Category Archives: agriculture

Self-willed Land and the Conservation Prison

This morning, I enjoyed once again reading George Monbiot on what’s wrong with UK nature conservation – this time on Martin Harper’s blog. George as you would expect barred no holds, and laid into RSPB for culling buzzards, and promoting … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, animism, biodiversity, churches, environmental policy, George Monbiot, rewilding, self-willed land | Tagged | 12 Comments

Who Owns Nature?

“Possession is nine tenths of the law” is a truism – and one which multinational fishing corporations must have felt applied to them. They possessed Common Fisheries Policy fishing quota, and that meant, as far as they were concerned, that … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, carbon storage, climate change, ecosystem services, fishing, regulatory reform, soils | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

All creatures great and smelly

A fundamental question that conservation keeps returning to is share or spare? Should we create spaces where nature is predominant – for example, nature reserves and at the extreme end “self willed” land. Or should we promote a harmonious interplay … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, bats, biodiversity, biodiversity offsetting, churches, deregulation, ecosystem services, environmental policy, European environment policy, farming, greenspace, Owen Paterson | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What do Pollinators need?

Last week, after a long time coming, The Government announced at a Bee Summit, that it would prepare a national pollinator strategy, to be published this November. This is thanks mainly to the efforts of Friends of the Earth, who … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, bees, biodiversity, ecosystem services, environmental policy, farming, Forestry Commission, grazing, greenspace, housing, meadows, public land, regulatory reform, road verges | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A profound Sense of Anxiety updated

As someone who suffers from anxiety from time to time, I know what the warning signs are. And the last week of political activity has definitely left me with a sense of almost dread about what is happening to our … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, anti-environmental rhetoric, biodiversity, biodiversity offsetting, Charities campaigning, climate change, environmental policy, farming, GMOs, grazing, greenspace, housing, Owen Paterson, public land, regulatory reform, transport | Tagged , | 1 Comment

GMOs again: the myth of herbicide tolerant crops

A more serious GMO story after yesterday’s frippery. One of the many myths about GMOs, and one which Owen Paterson used in his GMO lobbying speech earlier this week, is that GMOs will be friendlier to the environment because they … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, farming, GMOs, herbicide resistant weeds, herbicide tolerant crops, Owen Paterson, rubbish weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment