TRUMP VS CLIMATE CHANGE

Trump's tipped to pull the US out of the Paris Climate agreement in days! The only way to save it is to make the UK and five other powerful countries stand in his way. They meet in days. Click to demand they draw a red line around Paris and share this everywhere: SIGN THE PETITION

Dear friends across the UK,

Trump is tipped to pull the US out of the Paris Climate agreement in days! The only way to save it is to make sure six powerful countries who also signed this global deal stand in his way.

The UK is about to meet with the US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada at their annual G7 summit. PM May said she’ll protect Paris, but she could succumb to Trump's back-room deals unless people everywhere expose this sham and say NO WAY.

That's us! This is our global deal signed by 197 countries. We can't let Trump destroy it. Click to demand the UK draws a red line around Paris and share this everywhere:

Tell PM May to side with the world on climate action

New data shows the earth is warming even quicker than we thought when the Paris deal was signed. We have to drive through climate action faster, not waste time with Trump's ignorant, fossil-fuel-loving deniers.  

But PM May is staying quiet, focusing on the upcoming election and Brexit instead. That’s why it’s crucial we push her and the rest of the G6 to commit to move forward with or without the US, and punish Trump if he pulls out of Paris.

If we make this story massive, and pin the problem firmly on PM May and the other leaders sitting round the table, they’ll feel they have to increase climate ambition. Let's show Trump and his fossil-fuel friends that if they put our planet in peril, our movement will fight back more strongly, and the world will move #forwardonclimate.

Tell PM May to side with the world on climate action

Everything we love is at stake. We've fought for years for climate agreements to protect the earth, but now Trump threatens everything and it's going to take all of us to stop him. Let's stand together from every corner of our planet now for our safe future.  

With hope and determination,

Alice, Iain, Marigona, Nick, Luca, Spyro, Fatima, and the whole Avaaz team  

MORE INFORMATION  

White House Leaning Toward Exiting Paris Agreement By Next Week, Sources Say (HuffPost)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paris-agreement_us_5908f524e4b05c397683d404  

G7 climate change delay blamed on US (FT)
https://www.ft.com/content/1edb61dd-cbbe-380f-964e-b3b165b367fe  

The Pruitt Emails: E.P.A. Chief Was Arm in Arm With Industry (NYTimes)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/us/politics/scott-pruitt-environmental-protection-agency.html

CFZ PEOPLE: Anne-Marie Downes

My niece Anne-Marie (my brother's eldest daughter) was on TV this week giving a speech in the House of Commons.  If you want to see her she is in about 56mins. Apart from inheriting her old uncle's good looks and charm, I think she has an interesting future as an orator, and I am very proud of her....

 

SHOCK! CFZ HELP FUND WAR EFFORT

We were recently donated a parcel of trailcam accesories by a generous American donor who has opted to remain anonymous. It is very kind of him and we are most grateful. However, this morning I received a curt note from HM Customs and Excise telling us that we owe £48 import duty on them.

At the CFZ we are a patriotic bunch and never hesitate to do our bit, but if you are some sort of anarchist pinko scumbag who shies away from supporting a series of pointless wars across the Middle East, please make sure that any parcels you send us are marked "Unsolicited Gift" and have a declared monetary value of no more than forty quid.

You know it makes sense.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

OLL LEWIS: Full U-turn Over Forestry Sell Off Plans

If you have been following the situation as regards the Tory plot to sell off Britain's forests then you'll probably already be aware that they have, as I am writing this blog (Thursday), made a u-turn on the policy. After only a few days of a committee being set up to further examine the proposals the government has decided to abandon its plans.

There are a number of reasons they may have taken this decision but publicly at least their main reason is the overwhelming numbers of people that have written to their MPs and the large amount of signatures on petitions (the 38 degrees petition had more than half a million signatories for example). The fact that the government have caved in to public pressure is certainly good news for Britain's wildlife and I think that anyone who took my advice and wrote to their MPs deserves a pat on the back. Well done us.

For more information and a rare video of a member of the government apologising click here.

OLL LEWIS: David Cameron Shows His True Colours

If you are a follower of British politics in any way shape or form you could not have failed to notice that before the last election David Cameron; then leader of the Tory party and now Prime Minister; was very keen to nail his colours to the mast. “The NHS is safe with me!” he proudly proclaimed, praising, after his disabled son's tragic death, the enormous help it had been in the care and treatment of his son. Now that he is in power the NHS is anything but safe with crackpot and untested schemes about to roll out across England in the name of money-saving, by getting GPs to handle more paperwork and do all the work previously done by administrators (where they are supposed to find the extra time for this and still see patients is not clear). Wales and Scotland must be glad that their assembly and parliament and not Westminster have control of the NHS in their countries.

Anyway, as much as I would like to rant on about this issue that is probably best left to another blog entirely, what concerns me is another big lie Cameron told before he was elected. Remember how keen he was to present his green credentials? He even came to work on a bike to do this to show how keen he was to reduce carbon emissions (he was actually followed by a ministerial car carrying his briefcase, though, so it didn't really work that well in practice). He was keen to point out that the Tory party had changed and that the protection of the environment, rather than its exploitation for profit, was one of their top priorities, even to the extent where he changed the Tory's logo from a burning torch to a tree that looked like it had been drawn by one of his kids (“Oh well done Tarquin, is that meant to be a tree? Lets pop it on the fridge where everyone can see it. Hang on, I've just had a better idea...”). Add to that the potential for some “green taxes” to reduce the deficit that could easily be evaded by the rich then you had the assurance that if you cut David 'call me Dave' Cameron he would bleed nothing but green blood.

Well, guess what? Yes, that was all what is colloquially referred to as bullsh*t. Having been in power less than a year what does 'call me Dave' want to do? Sell off all of Britain's forests to property developers and privatise/ wind down the forestry commission. This makes little sense from an economic standpoint because, the forestry commission does make a profit from the growing of trees in rotation on its land and in the current financial situation the land will have to be sold off comparatively cheaply so it is not even a good idea for a short term financial fix. Also, once that land and source of income for the government is gone it will stay gone so once the money runs out from the sale of the land, that's it, wasted. From an ecological point of view it makes even less sense. On forestry commission land trees are grown in a sustainable manner often in a mosaic pattern meaning that it is easy for the wildlife from one felled area of woodland to move into a neighbouring established area of woodland that will not be felled for several years to come, with some parts of the forest not being felled at all. In a privately run enterprise things such as best environmental practices have to play second fiddle to making larger profits and pleasing shareholders. And that's assuming the forests are taken over by companies with silviculture in mind; most companies buying the land will be property developers hoping to build new houses on the land in the future, or speculators with little interest in land use hoping to sell the land off for a profit once the current financial situation eases; others may be after the land to clear fell the whole forest with a view to turning it into pasture or land for arable farming once they have creamed off the profits they will make from the sale of the wood.

Forests are incredibly important ecosystems and since the formation of the forestry commission, which was set up originally to ensure we would be self-sufficient in wood should we ever get blockaded again like in the second word war, the amount of forestry in the UK has increased substantially. The commission is also involved in community forests across the country like in Marston Vale where a historic forest has been replanted between Milton Keynes and Bedford to help repair an environment scarred by the remains of quarries, heavy industry and landfill. The forestry commission is also directly involved in the education of schoolchildren and others in silviculture and woodland ecology employing its own education officers and often having permanent education centres on site.

Finally, on a cryptozoological point, big cats have been spotted in at least 2 sites own by the forestry commission: in Delamere in the northwest of England (details of which can be found in Andy Robert's book Cat Flaps published by the CFZ press) and our own local big cat(s) here in North Devon.

I'm sure like me most of you will find the plans of David Cameron to put short term profits ahead of the environment and all of the good the forestry commission do for Britain disgusting and disturbing after making such a play about being green before the election; in which case you should write to your local Member of Parliament to express your concerns. Strongly worded but crucially polite (letters that are impolite or look like they have come from someone frothing at the mouth or with a chip on their shoulder are never even considered) letters to MPs really do work if they receive enough of them to realise it is a strongly enough held local concern that their jobs may be at risk at the next election and when you have enough MPs that hold that concern that is when hair-brained schemes like these fail to get passed by parliament due to a lack of support from MPs for the proposal. Make sure you also tell your friends to do the same. Remember, even if you didn't vote for your MP or don't agree with them politically they are meant to be your representative in parliament so you should try to use them in cases like this and any decent MP will probably broadly agree that the sale of Britain's forests to property developers is not a good idea when they look at the details.

POLITICS: Huckleberry Finn Mutilated

This is from the Daily Mail so may possibly be taken cum grano salis. However, if it is true, it is ridiculous. The book is set in a particularly ugly time of American history, and to remove words that the right-on brigade find offensive is as ridiculous as publishing a book about the Holocaust with all references to the Nazi doctrine of racial superiority removed.

Mark Twain's classic novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is to be censored to remove racially insensitive terms from the text.The 1884 book has been removed from the curricula of dozens of U.S. schools due to 217 uses of the word 'n****r' and two Twain scholars plan to release an expurgated version. A new edition replaces the 'N word' with 'slave' and also expels all uses of 'injun', a derogatory reference to Native Americans.

The scholars say the new version is a bid to make the book's treatment of race more in line with 21st century values but critics say the censorship is taking political correctness too far.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344192/Huckleberry-Finn-removes-N-word-Political-correctness-takes-Mark-Twains-classic.html#ixzz1A9k2xS8p

OUR OLD MATE KENN THOMAS ASKED US TO POST THIS

Steamshovel’s Kenn Thomas to appear at the Alternative Research Community’s convention at Chapel Arts Center, Bath, UK, August 28-29. See below for details or click over to http://www.arcconvention.org/.

KENN THOMAS

PARAPOLITICS: WILHELM REICH AND UFOs

Kenn Thomas has promoted alternative points of view since the founding of his conspiracy magazine, Steamshovel Press, in the late 1980s. His mentors and teachers have included the psychedelic psychologist Tim Leary and the Beat literary figures William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. Kenn has concentrated on the study and promotion of 'parapolitics' - those hidden and covered up activities that exert enormous sway over public life but have little or no public accountability. "JFK's 1960 election is an example of a public political event," says Kenn, "The conspiracy that ended in his assassination in 1963 is a parapolitical event - and we've had half a century trying to integrate just that one into the kind of open, democratic culture to which most aspire." He will demonstrate that it's less 'conspiracy theory' and more the kind of authentic public discourse the media fails daily to provide; reviewing the history of important dissenting personalities such as Wilhelm Reich, and showing how the UFO subculture remains a vital voice of dissent despite fifty years of ridicule.

Website: http://www.steamshovelpress.com/

Kenn will also offer a memorial tribute to his friend, the recently-deceased Jerry E. Smith; a writer who did much to expose the secret HAARP weapons array to the public.

MEET THE NEW BOSS, THE SAME AS THE OLD BOSS (Except that at the moment we don't know quite who the new boss is)

Well, we all voted yesterday, and Graham, Oliver and I stayed up late to watch the results. I lasted the pace longest, but succumbed to the arms of Morpheus at about 6am. It was only just before polling closed that I found that a friend of mine was standing as Conservative candidate for Grimsby (she lost, but only just). The night got more confusing with me in bed, Oll and Graham and Biggles sitting on the bed and all of us eating cold sausages as we saw the disgraceful scenes of people being turned away from the Polling Stations....

And what happened when I awoke? We still don't know who won or who lost.

"And I couldn't say what I had won or I lost
Or even just what I had seen" (Al Stewart)

ON THIS ELECTION DAY USE YOUR VOTE WISELY, BUT REMEMBER

WHOEVER YOU VOTE FOR, THE GOVERNMENT WINS

WITH ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE ELECTION, HERE IS A STORY FROM AN AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER..

This is completely off-topic, but I felt moved to share this article from an Australian newspaper with you.

BRITAIN appears to be evolving into the first modern soft totalitarian state. As a sometime teacher of political science and international law, I do not use the term totalitarian loosely. There are no concentration camps or gulags but there are thought police with unprecedented powers to dictate ways of thinking and sniff out heresy, and there can be harsh punishments for dissent. Nikolai Bukharin claimed one of the Bolshevik Revolution's principal tasks was "to alter people's actual psychology".

Britain is not Bolshevik, but a campaign to alter people's psychology and create a new Homo britannicus is under way without even a fig leaf of disguise.The Government is pushing ahead with legislation that will criminalise politically incorrect jokes, with a maximum punishment of up to seven years' prison. The House of Lords tried to insert a free-speech amendment, but Justice Secretary Jack Straw knocked it out. It was Straw who previously called for a redefinition of Englishness and suggested the "global baggage of empire" was linked to soccer violence by "racist and xenophobic white males". He claimed the English "propensity for violence" was used to subjugate Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and that the English as a race were "potentially very aggressive".

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/thought-police-muscle-up-in-britain/story-e6frg6zo-1225700363959

SAVE AMERICAN JAGUARS

I think that I made my opinions clear on the burgeoning use of online petitions by pressure groups the other day. However, when an online petition that directly mentions an animal of interest to the cryptozoological community comes along, it would be plain wrong of me to ignore it. Especially as some months ago we carried stories on this very issue.

American Jaguars Need Your Help to Survive

Target: U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
Sponsored by: Center for Biological Diversity

In May, the last known U.S. jaguar -- Macho B -- was unnecessarily, tragically killed by government agencies. This heartbreaking loss to the species, and to us, demands swift action to preserve habitat for the majestic cats.

If jaguars are to rebound, as wolves and grizzlies have, they need a federal recovery plan, reintroduction from Mexico to the United States, and protection of their essential living space.

The Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit conservation group, recently won a court case requiring the Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a recovery plan and designate critical habitat for jaguars. But instead of complying with the law, the agency is delaying by appealing the ruling.

Jaguars don’t have time to wait. Sign the petition urging the Service to comply with the Endangered Species Act requirements to save and recover the American jaguar.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/976724429

New DEFRA legislation regarding importation of inverts

http://www.cfz.org.uk/blog/invert.pdf

Property is theft, and I have no problem in pinching stuff from the British Government, especially when it is this *.pdf document. In fact, if I am to be completely honest, I have no idea whether it is legal or not to post UK Government documents to the CFZ website, and I don't really care. However, having received a copy of this document a few days ago from Paul Batty at the Entomological Livestock Group, I thought that I should make it generally available to people on this blog.

These changes to the law mean that I could probably no longer import Puerto Rican cave snails into the country, although I will still have a damn good try. But interestingly it says that the import of moon moths would now be illegal because their larvae could potentially become a pest species in the UK.

What bloody nonsense.

POLITICS: Meet the new boss

As tou know, we have been keeping a weather eye on the government's proposals to axe various disability benefits and RichardFreeman, in particular, has become very involved with the campaign. He recently wrote to David Cameron on the subject, and received this reply:

Dear Mr Freeman,

I am writing on behalf of David Cameron to thank you for your recent e-mail. I was sorry to hear about your recent illnesses. [Here we should point out that Richard is in robust health, and has never claimed to have been ill]

David receives many hundreds of e-mails each week and, sadly, he is unable to reply personally to everyone. However, I would like to assure you that all correspondence is carefully read and noted, and David is most grateful to you for taking the time and trouble to get in touch with him.

As you may know, the Social Care Green Paper, is currently subject to consultation, and no firm decisions have yet been made. The following link contains the consultation on the Department of Health website -

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_102338

We were disappointed at the proposals in the recently published Green Paper. We don't need to start another debate. We need a decision, and we need serious, costed proposals to be the basis of that decision.

While Conservative policy for the next election is not yet finalised, please rest assured that we are paying very close attention to this issue. We are clear that there must be a partnership between central government, local government and individuals to provide a coherent social care framework that can meet the needs of an ageing population.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to write.

Yours sincerely,

David Beal

Office of the Leader of the Opposition

Is it just us or does that email reply from Mr Beal say absolutely nothing at all? We can see no semantic content whatsoever. It is just another piece of 21st Century administrative doubletalk and means nothing. And we are supposed to be pleased that Cameron will be our next Prime Minister?

"Meet the new boss. The same as the old boss"

Does anyone wonder why I am an anarchist?

POLICE: WHEN CROP CIRCLES ATTACK

For years there have been stories of shadowy armed police or troops involved with crop circles. For example, in The Rising of the Moon, the book I wrote with Nigel Wright ten years back, I wrote of such rumours, but now we have received this extraordinary photograph. However, whoa there young conspiracy buffs, `cos this ain't what it looks like it could have been.

A person on a crop circle forum (sent to me via Matty W) writes: At long last I have seen some Police out in force over our local crop circles; in fact Her Maj's finest armed response team came bounding over my farm, with helicopter hovering, to find me. All because of this:

Crop Circle at Cannings Cross, Near Allington, Wiltshire, reported 10th July 2009

Once I persuaded the nice Mr Policeman that I wasn't a threat I was able to point out that it wasn't on my land, and as for reports that someone is "employed to keep people off it with a shotgun" I didn't know anything but thought it more likely he was there to keep the rooks off the corn (they love to start stripping a field from the damaged edges of a circle) because no one would be silly enough to try and keep vandals off their land with a shotgun, would they?

http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/007579.html

CFZ PEOPLE: Stuart Rickard's battle with cancer and NICE

Those of you who have been regulars at the Weird Weekend will mostly all know Stuart Rickard. He is the bloke who lives next door to me, and who is also Chairman of the Community Centre Committee which manages the venue which we take over once a year.

He is a nice guy and can always be seen necking back the tequilas at the cocktail party and helping the younger attendees with the more rigorous bits of the pinata (see left).

Last year he even came on stage and gave a short talk about how the Community Centre is at the vanguard of energy saving technology and is doing its bit to help the village achieve carbon neutrality.



All of you who know Stuart are going to be appalled by the picture of him in the press cutting presented here. He has serious kidney cancer and looks thirty years older.


The good news is that the people at
the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), who have to have one of the more sickening acronyms in modern Britain, have changed their mind, and Stuart is now going to receive the drug.

But the implications of this are appaling. It is just like what happened when NatWest cancelled my bank accounts for no good reason a few years ago. For as long as the injured party does things through conventional channels nothing happens. As soon as one writes a letter to the newspapers, or contacts the MP, or does anything which will focus a searchlight of unwanted publicity onto whichever part of the faceless beaurocracy of our increasingly neo-Stalinist state has screwed up this time, then they capitulate like toy soldiers being knocked over by a playful puppy.

No wonder the increasingly cvacuuous media is so powerful.

So, congratulations to Stuart. Let's hope the medicine works mate. You are in our thoughts and our prayers. And commiserations to us all for living in such an increasingly messed up society.

RICHARD FREEMAN: Big Brother is Screwing You

NEW ORWELLIAN GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION COULD SCUPPER FUTURE WEIRD WEEKENDS

There has been no fanfare, you won't have seen anything in the news about it. It is being slipped in on the quiet, under the radar, like most liberty eroding atrocities this right wing government is imposing on it's populace.

On page 25 of issue 1236 of Private Eye is a worrying little story.

If it is true, then as of November 2010 all authors (privately published ones included) will be legally required to apply to the Independent Safeguarding Authority (sounds like someting out of '1984'). Any author who gives more than one lecture per year will need to be vetted by the ISA for clearence in case there are children or 'vulnerable adults' in the audience. The check costs a minimum of £64. Anyone allowing an author who has not been checked by the ISA to speak will be commiting a criminal offence.

Can you imagine the effect that will have on conventions like the Weird Weekend, where most speakers are also authors? No-one will want to pay £64 plus just for the pleasure of speaking at a conference.

Apparently the new law has been gestating ever since the Soham murders. Ths cynical, power crased, Neo-Stalinist government are playing on our fears of paedophiles to strip away our civil liberties. In a world so crazed and paranoid (thanks to media frenzy) about child safety, few will stand up to them. The government is sneaking this law in so they can gain more control over the masses and raise more cash from a pointless registration scheme.

A former Children's Laureate told Private Eye "This could put an end to pretty well all festivals, launches, school and libary visits, bookshop signings and lectures. I certainly am not going to apply for a check of this sort in order to stand on a dias in front of 250 children with ten or so members of staff in attendance, to ensure I do not rape any of them."

This threatens us all; we need to make a stand and not allow this attrocity to become law. We need to make a noise about this in any way we can. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas let us know. We can't lie back whilst the government's jackboot grinds our faces into the dust.

Is this Great Britain? Its sounding more like Burma or North Korea every day. Are we going to stand by and let this happen?

To quote the great Alan Moore "People should not be aftraid of their goverments. Govenments should be aftraid of their people."

IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY... AND IT PROBABLY ALWAYS WAS

The other day I had quite an angry, though perfectly polite e-mail from someone who complained that me blogging on political issues (Ken Salazar refusing to overturn the rulings put in place by the Bush administration re. polar bears) had no place in a cryptozoological forum, and if I were to use the words `Capitalist` and `Scum` again in the same sentance would I kindly remove him from my mailing list. On the same day I received an abusive e-mail from someone claiming that I was `trying to destroy the American way of lif [sic]` and a `Commie`, neither of which are true.

However, at the risk of alienating some of my readers, and I sincerely hope that I do nothing of the sort, I have no intention of stopping blogging on political concerns. Because the world in which we find ourselves living at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century is a partiucularly disturbing one.

George Monbiot writes in today's Guardian:

"Why is the Medical Research Council run by an arms manufacturer? Why is the Natural Environment Research Council run by the head of a construction company? Why is the chairman of a real estate firm in charge of higher education funding for England?

Because our universities are being turned by the government into corporate research departments. No longer may they pursue knowledge for its own sake: now the highest ambition to which they must aspire is finding better ways to make money."

And that is basically what I have been saying for years. And that is why I believe that the CFZ is so important. Because of what we do we are particularly popular with young people, and over the past decade I have found that the quest for monsters is actually a great way of encouraging an interest in the long lost arcane arts of Natural History. And in many cases the CFZ is the first model thatb they have become acquainted with of an organisation who's only reason for existing is to push back the boundaries of human knowledge. Pro Bona Causa Facimus as I believe Cicero said.

So am I going to continue to attack greed, stupidity, and unbridled capitalism without a trace of morals and /or ethics?

Hell Yeah.

And am I going to continue to use the words `Capitalist Scum` when appropriate.

Probably. Sorry guys.

MEET THE NEW BOSS, THE SAME AS THE OLD BOSS

It appears from the news stories that, despite hopes to the contrary US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced that he will not rescind a “special rule” created by the Bush administration that sharply limits protections for the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act.

"For Salazar to adopt Bush's polar bear extinction plan is confirming the worst fears of his tenure as Secretary of the Interior," said Noah Greenwald, biodiversity program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Secretary Salazar would apparently prefer to please Sarah Palin than to protect polar bears."

Unless I am being really dense this is a cynical act by someone who has only one motive: to protect the status quo, and to preserve the capitalist hegemony at all costs.

I have been accused over the past few months of overly attacking American Republican Politicians. I hope that this post clatifies that. It is not Republican politicians that I despise, but all politicians who put financial considerations ahead of moral ones.

And people wonder why I am an anarchist!

TIM MATTHEWS: Environmental Concerns

Tim Matthews is one of my best friends, and also - coincidentally - one of the most controversial figures in contemporary forteana. He has been involved with the CFZ for nearly a decade now, raising eyebrows wherever he goes.

Everybody's bothered about the environment, right? You sit there in a massive queue of holiday traffic bemoaning car drivers and how there are too many of them (wrong type of drivers in the wrong type of cars) and then you visit some rare, ancient or historical site and further damage it for years to come. We want clean water but shove tonnes of pollutants down our sinks not to mention using a host of cleaning products that certainly damage our planet over a period of years.

Harsh? I should say so and we're all guilty of it.

Sometimes, to ease our consciences, we join one of the "make you feel better about it" organisations like Greenpeace or the WWF. And, sometimes, these organsations actually do some good. For example, as I write, pressure from the WWF and allied conservation groups has managed to get Russian oil and gas engineers to stop seismic testing underwater as it affects the gray whale, a critically endangered species.

The Sakhalin Energy company, backed by Shell and Gazprom, has agreed to stop working for a brief time, to give the remaining 35 females a chance to breed, in an area just off the Sakhalin shelf by Piltun bay. Mind you, BP and Exxon still want their workers to operate in the area and they have not agreed any deal with environmentalists yet.

Recently, I was in a bookshop with a friend of mine and she said, "I love looking in old natural history books but the shame of it is when you look at the listing they're often full of animals that are extinct or serious danger."

We often sit idly by, wondering what we can do. Surely we can do more than send twenty quid to some campaigning group? Wouldn't we prefer to do something by ourselves? Imagine all the energy and effort required to make a small impact on big business. The first thing surely must be to get our children and immediate families a little more interested in natural history. What is happening in their own gardens, what can be done to encourage insects and other animals into them, what easy steps can be taken to limit their own impact on the world around them. Some of it is easy and can be done today in the house you live and some of it is down to politicians and big companies in whom we can only have marginal trust.

It is up to you to decide what to do but the best ever slogan, and call to action, must surely be, think globally, act locally. How the CFZ fits into this remains to be seen but I suspect that we all know what we should do.

TIM MATTHEWS: A little bit of politics

Tim Matthews is one of my best friends, and also - coincidentally - one of the most controversial figures in contemporary forteana. He has been involved with the CFZ for nearly a decade now, raising eyebrows wherever he goes.

There have been some interesting comments made in light of things that are happening to various members of the CFZ and they cast a sharp light onto the society we live in and the background against which we must currently operate.

Over the last 20 years we have seen various "movements" come and go; for example, the green movement has become mainstream and much talked about and despite the efforts of many good people to make a difference locally very little has happened nationally and internationally. The environment is a mess, big business continues to wreck the planet, roads spring up everywhere, more and more children - including my own - have asthma because of all the crap in the air and food is packed with chemicals, additives and a lot of nasties.

As a people, we have never been more divorced from nature or the urgent need for our families and friends to be surrounded by animals and the wilderness. Most people within the CFZ crave the peace and quiet, have a fascination for the unusual and the seriously off key and are fascinated to discover answers to the mysteries we are presented with whilst we have time.

Where so many families fail, it is to be hoped that something like the CFZ can draw together a disparate yet merry band of travellers to really make a difference. Over the years, so many things have happened in my life and the only people to actually ask about what's been going on have been people I know in the CFZ. On a more general note, so obsessed are we with our technology that little else matters. We are also obsessed about gaining money and promotion. We turn a blind eye to the excesses of government and the micro-managed control freakery that now exists at its heart. Many of those Nu Labour leading lights and ideologues were never friends of the natural world from their early political years in the Communist wildernesses of concrete campusses. They just wanted to control everything and to dehumanise us and one result is that children cannot properly read or write, they cannot go on nature walks or field trips because of new regulations. Only the best schools and bravest teachers appear to be able to get around all this nonsense.

We have a situation where justice and common sense are replaced by cameras, courts and further legislation. Your rights are vanishing and your ability to find redress within the system is severely limited. We only need to look around us to see that something very serious is wrong in Britain 2009 and this is leading to a major breakdown in society. The law of the jungle increasingly applies and political extremism is the order of the day...

Sometimes within the CFZ we speak of community and many of us are drawn to England's South West as a result. We get fleeting glimpses of new possibilities. Here, in my experience and just as an example, we can see that true community still exists in small pockets and that by engaging with local people ecologically sound projects can be designed and that a real impact can be made on people's lives. Thus we change the world, just a little bit, which is perhaps all we can do if we're moved to do so.

When we do these things we find that the modern afflictions of crime, antisocial behaviour and bad education can be tackled by encouraging people to take more of an interest in natural history, in their own lives and in the world around them...