Slowing down for summer
But before we do......campaigning on weedkiller, river news latest and all the other eco news
Good morning! I’m Sarah Hartley and this is The Northern Eco weekly update. As you’ve received this newsletter then, either you subscribed, or someone forwarded it to you. If the latter, then you can click on this handy little button below.
A North East man is campaigning to get a commonplace weedkiller banned from use in the UK.
Colin Campbell of Cleadon, South Tyneside is hoping to attract more than 100,000 signatures for his petition so the topic can be considered for debate in Parliament.
He told me that the weedkiller sold as ROUNDUP is used by many local authorities as well as gardeners and that serious health problems had been reported in many countries around the world.
“My good friend is currently battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. As a keen gardener, she regularly used Monsanto's weed killer ROUND UP. This product is also frequently used by local authorities to kill weeds in gutters and pathways, regardless of small children or wildlife in the immediate vicinity.”
Although the direct link between Colin’s friend’s illness and the weedkiller is impossible to prove, he points to actions taken in other countries to prevent the substance being used. These reports by The Guardian detail many such actions around the world, for example.
The petition at Change.org had already attracted nearly 18,000 signatures at the time we published this report and Colin urged readers here to help:
“Please sign this petition if you believe that no one should have their health compromised because they chose to garden or simply walked down a treated path.”
Colin’s campaign is just one of several moves to highlight issues around the way chemicals are regulated in the UK:
Some readers may have seen the latest episode of BBC’s Countryfile Programme which showed how so called PFAs (per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances) are showing up in common foods and people’s bloodstreams.The programme has reportedly sparked a social media backlash for investigating the issue. wdyt? Was it right for the programme to investigate the issue? You can leave comments below.
We’ve highlighted before the danger to bees from the use of neonicotinoids - a type of pesticide. Greenpeace has a petition calling on the new environment secretary to act on this issue. You can sign that here.
Latest river news
💦 Caffeine, diabetes medicine and animal antibiotics - Just some of the drugs scientists found in the rivers within National Parks in the north. We took a look at the situation for the northern National Parks of North York Moors, Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland and the Lake District in this report. (PS: Readers who join us via the Substack app or social media got access to this special report last Wednesday and you can download it below so you never miss out!)
💦 Yorkshire Water is to spend £1.5 million to reduce the amount of sewage being discharged into the River Ure at Ripon. The project, which is already underway, will see a new 995-metre sewer installed in parts of the city, reports Flora Grafton at The Stray Ferret.
The three most clicked links from last week were:
In other news
🌞 'Ultra-rapid' electric vehicle charging is coming to a busy car park in York with eight charging units covered by a metal canopy with solar panels on top, writes Harry Booth at the York Press.
🦉The first healthy barn owl chicks have hatched at a project where 50 specially designed nesting boxes have been installed across the 79 square mile Howardian Hills National Landscape. Karen Darley from the D&S reports.
🌞 The debate over the relative importance of the country’s food security, domestic energy production and climate change has come into sharp relief as proposals for two nearby solar farms were met with contrasting decisions. Stuart Minting reports for Hambleton Today.
👹 Invasive plant species are known to cause many problems locally so this report which helps identify them could be a useful read. ‘Monster plants’: an expert guide to alien invasive species and the epic battles they win is by Zarah Pattison at The Conversation.
Summer slow down….
While we usually share news items in this newsletter, I thought readers enjoying a slower pace in August might enjoy these two reads:
“They had rented a cottage on a working farm in Northumberland, which they thought would be a refreshing break from city life. Before they went the children hadn’t been keen on the idea, complaining it may be boring…..”Liz Gregson shares a short story at NorthEast Bylines.
Fellow substack writer Sarah Myles attracted my attention with a landscape portrait: “Befriending Penhill. How this quiet Yorkshire Dales peak came to live in my head, rent-free.”
If you’re looking for some days out inspiration, paid subscribers can enjoy these 10 eco events to enjoy before summer’s over.
📚 Claire and Alan from The Wonky Tree will be holding the fort here next week with their green-tinged reading recommendations for this month. I shall be taking a short holiday, so the next weekly news round-up will be back on Tuesday, September 10. See you then!
🌼 Thank you for reading edition number 90 of The Northern Eco. This newsletter remains independent, free unless you want to pay, ad-free and proudly reader supported thanks to paying subscribers. The main newsletter is sent out at 7am every Tuesday and wouldn’t exist without paying subscribers. Please do subscribe to keep it going - I can’t do it without your support. Thanks!