London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

To have any chance of saving the Earth, we must start living within its limits

Watching the David Attenborough documentary, Extinction: The Facts, on Sunday night, I felt a swell of sadness, frustration and anger.
Sadness at what we are doing to the millions of species that share this planet with us; frustration that so many warnings over the years have been ignored, and anger at our failure to do what’s necessary to protect habitats and ecosystems.

Looking at the responses on social media, I know many of you felt the same way.

Those ministers who condemned Extinction Rebellion protesters last week, comparing them to organised criminal gangs, should reflect: this is what Extinction Rebellion are drawing attention to, and demanding the Government take action.

So what has been done? In 2010, the coalition government’s Biodiversity 2020 strategy pledged to ‘halt biodiversity loss, support ecosystems and establish coherent ecological networks, with more and better places for nature’.

The outcome? Despite Government claims that budgets have increased, funding for wildlife and the environment has been cut by nearly a third leaving most ecosystems unprotected.

More than 40% of species in the UK are in decline – 10% face extinction. In a rare moment of honesty, the Government admitted that of 20 biodiversity targets the UK agreed at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity 10 years ago, we have missed 14 of them.

The reality is probably worse: the RSPB believe we have missed 17 of the targets, and have even gone backwards on six. They’ve rightly called the past 10 years a ‘lost decade for nature’.

This is a massive failure of our Government to protect our environment and I see no sign that it has either grasped the scale of the crisis or is preparing to take the necessary steps to tackle it.

A statement released by the Department of the Environment (Defra) in response to the RSPB report instead trotted out the usual empty boasts about the UK ‘leading the world by setting ambitious goals for nature and biodiversity in our landmark Environment Bill’.

If this bill is supposed to protect nature in our country, then we really are in trouble, because I believe it actually takes us backwards by weakening the environmental protections we’ve had up to now as members of the EU.

The environmental watchdog that the Government plans to establish is toothless, being neither independent, nor with the powers to levy fines.

The timeline for environmental targets is nearly two decades, by which time – at the current rate of decline – one wonders how much wildlife will be left to protect.

Add to the mix the Government’s bonfire of planning regulations, which are as good as an invitation for developers to concrete over huge areas with local councils powerless to stop them, and nature looks at greater risk now than it has ever been.

Yet we know that it is valued more than ever, with huge majorities saying access to green space has been good for their mental health and wellbeing during Covid. In the final report of the UK Climate Assembly released last week, one of the key recommendations was the protection and restoration of nature and improving access.

It’s not only essential for our well-being: protected peatlands, forests and soils have a vital role to play in tackling climate change, which is why restoring and regenerating ecosystems is a key part of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill which I introduced in Parliament earlier this month.

But if we are to protect our environment, we need to go further and end the relentless pursuit of economic growth and our culture of mass consumption.

The wellbeing of people and nature should be the focus of our national effort. We must start to live within Earth’s natural limits. The point was made well in Extinction: The Facts.

The burning of the rainforest, or destruction of savannah for agriculture, is done to meet global demand for beef, soya, palm oil or other consumer products.

We are fuelling this destruction with what we choose to buy and how we choose to live. As David Attenborough said: ‘We are at a turning point. What happens next is up to every one of us.’
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×