An Extinction Rebellion Meeting

SIR: On Thursday evening I attended a very well organised and eye opening talk in Romsey held by Extinction Rebellion.

The biggest surprise was the diversity of the audience which included people of all ages, local Councillors, doctors, teachers and farmers.

It is apparent we are facing a global emergency.

The talk presented the current climate science from peer reviewed journals and reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Sadly much of this is not shown on the news or the press.

I came away with a feeling that our Government is not doing anywhere near enough to combat this threat.

It is also clear that any personal changes we make will not make a huge deal of difference.

The changes need to come from the top down.

Whilst causing disruption through road blocks and protests wont appeal to everyone there is no doubt that by doing so Extinction Rebellion have done so much more than the people in power to highlight the need to act now before it is too late.

Christopher Craig,

Gurnays Mead,

West Wellow,

People’s Assembly

SIR: Some of our most challenging problems are long term (climate change, social care, pensions, rail infrastructure), yet our party based parliamentary democracy is set-up for the short term.

Serious problems are just kicked down the road with pledges that have little accountability.

This is disastrous for our country.

People’s assemblies would be a great way to solve this problem.

As their members would be selected at random rather than elected there decisions can be made independently of the need for short term appeal.

Decision making based on party loyalty would significantly reduce.

They would take evidence from leading experts directly reducing the distortions social media and the press introduce.

A People’s Assembly could perhaps form a third chamber in parliament, with spending for the long term issues their sole remit rather than that of the government.

hey should be given a fixed slice of tax revenues to spend in whatever way they see fit.

Please support any local politician who backs people’s assemblies in the coming general election.

Rich House,

Copper Beeches,

School Road

Gardening

SIR: Next Thursday, November7, The Romsey Organic Gardeners club (TROG), in the Crosfield Hall annex, will be holding its next meeting when Mark Porter will talk about the National Garden Scheme.

He and his wife are owners and creators of a three acre garden at Down House in Itchen Abbas which is opened to the public.

He is also a trustee for NGS and Hampshire organiser and will talk about the history of the scheme, the beneficiaries, together with a photographic tour of notable gardens in the county.

Visitors are welcome for a £2 entrance and join members to discuss organic matters.

This follows October’s talk by Chris Bird from Sparsholt College on soil micro flora and fauna.

As usual with Chris he turns what looks like a dry subject into an amusing and fascinating talk.

He covered the strange life of the soil food web and the cutting edge research studying the interrelationship of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes.

When in balance a soil will be fertile and able to break down organic litter such as leaves and sustain itself.

In a compost heap bacteria works with protozoa and fungi creating nutritious compost. Fungi are essential to many plants increasing the surface area up to 1000 times and allows their roots to take in water and phosphates as well as other minerals.

Gardeners can associate the correct fungi with different plants to radically improve their growth.

Nematodes unseen by the naked eye is used as a biological control of slugs and vine weevil.

By boosting soil over three years this will build up a self-sustainable population.

Chris said the best way to encourage your own soil fertility is not using chemicals and employ a no dig policy, let the worms do the hard work.

Sow different types of green manures to add fertility and maintaining a balance in all things.

Ian Tripp,

Woodley Lane,

Romsey