I've got some good news for you.
It's not all doom and gloom.
Bleak news gets clicks. Outrage gets clicks. Controversy gets clicks.
It’s why negative posts on social media sites perform so well. It’s why the 24-hour news cycle is relentlessly dark.
The phrase ‘doomscrolling’ is often referred to as just scrolling aimlessly through sites like Instagram, but it originated as meaning scrolling endlessly through specifically bad news. It’s certainly what I have been guilty of in the past. Perhaps in a search for something that disproves the horror of what I was reading - something that would say no, sorry, we made a mistake, there is no climate breakdown. Nature is thriving. You’re all good.
But after a point, every article I read about record high temperatures and record low sea ice and the extinction of species has diminishing returns. It’s important information, and it’s impossible to understate the severity of the situation we’re in, but too much of it causes paralysis, inaction, and the panicked yelling eventually becomes a muffled tinnitus as I pour myself another drink and wait for the world to end.
But then I read something that snaps me out of my slump and reminds me that there is beauty and life and exciting things happening everywhere, and power within myself to create change. There are entire organisations of people - professionals and communities and volunteers - working tirelessly on initiatives to reduce emissions, to restore ecosystems, to clean our rivers. To find better ways of living, to say no to the status quo and to invent and reinvent what human progress looks like.
Time and time again, when the consequences of generations weigh heavy on my shoulders and the future is clouded in shadow, I come back to a small moment from Tolkien’s masterpiece (and my favourite novel) The Lord of the Rings. Drawing on his experiences at the Somme in 1916, he bore witness to the brutality of man first-hand. Deep in dangerous caverns far from home, when the novel’s protagonist Frodo despairs at the futility of his quest and at the prospect of darkness spreading across the world, he says, “I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had ever happened.” His mentor Gandalf replies: “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
With that, I thought I’d share a few recent examples of people taking action. They might have slipped out of the headlines, but their impact far transcends a media company’s ad revenue.
Dutch suburb requires residents to grow their own food
Outside of Amsterdam, an experiment is championing urban agriculture, with residents of Oosterwold required to grow 50% of their food on their land. By integrating food production into urban planning, it bridges the divide between people and the food chain, reconnecting residents with the land and regenerating the soil. The economic benefits are tangible too: grocery bills are cut, and property values in the area are rising. The residency waiting list is growing as people are drawn to the lifestyle.
RSPB Geltsdale to become a Pennines paradise for nature
The RPSB - the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - has completed the purchase of land in Cumbria that will allow them to restore woodlands and wetlands on a huge scale. By restoring the landscape, carbon will be locked away and downstream flooding will be reduced. “This work isn’t just about protecting wildlife – it’s about creating a more resilient landscape.”
UK Government will not approve emergency use of a banned pesticide
The pesticide neonicotinoid thiamethoxam has been banned since 2018 due to the catastrophic impact it has on bees and butterflies - insects which are the backbone of ecosystems and vital to food production. But for the last five years, the previous government has approved emergency use on sugar beet production. 2024 saw record low numbers of butterflies in the UK, ringing serious alarm bells about the rapidly declining health of our environment. The refusal to permit toxic pesticides this year will only be a benefit to them. Not only that, but the government has made steps to remove the option of emergency approvals and ban the pesticide entirely.
Restoration is helping native raptors thrive in Scotland
Ambitious plans to rewild and restore the ecology of the Cairngorms is working, as numbers of hen harriers, golden eagles and goshawk are rising in the area. In 2022 and 2023 there was a 100% survival rate for the region’s hen harrier nests. Goshawk are breeding again, after being persecuted to extinction in the UK at the end of the 19th century.
Wildlife Trusts purchase Lord’s ancestral lands for rewilding
Nearly 10,000 acres of the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland have been sold to The Wildlife Trusts thanks to a public fundraising initiative. The wildlife charity has ambitions to purchase even more of the estate, combining nature recovery with sustainable agriculture and preserving it for generations. The estate has been owned by the Duke of Northumberland's youngest son, Lord Max Percy, and has been in the family for 700 years. Its purchase will prevent it being broken up into parcels for multiple owners, protecting public access.
I hope that brings a little inspiration to some of you. A reminder that something is better than nothing, and any time spent trying to improve the world is always worth it - no matter how small.
So how will you decide to spend your time?
P.S.
I can’t end a post about people working to preserve the environment without plugging my own film, The Birdwatchers. Regular subscribers will no doubt be tired of hearing about it, but if you’re new here - it features four inspiring women at Walthamstow Wetlands in London, Europe’s largest urban wetland reserve. Check it out below.
If you enjoy it, a premium subscription to Urban Nature Diary will help to fund more projects like this.
You have my sword!
Just what I needed this morning, thank you!