There have been many reasons for and against hunting certain animals over the years, and although I tend to side with those voting “for” hunting, I do not agree with all hunting.

Recent studies are showing that “whales and dolphins possess intelligence and culture more complex that we had previously assumed”. So, we are potentially hunting and killing creatures that possess knowledge of what is happening. This seems inherently wrong to me. I like eating meat, and won’t stop, but when you take a cow or a sheep from a herd, the herd doesn’t miss it.

We have always known that whales and dolphins were intelligent creatures, but what if they are as intelligent as us? Should this impact the way we interact with them? Yes. Does this mean we stop hunting them? Yes.

Following a house move, I went on a bit of a tidying frenzy, and decided to throw away anything and everything that I no longer used. Wow, I had a lot of stuff that I had completely forgotten about! As useful as attic space is, it really is the Place Of No Return for anything that goes up there.

But, what is no longer useful to me, may be useful to someone else – so rather than dumping everything I no longer needed, I decided to organise it into piles and to recycle where I could. And funnily enough, all of it could be! From broken furniture (metal and wood skips at the tip) to old clothes  and crockery ((charity shops container), all of it could potentially find a new home or be broken down and used in a new form.

Everything went into the back of the car (seats down, and it still took 2 trips!), and everything got put into the right skips or containers at the tip – and whilst I was putting my stuff in, I saw some really weird and wonderful pieces from other peoples house clearances.

Doing my bit was quite exciting really!

With the increase in petrol prices, and the growing congestion on our roads, everyone is trying to find ways yo cut their car usage – but few think of not using it at all!

The morning school run is one of the key trips of the day, and in a lot of cases, families have chosen homes based on their ability to get their kids into a good local school – so why not make use of the school buses, or walk the kids to school?

A friend of mine has a 7 year old, and as part of their “save the environment” awareness, the school asked parents to walk their children to school today – and most of them did! By teaching them from a young age, we will hopefully encourage the next generation to look after their environments.

Over the last couple of years, there have been numerous studies and articles published regarding the reasons behind the falling bee population. There are numerous theories, but very few hard facts. The theories range from viruses and bacterial pathogens to increase in pests. Scientists take time to find data and draw conclusions within their studies, and so it will take time to find out which theory is correct, or even if all of them are correct and affect different areas in different ways.

But will we ever know? What kind of impact will this have? I can’t see the demise of the bees having the impact and longevity that the dinosaurs did, however, I’m sure that there absence will be felt in some way.

Every other Wednesday, I put my numerous recycling bins out, and over the last year or so, the number of boxes, bags and bins allocated to me by my Council has increased – I now have 6! A wheelie bin for “general waste”, a food bin, a paper bag, a glass and metal box, a plastic box and a garden waste bin. Oh, and my Mum has all of these plus an ash bin (she lives in the country and has a real log fire).

I was thinking that I will have to put them all out tonight, and it got me thinking – that amount of plastic is very useful to those of us that recycle. But to those that do not, surely this is a total waste? The viscous cycle is that if they weren’t there, noone would use them anyway, and if they are there at least people have the option.

I do like the way other countries enforce recycling upon their inhabitants; I think that this is the way forward.

The Green Party is commonly believed to be the environmentally friendly political party, focusing on environmental issues only. Although they do focus on “promoting social and environmental justice”  they are still a political party, and have views on banking, the NHS, pensions, amongst other things.

The latest election showed a massive step forwards for this party, with the election of their first Member of Parliament, party leader Caroline Lucas. Caroline has won the Brighton Pavilion seat, making her the Westminster MP for Brighton Pavilion.

This got me thinking about how a Green PM would affect our day to day lives; would recycling be mandatory? would we be more firmly encouraged to use greener cars, or public transport? would we actually see a difference from one government to another?

The recent volcanic eruptions brought several countries, if not the world, to its knees in regards to the aviation industry. Now that flights are pretty much back on track, people are questioning the validity of this ban; would planes really have fallen from the sky? Did the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) panic people, and cost the industry billions of pounds in lost revenue, needlessly?

These questions will probably not be answered anytime soon, but the skeptics out there won’t respond well to the suggestion that their holiday or business trip was canceled unnecessarily. In an age where we can get anywhere in the world in a day, and speak directly with most people in the world at the touch of a button, it is impressive to see nature bring us to our knees and humble us so completely.

I am not a huge follower of trees, but I do like them – they give us shade, fruit and nuts, and make the scenery a joy to look at. This tree disease, bleeding canker, is spreading quickly; in 2007, over 50% of the horse chestnut trees showed symptoms of it. I believe that a human life is more important than that of an animal or plant, however, if 50% of anything was at risk, I would expect our environment authorities to be telling us more about it and how to help the situation.

But I’ve had no leaflets through the door, no mass emails advising me of the problem, and only really stumbled across it by chance because my Grandad is a avid gardener.

In light of the recent political debate, maybe the Green Party should be given more attention – they have some good policies.

The bobtail lizard, a type of skink, is a easily recognised in its home country of Australia because it is a very common creature and is often kept as a pet. And at the reptile park at Henley Brook in Perth, a new addition is making itself at home – a  two-headed bobtail lizard, that was rescued by the Park.

This very robust creature has caused quite a stir, because despite this abnormality, it appears to be doing well (although it is not expected to live very long). Eve more amazing is its ability to eat from both heads!

So, is this 2 critters in one? Or one very confused critter?

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has published its first proposal for the regulation of whaling for the next decade; and noone is happy with it.

Japan’s Antarctic whale hunt would drop in stages, reducing the pro-camps industry to a third of its existing size over time. Despite a global ban in 1982 on commercial whaling, Iceland, Japan and Norway continue to hunt these endangered fin whales every year, under various exemptions to the ban.

How can they be allowed to get away with this?

I understand the concept that this is a lucrative industry, but these magnificent mammals are running out – and we should act now, not in stages. The uproar caused by this proposal shows how much of the population are behind a total ban – but the IWC seem oblivious to this.

What will it take to make bureaucrats realise this is not the way to go?