The Springwatcher

It may be the last episode of Springwatch this evening but for those who want more you can read my interview with Chris Packham in the June issue of Country Walking magazine - Country Walking Springwatch. He talks about the programme and reflects on turning 50.

Environment white paper challenges conservation groups

The government today launched the first natural environment white paper in 20 years. Responding to a comment piece in the Guardian on the white paper by Fiona Reynolds, the director general of the National Trust, I threw down the gauntlet to environmental organisations. I said ” As Fiona says there are some exciting proposals in the white paper, particularly the 12 new “nature improvement areas”. I would like to see many of the big conservation organisations who are major landowners such as the National Trust, the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts joining forces to make this vision a reality. To show what can be achieved they should put in proposals to join some of their land together using ecological corridors. Joining National Trust properties with RSPB reserves and Wildlife Trust local nature reserves would be an exciting first step to rewilding the countryside.

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Cairn Energy tries to bankrupt Greenpeace

The Guardian are reporting that Cairn Energy are threatening to fine Greenpeace £1.76 million a day for disrupting their oil drilling in the Arctic. This was exactly the same tactic that BP took in 1997 when as a Greenpeace campaigner I occupied one of their drilling rigs called the Stena Dee and they sued the organisation for £1.4 million. Then as now the draconian legal action would have bankrupted the organisation. In a bid to counter BP we appealed directly to the public for donations through a series of adverts in the national press. After days of damaging headlines BP eventually made a humiliating climb down. I hope Cairn Energy are forced to do the same.

Why do oil companies like Cairn Energy who make more money in a day than Greenpeace do in a year want to silence the group through the courts? The answer is because they want to open up the Arctic for oil drilling without the eyes of the world seeing what they are doing. Drilling in the Arctic is a very costly and hazardous operation even during the short Arctic summer. By bearing witness Greenpeace is showing that Cairn Energy are putting at risk one of the last great wildernesses in the world. But they are also potentially helping to avert another environmental catastrophe like the Deepwater Horizon.

Below is my write up of the Greenpeace action in 1997 and some pictures. Proof that oil companies dont learn from their mistakes.

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Our green spaces are priceless

The government today announced its plan to put a monetary value on all our green spaces from urban parks to nature reserves. In a comment piece for the Guardian I argue that our green spaces are priceless and that it smacks of Oscar Wilde’s maxim that they know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

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