The new exhibition Seafaring, at Hastings Contemporary, features a wide variety of works by mainly British artists from 1820 to the present day. Rick Dillon describes the stunning range of paintings, from 19th-century shipwrecks by Romantic artists such as Géricault to contemporary canvases by Cecily Brown and Maggi Hambling.
James Cory-Wright takes a sideways look at the world, from graffiti in Berlin to loo breaks in Snowdonia. And just who are the real ‘gentle sex’?
Nearly half of Britain’s bees are designated as nationally or globally threatened. Leading factors include habitat destruction and the use of chemical pesticides. Ross McNally argues that the introduction of bee bricks into new buildings will not make much difference to bee survival; it’s more important to ban pesticides in gardens, streets and agricultural land.
Human dominance over nature is the lens through which we have been encouraged to see the rest of life on planet Earth. But the long-term consequences of this approach are becoming clearer daily: we are damaging the environment and ourselves. We have to reverse the trend, even if in small ways. We could do worse than start with our gardens, Manek Dubash explains.
Margaret Thatcher did much to hasten the decline of our hedgehog population, argues Ross McNally, who points to rampant road building, privatisation and individualism as contributing factors.
Globally a third of all food produced is never eaten, while many go hungry. As well as cost-ing us millions, wasting food is a major factor in the climate crisis. Here are some actions you can take to change the situation.
In 2020 the Government approved an eye-watering £27bn for major road construction despite the rising costs of dealing with Covid. Here in Sussex several schemes are planned over the next 10 years by a government that seems hell-bent on encouraging travel by road – at the expense of bus and rail.
From small beginnings 30 years ago, the Friends of Hollingbury and Burstead Woods have grown into a thriving organisation making a real difference to the local woodland landscape
We all need to change the way we run our lives, if we are going to reduce our carbon footprint and live more sustainably. There are a growing number of community initiatives that are taking this open, co-operative and bottom-up approach to tackling sustainability issues.
The familiar hawthorn tends to escape our attention except during a brief period in the spring when it is covered with brilliant white blossom and lightens a hedgerow with its flowers. But to ignore the hawthorn is to ignore the extraordinary weight of folklore, myth, history and literature linked to it.
The post-Brexit decision to allow sugar beet farmers to use a harmful insecticide is the latest deadly threat to our ecosystems and to vital pollinators such as bees, writes Ross McNally,
The government is talking tough but doing nothing to solve the crisis of polluted waterways – even after a damning report from MPs. But at least councils in Sussex are taking the problem seriously, as Rick Dillon and Ginny Smith report.
Our bees are once more facing an existential threat. The powers-that-be have given permission for neonicotinoids to be used to control aphids on sugar beet. The very existence of these pesticides is a sword of Damocles being held over our bees, other insects and our countryside.
Rewilding is all the rage yet there remain key fatal flaws in the model. First is the fragmented nature of rewilding in the UK. Second, it remains largely the domain of a handful of privileged people. Could greater democratic oversight help repair fragmentation?
Demonstrators from across East Sussex declared the county’s HQ a climate crime scene in a bid to persuade the County Council to divest its pension funds of fossil fuel investments.
Are disused railway bridges liabilities or assets? It’s a question highlighted by plans to infill a bridge in Barcombe with concrete, plans which provoked a vigorous and, so far, successful campaign to halt what local campaigners describe as vandalism.
There were many attempts to make progress at the COP26 climate change talks in Glasgow. But there was also considerable resistance by countries with vested interests in fossil fuels.
Anna Scott files her final report from the COP26 climate conference e in Glasgow. Activists were disappointed, she reports, but the experience has strengthened her determination never to give up fighting for climate justice.
Back in August Sussex Bylines began its Toxic Shock series reporting on the sewage discharges polluting our rivers and sea shores. Public outrage grew both locally and nationally and eventually No10 had to act. It’s a start, but far from enough say campaigners.
As the COP26 Conference on Climate Change comes towards the end of its second week in Glasgow, the media circus has moved on, global leaders have departed in their fuel-guzzling private planes, and much of the real work begins
A marcher’s eye view of the Youth March for Climate Justice, with pictures and impressions of the event from roving correspondent Anna Scott.
DAY 3 in Glasgow After my day in the Green Zone, I decided that I would spend a day on the streets. The sun was out and the autumn leaves looked so golden and beautiful it seemed criminal to be inside. I began the day with a special Sussex Bylines assignment. In late August, one […]
COP26 can be confusing for average climate activist, as our correspondent Anna Scott finds, as she navigates the streets and the world of the ‘Green Zone’.
Our correspondent Anna Scott begins her reports from the COP26 conference in Glasgow with a photo essay on the inventiveness of protesters.
Greater species diversity would transform the South Downs National Park from ‘pretty’ sheep-grazing fields into a vibrant landscape for all kinds of wildlife. Bring back the bison and let nature take charge again, urges zoologist Ross McNally.
Can our society and way of life survive the triple threat of Brexit, Johnson’s government, and climate change? Or are we headed towards a total collapse of civilisation as we know it? Tom Serpell ponders what lies ahead if we don’t take action now…
Forget Starmer’s speech, McDonald’s resignation and Rayner’s expletives, says Sussex Bylines writer Rick Dillon, who attended much of the Labour Party Conference in Brighton this week. Far more important were the under-reported land laws reform proposals, some put forward by the Hastings & Rye local party and passed enthusiastically by delegates, that would stop the developers’ planning free-for-all and could finally fix our nation’s housing crisis…
The safety of our water systems is now threatened due to the shortage of HGV drivers who deliver the chemicals needed to decontaminate wastewater. This is therefore a problem stemming directly from the consequences of Brexit – and one which, among many others, was predicted in the government’s own Operation Yellowhammer report, which laid out disaster contingency plans in the event of a no-deal Brexit, which has now become reality.
From Sussex to Scotland: Coat of Hopes just embarked on an inclusive, inspiring, and uniquely creative 500-mile, 60-day pilgrimage to the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. And at its centre is a community-made patchwork coat that is transformed as it travels…
Across Sussex, local food partnerships are springing up to address the myriad problems stemming from the UK’s flawed food system that is not only making us ill, but also harming our planet. And our central government is lagging far behind these growing grassroots community groups…