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 ...

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 ...

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. 

The Interview

I first met Liam Cook some weeks ago, before the sponsored cycle began. He was calm and excited about the ride.  more ...

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.

My belief is that we can only create a sustainable future for the world and humanity when women and men have equal power in all areas of society. Even in countries in the so-called developed world, we are far from any kind of gender balance in most areas of leadership and power. more ...

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.

So to me, the lines of perfectly straight, perfectly clean, identical and sterile-looking veg we find in too many shops are a sad sight indeed.  The joy of the unexpected is all but banished, replaced by the monotony of the predictable. more ...

Brenda Pollack

20 Sep

Thoughts on the "Truth about Fracking"

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

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".

I first came across this book on the kitchen table of a friend's house. I opened the first pages and was immediately hooked. Part-autobiography, part-nature diary, it is made up of fragments of writing centred around Deakin's home, Walnut Tree Farm. more ...

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.

We need to embrace an inclusive and holistic concept of wellbeing.

This is something Resurgence & Ecologist will be addressing in its second Festival of Wellbeing, in London on 12 October. more ...

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.

The change from summer to autumn here in Aberdeen is in more than the weather. It's in more than the sudden chills, the brisk rain, the wind that's already whisking leaves from trees. It's in sound too. The gull-clamour of August in a maritime city is over. Everything is - if not exactly silent - then quieter. The lovely, loud and resonant chorus of herring-gull voices at nesting-time has changed from defence to declamation. more ...

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 Week. 

Pick a cheese, any cheese

I don't know about you, but when I buy fruit and veg, it's absolutely instinctive to check the label to see where it's come from. But, by the time I get to the cheese counter (my favourite place to be), I still have to remind myself to think about origin and food miles - it can be all too easy to grab branded Cheddar without thinking. more ...

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.

But now I have the bug. And part of the attraction for me is drinking something that's a bit more special than a bottle of mass-produced plonk, with chemical nasties, and a big old carbon footprint. I can make my own wine with seasonal fruits or vegetables.

It started a few years ago when I heard a programme on the radio. more ...

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.

I'm talking about those discarded electronic devices you don't know what to do with. Maybe they developed faults, became really slow or you simply broke them.

Taking them to the repair shop seems too much of a hassle. If our phone or laptop breaks, we need to replace them urgently. So most of us just buy a new device. more ...

Brenda Pollack

05 Sep

Fracking: an important victory but the fight goes on

I've just got back from leave and found out that Cuadrilla withdrew its planning application to extend shale oil exploration near Balcombe for another six months. more ...

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.

In a scene reminiscent of the cult horror Candyman, Zoologist and explorer George McGavin talks to the camera absolutely covered in honey bees. more ...

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.

Guest writer Rachelle Strauss, My Zero Waste

Here's a challenge for you. Next time you come home with bags of food shopping, stop off at your bin.

Now open the lid and put in one third of the shopping you've just bought. If you've got three bags, put one in there. If you've bought six, put three in there. Now close the lid and walk away.

Sounds crazy, right? more ...

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.

Sewage contains two things we badly need: organic nutrients such as nitrogen, and water. Cities once took advantage of this, operating "sewage farms" that used faeces as fertiliser. more ...

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.

It brought together thousands of people from all walks of life and from across the UK to stand together against fracking and fossil fuel extraction everywhere. more ...

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.

Who doesn't love a raspberry? When I was growing up they were always the 'easy win' to stem the flow of parental scurvy-nags. They're delicious with ice cream and in a fruit salad. And with the warm summer weather set to continue, they're providing good business for Britain.

Berry background more ...

Charlotte Chan

15 Aug

Dancing through the Wilderness

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

If that's the case, I was doing a whole lot of talking at this year's Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire, while dressed up as a Friends of the Earth bee.

Every day we'd put on our bee suits and wander around the beautiful green grounds, chatting to people about our work and trying to recruit new support for the Bee Cause campaign. more ...

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 ...

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 ...

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."

I've tried every Quorn, Cauldron, Linda McCartney, mock meat brand you can think of. Some taste like cardboard. But others have had me reaching for the box to double check they are indeed meat-free. So the idea of something as close to the real thing as you can get, but not actually the real thing, sounded appealing. more ...

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 ...

Marie Reynolds

25 Jul

Why a plastic bag fee is not a bad plan

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

I hate seeing them stuck in trees and blowing across parks in the wind. I bet zillions have been left on Brighton beach during the heatwave. And whilst they make excellent bin liners in my shared flat, they end up taking over our kitchen cupboards. 

UK supermarkets handed out more than 8 million bags last year, the highest amount in 4 years. I'm sure I accepted one or two of those. more ...

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 ...

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.

After lots of discussions and recce visits, we made the challenging decision to locate our annual get-together for environmental campaigners at Hartington in the heart of the Peak District. more ...

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.

Basecamp was all about engaging new people in Friends of the Earth's work - participants included volunteers from elsewhere in the green movement, supporters who have yet to connect with local groups, and a growing contingent from Young Friends of the Earth, fresh with lots of ideas. more ...

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.

Not to undermine classics like the sing-along Mulan, El Impenetrable will top all fim nights for me. This is because it speaks of a real issue that my team at Friends of the Earth is campaigning on - land grabbing. more ...

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.

In the heart of England, not on a village green but on a roadside verge, I was sitting opposite a site where Cuadrilla wants to drill underground to test for oil and gas. With me were residents from Balcombe, West Sussex, who are concerned that if and when Cuadrilla find what they are looking for, they will use a process called hydraulic fracturing (fracking, for short) to release the oil or gas from shale rock deep under the ground. more ...

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 ...