New Blue Spaces Report 🌊 We're pleased to share a new report by Jenny Wheeldon, Esmée’s Blue Spaces Manager, with the collective learning of everyone involved. ➡️ Read the full report and an interactive map of the projects here: esmeefairbairn.org.uk/latest-news/...

Everyone deserves to enjoy nature. Through my Green Roots Fund we’re backing fantastic projects, including the first white storks breeding colony in London for 600 years. This is only the beginning - with more than £12m invested over the next 3 years.

Winter landscape ❄️

a beautiful late winter morning along the Wee Mad Road with the sun illuminating the fantastic birches of Assynt.

Have you 'herd'? 🐮 We're still accepting entries for our 2025/2026 Astrophotography Competition! Find out more and enter: southdowns.gov.uk/dark-night-skies/astrophotography-competition 💫 📸: Christopher Pearson

"£500m over 20 years is sod all," said @jakefiennes.bsky.social, responding to this week's announcement of govt funding for Landscape Recovery As Jake rightly points out, this is a fraction of the overall farming budget & not what was originally promised www.theguardian.com/environment/...

See how we're (mis)using Earth in 100 Seconds www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yHz... #Earthin100Seconds @markruffalo.bsky.social

Announcing our new photography exhibition, Water Pantanal Fire. Featuring over 60 striking images from the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland, this exhibition captures the vibrant wildlife of this aquatic paradise, and the wildfires that threaten its fragile beauty.

Good news! Earlier this year I shared reports that the land around the Cerne Abbas Giant was up for sale I’m delighted that, after lots of conversations, the land has now been bought by the National Trust (who already own the Giant): www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025... bsky.app/profile/guys...

Woodland wander #sharemondays2025

The National Emergency Briefing last week might soon be televised—what impact could that have on awareness and policy? Watch this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sa7... Join our climate action community: www.collectiveforclimateaction.org/cross-govern... #ClimateAction #Preparedness

We're in a national emergency, but we're not talking or acting as if we are. This dangerous disconnect is why we convened the @nebriefing.bsky.social. Our goal was to reset the national conversation on the climate and nature crises, cutting through the sea of misinformation holding us back. ⬇️

Paul Brown on SMRs: “the problem is that they do not yet exist, except on paper or on a computer. No factory has been built to make their components, no prototype has been built, no licensing process has taken place. …Unlike wind & solar, nuclear costs have consistently gone up for decades.”

Special discount until December 7! 🧪 Grab yourself or a friend a signed/personalized copy of OUT THERE: THE SCIENCE BEHIND SCI-FI FILM & TV with a foreword from astronaut Mae Jemison... ...and support a indie filmmaker (me!) at the same time. 20% off with code SCIENCE: patreon.com/arielwaldman

I have a theory that it is the designed obsolescence of stuff that is causing the rage. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

“Buy from someone reputable, look for transparency, and prioritise warranty and repairability over a too-good-to-be-true discount, and you can come out of Black Friday with great devices and a lighter footprint.” www.theguardian.com/thefilter/20...

There were some incredibly powerful talks at the #NationalEmergencyBriefing today And hearing 9 interrelated themes brought home the systemic nature of the polycrisis. Can this be the start of a societal tipping point? . www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Powerful morning of gut-punching presentations on true gravity of #climate & nature emergency from leading scientists speaking at packed #nationalemergencybriefing. Overwhelmingly clear we can only make the necessary green transition if social justice & equity are at its heart

Crooked, an old image from "Intimate Winter", part of the wonderful Landscape Editions books at @kozubooks.bsky.social #Scotland #Photography

Step 1: Sign up for a FREE library card at your local library today. Step 2: Enter a world of possibilities. Step 3: Share some of the library joy that is sure to come.

For the last 10 years the RCA has partnered with Chelsea + Westminster NHS Trust to provide digital artworks for their waiting rooms like this one by Paola Estrella. We're celebrating the partnership at our Battersea campus on Thursday 27 November 👇 www.rca.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

What happens in nature in eight minutes? What does a frog look like on the inside? What was the first written language? These questions, and many more, are answered in the books shortlisted for the 2025 Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize: #YoungSciBooks https://bit.ly/3LQoRqI

Time for some big crashing waves at Reynisfjara beach, taken from a safe distance with a big long lens. I mean who would risk going anywhere near these things?! #Iceland #CanonR6ii #WavePhotography

‘Demand is up, donations are down’: how food banks are helping families in Kent

Last days of Autumn

Done with rage-bait feeds and brain-melting scrolls? 2025 Right Livelihood Laureate @audreyt.org has 3 fixes: 🔁 Leave platforms with ur own data 🤝 Bridge-building AI 🗳️ Youth deliberation before populism bites Are we really more divided, or just being told we are? 🤔

We're soon to be celebrating 10 years of the National Park being an International Dark Sky Reserve! 🌠 If you have an amazing night-time photograph, you could win up to £250! Find out more 👉 www.southdowns.gov.uk/AstroPhotoComp 📷 Aurora and tree at Firle Beacon by Lee J Rouse

Palestine Action ban could lead to people being wrongly criminalised, Home Office official says

Happy National Tree Week! 🌳 Do you love trees as much as we do? If you have a favourite tree or woodland in the National Park, please do share it with us! 😊 📷 Tree of Solace by Sam Moore

Sycamore Gap tree saplings to be planted across UK