HELP OUR PLANET
The HOP talks
Join us once a month for a live talk from an expert in conservation followed by questions and discussion with the audience.
6. Julia Hailes MBE
Wild about Wilding
Wednesday 29 March 7pm (Doors 6pm, bar and hot snacks available)
Tickets £10 Under 21s £5.
All proceeds will be donated to Great Big Dorset Hedge, which is run by the Dorset Climate Action Network. Extra donations can be given on the night.
Please call 01308 459511 to reserve your tickets. Numbers are limited and tickets will be essential.
Julia Hailes MBE
Julia Hailes is a sustainability pioneer with over 35 years in the green sector. She’s a campaigner, writer, speaker, consultant and entrepreneur – and has written or co-written nine environmental books, including The Green Consumer Guide, which sold over 1 million copies worldwide. She was the co-founder, with John Elkington, of environmental think tank and consultancy, SustainAbility in 1987 and advises blue chip companies such as Procter & Gamble and M&S. In 1992, Julia received a UN Global 500 Award for Outstanding Environmental Achievement.
Julia has transformed the land around her home in West Dorset to embrace wildlife. ‘Being an environmentalist is not the same as being an ecologist,’ she says. ‘I’ve had to learn about wilding from experts and it has been a fascinating journey. Our 9-acre plot is brimming with mini projects providing habitats for wildlife with ponds, wildflower meadows and even a rather unique ‘bat egg’.
‘I’d like to share my story and demonstrate why wilding is for everyone. Each of us has the potential to reverse species decline, tackle climate change, and make a huge difference to our health and well-being.’
Please call 01308 459511 to reserve your tickets. Numbers are limited and tickets will be essential.
The Help our Planet talks
The HOP talks are an initiative started by Philip Howse OBE (Professor Emeritus, University of Southampton) with Professor Sir Ghillean Prance FRS VMH CBE (former Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) George Monbiot, Clive Farrell, Dr George McGavin and the late James Lovelock CBE plus a number of other skilled and committed people who have given their time to help.
The project aims to inspire and inform individuals, families and local communities with tangible actions to help combat the effects of climate change and environmental degradation, and to raise money for charities working in these areas. Each month the charity is chosen by the speaker.
Please join us and Help Our Planet
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FUTURE DATES & SPEAKERS
7. Fighting River Pollution – Citizen Science in action by Belinda Bawden, the River Lim Action Group and River Char Community Project 12 April
Everyone knows that Dorset’s rivers (like all rivers in England) are in poor overall health and this dire situation is set to get worse. One of the main culprits are the water companies, which are releasing untreated sewage into them (and into the sea) for hundreds of hours a year. They are also failing to prevent effluent from illegal misconnections entering our water courses. Despite progress on sewage treatment, illegal spills mean that things are worse for our rivers than they were just 10 years ago. Farm pollution, microplastics, forever chemicals, wet wipes, fatbergs and failure to invest enough in our drainage infrastructure add to the problems. The regulators don’t seem to have any teeth and it’s down to public pressure on the water companies to get any action. Against that background, numbers of fish, kingfishers, water voles, dippers, dragonflies and other wildlife have fallen drastically in the same period. What’s going on and what can be done?
On 12th April we’ll hear from two Community Action Groups (one from the River Char and one from the River Lim) and from Dorset Councillor for Lyme Regis and Charmouth, Belinda Bawden, about the nature and scale of the problem. The talk will focus on the remarkable work being undertaken by local Citizen Scientists and River Radicals who have achieved significant changes and improvements in the last two years, shining a light on some of the murkier problems that we face. Their plans in store for the coming 12 months are truly inspiring.
More information from the Rivers Trust: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/6730f10b64184200b171a57750890643?item=3
Please call 01308 459511 to reserve tickets at £10 each (All ticket proceeds to https://www.dorsetcan.org)
Professor Steve Hawkins, former Director of the Marine Biological Assn. in Plymouth and Head of the Oceanography Centre at Southampton, on: Interactions of climate change with other impacts in the English Channel – a century long view
Marine biologist Dr Owen Day, Executive Director of CLEAR Caribbeana a not-for-profit company that operates the largest coral restoration programmes in the Eastern Caribbean on: Restoring Caribbean Coral and Community engagement
Sladers Yard 