A surprise from a zoom I attended last week was that many people are unaware that we have a real water crisis here in Horsham District, the first ever in the UK on this scale. The huge water shortfall means that all building work is now on hold while solutions are sought.
Southern Water provide drinking water for over a million properties, and remove and recycle the waste water of almost five million people. Quite a task!
Although we have 205 reservoirs, this provides only 7% of our water. The majority comes from underground aquifers, with around 25% being taken from rivers.
The cost of this service from 2020-2025 is around £1,000 per property, with improvements ranging from digitisation, artificial intelligence and machine learning to re-vamping the 3,500 pumping stations and 40,000 kilometres of sewers. Over a thousand options are being modelled including banning non-essential water use and building a desalination plant at Shoreham.
00Marianne Lindfieldhttps://www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/SGL-logo-masthead.pngMarianne Lindfield2022-08-04 07:48:542022-08-04 07:48:54It’s Crystal Clear…We have a water crisis (first published in West Sussex County Times)
NCS (National Citizens Service) Eastbourne is a volunteer youth group. They are currently running a social action project to raise awareness for Plastic Free Eastbourne which helps raise awareness of the dangers of plastic pollution and encourages people to reduce plastic waste.
00Marianne Lindfieldhttps://www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/SGL-logo-masthead.pngMarianne Lindfield2022-07-28 11:22:272022-07-28 11:22:27Beach clean & Art to highlight plastic waste in Eastbourne
Last month marks 2 years since the launch of our Youth Eco Forum (YEF), a group of young environmentalists that meet to discuss their concerns about the environment, share solutions and plan events.
“Whilst it’s true that you can only do so much alone, by coming together, we can find ways to reduce the human impact on climate change and make a positive difference.” says founder member Catherine Sleeman. “The idea was to bring us together and give us space to speak about issues important to us and operate independently.”
The forum was initially set up as a fortnightly Zoom meeting during lockdown and is an easy way for young people from across a wide area of Horsham District and beyond to meet.
00Marianne Lindfieldhttps://www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/SGL-logo-masthead.pngMarianne Lindfield2022-07-28 07:40:332022-07-28 07:40:33Youth in Action (first published in West Sussex County Times)
Going plastic free for a whole 31 days does sound pretty daunting, some would argue impossible, but it’s a great opportunity to get a little creative, learn something new and hopefully pick up a couple of new habits you can stick to. It’s like diet and exercise, if you’re not enjoying it and it doesn’t fit in with your lifestyle you’re unlikely to carry on with it.
00Marianne Lindfieldhttps://www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/SGL-logo-masthead.pngMarianne Lindfield2022-07-21 21:32:042022-07-21 21:32:04Play with Plastic Free July (First Published in West Sussex County Times)
Why the UK Energy Price Hikes and Energy Shortages? Its our reliance on imported fuels, rather than developing the huge tidal and wind resources we have around this island. Most UK homes are still heated by gas and many are woefully under insulated.
Multiple factors are behind the gas price increases. Geopolitical pressures, including high demand for gas from Asia and low supply from Russia, as well as last year’s cold winter, which left gas stocks low, are among the main reasons.
Other countries, such as Norway and Germany, have done a much better job of moving away from gas-fired heating and adopting electric heat pumps, meaning consumers are less exposed to price leaps. Many energy companies have gone bust in recent months and new suppliers have had to purchase gas and electricity on the wholesale market. Britain’s entire energy market needs modernising. Read more
00Carrie Corthttps://www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/SGL-logo-masthead.pngCarrie Cort2022-07-20 08:35:502022-07-20 08:35:50Why the UK Energy Price Hikes & Energy Shortages?
Soaring temperatures have left Sussex residents sweltering after an extreme heat warning raised the question whether this week has been the hottest on record in the region and what we should be doing to tackle climate change.
The national emergency came only a day after Sussex Green Living’s CEO Carrie Cort, her son and the charity’s Youth Eco Forum leader Tash Barns joined ‘Zero Hour’, a coalition of UK campaigners, world-leading scientists, academics and members of the public in Victoria Tower Garden next to the House of Lords in Westminster.
00Marianne Lindfieldhttps://www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/SGL-logo-masthead.pngMarianne Lindfield2022-07-19 06:52:112022-07-19 06:52:11Climate Change hits Sussex as UK Declares First Red Extreme Heat Warning
I have been blessed to spend 20 years working in the Ecuadorian Amazon and Choco cloud forest, a world away from my home in Pulborough.
It has been like having parallel lives.
The UK has one of lowest levels of tree cover in Europe at 13%, globally ranking 136th out of 189 countries. Looking down from a plane over our green desert fields, we can see how few trees there really are with only tiny patches of ancient woodland remaining, maybe unaware that here in England our level of biodiversity is painfully low. Although the woodland cover has doubled in the last 100 years this is mainly with non-native conifer plantations, where very little diversity can exist.
00Marianne Lindfieldhttps://www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/SGL-logo-masthead.pngMarianne Lindfield2022-07-14 14:31:022022-07-14 14:31:02The Importance of Rainforests (First Published in West Sussex County Times)
Go Greener Rudgwick (GGR) is a group of local volunteers who meet regularly to sort single use plastics that can’t be recycled at home, but can be left in the Rudgwick Youth Centre recycling bins. We work in conjunction with Sussex Green Living in Horsham to sort and box items to be sent to Terracycle, a recycling company, to make into new products.
The plastics collected include crisp & biscuit wrappers, toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes, packaging & floss containers, biros & felt pens, household cleaning items such as marigold gloves, trigger heads, dishwasher flexible packaging, personal care & beauty products such as deodorants and empty foundation tubes, plant pots & trays, cheese wrappers and milk bottle tops.
00Marianne Lindfieldhttps://www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/SGL-logo-masthead.pngMarianne Lindfield2022-07-07 07:00:442022-07-07 07:00:44Go Greener Rudgwick Recycling by Fiona Sodha (first published in West Sussex County Times)
We’re slowly moving towards creating a more permanent Green Hub for Horsham, inspired by the excellent Zero at Guildford. One of the many things we’d love, alongside a Community Fridge, a Seed Bank, and a Library of Things (such as ladders or tents) is a Green Book Library.
There are countless wonderful books available, some written by children, such as Greta Thunberg’s tiny motivational book, ‘No-one is too small to make a difference’. Even her inspirational title is clearly intended to change people’s lives for the better. When Greta has been asked “What can we do?” her reply has been, “Educate yourself””
What better way to start, then, than by borrowing a book from a Green Library?
00Marianne Lindfieldhttps://www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/SGL-logo-masthead.pngMarianne Lindfield2022-06-23 07:00:132022-06-23 07:00:13We Need Worms …and Book Worms by Morag Warrack (first published in West Sussex County Times)
Swifts have been thriving for about 70 million years, when they would have been nesting in crevices in rocks and trees alongside the last of the Tyrannosaurs. But despite millions of years, something has now gone dramatically wrong, and UK numbers have plummeted in the last 25 years.
These extraordinary birds can remain in the air for three whole years because everything else apart from nesting is done on the wing. Only when they reach maturity and start to build will they touch anything solid.
No other bird can fly faster in level flight. They eat insects, drink raindrops or water from a lake, even mating and sleeping on the wing, up near Earth’s stratosphere. Their huge eyes are surrounded by bristles that act as sun visors and their feet are incredibly strong and so needle-sharp and tiny that they are unable to hop or walk, so they fly directly into the holes, cling to walls or slip into spaces where they can easily drop back out again.
00Marianne Lindfieldhttps://www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/SGL-logo-masthead.pngMarianne Lindfield2022-06-16 20:55:172022-06-16 20:55:17Swift Action Needed: Citizen Science for Horsham Swift Box Project (first published in West Sussex County Times)
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Sussex Green LivingHow to Develop Healthier Soil That Pollinators Can’t Resist12 August 2026 - 11:04
People’s Emergency Briefing film9 July 2026 - 17:21
Ready to make a world of difference? 9 July 2026 - 17:12
Citizen science helps dolphins thrive23 June 2026 - 14:32
It’s Crystal Clear…We have a water crisis (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Biodiversity & Nature, Climate change, Ecology/by Marianne LindfieldA surprise from a zoom I attended last week was that many people are unaware that we have a real water crisis here in Horsham District, the first ever in the UK on this scale. The huge water shortfall means that all building work is now on hold while solutions are sought.
Southern Water provide drinking water for over a million properties, and remove and recycle the waste water of almost five million people. Quite a task!
Although we have 205 reservoirs, this provides only 7% of our water. The majority comes from underground aquifers, with around 25% being taken from rivers.
The cost of this service from 2020-2025 is around £1,000 per property, with improvements ranging from digitisation, artificial intelligence and machine learning to re-vamping the 3,500 pumping stations and 40,000 kilometres of sewers. Over a thousand options are being modelled including banning non-essential water use and building a desalination plant at Shoreham.
Read more
Beach clean & Art to highlight plastic waste in Eastbourne
/in Children & nature, Youth Eco Forum/by Marianne LindfieldRead more
Youth in Action (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Youth Eco Forum/by Marianne Lindfield“Whilst it’s true that you can only do so much alone, by coming together, we can find ways to reduce the human impact on climate change and make a positive difference.” says founder member Catherine Sleeman. “The idea was to bring us together and give us space to speak about issues important to us and operate independently.”
The forum was initially set up as a fortnightly Zoom meeting during lockdown and is an easy way for young people from across a wide area of Horsham District and beyond to meet.
Read more
Play with Plastic Free July (First Published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Climate change, Refill/by Marianne LindfieldGoing plastic free for a whole 31 days does sound pretty daunting, some would argue impossible, but it’s a great opportunity to get a little creative, learn something new and hopefully pick up a couple of new habits you can stick to. It’s like diet and exercise, if you’re not enjoying it and it doesn’t fit in with your lifestyle you’re unlikely to carry on with it.
Read more
Why the UK Energy Price Hikes & Energy Shortages?
/in Climate change, Energy, Green Suppliers/by Carrie CortMultiple factors are behind the gas price increases. Geopolitical pressures, including high demand for gas from Asia and low supply from Russia, as well as last year’s cold winter, which left gas stocks low, are among the main reasons.
Other countries, such as Norway and Germany, have done a much better job of moving away from gas-fired heating and adopting electric heat pumps, meaning consumers are less exposed to price leaps. Many energy companies have gone bust in recent months and new suppliers have had to purchase gas and electricity on the wholesale market. Britain’s entire energy market needs modernising. Read more
Climate Change hits Sussex as UK Declares First Red Extreme Heat Warning
/in Climate change, Take Action/by Marianne LindfieldThe national emergency came only a day after Sussex Green Living’s CEO Carrie Cort, her son and the charity’s Youth Eco Forum leader Tash Barns joined ‘Zero Hour’, a coalition of UK campaigners, world-leading scientists, academics and members of the public in Victoria Tower Garden next to the House of Lords in Westminster.
Read more
The Importance of Rainforests (First Published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Biodiversity & Nature, Climate change, Ecology/by Marianne LindfieldIt has been like having parallel lives.
The UK has one of lowest levels of tree cover in Europe at 13%, globally ranking 136th out of 189 countries. Looking down from a plane over our green desert fields, we can see how few trees there really are with only tiny patches of ancient woodland remaining, maybe unaware that here in England our level of biodiversity is painfully low. Although the woodland cover has doubled in the last 100 years this is mainly with non-native conifer plantations, where very little diversity can exist.
Read more
Go Greener Rudgwick Recycling by Fiona Sodha (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Recycling/by Marianne LindfieldThe plastics collected include crisp & biscuit wrappers, toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes, packaging & floss containers, biros & felt pens, household cleaning items such as marigold gloves, trigger heads, dishwasher flexible packaging, personal care & beauty products such as deodorants and empty foundation tubes, plant pots & trays, cheese wrappers and milk bottle tops.
Read more
We Need Worms …and Book Worms by Morag Warrack (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Climate change/by Marianne LindfieldWe’re slowly moving towards creating a more permanent Green Hub for Horsham, inspired by the excellent Zero at Guildford. One of the many things we’d love, alongside a Community Fridge, a Seed Bank, and a Library of Things (such as ladders or tents) is a Green Book Library.
There are countless wonderful books available, some written by children, such as Greta Thunberg’s tiny motivational book, ‘No-one is too small to make a difference’. Even her inspirational title is clearly intended to change people’s lives for the better. When Greta has been asked “What can we do?” her reply has been, “Educate yourself””
What better way to start, then, than by borrowing a book from a Green Library?
Read more
Swift Action Needed: Citizen Science for Horsham Swift Box Project (first published in West Sussex County Times)
/in Biodiversity & Nature, Ecology/by Marianne LindfieldThese extraordinary birds can remain in the air for three whole years because everything else apart from nesting is done on the wing. Only when they reach maturity and start to build will they touch anything solid.
No other bird can fly faster in level flight. They eat insects, drink raindrops or water from a lake, even mating and sleeping on the wing, up near Earth’s stratosphere. Their huge eyes are surrounded by bristles that act as sun visors and their feet are incredibly strong and so needle-sharp and tiny that they are unable to hop or walk, so they fly directly into the holes, cling to walls or slip into spaces where they can easily drop back out again.
Read more