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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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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.