Since finishing my exams, I’ve been working in two garden centres as a gardener, a job which has left me feeling very connected to the outdoors and has fulfilled all my whimsical flower fairy aspirations – I get paid to pick tomatoes! I get paid to sow sunflowers! However, climate change is a theme which […]
The 30by30 Delivery Plan isn’t a plan, and it won’t deliver 30by30. In its dying days, Starmer’s government has just published a new plan for how it will protect and restore 30% of land for nature in England: its ‘30by30 Delivery Plan’. The problem is, it’s not a plan, and it won’t deliver 30by30. It […]
Like so many of our readers, we were horrified to hear of plans for a massive data centre in the North Devon countryside. Anyone who follows environmental and human rights campaigners in North America will know that data centres are responsible for appalling effects on the environment and people’s lives. But many will not. So […]
Dorset CPRE, the Dorset branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is celebrating CPRE’s centenary and plans to mark the milestone anniversary by planting hundreds of trees this autumn, including endangered species. Planting more trees is essential to offset climate change, restore wetlands, and replace trees in Dorset afflicted by disease, such as ash […]
Residents gathered on the banks of the River Stour in Muscliffe, on the afternoon of Sunday March 22, 2026, to take part in a colourful and theatrical ‘World Water Wedding’, pledging their commitment to protect the river from pollution. The ceremony, organised by Extinction Rebellion Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (XR BCP), was held on World […]
We are always delighted to publish pleas for help like this email from the Chardstock Eco Group! Do send them in! For those of you who have visited the Chardstock Shop or Community Hall recently, you may have noticed the hive of activity in the creation of the new Community Garden on the site of […]
No doubt we have all been looking out of our windows wishing wistfully that the rain would stop just long enough to do at least a couple of jobs in the garden! Hopefully by the time you read this, the sun will be shining. [And it is! Ed] Plastic pollution doesn’t just come from food […]
Dear Anna I have long been disgusted by the indisputable fact that South West Water wilfully and regularly dumps sewage as a profitable policy. I was again reminded of this as I watched the TV drama ‘Dirty Business’, and the scale of it is even worse than I ever imagined. SWW are not only committing […]
Ecoanxiety… the chronic fear of environmental breakdown. Sounds horrible, doesn’t it? It’s a word that’s been bandied around a lot recently, as the “strong” men (and it is largely men) of the world tear down the policies that science and reason that the human race needs to survive. What we’re really talking about here is fear… of the […]
In December, I submitted my Extended Project Qualification, a project I participated in alongside my A-Levels which is designed to teach students how to research effectively and write in an academic way, as well as develop their passions. I titled my project ‘To what extent can the fashion industry ever be considered sustainable in the […]
I loved living in New Zealand, but I missed the understated beauty of the West Country countryside. A lot of that landscape is man-made. Centuries-old agricultural practices created a patchwork of fields, hedges, heathland and forest, to which native wildlife adapted. Unlike countries such as the United States, where agricultural fields can stretch uninterrupted for […]
The Armada Way tree-felling fiasco has certainly put Plymouth on the map. It was a disaster, not just for Plymouth’s canopy cover, but for our city’s reputation and the relationship between the public and the local authority, which wasn’t great to begin with. It was described as “environmental vandalism” by many, resulting in the then […]
The south-west of England is a hotbed of newly evolved tree species. There’s a sentence you probably thought you would never read, but it is true. In Britain, we have numerous tree species that are endemic to these isles; they are unique species found nowhere else on the planet, species that evolved here after the […]
84 per cent of Cornish residents support a ban on bottom trawling in marine protected areas (MPAs) Bottom trawling, which destroys reefs, seagrass and marine life, remains legal in all Cornish MPAs in the consultation despite bans elsewhere in the UK Iconic fish stocks are collapsing: cod in the Celtic Sea is down 98 per cent since 2012 and mackerel is down 78 percent over the last decade A new Cornwall-wide […]
Annie Hill-Smith: On 7 November at 10.00a.m. the Dartmoor National Park Authority’s Development Management Committee will hear the Tree Protection Order relating to the trees at Kenwyn. The Park’s Tree Officer is recommending that the order is granted. Hurray! The meeting will be at the DNPA’s office at Parke, just outside Bovey Tracey. I’ve lobbied […]
On the surface it looks like another ‘conservation versus industry’ planning controversy, with the odds predictably stacked against nature and wildlife. A multinational quarrying company wants to expand its operations in Devon, which will mean destroying a large forest. As the company prepares its application for planning permission, a group of local residents are fighting […]
A new independent review of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council’s weed management programme has raised serious concerns about the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. The analysis carried out by local environmental researcher Steve Harper, found that 49 of the 51 chemicals used by the council in 2024 – […]
The scheme for five affordable homes by Darren Wills of Classic Builders was REJECTED. The community’s need outweighed the need for more housing. Statement from the Open Spaces Society at the bottom of this article. Please read! In the north of Plymouth, surrounded by a housing estate, there is a small, triangular patch of grass, […]
“I sometimes think my vision of the sea is the clearest thing I own” – Sylvia Plath This month, I wanted to write about the sea and its importance for two reasons – firstly, because of David Attenborough’s popular new documentary ‘Ocean’ (which I unfortunately still haven’t had the opportunity to watch as yet) and, […]
Today I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. I was bitten by four ticks 30 days ago, and had a red rash come up around one of the bites that soon started spreading… As there was no ‘bullseye’, I didn’t think it was Lyme, I assumed it was just a reaction, especially as the rash wasn’t […]
We have covered the resistance to the incinerator plans before, but, sadly, it seems people have to protest yet again. Local residents are angry that the BCP Planning Committee have made a summary recommendation to grant permission for MVV to build their proposed waste incinerator in Canford. The BCP Planning Committee are meeting at 1pm […]
The review commissioned by Plymouth City Council (PCC) in order for them to learn lessons from the Armada Way tree felling fiasco is complete and the report has been published. It is damning. The Armada Way Independent Learning Review (AWILR) panel was tasked with looking into the decision to approve the development of Armada Way […]
Thousands of people are expected to rally at noon on Haytor on Dartmoor this bank holiday Monday (26 May) to call on the government to pass a new Right to Roam Act. The rally comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s unanimous verdict upholding the right to wild camp on Dartmoor, quashing a long-running […]
This is Piles Copse, the largest remaining fragment of high-ground temperate rainforest on Dartmoor. It’s a tiny speck of green in a dismal, human-made desert. Prepare yourselves for a story of breath-taking perversity. Even in fairly recent history, it used to be much bigger, to judge by two lines of evidence: a few surviving oaks […]
Nature-rich peatland habitats are to be better protected under plans set out by the Government today (Monday 31 March), which would ban burning on peat in the uplands, improving health and wellbeing of people in nearby communities. This is a very welcome statement from the government today. It recognises the value of our precious peatlands […]
I’m incandescent, furious, overflowing with rage at Dartington Trust’s ability to continually make the wrong decisions, decisions that show they are out of touch with pretty much everything. In particular, it has just been announced that they plan to revoke the wonderful Agroforestry Research Trust’s lease on their extraordinary temperate forest garden on the Dartington […]
UPDATE: The latest from Martin. Not great. “This afternoon our landlords have released a public statement (https://www.dartington.org/forest-garden-update/) which contain a number of misleading statements which we feel we have to correct. “We have had constructive and productive discussions with Martin over the past week.” No, we had one meeting on Weds 19th March when positive noises […]
There are books read in childhood that, over time, are elevated to mythic status, as memory seeks to preserve that embodied sensation of the newly discovered miracle of reading which grants agile, hungry imaginations a licence to fly. One such book is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I don’t know exactly how old […]
A record-breaking 74 Tiverton Tree Team volunteers turned up on February 8, 2025, to help create a new wildlife recovery zone on the banks of the river Exe just outside Tiverton. At the top of the site, running parallel to the existing Devon hedge, a 200 metre line of hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, dogwood, elderberry, dog […]
When numerous small plastic pellets were spotted littering the beach at Charmouth in west Dorset, a diverse group of people, united by their love of this special place, began to delve in to the problem. After a tortuous investigation, two kinds of pellet were identified on the beach at Charmouth: nurdles, the pre-production raw material […]