Before you celebrate, consider this - UU charge £1.988 per 1,000 litres of water supplied and £1.325 per 1,000 litres of water removed. That amounts to nearly £73m in additional income. Admittedly, they will have incurred some additional costs, but the fine looks like a bargain.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/united-utilities-water-limited-fined-800000-for-taking-too-much-water-from-the-environment

https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/local-news/new-evidence-impact-hs2s-devastation-27397342?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

Trees don't always need to be cut down because they are damaging a wall.
(Photo: Sandy De Born - Twitter, with permission)

At least they have to debate them...
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/636542?fbclid=IwAR2BiVYT0wLvFoDdamldNdKsYyLyFCxvkFtlFz-Em0IBpBujLcSV9TSzwuU

https://twitter.com/TheKentAcorn/status/1679906851125641217/photo/1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-66164640

I must admit I’d never really thought about the sustainability of the tennis ‘industry’ so found this article enlightening but also worrying. It highlights just how much needs to be done to save the planet.
https://resource.co/article/new-balls-please-what-happens-one-billion-tennis-balls-discarded-every-year?

Science has found a way to make plastic self-destructing. Start at 19 mins in:
https://bit.ly/44Dh2Zl

https://www.clientearth.org/latest/latest-updates/news/reul-act-creates-uncertainty-for-uk-environmental-protections/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=&fbclid=IwAR0az6ISjBc4zobKKTNgZsQ43KEaYMat8LMLZTt_S6gc7qaszN_kqdV3WlQ

"Government ministers have been granted sweeping powers to amend or revoke retained EU law until the end of June 2026, without any effective oversight from parliament. " So they don`t even have to debate or vote on protective laws they revoke!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-66097906

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12260933/Cake-Box-tycoon-founded-35million-vegan-bakery-destroyed-132-protected-trees-build-mansion.html

https://campaigns.woodlandtrust.org.uk/page/130168/action/1?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=campaigning&utm_content=hermitagequarry

There is much of interest in this week's BBC Click:
https://bit.ly/46sUufQ

https://geographical.co.uk/science-environment/the-value-of-city-trees

https://www.wcl.org.uk/keep-beavering-away.asp

I like to focus on the innovative ideas and good news.

https://www.positive.news/environment/good-news-stories-from-week-24-of-2023/

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/kings-wildflower-meadows

https://blog.thediabetessite.greatergood.com/phthalates-diabetes-risk/?gg_source=DBS&gg_medium=house&gg_campaign=Ad-B-1200_Blog_phthalates-diabetes-risk_DBS&gg_content=2023-02%2Fb1200blogphthal_230220110916.jpg&_ga=2.95118236.1281624219.1683987910-129394423.1683988006

https://news.sky.com/story/the-black-gold-that-could-help-fight-climate-change-for-centuries-to-come-12890032

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/27/york-groundsel-bloom-again-britain-first-ever-de-extinction-event-natural-england?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other&fbclid=IwAR3C9yg03tbqawXLOJOzQe_Go23-NDX2qKGHnzYcjOuotpAERP2L8HT__XA_aem_th_ARUNtNbuFJWRCsCQbVu_lp3jbgyszlAhaTdEyh0g-bwZJOMRUy9L8g14S7KHpNs9c2c

Alex Prendergast has corrected the statement that York groundsel was the first de-extinction in the UK. The interrupted brome (Bromus interruptus) a flowering grass became extinct in the wild in 1972 and was reintroduced in 2004 .
https://naturebftb.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Bromus_interruptus_LOWRES-10.02.21.pdf

I love hearing about these new ideas. I feel there’s a momentum building.
https://www.positive.news/society/five-sustainable-product-ideas-to-blow-your-mind-not-your-carbon-budget/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/17/birds-vanishing-crisis-40m-birds?

https://news.sky.com/story/earth-day-2023-activities-history-date-and-the-story-of-its-founder-12843608

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/21/farmer-jailed-for-damaging-river-lugg-herefordshire

The photos in this article show the extent of the destruction.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/farmer-jailed-handed-12m-costs-29769778

https://www.thebuzzclub.uk/hoverfly-lagoons

https://littlegreenspace.org.uk/news/dundreggan-rewilding-centre-opens.html

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/10/david-attenborough-wild-isles-online-tv-british-nature?CMP=share_btn_tw

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fd45w7

https://petition.parliament.uk/signatures/133187708/signed

https://action.greenpeace.org.uk/onshore-wind-ban?

https://nation.cymru/news/uk-government-accused-as-funding-fails-to-materialise-for-trailblazing-green-hydrogen-project/

https://www.positive.news/environment/the-plan-to-create-a-nature-recovery-site-in-every-english-county/

Nothing new here, but at least it has been said officially.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/29/uk-strikingly-unprepared-impacts-climate-crisis?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/28/thames-water-ordered-to-fix-leaks-before-pumping-millions-of-litres-from-rivers

Lawyers pledge to withhold their services from supporting new fossil fuel projects and acting against climate protestors exercising their democratic right of peaceful protest.
https://www.lar.earth/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/24/uk-government-launch-revamped-net-zero-strategy-oil-gas-capital-aberdeen

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/10/ex-tory-minister-tried-sell-off-forests-natural-england-role-caroline-spelman

This seems like a good move. This is a Blue Diamond Garden Centre which I think is a chain. They do lots of peat free compost now as well.

Lots of applications for river bathing water designations declined. Could it be because the monitoring would reveal the water to be very poor quality, which would also make the country’s bathing water stats look bad?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64919789

A prog on the BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct3k5w? It's from January, so maybe it's already been posted somewhere . . .

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64842402?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/06/sheffield-city-council-behaved-dishonestly-in-street-trees-row-inquiry-finds

The report can be found here. https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-city-council/independent-inquiry-into-street-trees-dispute?amp;amp;amp;amp

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/06/meat-dairy-rice-high-methane-food-production-bust-climate-target-study?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Floating solar panels, cleaning the Pacific rubbish dump, and recycling buildings.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001jjd9

I think it’s interesting to see what’s happening in industry - here’s one example of changes going on.
https://www.basf.com/gb/en/who-we-are/change-for-climate.html?

https://www.positive.news/lifestyle/octogenarian-folk-songs-restoring-romania/

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/against-saving-planet

This rally organised by XR is about showing the government through strength of numbers that people want action on fossil fuels. This is not about being arrested or damaging property, which XR admit have put many people off in the past.

https://extinctionrebellion.uk/the-big-one/?

One aspect of private solar installations having always been the emphasis on being able to sell any surplus power to the National Grid, I'd not previously heard that community solar power schemes apparently can't do so. If they have to give it to the Grid or invest in sizeable batteries to manage the excess, it must be much harder to make these schemes financially viable.
I don't agree with pestering MPs in person about this when a letter will suffice but there's every reason to sign up and get involved.
https://powerforpeople.org.uk/#sign-up

https://www.positive.news/society/councils-leading-on-climate-action/

Some really positive ideas here being put into practice. You can vote on the initiative you like best if you wish. You do have to give your email address but hopefully it’s just to send you a code to confirm your vote. https://www.positive.news/society/circular-economy-class-of-2023-meet-the-fresh-crop-of-waste-busting-startups/