Soil or Earth? by Morag Warrack (first published in West Sussex County Times)

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  Morag Warrack

Soil or Earth?

The very name of our planet is also the name of our soil.  Earth.  One of the most precious things for our existence.

It’s an apparently strange mixture of living beings and dead ones, inert substances and active ones.

Anyone over the age of 50 is likely to remember the abundance, the rich aliveness of summer meadows-the colours, the scents and the joyful assault on the ears of crickets, grasshoppers and bees below, with skylarks above. Read more

Eco milk float rising to CO2 challenge

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Press Release

Eco milk float rising to the carbon reduction challenge

Pop-up and rock-up

An eco 1974 milk float, pop-up shop and pop-up climate emergency centre – what do they all have in common? They are all initiatives offered by multi-award-winning charity Sussex Green Living, to help people reduce their carbon footprint.

It might be hot air in Glasgow but not at the grassroots where this charity is concerned. On the first day of COP26 the charity became part of a new pop-up shop on the high street. They popped up their first once a month climate emergency centre, the Sussex Green Hub, on 25th September and earlier in the year saw the first appearance of their unique and quirky mobile eco display, a 1974 retrofitted milk float, called the Inspiration Eco Station, and the launch of their Bright New Future Roadshow. Read more

We should all be gardeners by Natasha Barnes (first published in West Sussex County Times)

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Natasha Barnes Trafalgar REC Oct 2021

Gardening is for everyone – I truly believe that!

It’s time to change its reputation as a middle class hobby for retirees or young people who would like a pet but don’t fancy finding poo on the carpet- so they settle for a cheese plant. From some pots on a balcony to an ambitious permaculture project, I challenge you to feel the benefits!

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Turn it off! By Morag Warrack (first published in West Sussex County Times)

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toothpaste kitMorag Warrack

I found myself in the role of Light-Police recently at a joyous family gathering to celebrate several ‘zero’ birthdays which had been postponed due to Covid.

At our beautiful AirBnB, bathroom lights, shower lights, bedroom lights, corridor lights and kitchen lights were left on even though the family were all outside for much of the time.

My dad grew up in poverty and was delighted to be able to provide for us- we had plenty, and he was very generous, but we learned the lesson young that lights should be switched off if you’re not in the room.  Nothing should be wasted.

By coincidence that same weekend an article was published relating how Greta Thunberg taught her father the same switch-it-off lesson. Read more

Nature Networks by Isabella Tree (first published in West Sussex County Times)

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Imagine a beautiful Persian carpet. Then cut it into a thousand squares. What do you get? Not a thousand smaller Persian carpets but a thousand scraps of cloth unravelling at the edges. That’s what’s happening to nature in the modern landscape, the scraps becoming ever smaller as the threads begin to trip us up. It is causing the Sixth Mass Extinction – a catastrophic loss of biodiversity affecting the whole planet.

We can see the unravellings all around us if we know how to look. A patch of ancient woodland surrounded by a monoculture of arable is vulnerable to ‘edge effect’ – the drift of chemical sprays, exposure to wind, extreme heat and frost – eating away at habitat on its periphery. That single ancient oak in the middle of a field of wheat has its roots assaulted by ploughing every year. The fine fungal filaments – or mycorrhizae – leading off its roots in search of nutrients are drenched several times a year in agricultural chemicals. The tree can no longer communicate underground with other trees. It is like a lone elephant in a zoo, deprived of the society of its herd, doomed to die alone. Read more

COP26 Climate Summit:  The Road to Glasgow passes through Sussex by Geoff Barnard (first published in WSCT)

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The COP26 Climate Summit starts in Glasgow on November 1st.  It’s an opportunity that simply can’t be missed if the world is to get on top of climate change, and the multiple threats it poses to the planet, before it’s too late.

But who knew that crucial, behind-the-scenes, preparations for the conference are happening right here in Sussex, at Wiston House, just up the road from Steyning.

That’s where Wilton Park, a specialist offshoot of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, is based.  In their 75th anniversary year, Wilton Park have been instrumental in convening a whole series of dialogues and meetings – mostly online, because of Covid – all geared to making the Glasgow Summit a success.

COP stands for the ‘Conference of the Parties’, and Glasgow is the 26th such event since the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed in Rio at the 1992 Earth Summit. This one is particularly important.  It is the first time that governments will be asked to report back on progress on the pledges made at the Paris Summit in 2016, and ‘ratchet’ them up with new and more demanding targets. Read more

The new Sussex Green Hub is officially open!

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PRESS RELEASE Repair, refill, recycle, reuse, restore, revive and reunite: These crucial ‘R’ words for building a sustainable world all came alive on Saturday 25th September in the Bishopric area in Horsham as Sussex Green Living launched its latest initiative – the Sussex Green Hub. The Hub was officially opened by the High Sheriff of West Sussex, […]

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We’re in this together! Sussex Green Ideas (first published in West Sussex County Times)

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Do you have solar panels at home? Is it time to join the move to community funded renewable energy? Do you want to explore practical ways to make it happen here for Horsham?  Maybe you’re able to use your skills in finance, marketing, law, engineering or management to help form a community group to do this?

Here at Sussex Green Ideas, we’re looking for people who want to respond practically to the challenges of reducing climate disruption and help us adapt to the changes which are now inevitable.

You’re welcome to join an online meeting on October 20th 7pm-8pm, as part of our Sussex Green Ideas series. Kate Meakin, from Energise South, will explain what’s involved in setting up a community energy scheme and what funding is available to support the development of such a community group. Read more