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Lockdown in Nature A newsletter from the University of Lincoln Sustainability team.

Welcome to the fifth 2021 edition of our regular sustainability newsletter during lockdown. In each issue, we'll round up online activities and webinars not only provided by our team and the university, but also some from around the world.

The climate crisis and critical engagement in Lincoln | Professor Edward Hanna

In each newsletter, we will be featuring a talk from the new series of Climate Change Seminars at the University of Lincoln. This week, we're highlighting Professor Edward Hanna's talk.

Watch the first in the series of Climate Change Seminars with the College of Science below:

Fairtrade Fortnight

~ 22nd Feb – 7th March

Words by Tracey Turton

Fairtrade Fortnight begins on Monday 22nd of February, it’s a fortnight spent raising awareness about the importance of purchasing Fairtrade products and how it positively impacts those who grow our food and drinks, mine our gold or grow our cotton.

What does Fairtrade mean?

Fairtrade is ensuring a fair price, good working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. Purchasing Fairtrade items is a simple way to make a huge difference to the lives of the people who grow the things we love (like coffee and chocolate!).

The Fairtrade Foundation has a mission to connect disadvantaged farmers and workers with consumers, promote fairer trading conditions and empowers farmers and workers to combat poverty, strengthen their position and take more control over their lives.

How can you get involved?

The easiest thing to do is look for the Fairtrade logo when buying your goods. If an item only uses one Fairtrade item they will carry the “Fairtrade Program” Mark.

You could host a Fairtrade team meeting and ask your colleagues to bring along their favourite Fairtrade brew and snack.

During Fairtrade Fortnight, keep your eyes peeled for:

  • Lectures - learn why Fairtrade is important, how climate change is impacting farmers and the global supply chain.
  • Workshops - there's a Co-op hosted wine testing event and you could learn to bake delicious brownies!
  • Quizzes - keep your eyes peeled for the UoL Chaplaincy/City of Lincoln run Fairtrade quiz happening on the 26th February;
  • and much more! Click the button below to see how to get involved and learn more about each of the events:

Nature's focus: European Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus)

“If somebody thinks they're a hedgehog, presumably you just give 'em a mirror and a few pictures of hedgehogs and tell them to sort it out for themselves.” ―Douglas Adams

Words & photos by Alex Foxley-Johnson

Each week, we'll focus on an animal that has been spotted in our city. This week, we're talking about the european hedgehog.

If you weren't already aware, the University of Lincoln is a Bronze level Hedgehog Friendly Campus, and we submitted at the end of January for the Silver Award. We aren't the only hogfriendly university in the city, Bishop Grotteste University also joined the campaign last year.

It might surprise you, but we not only have an active population of hedgehogs residing at Riseholme (our rural campus) but we also have quite a few on our Brayford Campus. You might think that hedgehogs are more prevalent in the countryside, but urban areas have a much greater population than most people realise. This is why hedgehog highways, dedicated channels linking gardens across cities, are so important, and are a brilliant action you can take to help support your local hedgehog.

Hedgehogs are nocturnal mammals. They are very rarely out in the daytime - if you spot one out in the sun, you should consult with a rescue as soon as possible. It is most likely in trouble and in need of your help! The only exception might be a female hedgehog moving her young.

Hedgehog tracks during our surveys last year.

Hedgehogs are beloved across the UK, but are currently in decline. They are in fact, now classed as vulnerable to extinction. To name a few things hedgehogs are in danger from; pesticides, (for instance the slug pellets people use in their gardens), lack of access to food, road traffic and litter.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society is calling on our government to protect the UK's dwindling hedgehog population before it's too late. The petition calls to move hedgehogs to schedule 5 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 to allow them greater protection.

About Hedgehogs:

  • There are 17 species of hedgehog in the world. Only the European Hedgehog is native to the UK - although there are a growing amount of African Pygmy Hedgehogs kept as pets here, which are vastly different to our native species and cannot survive in the wild here.
  • Their diet consists of all kinds of invertebrates, amphibians, birds' eggs - anything they can catch. There has also been documentation of them eating roadkill!
  • Hedgehog spines are actually modified hairs and the average hedgehog has about 7000 of them.
  • Hedgehogs hibernate over the winter in a nest of leaves or logs called a 'hibernaculum'.
  • They weigh up to 2kg and have a lifespan of 2-3 years.
  • Hedgehogs are mentioned in ‘The Tempest’ and ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’, as to ‘hedgepigs’ and ‘urchins’.
  • They are lactose intolerant - so please don't feed them milk! If you'd like to feed them, meaty cat or dog food or cat biscuits accompanied by a shallow dish of water is appropriate.

View a map of hedgehog sightings on the Brayford Campus below. The triangles note that the sightings have been part of the Hedgehog Friendly Campus campaign.

Screenshot showing the Brayford Campus hedgehog sightings (https://bighedgehogmap.org/).

Extra resources:

What's on:

  • Climate Change Series: MyRiver: Re-thinking Floodplains and Intergenerational Strategies for Living with Floods - Professor Mark Macklin (24 February 11:00am - 12:00pm). This talk will be hosted live on YouTube. Details on how to access are listed via the link below:
  • Wildflower Identification Sessions with Professor Libby John - Join us on the first Friday of every month at 11:00 for an informal identification and discussion session on Microsoft Teams. Please contact us via email at environment@lincoln.ac.uk for an invite. The first session is on Friday 5th March at 11:00.
  • Nature Live - the Natural History Museum has a schedule of free events inc. talks next week on Nature Live Online: Mission to Mars (23 February 2021 15.00-15.45), & Mysteries of the Natural History Museum (Thursday 25 February, 13.00-13.45)
  • The Great British Wildflower Hunt is about seeing the wild flowers that surround us every day. Sign up this Spring and start documenting what you see over the warmer months:

February Campaign - Refuse, Reduce, Reuse

The University generates roughly 35 tonnes of waste each month, roughly 24 tonnes of general waste and 11 tonnes of recycling. Last academic year this equated to over 300 tonnes of waste produced, but bear in mind last year did include 4 months of the pandemic, which saw a reduction in staff and students on each campus and thus a reduction in waste generated.

You can make a difference to the waste generated on campus and at home through the following ideas:

  1. Ask yourself “Do I really need it?” “Will I use it?” “Have I got something at home that would work?”.
  2. Shop at second hand stores or charity shops.
  3. Take your reusable water bottle/ hot drinks cup with you when you go out.
  4. Don’t print unnecessarily. If you do need to print, use the double sided option or make the font size/margins smaller so the text fits on less pages.
  5. Buy air tight containers to put your lunch in, instead of using plastic bags.
  6. Say no to straws or plastic stirrers.
  7. Invest in menstrual cups and reusable pads.
  8. Repair items before buying something new.
  9. Take a shopping bag whenever you leave the house – you never know when a last minute purchase might grab your eye.
  10. Buy beauty products with zero, minimal or easily recyclable packaging.

Reduce food related waste:

  1. Buy food items with minimal/zero packaging – have you checked out the ECO refill stores in Lincoln yet?
  2. Plan your meals – use the freezer for leftovers!
  3. Buy dry/long life goods in bulk.
  4. Try loose leaf tea.
  5. Grow your own food.

If you want to review any of our previous newsletters, check out our library on our website below:

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Credits:

Created with an image by WikiImages - "earth world map", all other images & words by Alex Foxley-Johnson & Tracey Turton