Bucks Climate Ambassadors have a cup of coffee online!

April 2020 was the first month of national lock-down and it had been necessary to change or to cancel so many events and plans. The Public Affairs team at NFWI had continued to issue information and campaing updates and both Cath Campbell and I accepted their invitation to join other Climate Ambassadors in a national online session.   It was a learning experience and I was very impressed with the presentation, conversations and information exchanged. 
 
The session was introduced by Ann Jones and the Public Affairs team provided us with an update on NFWI campaign activity and the team explained how things have changed now that the office is closed and staff are working from home.  Although public attention is elsewhere the Public Affairs team have been monitoring the wider environmental sector and shared their summary with us.  Lots of climate events have had to change focus, and the COP 26 conference which the UK was going to host in November on behalf of the United Nations Committee on Climate Change is cancelled.  There was general agreement that the Climate Ambassadors really need to keep up pressure on our MPs to make sure that the UK takes a prominent leadership role in the meantime and when the next event actually takes place as time is running out. 
 
The NFWI team was working with Friends of the Earth on the plastic waste part of the Environment Bill which was at Committee stage and the WI national campaign about End Plastic Soup was still current and ongoing.  The issue of pollution of both micro plastic and larger plastic waste is a great concern to many WI members.
 
The questions and information shared at this session gave Cath and I lots of links and leads to explore and investigate further.  Here are some you might like to view and follow up.
 
Peat Free April campaign  #PeatFreeApril
This concerns the continuing destruction of UK peatlands which offer vital wildlife habitats and storing vast amounts of carbon and the campaign for good labelling on compost packaging.
For more information, find @PeatFreeApril on Twitter or Facebook
 
Heathrow third runway and climate change.
The Court of Appeal ruled on 27 February 2020 that the decision to allow the expansion was unlawful because it did not take climate commitments into account.
For more information see
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-51646562
 
Hedgehog awareness week May 2020 - organised by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) to highlight the problems hedgehogs face and how you can help them. This year the charity asked people to try to make the whole street hedgehog friendly by join up habitat by making CD case sized Hedgehog Highways in the bottom of fences and walls.
For more information see
https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/hedgehog-awareness-week-2020-3rd-may-9th-may/
 
Transport Decarbonisation Plan – the steps which will be taken to develop the document
For more information see
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/creating-the-transport-decarbonisation-plan