Tag Archives: Environment

Hollow Promises: A Brexit impact assessment

Can it really be two years since the Earthquake struck and the UK voted to leave the EU? It seems both much longer, and no time at all. So, on this anniversary, I thought it would be timely to explore … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture policy, Brexit, Common Agricultural Policy, European environment policy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A further peep behind the curtain of Defra’s thinking about Environment and Agriculture after Brexit

Thanks to the impending General Election, Defra has allowed us another peep behind the curtain to show their thinking about the Environment and Agriculture after Brexit. A hastily thrown together response to the House of Lords EU Environment and Energy … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, Brexit, Common Agricultural Policy, Defra, environmental policy | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Guest Post: Austerity and the Environment by Pete Johnstone

It’s a great pleasure to publish a Guest Blog today written by Pete Johnstone: the topic if Austerity and the Environment: News that the Government will be cutting Defra’s budget again this year comes as no surprise. There will of … Continue reading

Posted in austerity, guest blogs | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Labour/UKIP voters put Environment/Climate Change as 2nd top Choice for Spending Cuts

  Amid all the flummery of Clarkson’s cold cuts, Shapps’ second job, and Champion’s poppy wreath claim, there was a youGov poll, which showed Labour and the Tories neck and neck in the race to the General Election. No news … Continue reading

Posted in anti-environmental rhetoric, climate change, General Election, Labour, UKIP, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Guest Blog by Ruth Davis: A Common Good Manifesto 1) Living Wages and Good Food

Today I am delighted to have a guest blog from my old friend Ruth Davis. We used to work at Plantlife together. Ruth is Political Director at Greenpeace though these are her own views. Ruth is starting an open debate … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, environmental policy, farming | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Biodiversity Challenge: 20 years on

It seems unbelievable to me but it is 20 years this week since the launch of “Biodiversity Challenge.”I am going to celebrate this anniversary with a series of blogs this week, and possibly next. Challenge, as it became known, was … Continue reading

Posted in Action Plans, biodiversity, biodiversity challenge, environmental policy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Set our Landscapes Free

Species need landscape features to shift at differing speeds. Shifting Patterns in Time and Space Some species depend on constantly and fairly rapidly changing circumstances such as the creation and loss of bare ground, changes in the inundation status of … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, Common Agricultural Policy, conservation, Floodplains, greenspace, landscape dynamics, management, rewilding, scrub | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Blogs here there and elsewhere

Tomorrow I am heading up to London for a debate about nature conservation at the Linnean Society, with George Monbiot, Aidan Lonergan and Clive Hamble. I have written something which will go on Mark Avery’s blog tomorrow morning – this … Continue reading

Posted in anti conservation rhetoric, biodiversity, George Monbiot, rewilding, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The fallacy at the heart of the Governments biodiversity offsetting proposals

I have been thinking a bit more about last week’s Biodiversity Offsetting debate at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Biodiversity, which I blogged about here. Something was niggling away at the back of my mind and I couldn’t quite … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, Biodiversity APPG, biodiversity offsetting, EIA, farming, housing, meadows, Owen Paterson, regulatory reform | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Saum, Clarkson, re-wilding and whither British Conservation?

the challenge of maintaining Saum I just read an excellent review of Feral on the blog of Green Alliance Director Matthew Spencer. It arrived, in timely fashion on the same day as George published his challenge to British Conservation in … Continue reading

Posted in biodiversity, carbon storage, climate change, Downland, forest elephant, George Monbiot, management, Mesolithic, rewilding, Saum, scrub, straight tusked elephant, uplands | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments