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A personal reflection on 2025 – can we still keep 1.5 alive?

Two things stand out for me from this past year. One was a nostalgic road trip with my family along US Route 66. The other was the Battle of Barnet. Ironically, both these events forced me face-to-face with our collective future. More about this unsettling fore glimpse in a moment.

Keep 1.5 and our grandkids aliveMy grandchild, Damon

I think I was born a naturalist. Perhaps we all are, but some of us never lose that sense of being part of nature and an awareness of the interconnectedness of everything. Though initially moved by wonderment, I was soon driven by increasing concern for our shared planet home and have been an environmental activist for the whole of my adult life. That adds up to a little over 65 years of conserving and campaigning. During this time, our native wildlife has been in severe decline. These Isles are now one of the most nature-depleted counties on Earth. Add to this rapidly increasing climate change, and there is good reason to be alarmed for the welfare of our grandchildren's generation.

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Is Barnet’s Biological Bridge Falling Down?

By Dennis Ayling, August 2025

Ideally, the London Borough of Barnet should function as a beautiful biological bridge between the green belt Hertfordshire countryside and the Inner London boroughs. Is it falling down? No, not quite, but it is becoming increasingly shaky. Although it is a multi-lane bridge, the various lanes are gradually getting disrupted, potentially rendering them ineffectual. If just one span of a bridge lane is undermined, somewhere along its length, then the whole structure is compromised. Take, for example, the Edgware branch of the Northern line, long-recognised as a fortuitous north-south green lane for flora and fauna. Its open, rural-style station platforms, like the one at Burnt Oak, are of little hindrance to the passage of wildlife.

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Totteridge to the Thames via Camden’s Dormant Country Corridor

Dennis Ayling explains his proposal for a tree corridor between Hampstead Heath and Primrose Hill.

For another article by Dennis Ayling, see A New Retail and Nature Partnership to Beat Climate Change.

The greenwalk from Totteridge to Hampstead Heath is well established. It follows the Dollis Brook and then the Mutton Brook to Hampstead Garden Suburb. It continues through the Garden Suburb via Little Wood and Big Wood to Hampstead Heath Extension. Once across the Spaniards Road, it's possible to follow the two spring-fed headwaters of the River Fleet. Both of these streams have been dammed to form a series of ponds. The Highgate Ponds to the east can be followed to Gospel Oak. The Hampstead Ponds to the west lead to South End Green. From Hampstead Heath, the River Fleet flows south underground to feed the River Thames. Therefore, it would appear our greenwalk terminates at the charming southern fringes of Hampstead Heath.

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A New Retail and Nature Partnership to Beat Climate Change

By Dennis Ayling, June 2024

In presenting this proposal I am inevitably going to dish up some doom and gloom, but fear not. Ultimately, I am an optimist about the future of our planet. I am going to detail an unpleasant blot on our landscape and then suggest how it might be unbelievably transformed. It will achieve much more than the greening of a dreary place. It will serve to protect our physical and mental health along with the well-being of Nature, on whom we utterly depend for our basic needs. In fact, it will go even further. It is no exaggeration to say this unusual alliance of Retail and Nature will contribute to ensuring our survival in the face of frequent extreme weather events.

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Biodiversity and climate change in North London

By Dennis Ayling, June 2022

This is about a missed opportunity in North London that has repercussions for Inner London boroughs, too.

Everyone now knows we are facing two interlinked emergencies: a devastating decline in biodiversity and catastrophic climate change.

Both threaten our survival, yet both were predicted over 40 years ago. Both are now crises over which we are imminently losing control.
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