It’s the 9^th of January and most new year’s resolutions are already old news. We made them, we may have already broken them, so is that positivity all wrapped up until lent? Popular resolutions vary from list to list, but even a quick internet search brings up many of the old favourites: hoping to lose weight, get fit and eat healthily, stop smoking, curb drinking, save money or pay off debts. There are positives all round. It’s all about that bit of spare money, a less wasteful lifestyle, a more positive outlook. Just the kind of extras that could benefit our country too. (more…)

‘If you fly, you destroy other people’s lives’. That immortal line, written by George Monbiot in Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning, describes plainly where he sits on the ‘to fly or not to fly’ fence. Certainly it’s a controversial issue, even amongst environmentalists. (more…)

Spending New Year’s Eve with my school friends was great, but it came with the inevitable waving of meat in front of me and the ‘go on, don’t be silly.’ I always find this odd, because at university, I’m the friend who has the least ethical eating habits, and feel guilty for putting milk in my tea. I suppose this demonstrates one of the problems with trying to live a sustainable lifestyle: outside of your safe People & Planet bubble people are going to think you are a bit odd. (more…)

If you haven’t already, read George Marshall’s piece in last term’s issue of our network newsletter, The Activist. George argues that as environmental activists we should change the language we use to present the ‘environmental problem’ that we seek to address. Climate change, for instance, an issue usually presented as an ‘environmental’ problem, is, for precisely that reason, eschewed by many who might otherwise be sympathetic to our campaigns. (more…)