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Category Archives: ecosystem services
Return to “Any Room for Scrub?”
While I may be painted by some as a reactionary fighting against the forces of progress (in the form of the re-wilding movement), I have been thinking about this stuff for quite a long time. Reading George Monbiot’s rant about … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, Common Agricultural Policy, ecosystem services, farming, George Monbiot, grazing, management, rewilding, scrub, self-willed land, uplands
Tagged Cumbria, England, English Nature, European Union, Fell, Foot and Mouth Disease, George Monbiot, Habitat, Heath, juniper, Lake District, overgrazing, Park, rewilding, scrub, Wordsworth
6 Comments
Feral by George Monbiot – a review
The Feral Shore I have promised myself, and some of you, that I would write a review of Feral by George Monbiot. I enjoyed the book, at least in parts. Although I will try and refrain from Ad hominem criticism … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, animism, anti conservation rhetoric, anti-environmental rhetoric, biodiversity, carbon storage, climate change, Common Agricultural Policy, Cultural Cringe, Downland, ecosystem services, environmental policy, farming, forest elephant, George Monbiot, invasive species, management, Mesolithic, neoliberalism, rewilding, self-willed land, soils, straight tusked elephant
Tagged Feral, George, George Monbiot, Mark Avery, Monbiot, re-wilding, Straight Tusked Elephant, Trophic Cascade, Yellowstone National Park
15 Comments
What are we paying for?
So it seems that having successfully killed off the valiant attempts to get the Common Agricultural Policy reformed so it provides Public Goods for Public Money, The National Farmers Union is now campaigning to to ensure that the UK government … Continue reading
For the Greater Good
Yesterday’s Guardian (or it may have been the Observer) carried an interview with NFU President Peter Kendall, in which Peter observed sagely that climate change is now the biggest threat to British Farming – not through gentle warming, but extreme, … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, anti-environmental rhetoric, biodiversity, carbon storage, climate change, ecosystem services, European environment policy, farming, grazing, neoliberalism, public goods, soils
Tagged Agriculture in the United Kingdom, Bedfordshire, Christopher Booker, common agricultural policy, Genetically modified organism, James Delingpole, National Farmers' Union, Peter Kendall, Public good, Roger Scruton
2 Comments
Dams and Dredging Update
Coincidentally, following Monday’s blog I received an email from Natural England yesterday. They informed me that “A member of our Land Management Team has investigation the situation and we appreciate your concerns about the work undertaken. The farmer was … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, Beavers, deregulation, Dredging, ecosystem services, Environment Agency, environmental policy, farming, Floodplains, management, Natural England, regulatory reform
Tagged beavers, Business, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, deregulation, dredging, ecosystem services, Environment, Environment Agency, Governmental, Natural England, Organizations, Water Framework Directive
2 Comments
On Dams and Dredging
Dredging a main river in May On May day this year, it was a lovely morning, and being between jobs, I decided to go out for a walk along a local river flooplain. The hedges were alive … Continue reading
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 carbon, Climate Change Committee, Common Fisheries Policy, Corporate Social Responsibility, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, ecosystem services, Fish, Greenpeace, High Court, Richard Benyon
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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 Anne McIntosh, Bat, Bat Conservation Trust, bats, Church, Church Commissioners, Ellerburn, habitats directive, Tony Baldry, Westminster Hall
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 Bee, Bee Summit, Environment, Friends of the Earth, Government, National Farmers' Union, National Pollinator Strategy, Pollinator, public land, State of Nature, wildflowers, wildlife-rich habitat
4 Comments
Honeybees are livestock just like cows
Honeybees have had a terrible time. Many hives have lost their bees over the past 12 months because of the very cold wet summer of 2012 and the long cold spring of 2013. Honey prices will no doubt shoot up … Continue reading
