Category: Appeals and campaigns

Spring Clean Success

, by Rozelle McMillan
  The National Spring Clean campaign has just come to an end, uncovering a multitude of rubbish in Cumbernauld’s greenspaces. The scale and quantity of litter recovered could have not been achieved without the amazing hard work of our Cumbernauld Living Landscape volunteers. Since January the volunteers have collected over 155 bags of litter – a grand total of 1.1…

Our beloved mammal needs our assistance!

, by Rozelle McMillan
Hedgehog numbers have halved since the millennium with rural areas being the worst affected. The spiny mammals are identified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List – which is the international list of all the species at risk of extinction. Luckily, hedgehogs have seen less of a decline in our towns and villages. Cumbernauld is a great location for our…

We don’t know what we’ve got –‘til it’s gone

, by Sue Walker
We have a biodiversity crisis on our hands, and it’s shared centre stage with the climate crisis for much of COP26. And we may think most of the crisis is happening in the rainforests or oceans of the world – but it’s also happening on our doorsteps. For example I realise that I saw two red-listed, and one amber-listed bird…

Live large and dream small

, by Sue Walker
As we head towards the end of COP26, and our COP26-themed blogs, this poem, a favourite of mine, came to mind: Lore, by R.S Thomas Job Davies, eighty-five Winters old, and still alive After the slow poison And treachery of the seasons. Miserable? Kick my a-se! It needs more than the rain’s hearse, Wind-drawn, to pull me off The great perch…

Nature for people – people for nature

, by Jenn McNulty
Climate change is here, with its soaring temperatures and rising seas, and an increasingly destabilised weather system. Whilst we all know that rising emissions of greenhouse gases are to blame – that’s only half the story. Simultaneously we’ve embarked on a campaign of destruction against the natural world on a scale never-before-seen, tearing apart the very systems that would have…

Living Landscapes for a living planet

, by Guest Blogger
by Cathleen Thomas, Scottish Wildlife Trust Living Landscapes Programme Manager In the UN’s Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), starting with the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) and UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in October 2021, the world’s focus is on preventing, halting and reversing the degradation of ecosystems – the natural networks that keep our planet working. The Scottish Wildlife Trust’s…

Blooming meadows and booming biodiversity

, by Rozelle McMillan
A key objective of COP26 is “adapt to protect communities and natural habitats”. Through local, national and international collaboration this is a chance to make a real change. Cumbernauld Living Landscape is committed to restoring ecosystems, which will protect them, and us, from the ongoing effects of climate change. For example, as the globe gets warmer invertebrates will hatch earlier,…

A sticky end?

, by Zara Gardner
It’s not always in the moment that you realise how poignant an occurrence is – in the grand scheme of things. This is exactly what emerged this week when I visited Abronhill Primary to deliver a Creating Natural Connections session to their upper primary school children. Having been split into 3 groups – the beetle group I recall – had…

No more blah, blah, blah – young voices call for action  

, by Catherine Leatherland
“No more blah blah blah” – this was Greta Thunberg’s message to world leaders on the first day of COP26, at a rally in Govan Festival Park. The 18 year-old climate activist is the voice of youth at this momentous conference – they want to be heard, and they want to see real leadership and action. Since Greta started her…

Healthy body, healthy mind – healthy planet

, by Paul Barclay
Healthy body, healthy mind is a phrase most of us recognise, but perhaps it is time to add a new clause to that old mantra. It’s now recognised that for a healthy life one of the most important factors is a healthy planet. Research shows that being amongst vibrant, biodiverse, natural spaces is vital for healthy people and communities. At…

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