somethingswearegettingright#4
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 somthingswearegettingright – number 4
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Welcome to our?Fourth newsletter?somthingswearegettingright – offering a brief digest of inspirational posts from the past week's environmental news. So much that is positive is taking place so – some things we are (clearly) getting right!
In this week's edition:
What we are doing needs 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 endeavor for our planet.
Please take action by subscribing to?somethingswearegettingright. There is so much amazing environmental work going on out there and this deserves to be celebrated! This week. Next week. And every week!
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Sunday 27th August
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While traditional knowledge has allowed Inuit to survive in this harsh environment for so long, the climatic conditions they rely on are changing quickly. Since 1950, Nunatsiavut has lost 40 days of ground snow a year. Its sea ice is vanishing faster than anywhere in the Canadian Arctic. Normally at this time in November, the shoreline would be covered in ice, and people would be putting away their boats and dusting off their snowmobiles. In his lifetime, Shiwak has witnessed the winters becoming warmer, wetter, and shorter.
The environment that the Inuit nation has lived in for millennia is changing fast. Canada’s government once ignored Indigenous knowledge of it but now they are jointly creating the Nunatsiavut conservation area.?
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Saturday 26th August
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A growing number of countries are now considering making ecocide a crime.
Whilst I want to keep my posts as positive as possible, this one is of great importance. A growing number of countries are now considering making ecocide a crime. Mexico is the latest country where the government is considering passing new laws to criminalize environmental destruction.
While damaging the environment is already a civil offense in most countries, recognition of ecocide elevates the most egregious cases to a crime – with accompanying penalties. The new Mexican bill looks to criminalize “any unlawful or wanton act committed with the knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment”. If passed, anyone found guilty of ecocide could be jailed for up to 15 years and fined as much as 1,500 pesos (￡70) a day.
The Mexican bill uses a definition of ecocide?developed by an international panel of legal experts?in 2021. The definition was mainly intended to be adopted by the international criminal court through an amendment to the Rome statute – the?key goal?of the Stop Ecocide Foundation – but is now also being used for national-level legislation.
France was apparently the first EU country to put ecocide into law in 2021, although the wording is not as strong as campaigners had hoped for. A test case involving carcinogenic chemicals is currently in the courts.
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Thursday 24th August
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Unlocking a river: rare silver fish returns to its ancient spawning grounds.
When four navigational weirs were built on the Severn in the 1840s they blocked the route of shoals of twaite shad as they made their way upriver. Now, a newly built system of fish passes means they can come home to breed
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The twaite shad was once a common sight in Britain’s waterways. A member of the herring family, the small silvery fish with a single dorsal fin and a forked tail was once so bountiful it was sold as food locally and abroad. But in recent times, it has been harder to spot and today the River Severn contains one of just four breeding populations in the UK.
The project, completed in 2022, has allowed the once-abundant fish to return to its natural spawning grounds in the Severn for the first time in more than 180 years. A series of navigational weirs built in the mid-19th century had been preventing access to more than 150 miles of river until UTS built four fish passes – a series of imposing partially submerged concrete monoliths – into the weirs, giving hope to many of the Severn’s beleaguered fish species.
Once more we see that the concerted efforts of individuals of vision and of heart have been able to overcome the barriers that these fish have endured for nearly two hundred years. A fantastic effort that deserves to be celebrated!?
#riverrestoration #wildfish #twaite #RiverSevern #Severn
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Thursday 24th August
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Work on Cockshut chalk stream will restore its natural flow, improving biodiversity and reducing flood risk.
Excellent news that work on Cockshut chalk stream will restore its natural flow, improving biodiversity and reducing flood risk. The chalk stream in Lewes, East Sussex, has now been “rewiggled” to restore its natural flow and create a public wetland. The Cockshut is a 1.9-mile long chalk stream that flows from the foot of the South Downs in Kingston, joining the River Ouse at Lewes before flowing out to sea. Diggers last week apparently broke through an artificial riverbank, allowing water from the chalk stream to rush into the 7-hectare (17-acre) wetland area. This project forms part of a shared initiative by Lewes district council, Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust (OART) and Lewes Railway Land?Wildlife?Trust to rewiggle and realign the stream into a new channel, restoring its natural flow and reducing the risk of flooding.
As always, it is important to celebrate every breakthrough, and every area of land wilded, rewilded, and in the case of rivers, "rewiggled". Excellent news!
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Monday 21st August
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Absolutely brilliant news! Ecuador votes to halt oil drilling in Amazonian biodiversity hotspot.
The Referendum result comes as a blow to the president, and will require state oil firm to dismantle the operations area of Yasuní.
In a historic decision, Ecuadorians voted on Sunday against the oil drilling of a protected area in the Amazon that is home to two uncontacted tribes and serves as a biodiversity hotspot. With more than 90% of the ballots counted by early Monday, about six in 10 Ecuadorians rejected the oil exploration in the Block 44 area, situated within Yasuní national park, one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. The area is inhabited by the Tagaeri and Taromenane, who live in self-isolation.
This is absolutely wonderful news and I hope will inspire many to realise we can say NO. And that other outcomes, timelines and futures are indeed possible.
#biodiversity #leaveoilntheground #ecuador #ecuadorreferendum #climatecrisis #climateemergency
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THANK YOU FOR READING OUR FOURTH EDITION! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is our 4th?newsletter.?If you have enjoyed these brief notes, let me know in the comments, and please share the newsletter. I hope we can build a lot of 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 MY WELL-WISHES UNTIL NEXT WEEK AND EDITION #5
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Thanks so much for reading – and please subscribe, share and support!
Aho!
Storyteller. Storytelling performances for all kinds of events. Also teach, train& consult on story with teams, communities, organisations & individuals.
1 年so worth while signing up for this massive dose of good news. Thank you Peter, it lifts the heart and makes the work ahead more possible.
Independent Consultant
1 年Ecocide is also such a great legal umbrella to protect entire communities. With halting disasters, it can actually prevent broader extinctions.