Sheffield Council fails to call an Ecological Emergency

At the Sheffield Council meeting on February 3rd a petition was presented from Greenpeace and Sheffield Green Parents asking them to call an Ecological Emergency. The response from Mark Jones, the Cabinet member for the Environment and Climate Change, was predictable. He agreed to work with different groups to improve the Council’s policies, but failedContinueContinue reading “Sheffield Council fails to call an Ecological Emergency”

Democracy only works when citizens are involved.

The Government have announced that the local elections, postponed from May 2020, will go ahead this May. But due to the pandemic volunteers from political parties will not be able to distribute leaflets. They can, however, pay a delivery company to do this for them. This will give parties with rich individual or corporate backersContinueContinue reading “Democracy only works when citizens are involved.”

Less sugar, more bees please!

Do you, like me, have a sweet tooth? You may then be concerned to read that the Uk’s sugar industry is in big trouble.  Last winter was exceptionally mild in England, with few frosts. This allowed record-breaking numbers of aphids to survive. They transmit a kind of beet malaria (virus yellows) to the sugar beet.ContinueContinue reading “Less sugar, more bees please!”

Sheffield- Where democracy goes to die.

At last, Sheffield City Council has been forced to apologise to the people of the city over its handling of the destruction of thousands of street trees. Forced apologies never seem sincere, especially when the first attempt doesn’t include the word “sorry”. Now Councillor Mark Jones has rephrased his apology and there are even murmuringsContinueContinue reading “Sheffield- Where democracy goes to die.”

We plough the fields and spray them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_DRmNRfNJQ Sing along to the video! We plough the fields and spray them With Glyphosate each year It kills the weeds and insects And gets into our beer The cancer grows inside us The bees they fade and die But farmers keep on spraying They believe Monsanto’s lie. All good gifts around us Are sprayedContinueContinue reading “We plough the fields and spray them”

Sheffielder’s are giving nature a chance

One of the positives of lockdown has been how noticeable nature has become. With far less traffic noise people are noticing the birdsong. Wildlife like deer and badgers have been spotted in the city centre. With more time being spent in gardens people are noticing all manner of insects. Some Sheffielder’s have taken up theContinueContinue reading “Sheffielder’s are giving nature a chance”

Wildflower chalking

Sheffielder’s have caught on to the French craze of chalking the names of wildflowers on the pavement. It becomes a talking point, educating everyone about the bio-diversity on our doorstep and helping people appreciate nature. It also shames the Council, who continue to waste our Council Tax on spraying the “weeds” with glyphosate. This GuardianContinueContinue reading “Wildflower chalking”

Full Council Meeting October 2019

https://dl-edge-01.public-i.tv/fms/council/sheffield/sheffield02oct19_64019_en_GB_hd.mp4 Council Webcast. Scroll to 1.29 for the relevant section In the video you will see questions being posed to Sheffield City Council concerning the climate and ecological emergency and biodiversity. The questions were answered by Cllr Mark Jones who is the cabinet member responsible for the environment. He later sent a much more detailedContinueContinue reading “Full Council Meeting October 2019”