NEWS

2026 in view

Ongoing

Five years ago I was one of seven activists who set up Friends of the Cam, to protect the exceptionally rare and threatened chalk streams of the Cam and its tributaries. They are as ecologically diverse as The Amazon, and 85% of the world's chalk streams are in SE England. They are threatened by over-abstraction as reckless growth is pursued regardless of environmental consequences, and by pollution through agricultural runoff and equally reckless sewage dumping. The latest threat is the creation of a Greater Cambridge Development Corporation designed to impose a tripling of the size of Cambridge, removing planning control and any other decision making from local elected bodies. This will be disastrous for the ecology of the region. We try to raise awareness through constructive and celebratory events, including talks and an annual celebration of the rights of the river on Midsummer's Eve.

Gender & Environments Book Series

The latest in this series has just been published: Towards a Feminist Climate Policy Approach in Industrialised States, edited by Susan Buckingham, Martin Hultman, Gunnhildur Lily Magnusdottir and Karen Morrow. This follows up the earlier Gender, Intersectionality and Climate Institutions in Industrialised States, edited by Gunnhildur Lily Magnusdottir and Annica Kronsell publioshed in 2021. The book was formally launched in March 2026 with a seminar hosted by the University of Westminster and a panel from: UNISON, the National Education Union, Women's Environmental Network, The Green Party and academia.

The next book to be published in the series will be Thinking Spatially about Care Work: Feminist Perspectives on Planning and Development by Barbara Zibell.

Talk

In March 2026 I gave a talk to UNISON's Women and Climate Change seminar. 2026 is the Trade Unions' Year of Climate Change and to mark International Women's Day, UNISON hosted a session on women's relationship with climate change, from victims to decision-makers.

In Preparation

I have submitted an advanced draft of Ecofeminism: The Basics to Routledge, who are publishing this in their "Basics' series. I'm working on some revisions and will submit a final version in May 2026. Reading, and re-reading the original ecofeminist texts from the 1970s and 1980s from the perspective of the mid 2020s has been stimulating and I've been impressed by the acuity of many the observations which are even more relevant now. Reading up on current ecofeminism, I'm also hugely encouraged by the number of women - particularly in Africa and Latin America who are claiming and identifying with ecofeminism. Ecofeminism's combined critique of patriarchy, sexism, racism, disablism, colonialism and capitalism explains the damaged and damaging state the world is in, and offers a way to heal it.