Judith Russenberger

31 Days Wild: 8th May 2025

An important part of my weekly routine is running in Richmond Park. I really value having this wild space so close to hand – it calms my mind and keeps me balanced.

This morning whilst running I picked out the song of a sky lark. These birds live and nest in the Park and their presence of very special as they are on the RSPB’s red list species of concern. Protecting their habitat and protecting their nests (which are made in the ground) from disturbance by people and dogs, is really important. The Park requires dog walkers to keep their dogs on leads when walking near nesting areas – and this restriction is a good reminder that we need to be sure that we are sharing the Park fairly with all its inhabitants.

https://www.royalparks.org.uk/read-watch-listen/top-five-things-know-about-soulful-skylark?utm_source=email&utm_medium=mainnewsletter&utm_campaign=blog_2025&dm_i=1EGE,8WTF2,WEQKAR,115DG0,1

Green Tau: issue 105

The Power of Silence

8th May 2025

According to a recent report in the Guardian, banks including Barclays, HSBC, NatWest and Lloyds have poured more than £75bn into companies developing huge fossil fuels projects with the potential of producing 420bn tonnes of carbon emissions. That would be equivalent to more than 10 years of current global carbon dioxide emissions. (1)

Banks and fossil fuel companies are clearly working together to wreck our green and sustainable global environment. How do we as ‘powerless’ – when compared to the financial clout of these businesses – individuals respond?

Yesterday (Wednesday 7th May 2025) Barclays held its AGM at the QEII conference centre just off Parliament Square. The building itself was barricaded off – a barrier reinforced on the inner face by a large number of private security officers (the kind of thing that big businesses can buy) and further reinforced on the outer face by large numbers of police officers. Their objective being to ensure that proceedings were not disrupted by any protest – even though the UK still (just about) upholds the right for people to undertake peaceful protest.

A sizeable crowd of protestors had squeezed into the limited space that lay between the QEII barricades and the barricades that enclosed the extensive gas repairs being carried out in front of the Methodist Central Hall. Palestinian flags flew high, placards announced “Barclays – Don’t Bank on Apartheid” and protestors accompanied by a drum as protestors chanted slogans highlighting and castigating Barclays for their involvement in financing the genocide in Gaza.

Meanwhile stage left a small group of Buddhists and Christians from Buddhists XR and Christian Climate Action, spent several minutes checking in with each other as they prepared for an extended period of silent protest. Circling round us were more police officers who then followed as in pairs we quietly walked carrying our various banners across to the QEII centre. We found a space on the street where we could face the conference centre, and enter into a period of silent meditative prayer and reflection.

Can you hold a silent protest when surrounded by fellow protestors chanting and drumming? Would it not be as easier undertaking if one moved to a quieter spot away from the protest? Yes and yes. Moving to a quieter spot would have made our focus easier, but not being in the heart of the protest would have made it harder. Rather the noise and clamour focused our minds on the scale of the outrage – the unjust and implacable way that big money rides roughshod over other people’s lives – that we were all protesting against.

Once focused, the hour and half we were there was tangibly channelling a power into space that would not otherwise have been present. And the contrast between our silence and the noise of the other protesters added to the overall impact of the action.

Did the shareholders listen? Did the CEO and the board of Barclays take note of what was going on? Will they search in their hearts and consider the morality of financing activities that make the world a worse place? Will they look beyond the profits and bonuses they make, to consider the many lives they are destroying? Will the power they wield, immunise them from feelings of guilt?

We may not know the answers but we do know that we have asked the right questions.

(1) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/01/uk-banks-put-75bn-into-firms-building-climate-wrecking-carbon-bombs-study-finds?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

31 Days Wild: 7th May 2025

Again from my stays in Warwickshire, I have been able to spot my first swallows of the year with chattering burbling cry – these I saw in fact on Sunday 27th April – and my first swifts with their distinctive scimatar-shaped silhouette, which I saw yesterday in Warwickshire.

Seeing them reminds me however of the many we don’t see. I haven’t seen swallows here in south west London for many years, and the number of swifts I see, seems to be less and less each year. I have not yet seen any in London.

Counting on … Day 58

8th May 2025

Given that we won’t change the world just as one person, another thing we can do is to expand the number of people who understand what the issues are and who would be willing to be part of the movement of change needed. To this end, we can talk about these matters with our friends, our family, our work colleagues, people in our church, people who belong to the same clubs and societies as us. Talking to people about the climate and environmental crises – as indeed about any serious issue – requires tact and empathy. We don’t want to antagonise or disparage others. We don’t want to scare people into behaving like ostriches with their head in the sand, but nor do we want to under inform them about the real dangers. We want to be understanding of where they come from and what issues they may face vis a vis the climate and environmental crises, or life in general. We will want to be offer ways of addressing the issues – there are positive steps we can take and positive outcomes we can aim for.

And importantly listen to what they are saying! It can be really useful to understand what other people think and to learn about what they are or plan to do.

And there are even web sites giving you tips:-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zgyvydm#zxhccmn

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/how-to-have-difficult-climate-change-conversations/

https://climate-pact.europa.eu/get-inspired/how-talk-people-about-climate-action_en

Counting on … Day 57

7th May 2025

As just one individual we are not going to change the world – however much we wish to do so. Just as a greater impact can be created by signing a petition along with 10,000s of others (and recently a million people signed a petition calling on the Government to dead an end to oil and gas drilling!!),

so joining a climate or environmental group can be beneficial. For us as individuals it is an encouragement to know that we are not alone but that others share our concerns and understand our feelings – people who are ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’. As a group people’s different skills can be utilised such that the impact is more than the sum of the parts. The group can be a good place to think through existing conundrums, to acquire new data and to explore alternative ideas.

Possible climate and environmental groups would include –

Green Christian https://greenchristian.org.uk/about-green-christian/

Operation Noah https://www.operationnoah.org/

Christian Climate Action https://christianclimateaction.org/

Laudatory Si animators https://laudatosianimators.org/

Friends of the Earth https://friendsoftheearth.uk/

Greenpeace https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/

Christian Aid https://www.christianaid.org.uk/

Oxfam https://www.oxfam.org.uk/

Stop Rosebank https://www.stopcambo.org.uk/

Extinction Rebellion https://extinctionrebellion.uk/

Wildlife Trust https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/

This is not an inclusive list and there are many more such groups. It may be just the case of finding the one where you feel most at home.

31 Days Wild: 6th May 2025

Last night I was staying over with my sisters in a Warwickshire village. The half moon shining in through the velux window was no brighter than in London but the power of the moon light was so much more apparent. Light pollution in London is such that it is never truly dark, but here out in the countryside the light shared by the moon was wonderful – and noticeably stronger that when I had been there the previous week. The night and its variable darkness is something we often fail to appreciate, and yet from a wildlife point of view it is as important as daytime.

Counting on … Day 56

6th May 2025

System change is vital if we are to contain and constrain the climate crisis. Individuals can help bring about system change. We can use our votes to elect a government that understands and will pursue system change. We can write to our MPs and press them to bring about the changes we need to see. We can sign petitions – targeting either MPs or business corporations- again pressing for change.

(We can also write follow up messages saying thank you when change does happen).

As regards wiring to your MP, personalised letters are more effective but you may want to start with a ready-made template such as this one from Hubbub –

https://hubbub.org.uk/how-to-write-to-your-mp-about-climate-change-a-template

Or this from WWF –

http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/how_to_write_to_your_mp.pdf

The more you read and the more groups you interact with, the greater the number of petitions that will land in your in-tray- but do they work?

The following observations comes from the Welsh Government:

“Petitioning is one of the most direct ways to suggest how something could change. Petitions can:

Raise awareness of an issue;
Bring about a change in Welsh Government policy or a different way of delivering services;
Propose or influence a new law;
Prompt a Senedd Committee to hold an inquiry;
Lead to, or influence, a debate in the Senedd;
Prompt a Committee or individual Members of the Senedd to take further action themselves, for instance by asking questions”. https://petitions.senedd.wales/help

Friends of the Earth offer a good selection of petitions as a starting point –

https://friendsoftheearth.uk/latest/actions

31 Days Wild: 5th May 2025

What do I want to achieve over these 31 days? A bit more understanding about the natural world, about what the word ‘wild’ might mean, a greater aptitude to pay attention to the natural world around me – looking, hearing, smelling, feeling.

There is a little piece of woodland that separates a field from a local park. Its certainly not wild or natural in the sense that the trees were planted by a previous generation, but it does provide a habitat for a large number of wild birds – and I’m guessing other wild things such as bugs and insects etc. I often pause here and use my Merlin app which identifies the different birds that are singing in the locality – as many as 14 different species on some occasions. I hope that by doing this regulalry I will learn to identify more birds by their songs. Today I could hear on one side of me a chiff chaff and on the other side another chiff chaff replying – their songs were similar but each had their own pitch.

Counting on … Day 55

5th May 2025

With the best will in the world, individual life style changes are not going to single handedly, curb carbon emissions and limit global temperature rises to a safe limit. As individuals our actions are constrained by the systems within which we live – be that tax policies; whether subsidies are made available for public transport or for fossil fuels; whether those who emit carbon dioxide have to also pay for the damage caused ( a polluters pay policy); whether manufacturing (and any associated carbon dioxide emissions) is relocated to a third country; whether beneficial lifestyle changes are promoted by the government etc. Therefore an important factor in halting the climate crisis is whether or not governments and business implement systemic change.

Last January the World Economic Forum produced a report, The Bold Measures to Close the Climate Action Gap: A Call for Systemic Change by Governments and Corporations, which calls for ‘systemic actions and …… outlines the urgency and necessity of drastic action from both governments and corporations to combat climate change effectively and deliver on commitments. It emphasises the need for governments to level the playing field for green solutions and proposes practical ways for companies to achieve outsized impact in their ecosystems.’

31 Days Wild: 4th May 2025

Growing up, our home had a lovely scented honeysuckle that climbed over the front door. Its rampant growth required periodic heavy pruning. I too have planted a honeysuckle near our front door. Its growth is sedate and its scented qualities unproven as every year its blooms attract a mass of aphids.

Aphids are meat and drink to lady birds – or so I am told – so I am loath to use an insecticide. Thinking about the aphid as part of wild nature, I googled aphids and honeysuckle. Apparently aphids on honeysuckle point to poor soil which is preventing the honeysuckle from outgrowing the aphids.

Wild honeysuckle grows in woodland environments, where the soil is rich in humus, and where the roots are shaded whilst the stems climb up to the light. So I guess I need to replant my honeysuckle in a more homely environment!