National Trust

National Trust warns of climate change ‘chaos’ for UK wildlife  

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/12/national-trust-warns-of-climate-change-chaos-for-uk-wildlife/

Changes in climate and unpredictable weather patterns are causing “chaos” for nature, the National Trust has warned, as it calls on politicians to prioritise tackling the climate and nature crisis ahead of the elections.

At the end of what is predicted to be the warmest year on record, the governing body of protected sites is “sounding the alarm” for UK wildlife in its audit report which has laid out an extensive list of species affected by climate change in 2023.

Warmer year-round temperatures have affected the traditional seasonal shifts, which has had a serious knock-on effect for flora and fauna across the country, the National Trust has highlighted.

From low rainfall causing the river Derwent in the supposedly wettest area of England to dry out for the third consecutive summer, to storm Babet and storm Ciaran battering parts of the country with flooding, the extremes in weather are having serious consequences on habitat and wildlife.

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/12/national-trust-warns-of-climate-change-chaos-for-uk-wildlife/

Continue ReadingNational Trust warns of climate change ‘chaos’ for UK wildlife  

Attempted right-wing takeover of National Trust backed by Nigel Farage fails!

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The anti-woke group, Restore Trust, had launched a renewed campaign to win seats on the Trust’s council this year after failing in their attempts last year, and this time they had the likes of Farage, along with the right-wing press backing them. 

An attempt by a right-wing group to take over the National Trust, the UK’s largest charity, has failed after the candidates backed by the likes of Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg, failed to secure a place on the National Trust’s council in this year’s elections.

The anti-woke group, Restore Trust, had launched a renewed campaign to win seats on the Trust’s council this year after failing in their attempts last year, and this time they had the likes of Farage, along with the right-wing press backing them. 

Why do the National Trust’s elections matter? Because what was at stake was the future not only of the UK’s largest charity but also one which owns more than 1,300 farms, 775 miles of coastline and 250,000 hectares of land, making it Britain’s largest private landowner. The right recognises the importance of an institution like the National Trust, and did all it could in the council elections to help its candidates.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/attempted-right-wing-takeover-of-national-trust-backed-by-nigel-farage-fails/

Continue ReadingAttempted right-wing takeover of National Trust backed by Nigel Farage fails!

Nigel Farage turns attention to right-wing capture of National Trust

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/nigel-farage-turns-attention-to-right-wing-capture-of-national-trust/

Flytipped rubbish. Image: Graham Robson, CC Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Flytipped rubbish. Image: Graham Robson, CC Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

The Restore Trust has a new list of candidates for the upcoming council elections and, this time, they’ve been endorsed by Nigel Farage.

Arch Brexiteer Nigel Farage has a new target in his sights: The National Trust. The former UKIP leader has now thrown his weight behind a renewed attempt by anti-woke activists to capture the Trust, which owns more than 1,300 farms, 775 miles of coastline and 250,000 hectares of land, making it Britain’s largest private landowner.

In October 2021, the charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation warned of an ideological campaign being waged against it by self-styled ‘anti-woke insurgents’ belonging to Restore Trust (RT). Last year’s AGM saw the Trust subjected to a well-coordinated campaign by RT.

The Restore Trust campaign began in 2021, in the wake of the publication of a report by the National Trust that highlighted connections between 93 of its historic places and slavery. The dossier of sites linked to ‘colonialism and slavery’ and included Winston Churchill’s former family home, citing the former prime minister’s role in the Bengal famine and his opposition to Indian independence. RT took exception to the report claiming it “presents a strongly negative view of Britain, and which does not properly represent the scholarly consensus.”

Now the RT has a new list of candidates for the upcoming council elections and, this time, they’ve been endorsed by Nigel Farage, who is a family friend of one of the candidates. Earlier this month, seven-time failed parliamentary candidate Nigel Farage said: “I hope that Restore Trust knocks a bit of common sense into what was once the great National Trust.”

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/nigel-farage-turns-attention-to-right-wing-capture-of-national-trust/

Continue ReadingNigel Farage turns attention to right-wing capture of National Trust

Weather extremes becoming ‘new normal,’ warns UK’s National Trust

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https://www.courthousenews.com/weather-extremes-becoming-new-normal-warns-uks-national-trust/

This photo provided by the fire brigade of the Gironde region shows a wildfire near Landiras, France, on Sunday, July 17, 2022. (SDIS 33 via AP)

Britain’s National Trust on Wednesday said nature and wildlife at the charity’s sites had been harmed by extreme weather in the past year and warned it could become the “new normal”.

The heritage conservation charity’s climate change adviser Keith Jones said it was a “stark illustration of the sort of difficulties many of our species will face if we don’t do more to mitigate rising temperatures”.

“We’re going to experience more floods, droughts, heatwaves, extreme storms and wildfires –- and they will go from bad to worse, breaking records with ever alarming frequency if we don’t limit our carbon emissions,” he said.

The planet currently remains off track from an ambition set by the Paris climate accord in 2015 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

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Continue ReadingWeather extremes becoming ‘new normal,’ warns UK’s National Trust

UK environment laws under threat in ‘deregulatory free-for-all’

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/23/uk-environment-laws-under-threat-in-deregulatory-free-for-all

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Environmentalists accused Liz Truss’s government of reneging on a commitment made after Brexit to halt the decline of nature by 2030. They say the revoking of 570 environmental laws that were rolled over from EU law after Brexit amounts to a deregulatory free-for-all leaving the environment unprotected.

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The bill laid before parliament outlines how 570 environmental laws, and hundreds more covering every government department, including transport, health and social care, working hours and other areas, are being lined up to be removed from UK law or rewritten. These include the habitat regulations that have been vital in the protection of places for wildlife in the last 30 years and laws covering the release of nitrates and phosphates into rivers.

The laws were retained after Brexit when the then Conservative environment secretary, Michael Gove, promised the UK’s environmental laws would not be watered down.

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RSPB ‘not ruling out’ direct action to defend nature from government policy

The head of the RSPB says the bird charity is ruling nothing out as it organises a mobilisation of millions of people against what it calls the government’s “attack on nature”.

Beccy Speight dismissed accusations by Conservative MPs that the group was lying to its members and pursuing a marketing drive, as it leads a coalition campaigning against the government over key “growth” policies which it argues will damage wildlife and nature.

The chief executive said a meeting with the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, Ranil Jayawardena, had not provided any reassurance that the government’s growth policies would protect nature.

The director general of the National Trust, Hilary McGrady, accused the government of “demonising” conservationists, saying her members were “outraged and worried”.

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Continue ReadingUK environment laws under threat in ‘deregulatory free-for-all’