Friends of the Cam was delighted to host Tony Eva's award winning new film, 'Pure Clean Water', in December. The film demonstrates how the Cam and its tributaries - a rare chalk stream system - have been exploited to the brink of extinction. The film played to a full house of people who are increasingly concerned about the impact of growth on the river system, as well as on green belt land, farming and people's wellbeing in general.
Professor Alejandra Mancilla talked to a group hosted by Friends of the Cam on the need for rights for Antarctica to be declared. The talk was reported in the Cambridge Independent, and the slides are available at the end of this summary. She is a member of a campaigning collective who are arguing for Antarctic Rights, launched on World Antarctic Day, December 1st, 2023.
Charlie Gardner, West Norfolk based conservation scientist, climate communicator and activist, set off from Jesus Green on Sunday September 24th on a 180 mile walk to raise awareness of global heating and sea level rise. His route took him entirely through land which is threatened by predicted sea level rise within decades. Friends of the Cam joined Charlie for the first leg of his walk.
Recording of Leana Hosea's talk can be found here.
Swedish climate academic Martin Hultman was in Cambridge on Saturday 30th September and Sunday 1st October, during which time we had an informal discussion and a walk along the river Cam. Martin was also interviewed by the Cambridge Independent in a piece: Masculinity 'weaponised' by the far right says Swedish academic ahead of Cambridge talk.
Friends of the Cam campaign for an unpolluted river, against over-abstraction from it, and the unsustainable growth in buildings and infrastructure that impact on both. Designating short stretches of rivers may lead to some very limited local improvement of water quality, at the expense of water quality elsewhere. Friends of the Cam opposed the DBA application in the consultation for reasons given below.
To an audience of between four and five hundred people, we rededicated the rights of the river Cam and its tributaries, on Jesus Green on Midsummer's Eve. On a sunny evening, we heard wonderful singers, musicians, and campaigners, including the fight to protect Honey Hill and the Wensum Link in Norwich, St Matthews Piece and St Thomas Park in Cambridge, and the indigenous battle to protect nature in Ecuador. Performers included Lefty Men Sing, Lila Shaw-Mitchell.
Cambridge City Planning Committee turned down the application by Queens College for a new development of student housing, which would have involved the demolition of existing student housing and a recently constructed nursery. Friends of the Cam was one of the local groups, and 2000 signatories to a petition, which opposed its construction based on the likely disruption to Paradise Nature Reserve, including its rare biodiversity and valuable wetland. FotC steering group member Jean Glasberg was a key opponent of the scheme, as a member of Friends of Paradise Nature Reserve.
30 March 2023, 6.30-pm. St Philips Church Centre, Mill Road, Cambridge. Booking (and directions) at Eventbrite here
Bill McGuire talks about the magnitude of the climate emergency facing us and what we can do about this, based on his latest book Hothouse Earth. Cambridge is located in one of the most vulnerable parts of the UK - its hottest, most low-lying, and most drought prone region - and yet those who govern us, invest in and plan for the area fail to address this.