Winter is approaching and it is now time to get ready if you have not already done so. Do not forget it is not just you who likes a nice dry, well-insulated home over the winter, so do some of our native animals. Back in March we ran an article on our friend the hedgehog. In 2020 the hedgehog was classified as vulnerable to extinction, with the main culprits being human activities such as removing hedgerows, road building and pesticides killing off hedgehog food: slugs, worms and small insects. Hedgehogs frequently hibernate in winter, although they are likely to still be active some of the time and use more than one nest. They can be encouraged by leaving piles of wood, sticks and stones (which also attract hedgehog food) with sufficient dry voids for them to be able to make a nest, for which they like a supply of dry grass and dry leaves. For a really deluxe residence you can make a void accessible only via a 5-inch tunnel, big enough for them to get through but too small for badgers and foxes, or even buy or make a purpose-built house.
As this article is being written the climate headlines are all bad. Scientists are concerned that the planet is warming even more quickly than they had expected. Globally September was 1.75 degrees above the pre-industrial level. Switzerland expects to lose all its glaciers, within a generation. The message is very clear; we have to do more to reduce our carbon footprint and we need to react as fast as we can. The government’s own climate panel says that we are not on target to meet the reductions that the UK has previously promised. Rishi Sunak is now claiming we can burn more fossil fuels in our heating systems and cars because “we have done more than other countries in terms of reductions so far achieved”. Rishi clearly needs to go back to school as every extra ounce of CO2 added to the atmosphere adds to the heating effect. It’s not just when we stop adding CO2 but also how much we add before we get to that point that matters. We are not in competition with other nations to be “good”; we are working with everyone on the planet to ensure there is a future. Accounting for emissions to date, the estimated UK share of remaining CO2 budget to prevent heating above 1.5C, averaged over a decade, is already negative.
What can we do this month? The next United Nations climate conference begins on November 30th so it would help to ensure that your MP knows that you care about the environment and expect them to put pressure on our government to do more, as indeed their own advisers are telling them to do.
Litter pick: Thank you to all those who turned up to make Knebworth a nicer place to live by supporting the litter pick in October.
Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/knebworthenvironmentalgroup.
You can also contact us via email to Kristin at knebworthenvironmentalgroup@gmail.com.
Our next meeting is at 8PM on Tuesday 7th Nov at The Station Pub: you can email in advance or just turn up.