This week the shocking implications of living amid the worsening climate crisis were highlighted by the devastating tornado outbreak which affected several US states, in which at least 89 people were killed and over 100 still remain unaccounted for.
Closer to home Boris Johnson has said he is "very disappointed" following a huge by-election defeat for the Conservatives. The PM blamed a "constant litany of stuff about politics and politicians" in the media for the result.
Meanwhile Covid 19 has returned with a new variant and Christmas is once again hanging in the balance.
So what has any of this to do with developers wanting to build on fields at Hall Farm?
Destruction of green fields, importing not growing our food, building over flood plain, adding more noxious gases to the environment, cutting down trees, ripping up hedgerows and destroying wildlife habitat is certainly not helping the global climate emergency.
Most people, not including Wokingham Borough Council or the University of Reading it seems, recognise we need to stop this environmental vandalism now and try to restore and repair our natural environment.
In her victory speech, Ms Helen Morgan, who won the seat for the Lib Dems by 5,925 votes, said: "The people of North Shropshire have spoken on behalf of the British people. They have said loudly and clearly, 'Boris Johnson, the party is over.' "Your government, run on lies and bluster, will be held accountable. It will be scrutinised, it will be challenged and it can and will be defeated."
John Redwood, John Halsall and any other Wokingham politicians wanting to concrete over the South of the Borough please take note!
The Gaia hypothesis proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that helps to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet.
Maybe that’s just a bit too much "hippy nonsense", after all James Lovelock was formulating his ideas about Gaia back in the 1970’s. But let's not forget that in the last lockdown it was fresh air and green spaces that proved to be the antidote to Covid induced "cabin fever" for huge numbers of people.
In conclusion: It really is a very small world, and what goes around, comes around.
Interesting to think that after the flooding and loss of life in `Germany caused by climate change Wokingham’s key housing plan is to out 4500+ houses on tne side of a river below a big dam at Bearwood Lakes but next to nothing in nod flood more sustainable sites. it beggars belief