Sewage…… Just Because…..Stepping Back in time…….
by Bernie Bell - 09:59 on 05 November 2022
Sewage……
Sewage pollution in waterways and the ocean is a matter of great concern at the moment as, especially in England, not much appears to be being done to control it as ‘vested interests’ get in the way and climate change exacerbates the situation.
Here’s what one determined person can do – his website tells and shows more….
Matt Staniek....... https://www.mattstaniek.co.uk/film-making
“I am a 26 year old Zoologist and conservationist from the Lake District National Park. My main ambition in life is to be able to inspire and educate others about my passion for wildlife whilst having my own, individual impact on conservation. Be it through practical conservation work, social media, campaigning, photography or film.
Over the last 5 years I have really focussed on where I grew up and live, the Lake District World Heritage Site. It's been a challenge to try and become an active conservationist in a time when resources are so low. I've managed to do this in a number of ways though: I spent a year working with Cumbria Wildlife Trust in which I got thrown head first into the world of land management, spending my time between chain-sawing trees to presenting films about Cumbria's flagship species and even leading guided walks to show members some of the Trusts flagship species. I've worked extensively on what I consider to be the most exciting regenerative farm in the whole of the Lake District, Whinpot Farm. Wal and Ruth are at the forefront of how I think farming in the UK should be, focussing on improving soil health to combat climate change and merging wildlife and livestock so both can thrive successfully off the land. So I've been taught everything from beekeeping, to calving, hay making, fencing, good stock rotational practice and about a 1000 more different things! Currently I am working on what has been a real passion project which has seen me working full time. It is running a campaign to stop water pollution in the Lake District. The campaign began on fairly innocuous grounds. I frequent the head of Windermere lake, almost daily, to indulge in my favourite pastime, wildlife photography.
However, as the years have progressed, I've witnessed a worrying trend; a very sharp decline in biodiversity. Being a Zoologist, my scientific curiosity took over, I knew I had to find the cause. This eventually led me to dive headfirst into the murky world of sewage pollution. I’ve run the campaign so far through my savings, when I reached the end of my money I started the Windermere Lake Recovery CIC (Community Interest Company) which enables me to contract myself to work with land owners to implement natural solutions to the growing water quality issues in the Windermere catchment.
This has really married what I want to achieve in my life. I have not only garnered 200,000 signatures across my two petitions, but I have also tied this around a social media presence making films and videos to promote the campaign, using my voice to try and make change to save our natural world. This work has seen me recently feature on BBC Countryfile, Channel 4 News, ITV Border, BBC Breakfast, Sky News, BBC North West to name a few.
I want to see a National Park where farming and conservation come together to save our British countryside from biodiversity loss.”
Meanwhile - in Scotland…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/11/05/scottish-water-keeping-it-clean/
And Wales has Dwr Cymru…. http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=15952
Here’s something…. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/should-england-nationalise-water-services/
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Just Because…..
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-63470228
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Back in time…….
I heard on the news ( though that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s so) that police are now uncovering gangs in which children are used for drug dealing.
There are many aspects of life in Britain today which remind me of Victorian England – poverty – folk living without heating – the idea of people being so poor that they can’t afford heating and need to wear coats indoors in cold weather had become unthinkable – now it’s a reality. People finding it hard to know where the next meal is coming from and relying on charity = foodbanks to be able to eat. Little job security and associated abuse in the lower paid jobs – almost amounting to serfdom.
Charles Dickens’ novel ‘Bleak House‘ paints a strong picture of life in Victorian Britain, when Britain was far from being ‘Great’ – it was a nation of appalling inequalities. The money was there which could have helped people to live better lives, but it was used for other things, as it is now.
So many aspects of British Society which campaigners took many years to sort out are now being eroded – pay and conditions of service codes in the workplace – Social Security – not just as a name for a government department, but as a reality.
Medical care when needed - no longer the case that if you had the money you got to see a doctor, otherwise you treated yourself and got better - or you died.
The latest – hearing about gangs using kids to do their work, reminded me of Fagin and his gang in Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’ published in 1837.
And not just thieving and drug dealing – there’s the whole horrible area of how young children, very young children are used in the sex trade. Echoes of the past.
I’m not saying all these things stopped happening in the last couple of hundred years, but the laws were being put in place – people were becoming aware that this should not be how a civilised nation proceeds. More of the British public gained the right to vote, and voted to elect leaders who slowly made British society become to some degree more wholesome.
Now – many people don’t bother to vote – so we get the rag-tag we have in charge now.
British Society as a whole is becoming retrogressive instead of progressive. A General Election is needed – a whole different set of people in charge is needed who hopefully will work towards that fairer society again. Instead we have the same old, same olds – who won’t allow an election because they know that they’ll be out. That’s what Democracy has come to in Britain today.
I’m reading ‘Surprised by Joy ‘ – the autobiography of C. S Lewis - in which he describes life in English boarding schools and how that training produces a certain attitude and approach to life. He points out that these people often end up being in charge. It makes interesting reading. Particularly chapter 6 – ‘Bloodery’ as in – young ‘bloods‘ lording it over their ‘inferiors’ – and getting away with it.
End of rant.
PS –
Just received this from Bartholomew Barker….
Fraiku: Twilight
“Night falls on democracy
When the people fail to vote
Be the dawn”
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Here’s one I made earlier…… https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/04/07/what-we-glimpsed-at-glimps-holm/
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