Toads In The Road
by Roderick James The time of year is approaching when the creature known to science as Bufo bufo will be awakening from its solitary winter slumber to go in search of a mate. This annual event is one of the less well-known candidates for First Sign of Spring, beginning in southern England about the middle […]
The Gift Of ‘Seeing Ourselves As Others See Us*’ by Judy McDowell
Once upon a time, on the planet Earth, some school children arrived from the planet Pop. They were on a trip to Earth to see what it was like, and to see what good and bad points its inhabitants had. They had been asked to investigate and make notes of things they thought were being […]
Why Should We Care About The Environment? by Jamie Woodhouse
From the Sentience page on You Tube of Graham Bessellieu by kind permission of Graham Nearly everyone cares about the environment, even if most people still don’t care enough. As well as asking “do we care?” it’s also important to ask ourselves why we care about the environment. Our answers might determine its future and ours. One way of thinking this […]
A Flight Of Fancy? by Richard South
A number of years ago I looked out of the window and thought I was ‘seeing things’. There, hovering by a hanging basket, was what appeared to be the minutest hummingbird. More than surprising, as hummingbirds don’t occur in the wild in Europe, let alone in England. I didn’t get a long or close look before […]
Hot Off The Press, Jan 2025
The Climate Crisis Is a Call to Action. These 5 Steps Helped Me Figure Out How to Be of Use BY KATHARINE WILKINSON JULY 19, 2021 Dr. Katharine Wilkinson is an author, teacher, co-founder of The All We Can Save Project, and co-host of the podcast A Matter of Degrees. Her books on climate include All We Can Save, The Drawdown Review, Drawdown, […]
A Field’s Eye View by Judy McDowell
Hi. I’m a field. Green and muddy. I’m quite down-trodden actually, because this year a herd of cows lives here. So, the lovely grass that covered me in early spring has become a bit flattened and in places blended into the mire. Sometimes my grass grows quite well, and I get left in peace. That’s […]
A Living Covid Memorial: Let Us Plant Trees! (Based on an idea by Caroline Voaden)
Caroline Voaden tweeted on 4 May·” Covid memorial – how about we plant a new forest instead of building something out of stone? A living tree for every person who has died. A place to sit, reflect, breathe… A place that truly reflects where we are right now.“ What a wonderful idea! And let us […]
Learn to Love your Worms by Caroline Hoyes
“Upon this handful of soil our survival depends. Husband it and it will grow our food, our fuel, and our shelter and surround us with beauty. Abuse it and the soil will collapse and die, taking humanity with it ” George Monbiot, The Guardian 24 Mar 2015, quoting ‘a Sanskrit text’. There are ten species […]
“Food And Climate Change Without The Hot Air” by Professor Sarah Bridle: A Review
‘Four legs good, two legs bad‘: faced with complex issues, there is a strong tendency to reduce them to slogans and, having done this, believe that the slogans themselves contain all the truth on any particular subject that most of us need. Thus, to give just one example, ‘many food miles bad, few food miles […]
Greener Hairdressing – Martin Thomas
“The thing is, I’m a dad to four young people and, whilst they may not be meek, they are going to inherit the planet” Martin Martin is proprietor of Thomas Roskilly, the Andover hairdresser. It is housed on the upper floor of the magnificent cruck-framed The Angel Inn, built in the 15th century by Winchester […]