Down To Earth

Published on Friday, 12th May 2023  |  Written by Hannah Wright

God Save Our - Environmental - King!

At 9.14 pm on 14th November 1948, King Charles III was born into an age of austerity in the UK. He was named Charles Phillip Arthur George and was second in line to the throne. At age four, he became heir to the throne. And now, seventy years later, a proud nation watched as Prince Charles was crowned King Charles III last Saturday. 

From a very early age, the young prince discovered his love of nature. He recalls his fondness for many hours playing in the gardens with his grandmother.  This love of the environment grew throughout the years, as did his concern for what was happening to our planet. Pollution, deforestation and burning fossil fuels frightened him about the future, viewing these modern world actions as dangerously short-sighted approaches. As early as 1970, at just 21 years old, he gave an incredibly insightful speech; he said: 

“We are faced at the moment with the horrifying effects of pollution in all its cancerous forms. When you think that each person produces roughly two pounds of rubbish per day – I believe the Americans produce more per head – and there are 55 million of us on this island using non-returnable bottles and indestructible plastic containers, it is not difficult to imagine the mountains of refuse that you shall have to deal with somehow”. 

What a wise statement that showed foresight for our future, and despite significant technological advancements, we still throw away 2.5 pounds of rubbish per person daily fifty years on.  Imagine how many millions of tons of plastic waste we could have saved if we had started looking more innovatively at recycling in the 1970s. Yet, back then, many scoffed at the prince’s ideas and views towards nature, ridiculing him for being old-fashioned, out of touch and anti-science.  Yet, regardless of such contemptuous critics, he continued to pursue a vision where nature was the influencing factor. Concerned with the overuse of antibiotics and their impact on humans and the environment, King Charles III set up an organic farm near Highgrove. This was forty years ago. Forty. He was considered an ‘idiot’ for even suggesting going organic. 

Yet, here we are today, with King Charles III vindicated for his decisions as more and more people choose to eat organic food influenced by our interest in health and the environment. In fact, the UK’s organic industry has grown from £605 million in 2000 to over £2.6 billion in 2020 and is projected to grow by 14% year on year until 2030. That’s not a bad business model for a young prince whose sole concern was that of nature and his nation's well-being rather than driven by profit and revenue streams. 

As it happens, here again, the prince’s passion for putting people and the planet before profit is being ignited, with businesses signing up for accreditations that showcase this very purpose.  For example, B Corp status is a relatively new certification that was launched in 2006 to enable businesses to embrace a new economic model that balances profit with purpose. Brands such as Innocent Smoothies, Ella’s Kitchen, COOK Food, The Body Shop, and The Guardian are part of the 1,200-plus UK businesses that are putting the benefits of people, communities and the planet before profit.  

King Charles III might not have the same global recognition for his environmentalism as Sir David Attenborough, but this incredible man has spent his life advocating for protecting our environment. Now, as King, he is pushing forward, developing a legacy that will benefit us, our children and our grandchildren with the ‘King’s Series of National Nature Reserves. Every year for five years, five major National Nature Reserves will be named, with the first – the Lincolnshire Coronation Coast National Nature Reserve – declared this summer, with four more still to be announced.  

Sadly, King Charles III has said that he will stop speaking out about topics he feels strongly about now that he is King. Least we do not forget his wisdom about protecting our planet, our future generations and connecting with our natural world; here are some quotes to reflect on: 

• “I could see very clearly that we were growing numb to the sacred presence that all traditional societies still feel very deeply”.  

• “What spurred me on was an essential fact of life, an undeniable law, that if we ignore Nature, everything starts to unravel”. 

• “The necessary action hasn’t been taken, has it? That’s the problem.  And I cannot believe that people can simply pay no attention to science. They accept it in every other aspect of modern existence, the evidence, but apparently, NOT for climate change”.  

• “The simple fact is that the world is not paying for the services that the forests provide. At the moment, they are worth more dead than alive”. 

• “We should be treating, I think, the whole issue of climate change with a far greater degree of priority than I think is happening now”. 

• “Business is recognising the role it can play in combatting climate change. Thank God, is all I can say, for there is a clear need for business to play that role”. 

• “If you think about your and my grandchildren, this is what really worries me. I don’t want them – if I’m still alive by then – to say, why didn’t you do something about it, when you could have done.”

• “I just come and talk to the plants, really – very important to talk to them. They respond”. 

Truer words were never spoken. To this end: God Save Our King! 

Published on Friday, 14th April 2023  |  Written by Hannah Wright

When fresh might not always be best. 

Last week I returned from my family holiday in South Devon slightly lighter in the bank balance but somewhat heavier on the weighing scales. Alas, those family moments of enjoying ice creams together, eating out and treating yourself to that delicious-looking carrot cake didn't do much for my waistline. Luckily, during that week, I was also introduced to Dr Michael Moseley and his Fast 800 diet books, where he advocates for a low-calorie, low-carb diet and fasting. Ultimately his healthy eating ethos is based on the Mediterranean diet with lots of green vegetables and healthy fats. I've spent over five years living in the South of France, so I am certainly well accustomed to eating this way. However, what surprised me was the ingredients making up some of the suggested recipes in his book. The meals included frozen and tinned items. This surprised me as most recipe books I have previously read always push for fresh produce. Most cooking books encourage using fresh food over other options, such as frozen, dried, tinned, etc.  

When food prices continue to rise, fresh food becomes an expensive commodity on our dinner plates. We all need these essential nutrients that fresh produce gives us, and it's worrying to think that fruit and vegetable shortages might cause deficits in our diet. Yet how many of us opt for these other options over fresh food? I believed fresh food was better than frozen or tinned items for years. This belief probably stems from my mother barely using anything but fresh ingredients in our meals growing up and because most tinned fruit in the cupboards was contained in syrups. Tinned food is technically classified as "processed foods". It is positioned in the exact location in the supermarkets as other highly processed and certainly unhealthier tinned foods, which doesn't help in the sound, nutritious argument. But what if I was to tell you that tinned and frozen is just as nutritious as fresh food, and in some cases, it could be healthier? For example, canned tomatoes could actually be better for you than fresh tomatoes. Research has shown that lycopene - the compound that gives tomatoes their lovely red colour and is linked to lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease – is higher in canned tomatoes, making the case that canned over fresh could be the better option.  

What about preservatives? While it is true that many tinned foods include preservatives – the ingredient that prevents food from going off – these are tightly regulated and have no adverse effect on our health. Interestingly, it’s the preservation process that enables these foods to maintain their essential nutrients. This process ensures that many vital nutrients are not lost. For tinned food, adding heat to the food before tinning inactivates certain enzymes and destroys microorganisms preventing food from going off. While for freezing, the method involves either removing heat by lowering the food's temperature enough so that the water inside freezes or blanching the food before freezing.  

Of course, there is the inevitable loss of some nutrients in both processes – to what extent depends on the foods and the nutrients they contain. For example, tinned food has less vitamin A loss than frozen food because it is more stable against heat. However, vitamin C loss is high in the freezing process because it's a water-soluble vitamin that is easily broken down in the water. However, when you place these two processes against the process of fresh food arriving on our shop shelves, there is a strong argument why freshness might only sometimes be best. When fruits and vegetables are picked, they can lose up to half of some nutrients within a couple of days. For example, green peas lose about half of their vitamin C within the first two days of harvest and the same for broccoli and beans. This nutrient breakdown and loss in fresh food is down to many factors, including photo-oxidation – a chemical process when food is exposed to light and air - and due to microorganisms from soil and water that feed on the nutrients.  

While there are some nutrient differences in fresh vs frozen or tinned food, no one type of food is significantly better than the other (apart from our canned tomatoes) for our health. But let's consider the health of our planet. Food waste is responsible for almost 8% of global emissions, double the emissions produced by the shipping and aviation industries combined. Sadly, data figures show that one-third of all food produced globally is wasted, which means all the energy, resources, and money that went into producing, packaging, and transporting it are wasted too. How many of us throw away weeks-old fruit or vegetables because we have forgotten to use them or, even worse, bought too many in the first place? No matter what, I never throw away frozen or tinned food. I dish out the exact amount I need, thanks to the useful amounts already allocated in tinned food, or put the rest away in the freezer. There is almost zero food waste. 

So next time you shop for blueberries, remember that fresh doesn’t always guarantee a better vitamin content than its frozen colleagues. And, what’s more, these frozen gems are usually kinder on our purses, healthier for our bodies and are definitely more sustainable for our planet.  

Published on  2nd September 2022  | Written by Hannah Wright

Can Earth make itself better? 

My son is curious, like most children.  Occasionally, he’ll come out with some highly random question that makes my mind boggle that a six-year-old is even thinking about such things.  Usually, these questions are fired at me while driving, so the sneaky use of online searching is impossible.  I’ve had questions like, “Mummy, how do wasps poo?” or “Why do we talk?”. The most recent query came last week; he asked, “Can Earth make itself better?”.  This question struck a chord with me, bringing a lump to my throat.  I know I talk about climate change a lot at home, but I guess I never thought my son would pick up on the fundamental question that we all need to know, and we all need to ensure it happens.  

It worries me that my six-year-old is thinking about such things, yet at the same time, I want to be honest with him. Tell him the truth.  I want to say, well, actually, darling, we’re pretty buggered. We have an inadequate global climate change strategy, a dysfunctional UK government ruled by short-sightedness and self-interest, and an antiquated measure of prosperity. Not only that, all local governments seem unable to work collaboratively, and we have a predominantly white male, middle-class demographic that hinders any new climate solutions in case it negatively impacts the value of their property.  All of these influence the trajectory of our imminent decline, and the people who will have to deal with this catastrophic issue will be you. 

Of course, I didn’t say that. Instead, I said this. 

Mother Earth is old, ancient.  She’s 4.5 billion years old. She has had lots of fights since she was born.  She has had mass extinctions like the dinosaurs and ice ages and had many asteroids hit her.  Yet, even with all of that, she recovered.  She became the beautiful, wonderful world that we live in today.  The problem is that she has another fight with a new species, ourselves – human beings.  By new, I mean that if we consider how long Earth has been alive and relate it to Mummy’s calendar and kitchen clock, we humans have existed for only 37 minutes.  Now, you know that humans lived primitively for hundreds of years. Like cave dwellers? Yes, exactly.  That means that in less than a second (in real terms - two hundred years), we have hurt the entire ecosystem – our forests, seas, plants, water, and animals - to the point of no return.  

You’re right, darling; that does sound like a Gruffalo voice talking about a new film on the radio. However, never fear. Mother Earth is strong–why wouldn’t she be? She’s a Mummy, after all.  She has made herself better many times over. The difference, though, is that she needs time. Much time. Thousands of years, to be precise.  For her, that’s fine.  But for us, not so much. So, to help her, we must change how we do things now. 

Like what? 

Well, more people need to eat like we do, with lots of vegetables and only meat once a week.  More people must stop buying lots of new things and try to reuse what they already have or recycle it by turning it into something else we can use. We need more wind farms, like the small one near Eye and fewer petrol stations.  And most importantly, we need to ensure that everyone and everything on Mother Earth is looked after equally and fairly.  

His face was confused and delighted as if he wanted to say something else. Still, he responded with an “Oh” before turning to look out the window. Hopefully, he returned to wondering whether Pikachu would beat Dragonoid in a battle between Pokemon and Bakugan.  This is what a six-year-old should be debating, which of the two cartoon characters battling each other would win?  

My son’s question, “Can Earth make itself better?” is both apt and unjust.  She does need immediate attention, but should it be down to Earth to heal herself? We are the ones to blame for her demise. Thankfully for most of us, it has been unintentional. Fifty years ago, climate change was a term hardly anyone knew, bar a few government officials and top executives at oil and gas corporations who wanted to keep it a secret and then blatantly lied about it (looking at you, Exxon Mobile).  However, today, we all know about global warming. We all can do something about it.  Even the smallest of actions is a positive one if it helps make Mother Earth better.  And why wouldn’t you want to help her? Without her, you won’t exist. 

Published on Friday, 14th April 2023  |  Written by Hannah Wright

'We're cooking with gas" on renewables.

"No, Uncle Joe!" shouted my six-year-old, "we're "cooking with renewables", not gas!". That was my son's response to my brother's declaration of success after he finally managed to fire up the lawnmower after a series of false starts last weekend. It made me chuckle as it is such a generationally old saying that my father used to come out with, and hence why my brother probably says it now. How my son made the connection from gas to renewables is beyond me. Still, I underestimate how much my son takes in when I'm rambling on about climate change and the just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.  

The exchange between my brother and my son got me thinking about this particular saying and the idea that if someone or something worked efficiently and successfully, it was thanks to fossil fuels. 

As it turns out, it's quite an interesting story. 'Now we're cooking with gas' originated in the United States around the mid-1930s as an advertising slogan thought up by Carroll 'Deke' Houlgate, a public relations employee who worked for the American Gas Association. His objective was to convince people, predominantly women, to use gas rather than electricity to power their kitchen appliances, imprinting the idea into women's minds that cooking with gas was the most effective way to prepare a hot meal.  

The timing was perfect; with the widespread transition from wood-fuelled hobs, consumers could choose between electric and gas appliances. As the competition was fierce, there was a need to stand out from the buying crowd. While the slogan was a great phrase that has stood the test of time, what was equally shrewd was the advertising campaign that went alongside it. Instead of going down the traditional route of print advertising in newspapers, magazines and on commercials, Houlgate chose a more strategic method that today could be seen as the first foray into using an 'influencer' to sell a product. That influencer was Bob Hope. 

The British-born American comedian, with a career spanning almost 80 years, was the key to Houlgate's vision. In 1934 Bob began hosting his show on NBC Radio. Within a year, it was the country's most successful radio programme, thanks to his genius comedic aptitude and because radio was the only medium for people before the appearance of television in the 1950s. At the height of Hope's radio popularity, he had fifteen writers working with him, and it is these three factors – personality, medium and content – that Houlgate honed in on and used to his advantage. The slogan, 'Now we're cooking with gas,' was planted with Hope's writers and written into one of his radio scripts. From here, it was quickly included in Hope's witty repertoire of catchphrases, which he repeatedly quoted on the radio and in his movie performances. 

It was a catchy slogan, and the advertising campaign was clever and ahead of its time. Together these two elements worked, so much so that not only did gas sales outstrip electric sales by 14:1, the phrase was added to other popular shows such as 'Maxwell House Coffee Time'. Even a Daffy Duck cartoon used the slogan to demonstrate positive progress.  

Fast forward to today, 'Now we're cooking with gas' is still used to denote a level of success and that you are working efficiently. The Cambridge Dictionary states that to 'be cooking with gas' means that you/it/they are 'to be making excellent progress or doing something very well'. It is extraordinary when you consider that the gas industry is the cause of global warming and that making good progress is the opposite of burning fossil fuels when you think of doing something well for humanity and our planet.  

While a 'greener' slogan that embraces a more equitable and healthier vision for good progress and success has yet to appear, there has been a fantastic breakthrough concerning the use of renewable energy. In 2022, a record 40% of the UK's electricity was comprised of renewables – solar, wind, biomass and hydropower – and was promoted as a 'year like no other' by the energy industry. That is a record figure and a welcome statistic when humanity is heading towards a cataclysmic disaster if we don't stop burning fossil fuels. However, as with everything, there is an asterisk next to this data because the researchers behind this report also found that the production of energy from fossil fuels had increased in that time too. 

After reading that last sentence, I sincerely hope you sigh deeply with your resignation towards our government's inertia to move away from oil and invest more in renewable energy. That is why, with or without a catchy slogan or a famous influencer, I am asking every reader here today to switch to a renewable energy tariff if you are not on one already. With the energy prices the way they are, there is no cost difference between tariffs. So, while making that switch might do very little to lighten your financial load, it will undoubtedly do a lot to lighten the severity of our future generation's health and well-being on our planet.  

Published on Friday, 14th April 2023  |  Written by Hannah Wright

When there is March, there is Hope. 

Welcome, everyone, to the best month of the year. March should be celebrated as the most wonderous, unique and inspiring month, where every day is different - it's as if Vivaldi wrote the entire Four Seasons concertos specifically for March. Take today, for example; this morning, it felt like I was peering into a shaken-up snow globe from my living room window. Yet, by the afternoon, the clouds parted, the sky turned a brilliant blue, and the warm sun tricked us into thinking Spring was already here. And oh, what an excellent thought that is, and we owe it all to March.  

Over these thirty-one days, we slowly move away from the cold winter and begin to witness a change in scenery, where everything starts to come alive again - like nature is standing up and saying ‘Hello!’. Birds seem to sing stronger and louder; trees appear taller and more rotund, cotton wool lambs bounce playfully across fields, and flashes of vibrant yellow daffodils start to light up the meadows, parks and gardens. It is like all the Classics were written about March, from Wordsworth and Shakespeare to Hardy and Blake. And the one thing that united all of these authors was how they championed the need to appreciate the present beauty of life and nature.

While I'm far from a classic, March is about hope. A month of new beginnings where endless possibilities are offered and life in all its forms is embraced. If nature is not part of your everyday appreciation, March ensures it is. We even have the vernal equinox – where both day and night are of equal length - on the 20th of March, making it the official first day of spring. Now more than ever, we need March to show us, the human race, the wonder of our natural planet. 

Nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. The stakes could not be higher. Mother Earth is experiencing its most extensive loss of life since the dinosaurs. One million plant and animal species are now threatened with extinction, many within the next few decades, all caused by human activity. 

And this link between humans and nature is far more interconnected than most of us appreciate. Biodiversity, the term most widely used within climate change terminology, is the variability among all living organisms, between different species, within species and in the broader ecosystem. Humans rely on wild species for food, clean water, energy, income, health and well-being. The food system we rely on already hangs in the balance. Yet, with significant biodiversity loss, food crops that need species pollination would cease to grow. Forget the energy prices and fertiliser issues; without pollination, we wouldn't have the fundamental components of growth. 

Last year, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (akin to the IPCC reports on climate change) released its latest and most comprehensive report. While the report is a devastating read, there are also glimmers of hope, like occasional rays of sunlight bursting through the clouds on a spring day. Scattered within the report, it implores us that it's not too late to make a difference, but only if we act now. The Chair of the IPBES, Robert Watson, clearly clings to these observations and has hope, "Through transformative change, nature can still be conserved, restored and used sustainably. By [that], we mean a fundamental, system-wide reorganisation across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values. By its very nature, transformative change can expect opposition from those with interests vested in the status quo, but also that such opposition can be overcome for the broader public good."

We are now in a transformative stage in our seasonal year, where nature shows us how magnificent all of life is. From the morning chorus to the sway of daffodils in the wind, spring helps good things happen. That is why I have hope that we won't end up as characters in a reverse version of the Once Upon A Time storybook with an ending that isn't a Happily Ever After. I believe that (almost) all of us, no matter what the person's political, social or economic 'agenda' may be in life, when the time comes, we will choose to do the right thing for everyone and everything because humans and nature are ineffably connected in a way that science can't articulate. My favourite poet, Emily Dickinson, says, 

A light exists in Spring, 

Not present on the year, 

At any other period. 

When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad

On solitary hills

That science cannot overtake, 

But human nature feels. 

If those words do little to move you to the wondrousness of March, please put on Vivaldi's Spring concerto and let those beautifully spirited violins fill you with positivity and hope for the future.  

Published on Friday, 8th July 2022  |  Written by Hannah Wright

A mantra that doesn't cost the Earth

I don't know about you, but I always need to get on top of things financially. It's probably because every time money comes in, it goes straight out again. There always seems to be some expense looming its ugly head, especially if I might have some money left over at the end of the month.  

Funnily, my son found 20 pence on the ground last week and joyfully sang, “See a penny, pick it up, and all day long, you’ll have good luck”, before handing it to me.  I had to chuckle because it reminded me of the classic scene in Grease where the T-Birds are set to race The Scorpions at Thunder Road.  Jan from the Pink Ladies finds a penny, sings the rhyme and intends to give the penny to Kenickie to ensure his victory. Unfortunately, she drops it, and as Kenickie picks it up, he gets knocked out by his car door opening—the Irony. Right now, I am Kenickie.  

Fast forward to this morning, and I received Martin Lewis' weekly Money Tips newsletter. There was a handy section on 'cheapest ways to spend aboard' (thinking of my forthcoming holiday to Greece); however, what caught my eye was something other than an article or advert. It was Martin's Money Mantra. If you aren't familiar with Martin's mantras, this one is to help customers work out if they really need the item they are about to buy. How? By putting the customer into one of two categories, Skint or Not Skint and getting them to ask two questions. Let me explain how it works. If you see something you want to buy and are Skint, ask yourself: Do I need it? Can I afford it? If, on the other hand, you are Not Skint, you ask yourself: Will I use it? Is it worth it? The goal is if you answer 'NO' to any, then don't buy it! 

The Money Mantra is an effective way to encourage people to think about their financial situation before buying something. It got me thinking about whether the same could apply to climate change. As consumers, we are driven by a desire to buy, to consume. Whether it's this season's new fashion trend, the latest mobile phone or the coolest new gadget – we are encouraged by cultural and societal pressures to buy it. Even Martin's Money Tips email, regardless of its sole purpose to save people money, has an underlying persuasiveness to purchase something because it's a 'good deal'. But what if it wasn't a good deal? Not from a monetary perspective but from a planetary one. If we are told to consider the impact buying something has on our purse strings, should we not also consider the impact this item has had and will have on our planet? 

Suppose we take the fashion industry as an example. Over the past 15 years, clothing production has doubled, retail prices have fallen, and the time we wear these clothes has dropped by almost 40%. Global brands H&M and Zara collectively launched over 11,000 new styles in just four months – a ludicrous number of new garments people don't need, in my opinion. Such production levels drive this ever-growing consumption of throwaway fast fashion. Sadly, this trend for cheap clothing is having a massive detrimental impact on our planet. The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of all global C02 emissions. To put that into perspective, it has a carbon footprint twice the size of the aviation and shipping industries combined.   

Buying clothes, gadgets, or anything because we want it rather than need it is a surefire way to an environmental catastrophe. To make matters worse, 'buying' is seriously addictive. Shopping has become a massive problem in the UK. It is believed that up to 16% of the UK population is affected by compulsive buying disorder (CBD), or in other words, is addicted to consuming. Furthermore, as many as 24% of us have bought something that we have never used. What a waste, quite literally! 

We must reduce our consumption levels and adapt our spending habits to more sustainable options where we consider our 'needs' over our 'wants'. We can do it. Already 1 in 3 of us chooses to buy from sustainable brands. Some reports suggest that three-quarters of us would change our consumption habits if it helps reduce our impact on the planet. Whether true or not, actions are controlled by intention, but not all intentions are carried out. In other words, it's one thing to say you'll do something but quite another to do it. This is when we need our planetary mantra to help motivate us and protect our natural resources and environment. 

So, what about using a 'Mother Nature Mantra'? Next time you are shopping, repeat after me:  

WANT it? – Do I need it? It is recyclable? 

NEED it? - Is it sustainable? Is it planet friendly? 

If the answer is NO, then don't buy it.  

Published on Friday, 4th March 2021  |  Written by Hannah Wright

Read the label - it's as easy as that. 

Last week I got together with some of my family for a socially distanced walk around Lopham Fen.  Three generations of family, grandfather, his two daughters and grandchildren all enjoyed an afternoon of family catchups.  

During our stroll, my two nieces, Isla and Sophia, asked me if I knew anything about palm oil.  Why? I asked. "Because we've been reading about it with Dad, and it's bad for our environment." They informed me that two thousand trees a minute are being cut down, and the animals that live there are losing their habitat.  Is that a bad thing? I asked, knowing full well the answer.  Yes! They said in chorus-trees produce oxygen, and we need them to survive.  Plus, if we cut down the rainforests, we lose all the animals too.  What has this got to do with Palm Oil? I questioned. Eleven-year-old Isla explained that people are cutting down thousand-year-old trees to replace them with oil palm trees which don't give us as much oxygen. Younger sister Sophia, who's nine, said that many animals, like the orangutans, have their homes destroyed and are dying because of us.  

My two little nieces' faces, full of anger and sadness as they spoke, are why I wrote this piece.  It doesn't matter too much to my father, their grandfather, what happens to the rainforests because the real catastrophic effects of cutting down rainforests won't affect him.  The generation that will experience our bad behaviour is not just my nieces, nephews, and my son but everyone's nieces, nephews, and children. 

So, what is palm oil? It sounds good. The name conjures up tropical and sunny images, and it's a vegetable oil taken from the fruit that the oil palm trees produce, so undoubtedly, it's full of goodness.  Truthfully, it provides similar health benefits as olive oil; however, palm oil causes massive environmental problems globally, unlike olive oil. It's one of the reasons we are getting erratic weather and severe flooding locally.  How? Because palm oil is best grown in hot countries with lots of rain, we know the perfect place for that is rainforests. Countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, which make up 85% of the global palm oil supply, are cutting down rainforests to plant palm oil trees.  And we know that cutting down rainforests is called deforestation, which causes severe changes in weather patterns, such as flooding and droughts. In summary, terrible for the planet, detrimental to us now and devasting for our children.  

In addition, cutting down rainforests to make way for palm oil farms kills animals daily, particularly the orangutan, elephant, and rhino.  Orangutans suffer because their survival depends on the forests; they will die without a place to live and food to eat.  Over the past sixteen years, an estimated 100,000 orangutans have been killed by companies destroying their forests.  Again, that statement is too big to comprehend.  We're talking about something awful that is happening thousands of miles away by companies that have nothing directly to do with us and our lives. How can we influence them to do good? 

Just as Isla and Sophia did on our walk, some of you may say, get the companies to stop. The trouble is that palm oil is the most popular oil product globally, and it's cheap and highly versatile. It's as essential to the countries that grow it as manufacturing is to the UK.  To ask them to stop would be like asking the UK to stop producing cars, bread, cakes, hair products, packaging, furniture, or medicines.  In England, we have many independent farmers that rely on growing crops. The same applies to the millions of independent farmers dependent on palm oil as a livelihood so they, too, can raise a family and send their children to school.  

At this point, several of you may say, don't buy palm oil.  But can you imagine if people stopped buying bread and biscuits from our supermarkets or shampoo and shower gel from our local chemists? For us, that would mean many British companies would begin to close, and people we know would lose their jobs. While in the countries that produce it, families and children would suffer much worse because they don’t have a social security system or the NHS to support them.  

I'm giving those product examples above because you may need to learn that palm oil is in these products.  British companies, not some far-distanced companies based in Indonesia, use palm oil.  Supermarkets use it in their own branded products.  Confectionary companies use it in their biscuits and chocolate.  Some big UK companies know better and have the resources and money to choose alternative sustainable options, but they don't. We need to tell them that it's not acceptable.  

Palm oil can be sourced sustainably, and many UK companies are taking positive action.  Thanks to the UK government's commitment in 2012, they decided to become part of the solution to protect our future generations and not harm animals and our environment.  In 2016 over 75% of the total palm oil imports into the UK were sustainable but more needs to be done to get it to 100%.    

So, if boycotting palm oil isn't the answer, what is? My two young nieces each have a suggestion below.  These two simple steps will ensure you make a positive difference that doesn't require holding a placard, marching on the streets, and painting your face in different colours.  (Although I support any peaceful protest that raises awareness of protecting our environment and our wildlife.)

1)      Look at the label

Simple really.  Every product has a label.  In fact, since 2013, almost every product has a Front of Pack health label that tells you how much fat, sugar, and salt is in the item. I'm sure most of you glance at this label, checking the colour codes. Sometimes this will decide whether you buy it or put it down for something healthier.  Now do the same for palm oil.  Flip the item over, and glance through the ingredients list.  Check to see if palm oil is listed.  

2)      Choose another option

Like you would do to choose a healthier item over an unhealthier one, do the same for palm oil.  Please select an item with no palm oil in it or, ideally, one with sustainably sourced palm oil. You'll be able to see this by the asterisk next to the word, or it will state 'sustainably sourced palm oil'.  Choose that item instead.  Isla told me that a well-known brand of chocolate spread has lots of palm oil in it. 'We don't buy that anymore. Now we buy one called Jim-Jams.  It has sustainable palm oil in it.' And for anyone concerned about the flavour, Sophia, an ardent chocolate spread eater, confidently stated, 'and it tastes just as good too!'

I appreciate, though, that this last point will be a tough one to do. From experience, trying to find a similar product without palm oil is difficult.  Sometimes there isn't one, and it's a hard choice when you have a crying child asking for a biscuit or in a rush and need something quick.  Imagine if that label was listed like the nutritional label on the front. How this chocolate bar, made with sustainable palm oil, has helped save the lives of an orangutan family, protected our rainforests and ensured that your nieces, nephews, children, and grandchildren have a safer, greener future. Wouldn't you pick that one?

Our choices impact our lives. Our future children depend on our choices.  And although we must consider our younger generation, take a moment to hear what 87-year-old globally respected anthropologist Jane Goodall OBE says. After 60 years of her life studying primates and our environment, Jane believes, "what you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what difference you want to make."  

Published on Friday, 24th June 2020  |  Written by Hannah Wright

Standardised USBs become USPs for climate change adaptation. 

Sitting in my local coffee shop, I was about to embark on this week's article when I realised my laptop was on 5% battery and I’d forgotten my charger. The chap beside me offered his charger, but it didn't have the same connection port as mine. Annoyingly, I had to pack up and head home. Ironically, the article - today's commentary - talks about chargers and e-waste. 

Two weeks ago, the European Commission mandated a new law. By autumn 2024, all technology companies must equip a USB -C charging point on every small and medium-sized portable device. This news is fantastic! Why? Well, how many of you have gone to borrow your friend's charger and found it is not compatible with your phone?  The fact that we will soon have the same charger means such inconveniences will be a thing of the past.

Furthermore, standardising the charger will lower production costs and make them cheaper for us to buy. The other great reason is how much this law will help reduce electronic waste and tackle climate change. These two reasons are precisely why the regulation was introduced with the EU's announcement stating, "This law is a part of a broader European Union [EU] effort to make products in the EU more sustainable, to reduce electronic waste, and make consumers' lives easier." 

Technology companies appear to support this new mandate, all bar one, Apple. Funnily enough, Apple argues against the above benefits, criticising that this new law will hinder "future innovation". While you can't see me, I'd like to point out that I'm doing a massive eye roll here. Why? Because Apple has always chosen to produce technology such as its lightning ports that are incompatible with any other USB port. While it might be the largest technology company in the world, using innovation as an argument is weak. I appreciate the case for proprietary, but I wonder whether Apple is against this new law because it hinders its ability to make more money from new 'exclusive' designs. 

Another part of the mandate tackles the 'unbundling issue', which means that chargers will now have to be purchased separately and will no longer come with new phones. Again, Apple currently makes £5 billion in profit from selling chargers and earphones separate from their phones. With the introduction of standard chargers, this figure could potentially be wiped off their bottom line.  

Speaking of separate chargers and earphones, how many of us have a drawer full of old mobile phones and chargers that we're still trying to figure out what to do with? Even with the best intentions, most electronic items worldwide are not recycled, causing a massive environmental problem.  

In 2020, Global Waste Monitor reported that as a global population, we threw away 53.6 million metric tons of e-waste, the equivalent weight of 350 cruise ships. Unfortunately, out of this total e-waste, only 17.4% of it was officially collected and recycled in 2019 worldwide. In the UK alone, electrical and electronic equipment waste is the fastest-growing waste stream. However, according to the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), 25% of it could be repaired and re-used. Europe has the highest total e-waste to recycling ratio globally, at 42.5%. Asia ranked second at 11.7%, yet they also generated the most e-waste, almost double that of Europe, at 24% of the lion's share. 

Where does all this e-waste go? New research has stated that around 8% is thought to be discarded in our rubbish bins and end up in local landfills. Indeed, in the UK, it is estimated that most of the 2 million TV sets discarded each year end up in landfills, despite being accepted at many recycling centres nationwide.  Between 7% - 20% of e-waste is exported to developing countries, of which their e-waste management is even less clear.  

The issue of this e-waste then extends beyond the horror of having massive waste piles and moves to the humanitarian and environmental devastation that such waste causes. For example, mercury and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are toxic and hazardous substances in electronic equipment such as screen monitors and fridges. Such substances pose a severe risk to human health. They cause harmful effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, increase the incidence of skin, as well as damage to the lungs, kidneys, and eyes. At the same time, the environment suffers from this e-waste; CFCs, for example, destroy the earth's protective ozone layer that shields the world from harmful rays generated by the sun. 

Thankfully, the world is slowly waking up to the scale of this problem, and introducing this new EU ruling will positively impact one aspect of this e-waste issue. And if history serves, whenever the EU has introduced a new piece of legislation, it is only a matter of time before the rest of the world follows suit. 

Until then, there is an excellent recycling website, recyclenow.com, that lists local businesses you can take your e-waste to in Norfolk and Suffolk, and for me, I have to ensure I leave home with my charger. 

My father is my biggest advocate. He will watch, attend, listen and read everything I do and have done over the past 46 years.  When my first article was published, he went straight out to buy ten copies of the paper. Two for himself; the rest were promptly posted to my Aunts and Uncles and given to my sister and brother.  He commented on how well I had explained everything. He finished with one final critique; you did use the word Climate Change a lot in that article, nineteen times to be exact. Isn’t there another word you could have used?

The term Climate Change is referenced in the Oxford Dictionary as a change in global or regional climate patterns, particularly apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed mainly to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuels.  

Simply put, Climate Change is something that happens over a long time. It affects the weather worldwide by changing its pattern and is caused by burning oil, natural gas, petrol and coal.  As our climate changes or, more accurately, warms up, it will cause the weather to become more unpredictable. When we have sunny days or rainy days, they will be hotter, heavier, and stronger while lasting longer.  Last year was the wettest on record, partly due to the continual storms of Dennis, Ciara and George.  Conversely, do you remember the summer of 2018 when Diss Park turned yellow from lack of rain? That summer was the hottest on record, but based on recent reports by our national papers, 2021 is predicted to beat that with 30C heat for weeks.  

But what is the difference between climate and weather? One of the best ways I’ve seen to explain the difference is visualising a person walking a dog.  The person walking the dog has a purpose; they know their path and will continue along it.  On the other hand, the dog likes to move about, from one side to the other, up and down, around and around.  That dog is the weather – unpredictable and all over the place. The person is the climate – moving forwards in a set direction.  

Unfortunately, the reason the UK is getting hotter and wetter is our fault. The change in weather is our fault, as is the increase in climate temperature. We didn’t know that most of our everyday actions would have such a devastating impact on our environment.  If we did, we wouldn’t have done it.  Yes and No. Most of us would never intentionally hurt another human being or animal, and the same for destroying our forests and polluting our rivers and seas.  But companies, predominantly from the fossil fuel industry, did know; many knew as far back as the 1960s.  Some large companies even hired scientists to research the impact their actions would have on the world and the people who inhabited it.  Their findings were not promising – these scientists and researchers predicted a dramatic change in our weather system if these businesses continued with their actions. People would suffer from droughts and starvation; flash flooding would get worse and more frequent, not just in our third-world countries like Africa but everywhere. In short, Climate Change would begin, and we would never be able to reverse it.  These companies continued anyway and used the research to hide the detrimental impact their work would have.

I said this in my first article, and I’ll repeat it. We must urgently change our lifestyles, slow down our desire for more and dramatically reduce our use of fossil fuels. In my Earth article, I listed five things you can do, from replacing your light bulbs with LED ones to reducing the beef you eat. Here are two things you might not realise you can do now, RIGHT NOW, that save you money and reduce your use of fossil fuels.  

1)      Save yourself up to £80 a year by reducing your central heating temperature by one degree. It also means you save 320kg of CO2 emission. Big deal? Absolutely! If every resident in Diss and Roydon reduced their central heating by one degree, that CO2 saving would offset the carbon emissions generated from 774 cars for one whole year. 

2)      Save yourself up to £85 a year by unplugging all your unused electrical items. UK households can spend up to 16% of their annual electricity bill on items on ‘Standby’. Moreover, even switched off but plugged in, electrical items use electricity and cost you money. Pulling them out of the socket saves money and the environment.  Why don’t you unplug four things right now: you could unplug your kettle and coffee maker, along with your mobile and laptop chargers, especially if both are fully charged! 

And as for using the term Climate Change, I think I’ve used it five times, which is not bad when this entire article talks about it.

Our Earth is amazing. Positioned third from the sun, behind Mercury and Venus, Earth is the only planet with life - that we know of - and it's part of our solar system within the Milky Way galaxy.  The name 'Earth' is believed to be around 1000 years old, given from English and German words which mean 'ground'. Interestingly, it's the only planet not named after a Greek or Roman god or goddess.  

Scientists estimate that Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. If we compare our Earth's history to a calendar year, humans have existed for only 37 minutes.  Mind-blowing.

It's incredible to think how insignificant humans are in the space of time that we have been on Earth.  As Neil Armstrong, the first human to walk on the moon, said when he looked at Earth, "It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small."

Mr Armstrong is right. Humans are small, especially when that 37 minutes equates to less than 0.1% of Mother Earth's existence.  How can a statistically small species fundamentally shift our planet to the edge of no return in less than three hundred years?  

Last week I talked about climate change, explaining some human-made causes destroying our beautiful planet.  Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, our Earth has seen catastrophic changes to its seas, forests, animals and plants.  Why? Because almost everyone living on Mother Earth consumes too much of her natural resources. Today, we need two Earths to sustain our growing population and consumption rates.

Sounds dramatic. It's hard to connect to something when it's presented on such an immense scale. Reading that 100 acres of rainforest are cut down every minute goes beyond our realm of everyday life.  What can we do to stop deforestation or save the 137 species that go extinct daily due to climate change? 

We can do a lot, and we do 'do'!  In fact, on the 22nd of April (yesterday), over one billion people came together to celebrate Earth Day. Today, positive action to change human behaviour and fight for our environment is recognised worldwide.  To give you some background, Earth Day is thanks to a young, environmentally conscious US Senator who witnessed the ravages of a massive oil spill in California.  Inspired by previous student anti-war protests, Senator Gaylord Nelson recognised students' power when motivated to make a difference.  A Greta Thunberg of his generation.  

Senator Nelson organised campus teach-ins at universities and colleges on the 22nd of April.  Thanks to the media attention that Earth Day was generating, thousands of college and university students got involved. A total of 20 million Americans – that's 10% of the US population in 1970 – demonstrated that day against the impacts of climate change.  Also, Earth Day helped unite groups fighting individually against oil spills, pesticides, extinction of wildlife and loss of wilderness. By the end of that year, the American government had created the Environmental Protection Agency. Over the next ten years of Earth Days', the US government passed so many environmental protection laws that it became known as the Green Decade.

Today, Earth Day is recognised as the world's most significant non-religious law-abiding movement.  Marked in over 190 countries, it is the day when you can make a difference and take action to become more environmentally friendly.  So, what sort of things can you do?  In the beginning, I discussed consumption and how we consume more than Mother Earth can give us.  We need to change our lifestyles and take positive action to protect her.  Here are five changes I made that you could try.  

1)      I got LED'd up. I changed all the lightbulbs in my home to LED lightbulbs.  They cost more than standard lightbulbs, but they last much longer, protect the environment and help reduce your electricity bills. Let's start with lamp bulbs if you don't have the budget to change every bulb in your home.

2)      I said no to palm oil.  I don't buy products with palm oil in them (I will point out that's based on seeing an ingredients list).  Palm oil causes deforestation, which is a massive cause of climate change. It's in thousands of food items. Cakes, chocolate, bread, puddings, biscuits and spreads such as peanut butter are a few examples.  Next time you're in the supermarket, why not check for yourself?  Pick up five items and read the ingredients list; I'm confident that 4 out of 5 things will have palm oil.  If they do, put them back and buy something that doesn't. You'll be helping protect our rainforests if you do.  

3)      I annoyed my bank manager.  Yes, I moved away from my childhood bank, which I've been with since 1983. It felt scary to move away from the perceived trust built from decades of familiarity; however, I know that my money is now doing good. It's with a bank that is 100% ethical in its investments and aims to protect our Earth. Go online, search ethical banks and see what comes up.  

4)      I said bye to beef. I've moooo'ved away from beef burgers, lasagne and spag bol meals. Instead, I opt for plant-based meat options; aubergine lasagne is just as delicious, IMO. If cutting out beef is too much to ask, choose to have one day a week meat-free.  

5)      I swapped bottles for bars. By that, I mean shampoo bars; by bottles, I mean plastic shampoo bottles.  I was surprised at how great shampoo bars work and how easy they are! What's more, the condition of my hair didn't change at all.  There are many hair options available, from bars for coloured hair and dry hair to bars that claim to make your hair glossy.  Shampoo bars are stocked at the Natural Foodstore Cooperative or Holland & Barrett in Diss.  

Even if you take action to make one of these changes, please know that every little positive change makes a difference in protecting our Earth.  

If we continue to consume as we are, our future generations will suffer.  When my five-year-old son is the same age as his grandad, no rainforests will be left. Worse still, fresh drinking water will have run out when he reaches my age.  

We only have one Earth. Let's be kind to her. She is amazing and has been here a lot longer than we have.  

And as for us, a native American proverb states, 'We do not inherit the Earth; we borrow it from our children.'  Let's remember that. 

Published April 2021. |  Written by Hannah Wright

"Right now, we are facing a man-made disaster of global scale, our greatest threat in thousands of years: climate change." Sir David Attenborough.

Many of you will have watched Sir David on television; he's an incredible storyteller. He has allowed us to experience life in parts of the world we could only dream of visiting.  Over the past decade, he has talked about Climate Change, highlighting the catastrophic consequences of global warming on our planet and ourselves. We've seen images and heard stories about droughts and flash floods associated with climate change. 

Climate Change is a phrase regularly used in the news alongside Brexit and COVID, but what does it mean?

What is climate change? Could you summarise what is causing it and how it is affecting everyone? Are you even concerned about climate change?  If the answer is no, then you're not alone. A 2019 poll [1] showed that only 35% of UK residents were worried about climate change. Worryingly though, almost 25% said they weren't worried at all.  Suppose you look closer at the reasons behind the results. You can start to understand why we, the UK population, are undecided about climate change.  Quite simply, we don't understand it.

In this same poll, when UK residents were asked what causes climate change, only 17% of the UK residents knew the answer.  So, what is the cause?  Us.  We are the cause. Climate change is man-made, and as Sir David Attenborough says, it's our greatest threat in thousands of years.  

I want to explain as simply as possible everything there is to know about climate change in layman’s terms and without the impending doom. I want to explain what climate change is and what positive steps we can take together to support each other in tackling it.  

So, what is climate change? 

Climate change is the process that means our planet is heating up. Another phrase you may have heard to explain this is global warming.  Since the Industrial Revolution, our world has started to warm up by 1 degree.  That might not sound much to you and me, and you’re probably thinking, “great, warmer summers!” However, it means big things for people and wildlife worldwide, and sorry to say, it doesn't mean we benefit from a Mediterranean-style summer.  In fact, with rising temperatures, we are in for unpredictable and extreme weather – flash floods, unexpected heavy downpours and sudden days of scorching heat that are unbearable to sleep through. 

The next question is, what causes climate change? This is a big question with lots of answers. However, in simple terms, three major causes have been identified by scientists.  

1)      Burning fossil fuels.  Petrol (oil), coal and natural gas are fossil fuels. These materials are fossils and remain of organisms, such as plants that lived hundreds of millions of years ago. Over time they changed in form to become different types of fossil fuels. Coal came from plants, while petrol and gas came from microscopic organisms like algae.  Almost 80% of our energy comes from fossil fuels. [2] We need fossil fuels to produce electricity, heat our homes and drive our cars.  When we use (or burn, as is the technical term) fossil fuels, they release gases into the atmosphere.  These gases act like an invisible blanket that traps heat from the sun and warms the Earth.  This is known as the 'Greenhouse Effect' – making the planet warmer like a greenhouse. 

2)      Our eating habits. Farming and the animals we farm play a part in climate change. Believe it or not, cows and their table manners are the main culprits here.  When cows eat, methane (a type of greenhouse gas I will discuss) builds up in their stomachs (similar to when we have a fizzy drink) and is released as a burp! Yes, you read that right.  Sounds funny, but when you imagine that there are nearly 1 billion cows in the world [3], all burping daily, that's a lot of gases being added to the atmosphere.  

3)      Cutting down our forests. The technical term is Deforestation. It describes how humans are cutting down forests for non-forest use rather than forests being destroyed because of natural disasters such as hurricanes.  Forests, particularly rainforests, absorb vast amounts of carbon dioxide (another greenhouse gas that I will talk about in another article) from the air and, in return, release oxygen back into the air. It's like imaging the Amazon as a massive, supercharged oxygen tank for our planet that keeps us safe from climate change.  Unfortunately, deforestation is happening everywhere to make way for non-forest use, such as palm oil or coffee plantations, oil mines, cattle farming and wood to construct buildings, furniture or paper.  

It sounds massive and scary—global this and planet that. You start to question what you can do to solve climate change when it’s on such a large scale. You may even consider it doesn't affect you, so why worry about it?  Luckily this last sentiment seems to have changed since 2019; a poll [4] released by YouGov in 2020 shows the overwhelmingly positive attitude people have in the UK towards tackling climate change.  Almost 68% believe it is possible to solve climate change and limit its impact if we all make the right decisions, not just for our generation but for our children and grandchildren’s generations.