Just Earth – by Tony Juniper

 This book is written by Tony Juniper CBE a leading environmentalist who actively defends Nature and has done so for over 40 years. He has led major organisations, run global campaigns and advised governments at the highest levels so when he identifies the real problems at the heart of the climate and nature crises we should all listen especially when he also identifies a hopeful way forward.

I liked the history in this book detailing how Middlesbrough gave birth to the modern world with the first port being built there and a major shipbuilding industry emerging. This led to chemical factories and foundries bursting into life. The new steam powered ships and railways meaning heavy goods could be moved easily. By 1889 Juniper says the industrial revolution had burst forth and is the reason the future of civilization is at risk because we developed and expanded our demands without taking into account the world’s life support systems. Our crises now, he continues, is that we keep demanding more of the Earth’s finite resources. The question Juniper says is ‘no longer whether we have a serious challenge on our hands but at what point will it become unmanageable?’

He describes how the late 1950’s and early 1960’s led to living standards being raised - it was the era of ‘the baby boomers’ and the first decade of the Great Acceleration. The post war explosion in consumption began and negative environmental consequences started to be felt.  The photo ‘Earthrise’ taken from Apollo 8 in 1968 allowed people to look back at the world and delivered a powerful message inspiring environmental activism – Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace were both founded at that time. Rachel Carson published ‘Silent Spring’ in 1962. He says the 1990’s was a golden time for environmental groups and describes the history of activism and conferences that took place and agreements reached as people became aware of the problems approaching. In 2015 a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) were set with a target of 2030. Targets that were set 30 years ago - but have still not been achieved.

Juniper goes on to explain how the factories caused pollution and how the more affluent people tended to move away from these areas and the less affluent got left behind. He also explains how society became more unequal and while billionaires built their remote bunkers, climate collapse began to impact the most vulnerable in society, affecting them first and the hardest. Juniper points out that the former Chief Economist of the World Bank said ‘Climate change is a result of the greatest market failure the world has seen’. Juniper stresses that polluting companies such as Shell are not in the business to end poverty or to combat climate change. They are structured to maximise profits and twist any narrative to ensure they achieve their goal. Politicians also are making decisions for us that only do what they think the voters will vote for not what will solve the problems of the less affluent or solve the problems of climate change. Hence the targets set do not get achieved and we have become a very unequal society.  

Juniper ends with stressing how our world has also become detached from nature and how our progress in solving climate change is held back – not by lack of facts or good policy options – we have had those for years!  We are held back by deep views in economic ideas, political priorities and cultural norms and because of our nature detached worldview which means we do not pay enough attention in our every day lives to the climate problems evolving around us our climate change progress to solve the problems does not get achieved.  

Juniper sets out his hopes for the future – trying to get society to become more equal and getting people to reconnect with nature right across societies would help to create a mandate for actions needed to halt and reverse the decline of life on Earth and if we respond in the right way, it could be less about seeing these solutions as a sacrifice and more about opportunity.

This is a complicated read with a good basis in facts and some new ideas about how to try to solve some of our climate problems – well worth a read!

Statement about Andy Burnham's bus fares announcement

As members of Friends of the Earth, we welcome moves by government to make greener transport more accessible and attractive to citizens. The recent announcement by Andy Burnham that bus fares will be capped at £2 per journey from January looked, at first glance, like unequivocally good news in this respect.

Many of us, however, felt quite differently about the announcement when we discovered how the government plans to pay for it: by turning the UK’s international aid grants into loans. The effect of this will be that people in many countries in the Global South will be made worse off to pay for something that looks more like a cynical sound bite than a sensible and sustainable policy.

It is unacceptable that a plan for cheaper UK buses pits desperate people in other countries against cash-strapped commuters here. It suggests that we can’t fix the local cost of living crisis, fund greener transport and meet our global aid commitments without somebody losing out.

We think our new PM can do better than that. What do you think? 

Clarification

In an article in the Leicester Mercury titled ‘Campaigners celebrate as pesticide use ended’ published on February 27^th 2026, the Leicester Mercury quoted a spokesperson for Leicester City Council who apparently had said that, ‘We use glyphosate-based products that are non-toxic to humans and animals and controlled droplet applicators for targeted spraying’.

We were concerned about this statement because this was never mentioned in our meeting with Leicester City Council; there are no glyphosate-based products that are non-toxic. Any products that contain glyphosate are obviously toxic as glyphosate is known to cause cancer. We mentioned further on in the press release, which we had sent to the Leicester Mercury, ‘The journal article that had previously been used to claim that glyphosate was safe was retracted by the publisher last year, because they discovered the company that makes glyphosate had been involved in the research’.

We contacted Leicester City Council to ask who had made the comment, but they did not know. We then contacted the Leicester Mercury to ask where they had got the statement which had been made by ‘a spokesperson for the City Council’.  Eventually it was established by the Mercury that they hadn’t actually spoken to anyone at the Council but had taken an out-of-date statement from Leicester City Council's website and used that in the article.

We asked the Leicester Mercury to print a ‘Clarification’, which they did on Friday May 29^th 2026, but unfortunately, they still did not make it clear where the statement came from. Their clarification read:

‘As set out in the article, a new study discovered that glyphosate is indeed a toxic substance, and the council subsequently agreed to cease its use in children’s play areas as a result.’  

So it still wasn’t actually transparent that they took information from a Council website and didn’t actually speak to anyone from the Council. 

We would also like to mention that Leicester City Council are still spraying the rest of the parks with glyphosate, which is a toxic poison to humans, animals including dogs, insects as well as to the ‘weeds’ which the Council are trying to kill. 

To encourage Leicester City Council to stop using glyphosate in our parks and green spaces, we want to show them that Leicester’s gardeners can mange without pesticides. We have created a pledge which we would love you to sign: Pledge to go pesticide-free.

It’s not too late to make a spring resolution for your garden for 2026. And please do sign even if you’ve been gardening organically for a long time. We are planning to use the postcodes (without linking them to people’s names) to create a map of pesticide-free gardens across the city. Please help!

Melanie Wakley

Planet Over Profit Day of Action: Meeting with Shockat Adam

Yesterday was the national Day of Action on the Planet Over Profit campaign, when Friends of the Earth groups across the countries met their local MPs to call for a new Business, Human Rights and Environment Act. The new law would ensure that UK companies are held responsible for environmental harm and human rights abuses in their supply chains.  

We met Shockat Adam, the MP for Leicester South, at his constituency office to hand in our petition and postcards from members of the public calling for a new law. We were joined by representatives of 15 local organisations who have signed an open letter calling for a new law, including Leicester Quakers, Global Justice Leicester, Stoneygate Baptist Church, Unite the Union Community Branch, The Race Equality Centre and Pioneer Parishes.  

Shockat Adam has already signed the Good Business Matters pledge, which so far has the backing of more than 80 MPs and peers and 50 high profile UK businesses, including John Lewis, Sainsbury’s and Aviva. We asked him to act on his pledge and back the campaign for a new law to hold UK companies to account for harm to people and the environment.  

The petition, postcards and open letter demonstrate the strength of local support for a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act (BHREA). Under the new legislation, UK companies would be held legally responsible for preventing harm to people and the planet in their supply chains, no matter where they operate – whether here in the UK or overseas.   

Through the materials they source to make their products, too many UK companies are fuelling environmental damage and endangering communities around the globe. In parts of South East Asia and South America, forests are being cleared, rivers polluted and habitats destroyed as highly sought-after commodities like palm oil, soy and timber are cultivated with little regard for their environmental and social impact. 

Products linked to these abuses then end up on the UK market – whether it’s the food we buy at the supermarket, the cosmetics on our bathroom shelf or the way we furnish our homes.   

Meanwhile, Indigenous communities that depend on and protect these precious ecosystems are being forced from their lands, threatened with violence and denied access to the natural resources they rely on. The new law would provide communities on the front lines of harm a legal route to justice when their rights are violated.  

According to polling by YouGov for the Corporate Justice Coalition , a whopping 80% of people support the demand for a new law to tackle harm to people and the environment. There is overwhelming public support for the government to act. 

Shockat Adam was invited to show his support for the campaign by taking a photo with the group, holding a placard backing the new law.   

 

It’s unthinkable that so many of the products we buy could be linked to horrific environmental and human rights abuses, and that UK companies are complicit. Most people do not want to buy something that is causing harm in another country, but consumers cannot trace what damage has been done in a supply chain. It’s high time businesses were held accountable for their harmful practices here at home and overseas – it couldn’t be clearer that the public wants the government to act.  

We’re really pleased that Shockat Adam is supporting the growing calls for a new Business, Human Rights and Environment Act, which would protect people and planet from harm at the hands of UK companies and give affected communities a legal route to justice. We hope that the other MPs representing the people of Leicester and Leicestershire will support this vital campaign.

Open letter supporting new law to protect people and environment signed by 17 local organisations

Less than a week before we meet Leicester South MP Shockat Adam to talk about our work on the 'Planet Over Profit' campaign, two more local organisations have signed our open letter supporting a new law to protect people and the environment. We welcome this support from Parents for Future Leicestershire and Neve Shalom Synagogue. We've had four new signatories this month, with 17 signatures in total. Some of our partners from these organisations will be joining our meeting with Shockat, to explain why they think a new law is so important.

We are very pleased to see that Shockat Adam has already signed the Good Business Matters pledge in support of a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act. We will be talking to him about the next steps that he can take to demonstrate his support. We hope that the other MPs in Leicester and Leicestershire will follow his example! 

We have also been out and about talking to members of the public about the need for a new law and we have collected postcards from people expressing their support. If you haven't had chance to fill in a postcard, you can still sign our digital petition: Leicester for fair supply chains  But please be quick! We'll be closing this on Thursday.

Two more Leicester organisations support good business campaign

In the last few months, we have been continuing to work on the Planet Over Profit campaign, calling for a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act to hold companies to account for any harm caused in their supply chain. This would help to end the exploitation of natural resources and human rights. We have now collected hundreds of postcards to local MPs. If you haven't been able to talk to us on a stall and sign a postcard, you can still sign the digital petition. 

We have also been talking to local organisations and Leicester's Unite the Union Community Branch and Leicester Woodcraft Folk have both signed our open letter to MPs supporting a new law, which you can read in full in our previous blog post. 

We will be meeting Shockat Adam, the MP for Leicester South, in early June, to deliver the postcards, petition and open letter and talk to him about the need for a new law. If you belong to an organisation or small business that would like to sign the open letter and come along to the meeting with Shockat, get in touch with us at leicesterfoe@gmail.com.

1500 people join birthday party for David Attenborough!

Approximately 1500 people gathered in Attenborough Arboretum yesterday, to celebrate the 100th birthday of Sir David Attenborough with us. We organised the community picnic with nature-themed activities for the whole family, to inspire people to continue Sir David’s love for the natural world.

A wide range of Leicester environmental and wildlife groups participated and organised activities. An education officer from the Botanic Gardens led pond dipping and minibeast hunting sessions. Leicester Botany Group took people on a guided walk through the trees of the arboretum. Leicestershire and Rutland Bat Group helped people to make bat finger puppets and bunting and had hundreds of conversations with people about how they could help bats. Leicester Green Quakers led ‘mindful moments’ in quiet parts of the arboretum. Parents for Future Leicestershire created a collage from plastic waste and talked to people about how they could reduce their plastic use at home. Climate Action Leicester and Leicestershire led a workshop on ‘Greener Gardens’ for wildlife and adapting our cities to climate change. Insecta Collective helped people to make animal masks and talked to everyone about their upcoming nature-themed art exhibition. 9th Leicester Cubs, of which David Attenborough was a member as a boy, showed people how to make their own natural art materials. 

On our stall, we made wildflower seed bombs and invited people to sign our pledge not to use pesticides in their gardens at home. We also co-ordinated a giant birthday card for Sir David and invited everyone to add their own message. 

Picnickers spread throughout the arboretum, with people sitting to share food with family and friends. The event culminated with a mass happy birthday sing, around a beautiful cake baked by students at Leicester College. A video of the singing and the birthday card will now be sent to Sir David.

Sam Holmes from Parents for Future Leicestershire left us with her thoughts:

"This is a critical time for us all to join together and act to restore our beautiful natural world. At Parents for Future Leicestershire we want to celebrate Sir David's incredible legacy, and protect the planet for all of our kids' futures. The event today has enabled us to increase awareness in our local community of the things that all of us can do, and how we can use our voices and actions to change the world, together."

Planning a birthday party for David Attenborough

Sir David Attenborough, who grew up in Leicester, is turning 100 this year. Through his programmes and his activism, he has inspired so many people to love our beautiful planet.

We will be celebrating his birthday by having a picnic and connecting to nature in the arboretum named after his family! Come along on Sunday 10th May with your family and friends and take part in activities including pond-dipping, a guided tree walk, animal mask making, seed bomb making and plastic collaging. You are invited to dress up as an animal or a mini-beast if you wish! Children and adults are welcome - we encourage people of all ages to get involved in the activities.

Climate Action will be running a Greener Gardens workshop as part of this event. Please sign up here if you wish to take part in that. 

[Note: We have invited David Attenborough, but he will probably be too busy eating cake with his family to attend  However, we will make a card and a video of everyone singing happy birthday to send to him.]

Please note that only assistance dogs are allowed in the Arboretum - please leave pet pooches at home! 

Together Alliance march in London

On Saturday 28^th March, a group of us set off to London to join the ‘Together Alliance’ march and we had a brilliant day out!

‘Together’ is an alliance of hundreds of civil society organisations united against the far right. This includes trade unions, faith groups, politicians from a range of parties, charities and campaigning groups including Stand Up To Racism, Greenpeace, Woodcraft Folk, Global Justice, and of course Friends of the Earth. Plus thousands of individuals from across the UK (find out more at https://www.togetheralliance.org.uk/).

Five coaches went to London from Leicester on the day, and we were on one organised by Climate Action Leicester & Leicestershire, along with lots of other groups. We arrived in London and joined the Climate Justice bloc on Park Lane. As we waited for the march to start, we chatted, painted faces, laughed at some of the inventive banners and were entertained by drummers.

The march set off from Park Lane at 1pm, travelling down Piccadilly to Trafalgar Square and on to Westminster, with music at Trafalgar Square creating a party atmosphere and inspiring speeches at Westminster. Or so we heard, as we didn’t actually make it that far! We didn’t set off until 2.45 pm, marching down Park Lane and then halfway down Piccadilly, accompanied by drums and singing, a big XR boat and a great atmosphere, before we had to head across Green Park to meet our coach.

But the waiting didn’t dampen spirits because it was for a good reason – the march was huge! Organisers estimate there were 500,000 there, united in standing up to the far right, celebrating the diversity of the country and calling for more hope and less hate in our politics, media and beyond. It was a great event to be part of.

By Jenny Whillis

Failures of Malaysia's timber certification scheme

National Friends of the Earth, alongside partners in Peninsular Malaysia, have published shocking new research that exposes systemic failures in Malaysia's key timber certification scheme, which is used to ensure timber is harvested sustainably. The scheme is known as the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) and it is endorsed by the globally recognised Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).

These failures mean that timber linked to deforestation, the violation of Indigenous peoples' rights and the destruction of critically endangered tiger habitats is being certified as "sustainable". UK companies are importing timber from Malaysia under this certification scheme and selling it to unsuspecting UK customers. National Friends of the Earth's Malaysian partners have highlighted that the scheme is flawed, and national legislation in Malaysia protecting Orang Asli Indigenous People and wildlife is weak.

This important research makes clear the case for a robust Business, Human Rights & Environment Act to ensure UK companies prevent harm to communities and the environment in their global supply chains.

Three of the companies named in this research have branches in Leicester: Travis Perkins, Howdens and Latham Timber. We have now written to all three companies to express our concerns and ask if they will sign our open letter to Leicester MPs, calling for a new law. We will update this blog when/if we hear back from them!

People wanting to ensure they are only buying truly sustainable timber might be interested in Friends of the Earth's Good Wood Guide.