By the time you’ve finished reading this paragraph, the world will have lost another football pitch of soil. At current rates of erosion, 90 percent of our planet’s soil could be gone by 2050, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Natural soil erosion is being accelerated by deforestation, mining, urban sprawl and – ironically – the intensive agriculture that simply couldn’t function without it.

The increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts, floods and storms that come with climate breakdown only make matters worse – damaging crops, ruining livelihoods and sending food prices soaring around the world.

Radical solution

At the same time, our population is growing – estimated to reach 10 billion people by 2050, when the UN fears we’ll be eking an existence out of just 10 percent of the soil we have now. Without soil, we face starvation.

At the University of Sheffield, we’re pioneering a radical solution that could buy us some time. Our new Institute for Sustainable Food has launched a soil-free urban farm, where scientists are growing food from foam.

Harry Wright – a PhD student at the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures – has developed specialist foams that chemically, physically and biologically resemble soil.

Together with Jacob Nickles, N8 Knowledge Exchange Associate at the University of Sheffield Institute for Sustainable Food, Harry has used a network of pipes, nutrient solutions and controlled growing environments, scientists are growing everything from salad to tomatoes in an abandoned school in Sheffield.

Community participation

We’ve found that crops planted in the polyurethane foams grow two to ten times faster than plants grown in soil.

The potential of this low-cost system has already been demonstrated with an initiative – led by Grantham Centre Director Professor Tony Ryan in collaboration with Professor Duncan Cameron – to install hydroponics systems made from used mattresses at a refugee camp in Jordan, where planting straight into the soil isn’t allowed.

In Sheffield, we’re putting our research into practice again to provide fresh fruit and vegetables for our local community, as well as training for local unemployed or low-skilled workers and an educational environment for schools.

Our hope is to replicate this model across the globe and optimise it for local conditions to produce cheap, healthy food using fewer resources.

These soil-free farms could help take some of the pressure off traditional agricultural systems – but they’re no excuse to carry on as usual. Foam alone will never feed the world.

We urgently need a new approach to farming that protects and restores our soils, eliminates waste, enhances the natural world and gives everyone their fair share of nutritious food.

Policy changes

To get there requires science and innovation – but, most importantly, a step-change in policy and public attitudes.

The Institute for Sustainable Food will produce groundbreaking research to form an evidence base for a better agricultural system, bringing together experts across every discipline, from politics and computer science, to geography and medicine.

But with a crisis unfolding beneath our feet, it’s not enough to publish academic papers and discuss theories with our peers.

Opening our urban farm to the public sets the tone for our new institute. We’ll be learning from our community about what food they want to see us grow and asking how they’d like to be involved.

It’s time for scientists like me to step out of the lab and work with farmers, politicians and local people to put our research into practice. We won’t solve the soil crisis without getting our hands dirty.

This Author 

Professor Duncan Cameron is director of the University of Sheffield’s new Institute for Sustainable Food. 

One thing really sticks out for me among all the inspiring climate actions we’ve seen over the last few months: Greta Thunberg arriving by train to speak to UK politicians, as part of an epic Spring trip to European cities.

It’s safe to say the social silence around ‘talking climate’ has been temporarily if not permanently broken for many Brits. A recent opinion poll showed that two thirds of us would be willing to make a personal sacrifice for the climate if we knew others were doing the same.

But there’s still one area of carbon cutting behaviour that even some people within the climate movement struggle to talk about: not flying. 

Frequent flyers

Flying is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases globally and reducing the amount we fly is one of the most impactful behaviour changes frequent flyers can take to cut carbon.

At 10:10 Climate Action we’re working to make carbon conscious travel easier with a new scheme; Climate Perks.

It’s important to note one crucial fact about flying before I get into how much carbon is saved by choosing to stay grounded when travelling. Only a small proportion of us are responsible for the majority of the problem.

Estimates suggest only five percent of the world’s population have ever flown. Government data shows that even within the UK 70 percent of all flights are taken by just 15 percent of Brits.

These ‘frequent flyers’ are more likely to be professionals with disposable income who can afford to take multiple flights a year. 

Taking responsibility 

Those who fly the least if at all are generally from poorer communities who are also most vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis.

The disproportionate number of people flying is just another example of how those most vulnerable to climate change are generally least responsible for it.

It also means that those most responsible must be most empowered to take action and change their behaviour.

When it comes to taking personal action on climate change, for frequent flyers, there is scarcely any other single act more effective at cutting carbon than avoiding a flight.

Defying gravity through air travel produces a huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions. So much so that taking eight return trips from London to Berlin on the train produces the same amount of carbon as a single flight from the UK to the German capital.

Greenhouse gasses

Worse still, the impact of releasing emissions higher in the atmosphere is much worse than emitting it on the ground. Other than carbon, planes also emit other kinds of gases and particles, which have both a cooling or warming effect.

High in the atmosphere where most planes fly, the hot, moist air released from the engine exhaust mixes with cold air. The moisture condenses, forming ice crystals which reflect the sun’s heat into space but also trap it in the atmosphere.

Despite the cooling effect, scientists calculated the total impact of a plane on raising global temperatures, is twice as high as its carbon emissions alone. 

Despite this, aviation is rapidly expanding in the UK and is currently on track to account for a quarter of all UK carbon emissions by 2050. 

The good news is however that attitudes are beginning to move in the right direction on flying.

Slower travel

In research 10:10 commissioned late last year, we found 50 percent of people are ready to reduce the amount they fly in order to protect the environment, but only three percent of us do.

Clean travel is already mainstream in Sweden as climate superstar Greta Thunberg kickstarted a “flygskam” (flight shame) movement with her train-trips around Europe.

And with the launch of the new Caledonian Sleeper and the London to Amsterdam Eurostar in the last year, slow travel with an emphasis on the journey as well as the destination, is set to become easier.

Europe is blessed with some of the best transport networks in the world, with several world-class high speed rail networks and a host of organisations, like Seat 61, dedicated to helping plan and book your journeys. 

For many however time is a huge barrier to choosing flight free holidays. Generally, travelling on holiday by train, coach or boat instead flying, takes a lot longer. That’s exactly why we’re developing our new scheme, Climate Perks. 

Journey days

Climate Perks enables employers to offer paid ‘journey days’ to empower staff to choose low-carbon holiday travel. The perfect solution for those who love to travel the world and protect it too. 

Working for a Climate Perks employer means you can choose clean travel without losing out on hard-earned leisure time, by being offered at least two paid ‘journey days’ annually to use for holiday travel without heading to the airport.

By coming on board to Climate Perks as an employer, you’ll be a part of getting climate conscious travel off (or rather on) the ground in the UK and be recognised as leading the way on climate action. 

Our research found that 50 percent of 18-44 year olds would prefer to work for an employer that helps them to take clean travel on holiday.

Climate Perks employers can meet this rising demand from staff, and potential recruits, assisting them in making lifestyle choices that reflect their values – strengthening staff well-being, satisfaction and loyalty.

Travel habits

Helping to shift these travel habits is the quickest and smartest way to keep carbon emissions from planes in check, whilst ensuring those most responsible are most empowered to take action.

For me, clean travel is a chance to rediscover the magic of the journey – whether that’s winding through stunning scenery in the alps or waking up after a night journey in the heart of a new city.

Travelling slowly gives me valuable time for reflection and has helped re-evaluate what I really cherish when I go on holiday, making me appreciate it so much more.

After all taking action on climate change isn’t about having less of what you want, but rather more of what you need. Staying grounded really is the best way to stay grounded. 

This Author 

Sarah Barfield Marks is press and PR office at 10:10 Climate Action, a charity that runs positive, practical projects at the community level, and turns these local actions into a force for bigger changes.

Environmental campaigners are aiming to involve one billion people worldwide in a “visual survey” of plastic pollution as part of the second annual One Plastic Free Day.

Set to coincide with World Environment Day on June 5, campaign group A Plastic Planet is asking people to photograph a plastic item they wish to switch to an environmentally friendly item, and post it on social media using the hashtag #OnePlasticFreeDay.

Following the survey on June 5, the results will form the basis of an interactive world map where global plastic pollution hot-spots can be identified.

Tourists

The campaign comes as the Government announced that plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds are to be banned from April 2020 in a bid to reduce plastic pollution.

In 2018, a quarter of a billion people joined in on what was the first annual One Plastic Free Day. A Plastic Planet co-founder Sian Sutherland said: “So far there have been too many words and not enough action.

“I’m incredibly excited about the prospect of mobilising one billion people for the brighter plastic-free future we all know is possible.”

To mark the campaign, the One Plastic Free Day logo will be projected at tourist sights including Times Square in New York.

Speaking about the Government’s move to ban plastic straws, stirrers, and cotton buds, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: “Urgent and decisive action is needed to tackle plastic pollution and protect our environment.

Emergency

“Today I am taking action to turn the tide on plastic pollution, and ensure we leave our environment in a better state for future generations.”

A Plastic Planet’s campaign comes after months of campaigning for action on pollution and plastic waste by environmental activists.

In April 2019, climate group Extinction Rebellion occupied four prominent sites in central London over a period of 11 days in order to provoke government action on climate change.

Since then, the UK Parliament has become the first in the world to recognise a “climate change emergency”.

“We don’t want to be part of the plastic pollution problem any longer. Every time we shop we feel guilty. Why is it taking so long for change to happen?” Ms Sutherland said.

This Author

Emily Chudy is a reporter for the Press Association.

Environmental campaigners are aiming to involve one billion people worldwide in a “visual survey” of plastic pollution as part of the second annual One Plastic Free Day.

Set to coincide with World Environment Day on June 5, campaign group A Plastic Planet is asking people to photograph a plastic item they wish to switch to an environmentally friendly item, and post it on social media using the hashtag #OnePlasticFreeDay.

Following the survey on June 5, the results will form the basis of an interactive world map where global plastic pollution hot-spots can be identified.

Tourists

The campaign comes as the Government announced that plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds are to be banned from April 2020 in a bid to reduce plastic pollution.

In 2018, a quarter of a billion people joined in on what was the first annual One Plastic Free Day. A Plastic Planet co-founder Sian Sutherland said: “So far there have been too many words and not enough action.

“I’m incredibly excited about the prospect of mobilising one billion people for the brighter plastic-free future we all know is possible.”

To mark the campaign, the One Plastic Free Day logo will be projected at tourist sights including Times Square in New York.

Speaking about the Government’s move to ban plastic straws, stirrers, and cotton buds, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: “Urgent and decisive action is needed to tackle plastic pollution and protect our environment.

Emergency

“Today I am taking action to turn the tide on plastic pollution, and ensure we leave our environment in a better state for future generations.”

A Plastic Planet’s campaign comes after months of campaigning for action on pollution and plastic waste by environmental activists.

In April 2019, climate group Extinction Rebellion occupied four prominent sites in central London over a period of 11 days in order to provoke government action on climate change.

Since then, the UK Parliament has become the first in the world to recognise a “climate change emergency”.

“We don’t want to be part of the plastic pollution problem any longer. Every time we shop we feel guilty. Why is it taking so long for change to happen?” Ms Sutherland said.

This Author

Emily Chudy is a reporter for the Press Association.

Environmental campaigners are aiming to involve one billion people worldwide in a “visual survey” of plastic pollution as part of the second annual One Plastic Free Day.

Set to coincide with World Environment Day on June 5, campaign group A Plastic Planet is asking people to photograph a plastic item they wish to switch to an environmentally friendly item, and post it on social media using the hashtag #OnePlasticFreeDay.

Following the survey on June 5, the results will form the basis of an interactive world map where global plastic pollution hot-spots can be identified.

Tourists

The campaign comes as the Government announced that plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds are to be banned from April 2020 in a bid to reduce plastic pollution.

In 2018, a quarter of a billion people joined in on what was the first annual One Plastic Free Day. A Plastic Planet co-founder Sian Sutherland said: “So far there have been too many words and not enough action.

“I’m incredibly excited about the prospect of mobilising one billion people for the brighter plastic-free future we all know is possible.”

To mark the campaign, the One Plastic Free Day logo will be projected at tourist sights including Times Square in New York.

Speaking about the Government’s move to ban plastic straws, stirrers, and cotton buds, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: “Urgent and decisive action is needed to tackle plastic pollution and protect our environment.

Emergency

“Today I am taking action to turn the tide on plastic pollution, and ensure we leave our environment in a better state for future generations.”

A Plastic Planet’s campaign comes after months of campaigning for action on pollution and plastic waste by environmental activists.

In April 2019, climate group Extinction Rebellion occupied four prominent sites in central London over a period of 11 days in order to provoke government action on climate change.

Since then, the UK Parliament has become the first in the world to recognise a “climate change emergency”.

“We don’t want to be part of the plastic pollution problem any longer. Every time we shop we feel guilty. Why is it taking so long for change to happen?” Ms Sutherland said.

This Author

Emily Chudy is a reporter for the Press Association.

Environmental campaigners are aiming to involve one billion people worldwide in a “visual survey” of plastic pollution as part of the second annual One Plastic Free Day.

Set to coincide with World Environment Day on June 5, campaign group A Plastic Planet is asking people to photograph a plastic item they wish to switch to an environmentally friendly item, and post it on social media using the hashtag #OnePlasticFreeDay.

Following the survey on June 5, the results will form the basis of an interactive world map where global plastic pollution hot-spots can be identified.

Tourists

The campaign comes as the Government announced that plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds are to be banned from April 2020 in a bid to reduce plastic pollution.

In 2018, a quarter of a billion people joined in on what was the first annual One Plastic Free Day. A Plastic Planet co-founder Sian Sutherland said: “So far there have been too many words and not enough action.

“I’m incredibly excited about the prospect of mobilising one billion people for the brighter plastic-free future we all know is possible.”

To mark the campaign, the One Plastic Free Day logo will be projected at tourist sights including Times Square in New York.

Speaking about the Government’s move to ban plastic straws, stirrers, and cotton buds, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: “Urgent and decisive action is needed to tackle plastic pollution and protect our environment.

Emergency

“Today I am taking action to turn the tide on plastic pollution, and ensure we leave our environment in a better state for future generations.”

A Plastic Planet’s campaign comes after months of campaigning for action on pollution and plastic waste by environmental activists.

In April 2019, climate group Extinction Rebellion occupied four prominent sites in central London over a period of 11 days in order to provoke government action on climate change.

Since then, the UK Parliament has become the first in the world to recognise a “climate change emergency”.

“We don’t want to be part of the plastic pollution problem any longer. Every time we shop we feel guilty. Why is it taking so long for change to happen?” Ms Sutherland said.

This Author

Emily Chudy is a reporter for the Press Association.

Environmental campaigners are aiming to involve one billion people worldwide in a “visual survey” of plastic pollution as part of the second annual One Plastic Free Day.

Set to coincide with World Environment Day on June 5, campaign group A Plastic Planet is asking people to photograph a plastic item they wish to switch to an environmentally friendly item, and post it on social media using the hashtag #OnePlasticFreeDay.

Following the survey on June 5, the results will form the basis of an interactive world map where global plastic pollution hot-spots can be identified.

Tourists

The campaign comes as the Government announced that plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds are to be banned from April 2020 in a bid to reduce plastic pollution.

In 2018, a quarter of a billion people joined in on what was the first annual One Plastic Free Day. A Plastic Planet co-founder Sian Sutherland said: “So far there have been too many words and not enough action.

“I’m incredibly excited about the prospect of mobilising one billion people for the brighter plastic-free future we all know is possible.”

To mark the campaign, the One Plastic Free Day logo will be projected at tourist sights including Times Square in New York.

Speaking about the Government’s move to ban plastic straws, stirrers, and cotton buds, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: “Urgent and decisive action is needed to tackle plastic pollution and protect our environment.

Emergency

“Today I am taking action to turn the tide on plastic pollution, and ensure we leave our environment in a better state for future generations.”

A Plastic Planet’s campaign comes after months of campaigning for action on pollution and plastic waste by environmental activists.

In April 2019, climate group Extinction Rebellion occupied four prominent sites in central London over a period of 11 days in order to provoke government action on climate change.

Since then, the UK Parliament has become the first in the world to recognise a “climate change emergency”.

“We don’t want to be part of the plastic pollution problem any longer. Every time we shop we feel guilty. Why is it taking so long for change to happen?” Ms Sutherland said.

This Author

Emily Chudy is a reporter for the Press Association.

Feeding the birds in the back garden has boosted the populations of an array of species that flock to them, a scientific study suggests.

Providing a growing number of feeders and different types of food has also increased the variety of species visiting gardens over the past 40 years, the research found.

A practice that began with kitchen scraps on home-made table feeders has boomed into an estimated £200 million-£300 million a year industry in Britain, with half of British homeowners putting out the likes of seed and fat balls for birds.

Pigeons

Researchers from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) examined bird food adverts to track the growing popularity of feeding wild birds over the past 40 years, with a rising number of products and a wider range of foods.

Specialist foods such as sunflower hearts and fat balls first appeared in the 1990s as companies backed by conservationists deliberately increased the range of products to attract more species.

They also looked at 40 years of data from the Garden Bird Feeding Survey, run by the BTO, and found an increase in the range of birds using garden bird feeders since the 1970s.

While garden bird feeders in the 1970s were dominated by two species, house sparrows and starlings, today a much broader range of species is commonly seen taking advantage of the variety of food on offer.

Populations

For example, less than a fifth of those taking part in the Garden Bird Feeding Survey in 1973 reported seeing goldfinches and wood pigeons, but that figure has jumped to more than 80 percent, the BTO said.

The provision of bird food is estimated to be enough to sustain up to 196 million birds, more than the combined total population of many common garden species.

It helps them survive the winter, put them in better physical condition and helps them breed more successfully.

The study found that populations of birds that used feeders in urban areas increased significantly over four decades, while those that did not remained unchanged on average.

Spatial scales

Lead author Dr Kate Plummer, research ecologist at BTO, said: “We now know that garden bird feeding is one of many important environmental factors affecting British bird numbers.

“Regular visits to garden feeders in urban areas appear to have led to population growth across more than 30 different bird species, while there has been no change in the average population sizes of birds that don’t visit feeders.

“It is fascinating to discover how this seemingly small-scale hobby is in fact restructuring bird communities across large spatial scales.” The research is published in Nature Communications.

The Author

Emily Beament is the Press Association environment correspondent. 

The Tabernas Desert is a unique landscape in the south of Spain. It is a dramatic setting, and when not blisteringly hot, it is easy to see how the magic of its rocky twists, raggedy outcrops and dusty nooks attract people from all over the world.

In the 1960s it began to be used as a location for Sergio Leone’s famous Spaghetti Western trilogy – A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Some of the film sets are still there, and there is a feeling of pride for the rich history that this area has in popular culture

Unfortunately, this pride does not always extend to the countryside itself. While cleaners polish the handrails of the town of Tabernas, the outskirts have been found to be littered with garbage.

Rubbish

The ramblas, the dry riverbeds that are used as roads and paths around the desert, have been popular places to fly-tip and dump everything from refrigerators to mattresses to building materials.

There are rusted old cans that appear to have been there for decades. There are glass bottles that have been warped by years in the sun.

According to locals, in the olden days it would have been limited to mostly organic matter, small amounts that would have decomposed. But it seems the old ways have not progressed and the area is being treated by many as a landfill.     

Julian Phillips moved to Tabernas a few years ago. It wasn’t long before he noticed all the rubbish on his walks around the desert with his dogs.

Alarmed, he called the local authorities. They seemed oblivious to the issue, but initially responded by clearing a small section. But upon successive reports, Julian was met with silence. Tumbleweeds.

Grassroots campaign

Phillips persisted but it soon became clear that he would have to take matters into his own hands. Literally.

He started rifling through piles of trash looking for clues as to who the dumpers were and found allies in town willing to help him with monthly clean-ups. The campaign has evolved to beach clean-ups and an educational presentation is now being taken to schools in the area. 

Documentary films are increasingly being used as tools for education and inspiration. A Fistful of Rubbish will highlight the problem of litter and neglect of the desert, and show how communities can band together to take action.

Stylized in part as a classic Spaghetti Western, it will depict a simple story of a grassroots environmental campaign.

The Tabernas Desert is the perfect backdrop to tell a universal tale of good vs bad, the mythology of a hero who comes to a new place and destabilizes the status quo. A fight for the greater good. 

Raising awareness

Since filming began Julian and his team of volunteers have cleared about 52 tons of rubbish from the area. He formed an official non-profit organisation (P3 Ambiental) and applied for assistance from the government, but to date has received little support.

For a few of the clean-ups the mayor of Tabernas has assisted by providing containers, printing posters and cleaning resources.

But overall, the problem of litter in the area, is not being taken seriously. The signs are old and rusted. Nobody is getting caught and fined. There is no great sense of urgency in regards to environmental degradation.

This is what needs to change and there is a long way to go. The goal is to raise awareness, to encourage solutions, to shed light on a problem that lies deeper than the bottles and cans, broken televisions and mattresses that lie on the surface.

The goal is for people to care again, to remember and honour what nature provides for all beings on this planet. The problem of waste is evident the world over and bleak environmental stories are rampant.

Local activism

The more people see the power of local activism, the more people can be encouraged to take part in being part of the solution. 

Like all the great Westerns, it’s about survival. 

To view the teaser of the documentary and for more information about the project and campaign, please click here. 

This Author 

David Regos is a documentary producer. The last environmental film he produced, Divide in Concord, premiered at Hot Docs in Toronto and won awards at film festivals around the world.

Image: Cinematographer Tyler Freeman Smith and Director David Regos. © Julian Phillips.

This story begins sometime back in the mid-1990s when April came and went and I didn’t hear the voice of the cuckoo from my office window in the Rising Sun Country Park, in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

It was a voice that had been there every year since I had started working in North Tyneside in 1983. A hole appeared in the world where the cuckoo song had once been. A hole that gradually expanded as the voices of other familiar birds – the wood warbler, the yellowhammer, the spotted flycatcher, the turtle dove – also began to fall silent, seemingly largely unnoticed by the wider world.

This article first appeared in Resurgence & Ecologist magazine.

Then, in the early 2000s I visited a primary school on the estate just near to where the cuckoo used to sing, and I played a recording of a cuckoo’s voice to a group of wide-eyed children sitting cross-legged on the floor.

Cultural memory 

I was taken aback when hardly a child recognised the song and many didn’t know what a cuckoo was. Unthinkable in my childhood – I realised then how quickly the once familiar can be lost from our cultural memory.

I decided to create a performance piece about the cuckoo that both celebrated the bird and highlighted its plight. The cuckoo is, after all, a bird that is immediately recognisable in its call and one that has likely been woven into our identity as humans since we first walked the Earth.

Indeed, there cannot be a bird (except perhaps the nightingale) that features in more songs, stories and poems across the northern hemisphere than the cuckoo.

It is an important character in tales from Ireland to Japan, where it has variously brought Jack a gift from Africa, been born from an old man’s pipe, and been caged to keep the summer. It appears in the 13th-century English round ‘Sumer Is Icumen In’ and has been put into verse by Ted Hughes, William Wordsworth, John Clare and many others.

It is an essential part of our folklore: it brings the spring, tells us when to plant our seeds, lets us know how many children we will have, and informs us of how long we have to live.

Ecological stories

The cuckoo is embedded in the human imagination, it is a very part of who we are, yet we are watching its disappearance from the English countryside with only the faintest murmurings of concern.

An organisation that has shown concern for the plight of the cuckoo is the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), which in 2011 developed an inspirational project, tracking the birds on their migration from Britain to sub-Saharan Africa.

The aim was to discover where they go, the routes they take, and where they encounter trouble. People are invited to sponsor these satellite-tagged birds, which can then be followed online as they make their extraordinary journeys.

I sponsored one and found myself identifying with my bird and willing it on as if it were a part of myself, which in a sense of course it was. This cyber-journey became the obvious backbone to my cuckoo story, and it was clear I needed to be involved with one bird from the beginning to the end of its journey.

The BTO were interested in working with artists to communicate ecological stories and had already got together a team of visual artists to represent migrant birds in their sub-Saharan locations, so they were open to the idea of other artistic intervention.

Oral storytelling

Oral storytelling was much more of an unknown, but willing to give it a try they teamed me up with a group of BTO scientists who were satellite-tagging birds on the wild land surrounding Fylingdales Early Warning Station on the North York Moors.

I remember arriving at Fylingdales in the 3 o’clock darkness of a May morning and having to show our passports before being allowed onto the military site.

We were driven out onto the moor surrounding the base, and there under the shadow of a great monolith, with its mighty discs pointing to the heavens receiving messages of possible nuclear attack, we set our nets to catch a cuckoo.

The man who facilitated it all was northerner Mick Carroll, an ex-RAF man and fearless bird conservationist with a huge presence undiminished by the incurable cancer that was gradually sapping the life out of his body.

It was he who released the trapped, satellite-tagged cuckoo, as if he were releasing his own spirit, which in a way he was, for he never lived to see it return. When the bird arrived back on the moor the following April, I imagined it singing over the very place Mick had released it.

Extraordinary sights

I remember thinking that it would not get far on its journey, as it stumbled in the sky after leaving his hands, a long aerial protruding between its wings.

On 24 June, however, I logged in to my laptop and saw a green line traced between Fylingdales and a forest in the South of France, where the bird lingered for a while, fuelling up on caterpillars. He now had a name, Vigilamus, given by Mick.

Vigilamus continued over the Mediterranean to Libya, and then across the Sahara Desert, flying for three days and nights at an altitude of 5km, until he reached Southern Chad. Here he recuperated for a couple of months before flying on to the Congo Basin, arriving at his destination in mid-October.

At each stage of Vigilamus’s journey I found myself vicariously experiencing the extra­ordin­ary sights he saw and facing the hazards that I imagin­ed he faced: the drought in the South of France, the mass trapping of migrant birds on the Mediterranean islands, more netting on the coast of North Africa, the rigours of a 2,000-mile journey over an expanding Sahara, deforestation and the search for suitable habitats in Central Africa.

And then finally returning to the farmed deserts of Britain and Northern Europe, where insect populations have crashed. That is leaving aside the hawks and eagles looking for a morsel of cuckoo flesh.

Musical journey

So here was a story that could be told. A story that I decided to tell as ‘I’ cuckoo, to bring us humans, as a close as we are able, to the experience of being bird. A story, also, that in its very essence is full of rhythm and passion, a story that invited music to travel with the words.

And this is where my son, Joshua, came in, creating a musical journey both to accompany the words and to evoke the journey in its own right.

The music gave a sense of the cultures and environments the cuckoo visited that complemented the oral story­telling. It was now a story, not just told, but sung, chanted and ringing with thumb piano, guitar and percussion.

But a cuckoo is much more than its migration. It provokes both outrage and awe, it is loved and judged, and it has given rise to words like cuckold, cucking stool and ‘going cuckoo’.

So, as a counterpoint to the physical journey, we wove in the metaphorical: the myths, the folktales, the folksongs, the lore.

Interdependent futures

Narratives that echo the places and cultures from which they arise and explore what it is to be human in relation to a bird and what it is to be bird in relation to a human.

Tales and songs that evoke our essential beings and connection with one another. For as much as we may see a cuckoo bird as ‘other’, it is also a part of us – a living creature evolved from the same stardust and a vital expression of what it means to be alive on this planet. Through these tales our futures are interlinked and interdependent.

The other part of the journey is the personal story. The story of my participating in the capture of the cuckoo and my moral dilemma over harnessing a wild creature so that we can vicariously live its journey.

But possibly the biggest dilemma in making a story such as this is how to tell a tale that has an underlying theme of loss by human action. And how to do this without avoiding the issue for fear of being preachy or leading people to head for the door with yet another tale of doom.

A billion birds migrate from south of the Sahara to Europe and back each year. There are warblers, flycatchers, pipits, chats, nightingales, nightjars, waders, ducks, hawks, swallows, martins, swifts, and many more. Each one a puff of feathers high in the sky undertaking a journey it has to make.

They bring us the spring, colour, songs and life. They are like the Earth’s breathing, keeping it alive, keeping us alive. If through telling the story in words and music we can enable people to feel a little more a part of this wonder, then this is all we can hope.

This Author 

Malcolm Green teaches storytelling at Newcastle University. He is a founder member of A Bit Crack Storytellers and a member of the European Storytelling and Peace Council. 

A version of this article has appeared in Biodiversity Journal and Resurgence & Ecologist magazine. You can see Gone Cuckoo performed at our Summer Camp.