somethingswearegettingright
Dr. Pete Jeffs ??
Helping horses & humans holistically / The Healing Circle / Wilding for Horses - Rewilding Britain Network / Western European Atlantic Coastal BioRegion / Holistic biology educator / Children's author.
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WELCOME to Number #5 somethingswearegettingright
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Welcome to our?Fifth edition of the?somthingswearegettingright newsletter. We offer a brief digest of?5 inspirational posts from recent environmental news. So much that is positive is taking place – so some things we are (clearly) getting right!
In this week's edition:
Many things going on need to be celebrated. We need to remember all the thousands of projects and successes, large and small. It may be wilding a hedge, or planting a pond. It might be a more ambitious re-introduction of a lost species. Whatever it is, it is part of the momentum that we are creating, with thousands upon thousands of committed individuals all over the world. This weekly space is to serve two goals. One is highlighting a handful of amazing projects that I have found inspiring. And the other is helping to remind us that we are making progress together in this collective endeavour for our planet.
Please take action by subscribing to #somethingswearegettingright.?
There is so much amazing environmental work going on out there that deserves to be celebrated! This week. Next week. And every week!
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Monday 4th September
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Eleven exciting Rewilding Projects from the Rewilding Britain Network
I missed reposting this one – but here are 11 pieces of Good News all in one post (simply amazing!!!) from the Rewilding Britain Network. Here are some of the eleven projects that received funding in the much coveted Innovation Funding Program.
Diversity is the name of the game and projects run from a?former opencast mine, where funding will support eDNA testing of soils to inform the rewilding strategy for?Wilding West Chevington and extend to Sphagnum mosses – a?small but remarkable group of ecosystem engineers particularly important at?Kingsdale Head. Other projects include sea-grass meadows – a project aiming to restore seagrass meadows and?native oyster reefs?in the Medway and Swale Estuary, Kent and then this is also the WILD DATA project at Knepp. Knepp has been a?rewilding pioneer for over two decades. In that time, the team has tracked some of the most extraordinary journeys of nature recovery. The funding will be used to develop a?new Wild Data portal to allow others to explore the project’s rewilding journey.
You can read about these and the other exciting Rewilding Projects on the Rewilding Britain blog here:
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Sunday 3 September
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Some wonderful news from the Atlantic Salmon Trust.
Here I share a link to a fascinating report on work that will be linking with a network of similar rivers across Europe and North America, ranging from the south of England to the northeast coast of Iceland. The index river network aims to provide valuable information and lessons for river managers and policymakers everywhere.
The River Laxford is one of the most remote, yet productive, rivers in the Scottish Highlands, but in recent years its salmon and sea trout populations have seen a significant decline, mirroring what has been happening throughout the species’ range. Because the entire river is located within Grosvenor’s Reay Forest Estate, the Laxford was perfectly suited to be our first ‘Core River’ – a testbed for management strategies and salmon restoration efforts at a catchment-wide scale. That ability to take a whole-catchment approach presents an enormous opportunity, and it is hoped that the lessons learned here will be able to benefit salmon rivers everywhere.
This specific project aims to deliver over a period of 10 years, one of the largest catchment-wide restoration projects in the UK. The project hopes to restore 118km2?of landscape and plant up to a million trees, enhancing biodiversity and benefitting the whole ecosystem, enabling wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout to thrive. The scheme is their first catchment-scale restoration project, with efforts including the whole river from source to sea.
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Saturday 2 September
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Rare sighting of an all-white hen harrier
An amazing sighting of a bird so rare, the author of this Country diary was in rapture. The article describes the sighting of an all-white hen harrier, ghosting along the cliffs of Laxey Bay, Isle of Man.
So rare the sighting that the author questioned his very eyes – save that, he was backed up by two others! All three saw the leucistic, or unpigmented, bird as it flew slowly along the cliffs in deadly, unnerving silence.
These birds thrive on the Isle of Man, thanks to a lack of persecution. And this one is so remarkable the author could hardly believe his eyes. Bellamy writes: "To see any hen harrier is a sight to behold, even here on the Isle of Man where we boast some 38 pairs – surely the highest breeding density across all of Britain and Ireland. On a summer walk in the Manx hills, I would be amazed not to see one. But down along the rocky coast by our home I rarely see them".
Generally, one should easily see them breeding on the Yorkshire moors – but the area lies empty of raptors, largely due to the existence of driven grouse moors. These magical birds are in fact Britain’s most persecuted raptor. Thankfully upon the Isle of Man, they find refuge among the serene, heather-clad hills, far from the danger of the moors that are just discernible across the sea on a summer’s day.
A lovely article, and reminder, once more, of how human activities impact on nature.
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Friday 1 September
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Kerala is doing A LOT right.
I am truly grateful to Erin Remblance for allowing me to reproduce her excellent post on Kerala, and its sustainable social and environmental progress. I have included a link to her original article on Substack. Please read and share widely. This is such an exciting and inspiring article. It brings great joy and hope that we can all find a better way.?
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Kerala has a higher?human development index than some European countries (and also a higher?sustainable development index), one of the happiest and healthiest populations in the world, the highest?daily wages?in India, strong labour, trade unions and land reforms, all villages and cities are?electrified?and it has the highest?literacy?rate in all of India. Additionally, Kerala has been declared one of the states where citizens experience the lowest instances of?corruption?and has been designated the?best governed?Indian state. Kerala also has the lowest rates of?poverty?(0.71%, an enviable result even for most ‘developed’ nations), the lowest rates of positive?population growth, and the lowest rate of?infant mortalityin India (6 deaths/1,000 births vs the national average of 30 deaths/1,000 births)...
Most astonishingly, and against the mainstream belief in economic growth as a path to prosperity, the people of Kerala have achieved all of this with a Gross National Income (GNI)/capita of just?US$12,376?compared with the USA of GNI/capita of?US$76,399....
What are the people of Kerala doing differently?
All of this is made possible by the?Kerala model of development?which prioritises sustainable social and human development over economic growth. Kerala has a politically engaged citizenry, a history of organised labour, decentralised governance and community-based participatory decision-making. This radical democracy has resulted in higher government spending on education, health care and poverty reduction over the last century. It is through these high levels of democracy that Kerala has been able to improve the quality of life of its citizens without significant environmental harm.
Interestingly, Kerala also has high levels of?cooperative and social enterprise?business structures which, like the Kerala model of development, also put workers and social welfare above profit. Kerala has?11,892?cooperatives across key sectors, including agriculture, industry, banking, grocery and restaurants. Kerala “has?less than 3% of India’s population, yet accounts for 17% of cooperative membership”.
Kerala is an inspiring example of how we can focus on human needs rather than economic growth to achieve genuine sustainability. By focusing less on profit and growth and more on providing everyone with the things they need to live well, we can all have access to high quality food, healthcare, education, housing, and connected communities. Realising such outcomes in “over-consuming” nations will require us to reconsider for-profit organisational structures, as well as the highly concentrated media ownership and political donations that are damaging our democracies. It will require building grass-roots movements and much more organised labour, but - looking at the example of Kerala - the payoffs will be tremendous."
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Thursday 31st August
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Some fantastic news for birds, bees, and wildflowers today from the RSPB… ?? ?? ??
In partnership with the RSPB,?Ella's Kitchen?are going to fund the restoration and protection of 30 million square feet (278 hectares) of wildflower meadows and grasslands by 2030.
Supporting nine projects across the RSPB reserve network, this work will see new wildflower areas created, while existing ones will get the protection and maintenance they need to thrive.
Since the 1930s, the UK has lost 97% of its wildflower meadows. Fantastic the RSPB is now working in partnership with Ella’s Kitchen who are helping to turn that figure around!
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Wednesday 30th August
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The joys of Collecting Wildflower Seeds
Many wildflower seeds are available to collect now, from wild carrots to welsh poppies...
In an effort to plant for next year, the writer Matt Collins has been making an effort to develop his?newly acquired garden as sustainably?as possible by raising as many plants as he can from seed.
Among the perennials sown last year – echinaceas, salvias, sea holly, mint – he included wildflowers whose seed had been collected from local hedgerows: field scabious, teasel, white campion, wild carrot. These plants produced blooms this summer and were attractive to pollinators, including many species of bees, beetles, and hoverflies.
On free-draining soils, he recommends Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum); Field scabious (Knautia arvensis); and Wild carrot (Daucus carota). On heavy or damper soils, he proposes Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) and Welsh poppy (Papaver cambricum)... For more coastal spots, he writes of Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), White campion (Silene latifolia), Viper’s bugloss (Echium vulgare).
This is a delightful article quite simply reminding us that we can all gather seeds from many places in the country, and we can use them to make our gardens wilder!?
For more information on wildflower seed collection please visit:
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THANK YOU FOR READING OUR FIFTH NEWSLETTER! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you have enjoyed these brief notes, do let me know in the comments, and please share the newsletter. I hope we can build a positive impact through this newsletter, and send encouragement to all those who are already doing so much to protect our planet and support the plants and animals with whom we share this marvelous earth.
If you are involved in positive impact projects that you would like to see highlighted, please do reach out and DM me. My aim is always to remind us that SOMETHINGSWEAREGETTINGRIGHT
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WITH ALL MY WELL-WISHES UNTIL NEXT WEEK AND EDITION #6
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Thanks so much for reading! Aho!
Thanks for this week's edition! I particularly enjoyed reading about Kerala, and the wild flower seed gathering article is super timely. ??