High Peak Green Party

We are eroding the very foundations of economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide. Robert Watson, the Chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (Ibpes) This is the stark warning issued in the Ibpes media release in advance of the United Nations report, on wildlife and ecosystems, the Global Assessment report . A million species are at risk of extinction, the weight of wild mammals has decline

Gardens are important for wildlife. In many areas, including in parts of the Peak District, a modest garden can home more variety of wildlife than the open countryside. They are particularly important for bees and other insects. As we know, insects are important pollinators that are needed for the success of many types of food plant. They are also an important source of food for many birds and small mammals. They are under a global threat from insecticides, loss of biodiv

How healthy is the natural environment in our beautiful Peak District? How can we care for and enhance it? These were the questions that 75 people including members of environmental organisations and farmers' representatives tried to answer at the Hope for Nature conference organised by High Peak Green Party at Bamford Village Institute on January 19th. Speakers were Dr Alex Lees from Manchester Metropolitan University, Tim Birch of Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and Natalie Benne

On Saturday 19th January, more than 70 people overcame train strikes and braved the snow to come to Bamford village institute and discuss how we can bring back diversity and abundance to the wildlife of our beautiful area. Participants divided into groups to discuss practical actions that we can take and policies that we can promote to improve our natural environment. These are the ideas we came up with. We'll be posting a report of the conference very soon. Community action

Human beings in general regard nature as something to control and dominate. Even the commonly held western view of having stewardship over nature sees us as separate from nature, looking on from the outside ensuring that nature is happy within its own boundaries. But in reality humans are an integral part of nature and dependent on natural processes for survival, health and wellbeing. Humans have become increasingly estranged from nature. Historically, major religions taugh

The GREAT Outdoors It’s estimated that at least one in four adults have experienced a mental health problem in this country, and scarily, that figure is about one in ten for children. There are no simple cures in many cases, but there are a great many effective methods of management. As an outdoor based Personal Trainer, I have worked with several clients diagnosed with depression and anxiety over the years, so although my experiences are largely anecdotal here, the effect of

When I moved to the edge of the Peak District almost three years ago I was excited to think of all the wildlife that I could see just outside my house. We will be living next to a national park, I thought, there must be loads. Yet since moving here we have only seen the odd unusual animal and it’s been the exception rather than the rule. I attended a talk given by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, where Tim Birch outlined what the Peaks could be like – with pine martins and red

At the time of the 1992 Rio Summit that established the Framework Convention on Climate Change, a group of concerned scientists issued a 'Warning to Humanity'. This told us that human actions were triggering an ecological disaster that threatened our ability to maintain the welfare of the majority of people on Earth. They expressed concern about current, impending, or potential damage involving ozone depletion, freshwater availability, marine life depletion, ocean dead zones

As a child I went to Burbage School. This was then a real village school. We used to go on nature walks and gather frogspawn to take back to the classroom. Every year, the school used to take part in the “Bird and tree” festival where we observed one species of bird and tree over the year. We even won a national competition! From those days I also remember hearing the curlew and pewit in the fields at Bishops Lane. But you cannot now. An acquaintance says there are no longer