Category: Environment

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…

A spate of sewage discharges and spills into our seas and rivers is prompting protests as demands grow across Sussex for Southern Water to clean up its act and stop putting profits ahead of clean water. As a private monopoly it is accountable to its shareholders rather than its customers, but a growing number of campaigners believe it’s time to bring it back into public ownership.

Around 2 million people visited the iconic woodland home of Winnie-the-Pooh last year, Sussex’s beloved Ashdown Forest. But after losing its crucial EU funding due to Brexit, the Forest is desperately short of the basic funds needed to maintain and conserve it…

Raw sewage has been flowing into Sussex’s rivers and streams – often discharged straight from Southern Water treatment works. In the second part of Sussex Bylines’ Toxic Shock series we look at the effects of this pollution on our fresh waterways – and speak to some of those demanding it be stopped…

“Pristine countryside lost to concrete cannot be recovered: once gone, it is lost forever. Is that what we really want to see for this beautiful section of the South Downs?” Former Lewes MP and Transport Minister Norman Baker demolishes the persistent proposals to build a new four-lane highway that would decimate the Low Weald countryside, including ancient forests, protected wildlife, working farms and historic villages, and calls on the lead Conservative Councillor to change course NOW, before it’s too late…

Raw sewage is being pumped into our seas at an alarming frequency and the water company responsible seems unable to stop it. Sussex Bylines talks to the swimmers who are doing something about it, in the first of our series on the polluted seas and waterways of Sussex.

Author James Joughin joins a very polite and orderly ‘mass trespass’ on the South Downs – 300 people walking into a valley at Pangdean Bottom. This is not land owned by a caricature evil landlord but Brighton Council-owned and rented out to tenant farmers. The trespassers’ point was that it was totally unavailable for use by Brighton city residents and taxpayers, even though the footprints of walkers would surely do no more harm than the hooves of cattle.

There are so many benefits to cold water swimming – from feeling more positive to a sense of community, writes Louise Serpell, who is so glad she took the plunge.

Over the centuries, and particularly in the last hundred years or so, there’s been a decrease in wealthy land-owning aristocrats, an increase in “self-made” rich businesspeople, and therefore a larger number of owners participating in the real estate market. Yet shockingly, around half of England is owned by just 1% of landowners, and they are almost entirely a mixture of corporations, oligarchs and aristocrats. Tom Serpell asks: should anyone actually be entitled to claim ownership of land?

A retired, lifelong left-of-centre activist ponders what constitutes a meaningful legacy, and worries his generation is failing to leave the next with the right kind of wealth…

Of all the plastic routinely placed in recycle bins across East Sussex, less than 30% is actually recycled. The rest is incinerated, along with most of the non-recyclable rubbish, and – perhaps surprisingly – it is the incinerator company that decides what is recycled and what is burnt. Changes to the current equipment could allow more types of plastic to be recycled but it would cost upwards of £1million. What cost our environment?

Trees are often considered the silver bullet in our fight against global warming. But recent research has indicated a need for careful consideration when we plant and has called for a more nuanced approach. Other carbon sequestering organisms are equally worthy of our protection, such as marine algae. Help Our Kelp is a Sussex Wildlife Trust project which aims to restore our once lush underwater forest, through a 300-kilometre protection zone in which trawling is largely prohibited. Sir David Attenborough has described it as “a vital win in the fight against the biodiversity and climate crises”.

Developers are planning to build 3,500 houses on a greenfield site right next to the major rewilding project at the Knepp Estate, blocking a vital wildlife corridor, increasing carbon emissions, and leaving Knepp as a wildlife island in a sea of housing. Campaigners are urging the government to step in and stop it.

We have until 2030 to reduce our carbon emissions, or face devastating climate collapse with disastrous consequences for humanity as a whole. It is not just up to governments to make policy, or businesses to develop new technology. This alone is not going to save us. We need to change our individual lifestyles, and the best way to achieve this is by working together.

Action group ‘Bespoke’ has been campaigning for safe cycling routes in Eastbourne for many years but every time a breakthrough is close, somehow all its efforts run into the sand. Every other Sussex seaside town has a cycle lane along the front. Eastbourne is the exception, and it is almost certainly because – unlike nearby Brighton – it is not a unitary authority.

Local elections are happening across the UK on 6 May 2021. Their results affect us all. So why do the vast majority of voters not bother to cast their ballot?

Eco anxiety is real and defined as “a chronic fear of environmental doom”. But how can we as individuals really make a difference? Group action has achieved positive change already and it can again. This article highlights six practical steps you can take this week to tackle the climate crisis, including switching your bank to a more ethical provider, changing your energy supplier to one which uses 100% renewable energy, and pledging to rewild your garden.