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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

I said I'd go on a walk to save the swifts back in June so wild horses wouldn't have kept me away from Hyde Park last Saturday.

The day dawned grey and overcast as my daughter and I headed for the beginning of the walk and, sure enough, as we walked towards the stage and the crowd of people beginning to gather the rain that had been threatening began to fall, heavy at times.

Wildlife folk are in general a hardy lot so, donning waterproof jackets and putting up umbrellas, we stood and listened to music from Billy Bragg and Grace Petrie and short speeches from influential people in the world of nature and nature writing, such as Robert Macfarlane (co-author of The Lost Words which was distributed to Haringey Primary Schools this year thanks to The Big Green Bookshop) and Dave Goulson (dressed as a bee naturally) as well as Chris Packham, the organiser. However, the real spotlight was on the young people that Packham has gathered around him to energise the young generation to fight back against the terrible losses that the natural world is sustaining in the war on Nature.

It felt like everyone was there from badger protection groups to bug lovers, the save our swifts banners walking beside the save the trees signs. I saw Tottenham groups, people I knew,  it felt like we might be in on the beginning of something big. 

For all our sakes, I hope so.

The first People's Manifesto for Wildlife was delivered to Downing Street by Packham and his young "ministers" with 10,000 sodden but cheerful walkers roaring him on. 

It's a start but the next step can now be taken. Even if you couldn't make the walk, you can do this thing.

This is a political movement. Although the Walk was not tied to a political party, some MPs were there but nowhere near enough of them. They need to become a bigger part of the debate if we are to bring about a cultural change to government and public policy making that centres the natural world. We can't pretend as the environmental movement can be inclined to do that this is above politics. 

So the next step is to write to the local MPs ( I tweeted David Lammy about it but, inevitably, there was no response). The brilliant Mark Avery explains here how to go about contacting your MP and what to say. Send them this link to the manifesto but apparently they're going to get a paper copy too.

Let's ensure it's not put to one side for another day.

Today I read an essay about Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" which was published on this day 27th September in 1962. It was a book I first read in my teens and which brought me to the environmental movement. Then, I believed that, in the 21st century, we would have stopped waging the war  "... against nature, and because man is part of nature,...also man’s war against himself." However, as I reach middle age it seems we are not only still waging it but we're doing so with a suicidal ferocity. 

The final lines of the essay by Maria Popova are heart-stabbing. 

"I think of that piercing Adrienne Rich line channeling the great 16th-century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, another scientist who fundamentally revolutionized our understanding of the universe and our place in it: “Let me not seem to have lived in vain.”

Let’s not let Rachel Carson seem to have lived in vain."

Write the letter.

Please.

Tags for Forum Posts: nature notes, peoples walk for wildlife, write to your MP

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I was there too! A brilliant, inspirational if wet day. Like you, I've contacted David Lammy and sent him a link to the manifesto.

I'm including here a copy of my letter and hope that many more people will follow our example franmouse

Dear Mr Lammy,

I am writing to you concerning the People's Manifesto for Wildlife, a copy of which you should receive in the post shortly if it hasn't already arrived. 

On September 22nd 2018, over 10,000 people took to the streets of London on a wet day to support the delivery of the People's Manifesto, compiled by some of the finest experts on British wildlife and involving many young people including from BAME communities, to Downing Street. Many people from Tottenham were there, including myself and my teenage daughter. 

We were united in our concern that policies and practices in this country are actively harming wildlife, including deforestation, industrialised food production, badger culls, use of pesticides, loss of green space in urban areas, and destruction of uplands for grouse shooting. These are just some of the issues, there are many more. 

Although the Walk was not tied to a political party, there were a few MPs from different parties there, but nowhere near enough of them. MPs need to become a bigger part of the debate if we are to bring about a cultural change to government and public policy making that centres the natural world. We can't pretend, as the environmental movement can be inclined to do, that this is above politics. This is a political movement.

To quote the great environmentalist, Rachel Carson,  we are waging a war, the war is  "... against nature, and because man is part of nature, ... [it is]... also man’s war against himself."  As the 21st century progresses, it seems we are waging it with a suicidal ferocity. 

There are many excellent proposals in this manifesto. As an MP passionate about education, I hope you will find the proposals around nature education, connecting children to the natural world and the introduction of a GCSE in Natural History exciting. I am a volunteer Education officer at a local nature reserve and I know how wonderful it is to introduce children to nature and to see their wonder and excitement at our discoveries together. 

I urge you, however, to read the whole manifesto and I would like to know your views on it and how you think the next Labour manifesto could include the ideas presented. 

The next general election could be sooner than we all think and we need a party in government that will enact and enforce protection for the natural world and go even further in offering a radical new path that centres the natural world in all government policies and practices.

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