Guest blog by Elisabeth Goodman Spain:
“At a stone setting ceremony for a cousin earlier this year, I was standing to one side silently crying. Tears streaming down my face. A relative asked me whether I was OK, and actually, I was.…

Why tree planting presents special challenges in a warming climate, and what we can do about it.

I will be part of a panel at a screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing film this Thursday at Barrington Village Hall. This will be my third time seeing the film, but the first time seeing it in the context of what seems to be a Northern Hemisphere inferno the like of which we haven’t seen before. It’s hard to figure out what to say in a context like this. People want reasons to have optimism – and if optimism means motivation to do something there are loads of reasons to have that. If it means thinking everything is going to be fine, though, I’m not onboard. I’m convinced that what it will be, at least at local scales, is what we allow it to be.

A personal response to the group’s screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing Film.

How village life increases community resilience.

What co-chair Michelle Golder has been listening to and reading…

Something happened yesterday morning that deserves more attention than it will probably get. In the pre-market hours in New York, before any public announcement had been made, someone placed two enormous bets on the financial markets. One — worth $1.5 billion — wagered that stock prices would rise. The other — $192 million — wagered that oil prices would fall. Fifteen minutes later, President Trump posted on Truth Social that the United States had been holding "very good and productive conversations" with Iran, and that planned military strikes would be paused for five days.

The markets moved exactly as those bets had predicted. The oil position alone generated an estimated $100 million in profit within twenty minutes. The equity gains pushed the total considerably higher.

This is the moment to stop and ask ourselves a question: are we simply choosing not to see what is directly in front of us?

A response to the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation Consultation which argues that growth must be within our planetary boundaries now and must contribute to more and better democratic engagement, not less.

Click on the title to read.

We were delighted to collaborate with Little Owls in writing this article for our village magazine, March 2026 issue. Editor Melissa Fu made it even better with her excellent and careful edits.

There are good reasons for all of us to think actively and freshly about how we “do Christmas”.

Two gorgeous fields in Shepreth are benefiting nature.

Our 2025 AGM took place on April 2nd. Click to read about it.

The evidence is pretty clear. When people have to, they are very good at organising themselves out of trouble. Problem solving is our superpower, and since our systems are preventing us from exercising that as a joined-up population, we need to exercise it in smaller groups - at the street, neighbourhood, parish, county, town or city level. But we can’t do that while we’re on the motorway, pedal to the metal, and all our energy focused on keeping that bus on the move. Some energy needs to go into inventing a future that avoids the road and cliff at the end of it.