Call me an old cynic.... but I am suspicious about this new plan to create a 'Northern Forest' that the Government announced last week.
This, by the way, is the same Government that is forging on with HS2, the publicly despised high speed rail project, which will decimate nearly 100 ancient woodlands across large swathes of England as it ploughs through everything in its path. What springs to mind is not necessarily a bold plan to create a new forest but a giant dose of hypocrisy.... the Government has sanctioned the mass felling of thousands of acres of ancient woodland with one hand while announcing plans for a new 'forest' of trees with the other. And that's if the 'Northern Forest' plan ever comes to fruition. While a tiny £5m has been allocated by the Government to this noble sounding plan, a whopping £104 billion is the cost forecast to build HS2. Which kind of makes the Northern Forest sound like something falling short of even a token gesture. The cost of the Northern Forest is projected to be £500m over the next 25 years but charity donations will be needed for the £495m that the Government are not funding. Not only that but the cities that the Northern Forest will link together are not exactly renowned for their nurturing approach to trees. Liverpool felled 36 old Maples last year and replaced them with a horrible multi storey car park that harks back to the worst architecture of the 1960's, while Sheffield has gained a reputation for frenzied and uncontrolled tree felling that has made the city notorious worldwide for its callous approach to conservation. So, although it is the Conservatives who are pushing HS2, both of the aforementioned cities have Labour run councils illustrating that this muddled ignorance towards trees is a cross party problem. Cynic that I am, I can only think that this cunningly timed announcement for a Northern Forest is a naïve attempt to pacify the HS2 protestors and divert attention from the destruction that HS2 is causing to our countryside. But if the Government think that their 'dream' to plant a forest somewhere 'up North' will silence its critics then they are mistaken. Why? Because people are not stupid. The decimation of our ancient woodland is a national scandal, and the precious habitat it provides for our wildlife cannot be replaced with a ribbon of newly planted trees which will take centuries to reach the kind of maturity needed to support the diverse ecosystem that is being obliterated in the wake of HS2. Of the Northern Forest plan, Environment Secretary Michael Gove is quoted as saying: "Trees are some of our most cherished natural assets and living evidence of our investment for future generations. Not only are they a source of beauty and wonder, but a way to manage flood risk, protect precious species and create healthier places for us to work and live.” What a pity he doesn't view the mass destruction of woodland by HS2 with the same concern. Perhaps he's so shallow that he hasn't made the connection.... A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation. – Adlai E. Stevenson II
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Have you ever seen the magnificent bird that is the Great Indian Bustard? No? And the sad truth is that you probably never will..... because they are on the very brink of extinction, down to as few as 50 individuals and about to disappear forever from the earth thanks to wind farms.
The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) has historically been hunted in large numbers and its habitat reduced through agricultural expansion - yet it has somehow overcome these threats against all the odds. But, in spite of its capacity for survival, we can likely say a sad final farewell to this incredible bird because it is being killed as a direct result of those most macabre and hideous of mankinds' newest wildlife-killing inventions, wind turbines. Marketed as 'green' but flying in the face of conservation, the wind farms and particularly the power lines that serve the wind turbines are now directly responsible for the imminent extinction of this magnificent bird. The Great Indian Bustard lives in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan. It is a beautiful and unusual creature, standing one meter tall and similar in appearance to a small Ostrich. But unlike the Ostrich, the Bustard can fly, making it one of the heaviest of all flying birds. Once widespread across the Indian grasslands, the bird is now largely confined to the Thar region where less than 150 individuals, at best, are believed to survive. This area is also where 'renewable' energy companies have decided to install their lethal wind farms and the associated 6,000 kilometres of power transmission lines which are now believed to kill around 18,000 birds a month through collision and electrocution, some of this number being the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard. Remains of the extraordinary bird have been discovered beneath the power lines and it is unknown just how many of the birds have been killed in this way. Calls for the energy companies to install brightly coloured bird deterrents, possibly the only method of reducing deaths other than removing the turbines altogether, have been met with an assurance that the idea is being 'discussed' - but so far no action has been implemented and birds of several species continue to be killed in large numbers. The Bustard is one casualty of these turbines, though similar problems occur wherever in the world there are wind farms. They are perhaps one of the biggest current threats to the survival of many species of endangered birds and their impact on wildlife and the environment must not be underestimated. Fighting wind energy has become a personal battle of mine and my intention is to educate and inform the public about the misinformation spewed out by renewable energy companies and their underhanded methods of marketing their energy as 'green'. I've said it many times but now I'll say it again in the name of those magnificent Indian Bustards, the latest catastrophic casualty of the money making green scam: Wind farms represent one of the biggest environmental threats of modern times. Their manufacture, installation and operation are responsible for the decimation of environment, landscape and wildlife wherever they appear. And now it seems they might also be the nail in the coffin of yet another of the world's most beautiful creatures. The Great Indian Bustard. R.I.P. |
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July 2023
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