Phil Sturgeon 🌳🚵⚓️
@philsturgeon.com
4.5K followers 1.2K following 2.4K posts
Co-founder of @protect.earth, a registered charity (England & Wales) creating/restoring woodlands and other knackered ecosystems to sequester carbon and fight the biodiversity crisis. Electric van life, bikepacking, and boycotting fossil fuels.
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
philsturgeon.com
Today is hopefully the last day of two straight weeks spraying Japanese Knotweed on the River Roding. There’s more than twice as much as was originally mapped, but we’re going hard to rescue this tidal marsh from being swallowed whole by the invasive menace. Hot. Wet. Smelly. @protect.earth
Two guys with protective PPE, masks, overalls, and knapsack sprayers. The knotweed is tall, above our heads. Shading out the sun. Sweaty Phil paddles a huge boat with a tiny wooden paddle. Carefully Phil navigates a silky brook of quicksand-like mud. Spraying up a bank of knotweed and bramble, trying not to get the bramble. Some is easier to access, like right next to a river walkway. Mostly not, but it’s a nice treat when it is.
Reposted by Phil Sturgeon 🌳🚵⚓️
brenttoderian.bsky.social
NEW: “Toderian says it’s easy to be distracted by futuristic innovations like electric cars, drone delivery networks & hyperloops. ‘The real solutions are a lot less sexy and a lot more common sense… Tech won’t save us if we get the fundamentals wrong.”

I was 1 of 3 urban experts asked to weigh in.
A world without traffic? Three urban experts rethink how cities move
Gridlock is costing us billions, but bold solutions like bus-only lanes, congestion charges and flexible work hours could get cities moving again
www.theglobeandmail.com
philsturgeon.com
The other day we took out some Japanese knotweed for a farmer who was worried it would spread to their beautiful ancient semi-natural woodland. Didn’t charge em anything. Can get you next (species are seasonal but you know what I mean).
A few square meters of Japanese knotweed far too close to an ancient woodland.
philsturgeon.com
Landowners/homeowners along the “Bristol Avon” or tributary/waterway (like the K&A canal): If you’ve got any invasive species (Knotweed, Bamboo, Balsam, Rhododendron, Cherry Laurel, Giant Hogweed/Rhubarb) Let @protect.earth know and we’ll remove it for voluntary donations. protect.earth/contact
Contact — Protect Earth
protect.earth
Reposted by Phil Sturgeon 🌳🚵⚓️
bobfromaccounts.bsky.social
Should be 200,000+ cycle journeys today in 2.5 weeks on the Embankment since the counter was fixed on the 24th of September. Chefs kiss London. @cs3cs6count.bsky.social
Reposted by Phil Sturgeon 🌳🚵⚓️
handle.invalid
Ancient woodlands need intervention to survive & thrive.

Humans put these ecosystems at risk & humans can protect & help return them to their former glory (and they are utterly glorious!)

How can you help?

Sponsor charities like Protect Earth & join us at events.

Join the gang!
philsturgeon.com
Nobody is paying for the ancient woodland restoration work we do at @protect.earth. Not special enough to access the elusive new grants (yet!)

Instead you can sponsor the work directly by the sq. meter. Keeps us in loppers, saw blades, and volunteer biscuits. 🫡 shop.protect.earth/products/anc...
Ancient Woodland Restoration
Help us to conserve and restore UK Ancient Woodland today. Your contribution will benefit the protection and restoration of ancient woodlands, a carbon rich habitat and precious woodland ecosystem her...
shop.protect.earth
philsturgeon.com
Even if one provider has reduced services for now, we need to massively increase seats moving around the country by 3x for decades if we're going to bring more people out of cars/planes/trucks, not content ourselves with short term hacks, or switching those intercity services to international.
philsturgeon.com
Yes, I know it won't happen.

I am taling about WCML capacity being suddenly noticed as an issue by people who have been fighting against improving WCML capcity.
Reposted by Phil Sturgeon 🌳🚵⚓️
philsturgeon.com
The WCML has been insanely crowded for decades and short term fluctuations are always absorbed.

There’s freight, local, intercity, all fighting for access on the same tracks and without making more tracks we won’t get meaningfully more capacity, especially not a new fast service from Man to Paris.
philsturgeon.com
Telegraph readers will be surprised to find out they need a passport to go places, and those passports need to be checked by both U.K/French customs at Manchester train station, which isn’t exactly overflowing with acres of spare space.

Who’s responsible for that? I forget.
philsturgeon.com
The Telegraph has been shitposting HS2 twice/thrice-weekly for almost a decade, and have been absolutely instrumental in getting so much of this critical infrastructure axed. Now they’re complaining it’s not going to be as useful, and noticing we’ll still have the issues it was set to solve.
philsturgeon.com
“Trains would need to run via the crowded West Coast Main Line…”

The WCML is crowded is it?

We should build a bypass taking some intercity trains off that crowded line so it’s less crowded.

Why aren’t we doing that The Telegraph. 🙃

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
Branson’s Virgin plots Manchester-Paris route to challenge Eurostar
Operator considers new direct services as it bids to secure Channel Tunnel access
www.telegraph.co.uk
philsturgeon.com
It’s been a huge pain in the backside trying to do it on others land, and we’ve not had the funding to do anything more than pit method. Considering the industrial model. Cut/stack, build up enough to rent a chipper and blast it into a 55t truck, send it off to a big biochar processing centre.
philsturgeon.com
Thank you for caring! Stick with trees, we’ve really got a huge hole in funding.

Some folks think orgs like us should focus less on new woodland and more on ancient woodland restoration, so I like people to vote with their subscriptions. Obviously both are critical to fixing this whole mess.
philsturgeon.com
Nobody is paying for the ancient woodland restoration work we do at @protect.earth. Not special enough to access the elusive new grants (yet!)

Instead you can sponsor the work directly by the sq. meter. Keeps us in loppers, saw blades, and volunteer biscuits. 🫡 shop.protect.earth/products/anc...
Ancient Woodland Restoration
Help us to conserve and restore UK Ancient Woodland today. Your contribution will benefit the protection and restoration of ancient woodlands, a carbon rich habitat and precious woodland ecosystem her...
shop.protect.earth
Reposted by Phil Sturgeon 🌳🚵⚓️
zackpolanski.bsky.social
Glad to see Nigel Farage has finally remembered Nathan Gill, former leader of Reform in Wales - found guilty of taking bribes from Russia.

Maybe he'll now remember how much he took from Putin's propaganda broadcaster Russia Today for all his TV appearances when he was a MEP?
Nigel Farage on Russia Today.
philsturgeon.com
Another ancient woodland rescued from hundreds of rhododendron near Rhayader! Solid crew of young and old today (ex-military 83yo absolutely ragging rhodos with just a bowsaw.)

If you’re struggling on your land give @protect.earth a shout. We’ll grab an army of volunteers and be right over.
philsturgeon.com
I cannot believe these protesters blocked traffic. First Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil, now psychotic paramilitary right-wing bigots on a hate march against protected groups. At least they’ll be locked away for years like the climate activists right?
Evangelical 'King's Army' group disrupts traffic in historic LGBTQ+ London district
A right-wing, evangelical group calling itself the King's Army blocked traffic on Old Compton Street in Soho while chanting anti-LGBTQ+ slogans.
www.thepinknews.com
philsturgeon.com
Help “English Patriots” realise Reform are Russian puppets.
zackpolanski.bsky.social
Ever since I finished Question Time, Reform have massively been on the attack.

Including a rant from Richard Tice entirely designed to distract from Reform and Russia.

Everyone should know about Nathan Gill, the bribes from Russia and the link to Reform.