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Secrets, loves and loathes from the UK's friendliest green team.

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asad.rehman

Asad Rehman

02 Oct

Free The Arctic 30: they're fighting climate change

Today several Greenpeace activists have been charged with piracy in Russia. They face up to 15 years in jail. Their crime? Peacefully protesting against Arctic drilling that poses a huge threat to our climate and us all. more ...

Save the Arctic 30

© Friends of the Earth


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melanie.kramers

Melanie Kramers

30 Sep

Creating better products at London Design Festival

Sampling caterpillar canapés last week was a first for me. I wasn't on a Bushtucker trial, but at London Design Festival exploring how we could live differently to reduce the stresses on our world. Could insect protein be the sustainable diet of the future? There were all sorts of ideas up for awards. more ...

man_looking_at_watercooler


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katya.johnson

Katya Johnson

26 Sep

Meeting our supporters: Liam Cook cycles to Rome

Have you ever thought about fundraising for Friends of the Earth? Supporter Liam Cook and a group of nine others have just completed an epic cycle to Rome. They raised over £4,000 for Friends of the Earth.  more ...

Liam Cook

© Christian Sinibaldi


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neil.kingsnorth

Neil Kingsnorth

23 Sep

"Ugly" vegetables? I stick two carrots up at the idea

An apple recently harvested from a tree in my garden that looks a bit like a bum was a source of great joy to my children.  One of the many pleasures of growing food is the wonky harvest that it sometimes provides.  The carrot that looks like a pair of trousers or the potato that looks like my grandad's nose. more ...

heart-shaped potato

© Thinkstock


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lynne.franks

Lynne Franks

23 Sep

Wellbeing: Women are key to a better world

Guest blog: Women's empowerment guru Lynne Franks argues that improving women's status is the key to sustainability. more ...

image of Lynne Franks


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brenda.pollack

Brenda Pollack

20 Sep

Thoughts on the "Truth about Fracking"

I watched ITV's "The Truth about fracking" last night. more ...

Balcombe Cuadrilla fracking site

© Friends of the Earth


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katya.johnson

Katya Johnson

17 Sep

Roger Deakin's "Notes from Walnut Tree Farm"

Roger Deakin, environmental campaigner and Friends of the Earth veteran, died in 2007. But fortunately for us, the spirit of his life is beautifully captured in the posthumous "Notes from Walnut Tree Farm". more ...

image_walnut_tree

satish.kumar

Satish Kumar

16 Sep

Wellbeing: The value of soil

Guest blog: Satish Kumar, Editor-in-chief of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine, previews his talk at Resurgence Trust's Festival of Wellbeing. more ...

image of children planting

© istock


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esther.woolfson

Esther Woolfson

13 Sep

Gull Song - Autumn Notes by Esther Woolfson

The award-winning nature diarist Esther Woolfson heralds the signs of autumn in the third of her guest blog posts for Friends of the Earth. more ...

image

© Hilarie


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holly.brooke-smith

Holly Brooke-Smith

11 Sep

When is cheese green?

For the third post in her series celebrating sustainable food, Holly Brooke-Smith gets cheesy for British Cheese Weekmore ...


steve.cain

Steve Cain

09 Sep

Making wine - my new hobby

I used to think wine-making was some type of scientific experiment conducted by my Dad. I remember his bottles bubbling away on our windowsills like a scene from a Hammer House of Horror movie. more ...

Making wine

© Cico Books


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anita.baumgartner

Anita Baumgartner

06 Sep

Grab a screwdriver and fix your broken gadget

There are some things nobody likes to admit. You and I and maybe most people in developed countries have a problem. It might sit in a cupboard, be buried under your bed or in a box in the cellar. more ...

people_fixing_hairdryer_restart_party


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phil.byrne

Phil Byrne

30 Aug

Ultimate swarms: Nature's most powerful secrets

If you suffer from melissophobia - fear of bees - don't watch the first 15 minutes of Ultimate Swarms, which aired on BBC One this week. more ...


rachelle.strauss

Rachelle Strauss

28 Aug

Can you take the Zero Waste Week challenge?

Food waste isn't just a waste of money. Producing our food uses up large amounts of our world's limited natural resources like water and land. more ...

food_waste

© webted


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fred.pearce

Fred Pearce

22 Aug

Water's running out - is sewage the solution?

In a world of droughts, climate change and rising population, is sewage the answer to stop our taps running dry? Guest blogger, journalist and author Fred Pearce, thinks so - if we can only get over the yuck factor. more ...


jenny.rosenberg

Jenny Rosenberg

21 Aug

Shale gas: we are the fractivists

You'd be hard pushed to find anything nice to say about fracking, but this weekend it did something great. more ...

solidarity fracking march Balcombe

holly.brooke-smith

Holly Brooke-Smith

20 Aug

Raspberries - my green pick of the month

For the second post in her series celebrating sustainable food, Holly Brooke-Smith tells us what's great about raspberries in August. more ...

raspberries

charlotte.chan

Charlotte Chan

15 Aug

Dancing through the Wilderness

Did you know that bees talk to each other by dancing? more ...

Bees dancing

© Friends of the Earth


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katya.johnson

Katya Johnson

13 Aug

Narrowboating: my eco-friendly summer holiday

Narrowboat holidays offer the perfect excuse for an out-of-city break, plus they save the planet on nasty flight emissions. Gorgeous, green and not too expensive - kids love them too I hear.    more ...


emma.egli

Emma Egli

08 Aug

Food for thought: are lab-grown burgers the answer?

As a vegetarian of 10 years, when I found out about the first lab-made burger, my initial reaction was, "sign me up, I'll be first in line, tomato ketchup in tow." more ...

Food processing plant producing hamburgers

© istock


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amelia.collins

Amelia Collins

08 Aug

Why I'm behind the people of Balcombe against fracking

Yesterday I was lucky enough to visit the protest site in Balcombe, West Sussex. Lucky is in many ways an inappropriate word to use, given that local residents and protesters are fighting oil exploration by energy company Cuadrilla, which they fear could lead to hydraulic fracturing or fracking. They have quite a fight on their hands. But to meet the people on the ground and show support brings the campaign and people to life.   more ...

Balcombe residents against fracking

© Friends of the Earth


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marie.reynolds

Marie Reynolds

25 Jul

Why a plastic bag fee is not a bad plan

Do plastic bags get on your nerves? They do mine. more ...

Plastic bag stuck in tree

© Friends of the Earth


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jannat.hossain

Jannat Hossain

25 Jul

Basecamp: my first experience of Friends of the Earth

As a passionate environmentalist, university graduate Jannat Hossain has been following the work of Friends of the Earth for several years but has never really had the chance to get involved - until now. Here she blogs on her first experience of Friends of the Earth's annual gathering for environmental activists, and on her ambitions for Young Friends of the Earth. more ...

image

© Friends of the Earth


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helen.rimmer

Helen Rimmer

24 Jul

We're not giving up on fighting fracking

As the country basked in sunshine last weekend, I was picnicking at Lytham's iconic 19th century windmill. But it wasn't just about relaxing in the glorious weather. This was a community conversation about the big energy issue of the day - fracking. more ...

Gathering on the Green

© Helen Rimmer


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joanna.watson

Joanna Watson

20 Jul

Bravo Basecamp - We did it differently

Attached to the Bee Tree at Basecamp last weekend was a lovely message from a participant: "You've turned Conference into a little adventure". It summed up the journey we've been on for the last year. more ...

image

© Joanna Watson


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andy.atkins

Andy Atkins

18 Jul

Basecamp: new faces, new ideas, and a weekend of inspiration

If you couldn't be there, I'm sorry: Basecamp was brilliant. Friends of the Earth's 2013 annual gathering for environmental activists combined topical issues with space for collaboration and creativity, all based in a beautiful rural venue with a pub just down the lane. more ...

image

© Friends of the Earth


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charlotte.chan

Charlotte Chan

17 Jul

A Paraguay film night to remember: El Impenetrable

This Thursday will be my film night to remember. I'm going to see El Impenetrable. more ...

el impentrable paraguay film night


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brenda.pollack

Brenda Pollack

16 Jul

More shale gas with your tea vicar?

A couple of weeks ago I was enjoying a fine cup of tea with cucumber sandwiches. It wasn't a summer garden party, but a Very British Tea Party protest. more ...

image

© Friends of the Earth


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marie.reynolds

Marie Reynolds

12 Jul

Community power on the up

Last week the Government announced plans to allow communities to earn cash-back for generating power from larger renewable energy projects. This went by largely unnoticed by the press; picked up by just a handful of trade websites. more ...

Westmill Wind and Solar Farm Co-op

© Neil B. Maw


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chris.graham

Chris Graham

05 Jul

Five reasons why I love jackdaws

Inspired by our recent blog about magpies, Chris Graham, Publishing and New Media Manager, shares his new found love of the popular jackdaw. more ...

image

© Brian Clift


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Friends of the Earth-sters in vintage clothes

© Friends of the Earth