The amazing march to Parliament Square on Saturday was spearheaded by Chris Packham and included all the best-known wildlife & environmental organisations including the National Trust, RSPB, Wildlife Trusts, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Green Party and Extinction Rebellion, not to mention countless others. The police (who tend to estimate on the low side) estimated 80,000 to 100,000 marchers. Carrying witty, colourful placards and props and dressed in carnival costumes, they threaded joyously through the streets of the capital. At this time of Election, it was to remind our politicians that so many of us are hugely concerned about loss of wildlife and the massive global threat of climate change.
To paraphrase Margaret Atwood, it's not just going to be Climate Change - It's going to be Everything Change.
As voters, we might be fretting about the pound in our pocket and the price of food. If we don't tackle Climate Change/Global Heating, these matters will worsen dramatically, whatever short-term policies the government elected presents.
Nigel was at the march, but I wasn't - my elderly parents needed support that day. And that's my point - although 100k people turned out, behind each one of them were dozens more who would have liked to be there if they hadn't been working or unwell, or supporting another person.
So what can we still do, if we were unable to get to the march but know how much wildlife and climate matter?
Go to your local hustings and ask an environment-related question about energy policy, or transport or house-building on the greenbelt. Buttonhole doorstep canvassers with these questions and ring up radio phone-ins with them.
Nothing matters more.
The pic below is a comment on the fact that the BBC did not bother to report this massive and spectacular march at which everybody was so well-behaved.
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