Wandsworth Common is a huge, beautiful space enjoyed by so many, and has been especially important to us all during lockdown. But it is now being regularly trashed with industrial amounts of litter left by huge crowds of people who leave their plastic bottles, beer cans, pizza boxes and coffee cups for someone else to clean up at our cost. On my morning walks it is truly heart-breaking to see so much rubbish dumped on this beautiful space. And just as saddening that the council or the police do nothing to enforce responsible behaviour. A council worker told me he collects one-and-a-half truckloads of rubbish every morning (see picture) just from the part of the common opposite Bellevue Road! If authorities were on site to enforce the £100 fixed penalty notices for littering, the council's coffers would be full in no time! Further, if people had to pay a deposit of 50p or a £1 for their pizza box or plastic beer cup when buying them from the businesses on Bellevue Road, that would strongly encourage them to return them rather than dump them on the common.

Ahead of hosting the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, the UK must lead the world by ensuring our recovery gets us on track to net-zero emissions and limits the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees C. Our best chance of building a resilient economy goes hand in hand with tackling climate change. We are ready to play our part, and we call on you to join us.

I'm an environmental activist and I care about the destruction of numerous ancient woodlands, wiping out habitats and wildlife along the route. I care about the NHS, who have lacked funding and many cut backs from the tory government. The HS2 will cost at least 110 billion, this needs to stop now as we are entering the worst recession in our history.

A third of British wild bees and hoverflies are in decline, according to a study in 2019. If current trends continue, some species will be lost from Britain altogether, the scientists say. Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47698294 The new analyses provide further evidence of the serious, long-term and ongoing decline of UK butterflies, with 70% of species declining in occurrence (based on the BNM distribution data) and 57% declining in abundance (based on the UKBMS) since 1976. Source: Butterfly Conservation. If we want to protect the local ecosystem, we must re-introduce habitats. The Runnymede roundabout, and the surrounding verges, provide an excellent starting point, while also saving the Council money through a reduced mowing schedule.

This is important as passive smoking is known to cause heart disease and lung cancer! Around 3800 deaths are lost every year in the Uk as a result of passive smoking. This is not okay and something needs to be done to lower down the deaths.

Hopefully this would seriously reduce the amount of litter from fast food restaurants thrown from car windows.

To support our environment, with the intention to divert our hard earned taxes to more important things. Verges and banks would not only look more attractive, they will be as they would've been without human interference, beneficial to pollinators and ultimately to us. Mowing regimes would only be altered, not stopped. This would be a practical alternative to wildflower planting schemes - why do the work when nature has done it for us? Plants just need the chance to establish and would quickly do so. The wildflowers would be on display at their most attractive time for anyone concerned of an eyesore. Weeds = Wildflowers: our ecosystem needs them!

Lulsgate Bottom was never meant to be eaten by an airport. In the second world war 14 acres was used by the RAF as an emergency landing field. In 1955 Bristol Corporation bought the field and it began to sprawl. The airport’s boom into a site of major ecological destruction began with privatisation in 1997. Since then passenger numbers have quadrupled from 2 million a year to 8.6 million a year [1] and the airport’s greenhouse gas emissions have skyrocketed to 746 kilotonnes CO2e in 2017. [2] This compares to emissions of 1149 kt CO2e from the entire North Somerset local authority in 2015. [3] Bristol Airport butts up against Goblin Combe Nature Reserve, a site of Natural Conservation Importance and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. [4] If Bristol Airport was rewilded it would triple the size of the nature reserve. With only three flights a week currently departing Bristol Airport, now is a unique opportunity to give this land back to nature. The government’s feeble attempt to deal with the crisis faced by the aviation industry consists of handouts to big corporations and does nothing to protect workers’ livelihoods. [5] Rather than letting workers bear the costs of the collapse of the aviation sector, the government needs to halt redundancies by immediately offering Bristol Airport workers redeployment on their current terms and conditions to green jobs in North Somerset. Restoring our ecosystems will need all hands on deck. This wouldn’t be the first time an airport has been successfully rewilded. Berlin’s former Tempelhof Airport is now a public park, home to rare nesting birds, 112 spider species and 68 beetle species. [6] The closure of Bristol Airport shouldn’t leave Bristolians less connected. The government’s nationalisation of the rail network to deal with the pandemic is an opportunity to lower costs and improve connections. Direct trains from Bristol to Scotland need to be priced as cheaply as budget airfares. New timetables and discounted fares need to connect trains from Temple Meads with Eurostar trains to Brussels and Paris. Trains from Bristol must integrate with ferries from Fishguard to Ireland and Plymouth to Spain. Airport workers who wish to continue their career in international transport should be offered roles in these improved routes. [1] UK Civil Aviation Authority via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Airport#cite_note-87 [2] Adrian Gibbs, ‘Just plane wrong: Bristol Airport’s expansion plan’: https://www.isonomia.co.uk/just-plane-wrong-bristol-airports-expansion-application/ [3] North Somerset Council, ‘Local Climate Commitment 2018’: https://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Climate-Local-Commitment-refresh-2018.pdf [4] Avon Wildlife Trust, ‘Goblin Combe’: https://www.avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-reserves/goblin-combe [5] New Economics Foundation, ‘Crisis support to aviation and the right to retrain’: https://neweconomics.org/2020/06/crisis-support-to-aviation-and-the-right-to-retrain [6] The Guardian, ‘How Berliners refused to give Tempelhof Airport over to developers’: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/mar/05/how-berliners-refused-to-give-tempelhof-airport-over-to-developers

On 2nd October Cumbria County Council voted once again to approve the first deep coal mine in the UK in 30 years. We assume that this vote will require ratification given that the Secretary of State had delivered a holding direction asking you not to approve the decision until his say so. We urge you not to ratify the decision. Nowhere in the UK has there been deep mining in over 30 years. The good news is that there is now a renewed opportunity for the County Council to overturn their previous terrible decision. Granting permission for a new coking coal mine under the Irish Sea would fly in the face of the Council's own climate, environment and health commitments. What are people saying? Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk This coal mine would be situated at the beginning of the world famous Coast to Coast walk at St Bees Head "I have the pleasure of enjoying the first small section of Wainwright’s coast to coast on my doorstep. A tourist asset that you should protect. I am appalled that Cumbria County Council (CCC) has allowed this green space in Pow Beck to come under threat with a large coal yard." Martin Kendall- Local Resident High Costs of Production "I was astonished to see a proposal to open a deep coal mine in a coalfield which had high costs of production and at a time when the climate emergency demands the phasing out of coal". Robert Wharton. Operational Research Scientist with National Coal Board 1967 to 73. Former consultant with KPMG often advising clients on the viability of investment projects. Sellafield is just 5 miles away. "Jem Bendell, the author of the widely read paper Deep Adaptation points to the very real danger of human extinction from nuclear catastrophes, due to societal collapse as a result of climate chaos. However, to date, nuclear catastrophes have all taken place in highly organised societies which have made bad decisions. This proposed new coal mine so near Sellafield must rate as the worst decision yet". Marianne Birkby - Radiation Free Lakeland Impacts of Climate Change "Extinction Rebellion West Cumbria is appalled at the recent decision by Cumbria County Council to ratify their decision to open a new deep coal mine. The impacts of climate change are being felt by communities across the planet. Decisions such as this can no longer be seen in isolation and must be challenged." XR West Cumbria Ecological and Economic Damage, Human Suffering and Loss of Life “If it proceeds, the mine is likely to result over its lifetime in greenhouse gas emissions amounting to something of the order of one year of UK national emissions. The impacts of these emissions could include considerable ecological and economic damage, as well as human suffering and loss of life.” Laurence Michaelis Expert Reviewer for the IPCC Adverse Effect on Nesting Seabirds "Disturbance of nesting seabirds during construction and operation... The development has the potential to have an adverse effect upon the St Bees Head SSSI through disturbance to both breeding and wintering birds during construction and operation." RSPB “Offshore Subsidence – resuspension and dispersal of radioactive contaminants. The documentation has confirmed to NWIFCA that a risk of subsidence exists and therefore there remains an overwhelming concern over the potential for disturbance and resuspension of radioactive contaminants and sediments.” North Western Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority

Research has shown that uncut grass supports higher numbers of insects and invertebrates, which are a food source for birds and small mammals, therefore increasing biodiversity. Furthermore, wild areas full of flowers also support emotional well-being and can reduce stress levels.

This is an area of great conservational importance. The moorland is an essential part of our eco-system and a vital sanctuary for wildlife and people alike. Unfortunately, over recent years, it has attracted large numbers of visitors, including some who unfortunately have little regard for the environment. As a result, many local people do not go at all any more. We want people to use, not abuse our precious landscape.

Most of the Supermarket products we buy come with packaging, which is produced simply to be thrown away almost as soon as we open it. But there is a better way, and it is fully achievable! We acknowledge that packaging can be useful, as it helps keep our food fresher, and can help us transport it. However, producing packaging with the sole intent of throwing it away after every purchase is highly wasteful. In fact, many of the packages we throw away are still in pristine condition, and could be collected and used again. It is great to see that supermarkets are making a conscious effort to introduce packages which can be recycled. But, recycling alone is not a sustainable solution for our environment. To begin with, recycling can only be used for certain types of plastics; and ‘recycled’ plastics cannot be turned back into new food packages due to current food-regulations and technology limitations. Not to mention that recycling is a very resource-intensive process which comes at a considerable expense to the tax payer, thus we are the ones who get to pay for processing all this waste! Therefore, whilst recycling plays an important role in helping to process some of our domestic waste, by itself recycling alone is not the complete solution to resolve our ever increasing waste volumes. We want to see supermarkets introducing more Reusable packages, which can be reused over and over again. It would not take much to recover these packages, clean them, and reuse them so we can avoid the continual throw-away cycle. All it takes is a slightly better design to make packages last longer, so they can be put back to use. And when they have been used several times, and there is no more life left in them, then they can be recycled into a lower-grade plastic for other applications. We desperately need a better system to help prevent wasting away valuable resources so quickly. We need your support. Help us demonstrate this issue is important. Please join our petition. Our environment cannot cope with the rate of exploitation we are inflicting on it through our throw-away society. There is a better way, and it is fully achievable! Thank you.