Sustainability

Features focusing on the environment and sustainability issues in Eastbourne and along the East Sussex coast. Depth and originality from a not-for-profit set-up. Join as a member through the KoFi link to help create a sustainable news model and minimise ads. Many thanks!

Tech Resort Eastbourne

SPOTLIGHT: How TechResort changes lives 

Sam Best was researching jobs and considering his future when he came across the Japanese philosophy of ‘ikigai’, said to be the secret to a joyful life.  The 19-year-old found that the idea was to fulfil four categories: do what you love, do what the world needs, do what you are good at and do […]

Read More

SPOTLIGHT: Why chalk grasslands are so important for all of us

By ecology-trained consultant Julie Bygraves, of Wild Bourne It’s hard to express how special a chalk grassland is – you just have to go to see one. It’s also hard to explain what it is: in genetic terms it’s an assemblage of rare plants on chalk! But the constituent species can vary enormously depending on […]

Read More
Chalk grassland near Eastbourne

SPOTLIGHT: Concern mounts over the future of fragile chalk grassland 

I visit the scarp slope of the South Downs with an ecology-trained adviser and an Old Town local who has walked the area for more than 25 years to hear their fears about how scrub is encroaching on the rare chalk grassland. A company is paid £9,300 of public money a month to implement a […]

Read More
Eastbourne United football club

SPOTLIGHT Artificial pitch approved for Eastbourne United 

Artificial turf has been approved for Eastbourne United football club despite opposition from residents. People living near the ground argued the scheme would bring a huge increase in pitch use and traffic as well as adversely affecting the environment.  The club has welcomed the decision as the catalyst to attract more community use to The […]

Read More
Ocklynge Chalk Pit Eastbourne neighbours

SPOTLIGHT: Neighbour’s fears over plan for homes in old quarry 

A 93-year-old woman who has lived in her home for more than 60 years has voiced concerns over a plan to build 18 houses at the bottom of a sheer drop in Ocklynge Chalk Pit next door.  Silvia Verrall (above) moved to her house in Willingdon Road when it was built in 1961 and the […]

Read More

SPOTLIGHT: Call for citizen scientists to help spot dolphins 

Sailors, nature watchers, fishing enthusiasts and boat operators are being asked to help spot the UK’s smallest population of rare coastal bottlenose dolphins off the coast of Eastbourne.  The south coast pod of only about 40 dolphins is known to swim along the Sussex coastline but travel as far afield as Cornwall, making it difficult […]

Read More

SPOTLIGHT: Call to combat plastic pollution bridges political divide 

Both the Liberal Democrat mayor of Eastbourne and the town’s Conservative MP were today united in their call for a community-wide effort to stop plastic pollution on beaches and in the countryside.  Hundreds of people enjoyed an Eco Fair in the shade of the big wheel on Eastbourne seafront this weekend as the sun shone […]

Read More

SPOTLIGHT: Families highlight need for safe cycle routes 

More than 100 people of all ages joined a family-friendly bike ride around town to highlight the need for safer cycle routes in Eastbourne.  The ‘Kidical Mass’ ride started in Gildredge Park and followed a loop through the town, down the ‘bus-only’ section of Terminus Road next to The Beacon shopping centre, towards the seafront […]

Read More

SPOTLIGHT: Coast lovers join sea swimmers in sewage protest march 

Some 200 people joined a march along Eastbourne seafront over May Bank Holiday weekend to protest against the use by Southern Water of storm overflows.  The protesters walked from near the Wish Tower to the beach at the Langham Hotel on Sunday, waving placards and chanting: “Stop the sewage, save our seas!”  The organisers then handed […]

Read More

A Day in the Life: the co-ordinator of a community food project

Name: Sally Lee   Role: Project co-ordinator of Rooted Community Food How long I’ve been doing this: Six months  How I got here: Through an accumulation of factors, but mostly because I found it increasingly difficult to witness what we are allowing to happen to our beautiful planet. I had been a climate activist for a […]

Read More