Plastic, is not the disposable, one use magic material we were led to believe in the 1950's. The miraculous cheap, lightweight, disposable, durable substance, was years later, discovered to be toxic, none biodegradable, and is having a huge global negative effect for both humans and animals. Plastic never disappears into nothing, it is always there, breaking down into small micro plastics, which attract toxic, harmful chemicals damaging all life on the planet including ourselves. Fish in the oceans, are consuming, these meaning that we are too. It's killing marine plant life which provides 70% of the earths oxygen, after all, the world is mostly blue, not green. We've produced more plastic in the past ten years than we have in our entire history with not even half of it being recycled. 8 million tones of plastic being put in the ocean a year. Other countries across the world are taking the lead with plastic bag bans, plastic cutlery and plates bans and the 'zero waste Europe' network installing plastic bottle deposit and recycling schemes, why are we so behind!? Further reading... FEW FACTS It’s a durable, versatile material ideal for many applications, however, over 50% of it is used once then thrown into landfills or the ocean. More than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped in our oceans every year 300 million tonnes are produced every year, producing more over the last ten years than during the whole of the last century. To produce one plastic bottle, it takes 6 litres of water. Which is six times the amount of water that’s going to be put inside it! Plastic production accounts for 8% of the world’s oil preserves. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT Fish in the north pacific ingest 12,000 to 24,000 of plastic per year. 97.5% of Laysan Albatross chicks (Sea birds) have plastic in their stomach causing death and potential extinction. The ratio of plastic to plankton in the Mediterranean Sea is 1 to 2. In the most polluted places there’s six times more plastic than plankton. 1 in 3 species of marine species are endangered from entangled in marine litter and ingestion. Plastics toxic emissions are damaging marine eco systems which are dependent on marine plants. These plants produce 70% of the earths oxygen and remove 40% carbon. This has resulted in over 405 dead zones in the world, 5000 sq miles of the gulf of Mexico almost devoid of life being one of them. HOW THIS EFFECTS HUMAN HEALTH? Scientific research has proven plastic releases harmful chemicals. Micro plastic in the ocean absorb high levels of pollutants and dangerous endocrine disrupting chemicals, which can cause cancerous tumours, birth defects, infertility, developmental disorders and anything else hormone related. Fish that we eat are eating these plastics meaning it’s getting into our systems as well. NOT DISPOSABLE You can never ‘throw plastic away’, it’s always there. Either in the form of a smog in the ocean, or shipped to different countries. Since recycling is not a very profitable market. China banned being sold plastic in 2016, so now it gets exported to places like India where people sort through endless rivers of rubbish to find pieces to sell. The rest makes it was down the river into the sea. WEBSITE REFERENCES http://www.greenseas.org/ http://www.plasticoceans.org/ https://www.5gyres.org/

The seafront at Prestwick and the roads leading down to it are constantly fouled. This impacts on the whole community and gives a bad name to the majority of dog owners who take responsibility for their animals.

I believe that the public display of planning permission notices should be a compulsory part of the planning process for applications to carry out work on trees with Tree Protection Orders and in Local Conservation Areas. At the moment there is no 'requirement' to display such public notices. This means that the first local people know of work to these special trees is when the work actually starts. This is likely to be long after the window of opportunity for comment as part of the planning process has passed. I became aware of this issue recently when I was looking on our local planning authority website after hearing a rumour of tree work in our local park. It was only then that I found out that one of the trees to be felled was a much loved local Oak. The park is in a Conservation Area. I felt devastated that it was already too late to have any input into the application. I hadn't known to look on the planning website beforehand to check on tree work as I had assumed any notices would be posted nearby as with other types of planning application. I tried everything I could think of to save the tree but all to no avail. I doesn't seem right to me that trees with supposedly protected status have so little protection in practice and I feel that others will also be shocked to learn that permission can be given to fell these special trees without consulting or even informing local people at all. Please sign my petition to help protect our special trees for future generations and wildlife to enjoy.

I have visited Turtle beaches in Northern and Southern Cyprus, and many other countries around the world. I have been very upset in finding rubbish of all sorts floating in the sea. Some of these are dangerously small particles such as broken down plastic, and bottle tops and other types of plastic which break into tiny pieces and get into the eco - system and into the stomachs of marine life around the world, and cause great pain, distress and even death. This is becoming very serious as the particles are so small they are now found in the stomachs of plackton pretty well the smallest form of life in our seas, and is a staple diet of many marine animals including whales. In the long term this will do untold damage not only to the marine life, but it will also get into our food chain with unknown consequences. Turtles are beautiful creatures and live all of their lives out at sea from the moment they hatch. Only one in a thousand will survive out in the oceans, and one of the things that will kill them on a regular basis are plastic bags. They feed on jelly fish, as part of their diet, and when they see a plastic bag they think it's a jellyfish and will eat it with diar and very sad consequences. The sea is the most wonderful enviroment for all of us. Not only providing us with fish to eat, but the most wonderful holidays with swimming, surfing, scenery, sailing, sandy beaches, rock pools the list is endless. Not only that, it helps to control the temperature of our world, and yet we treat it with distain. There is so much pollution and rubbish tipped into the oceas everyday, that more and more marine life is being affected. One of the main culprits is body scrubs and toothpastes. They contain thousands of small plastic beads which find their way into the sea, and then consumed by marine life. So to help please DO NOT buy these products unless the ingredients are peach kernels or sugar instead. More needs to be done in using plastic bags for fruit and vegetables at the supermarkets. It's been a start to pay for plastic carrier bags, but these small plastic bags in the fruit and veg area, are just as dangerous in our countryside and oceans, please encourage the supermarkets to use brown paper bags, which are far better and don't make the fruit and veg sweat, and are recyclable. The government is banning some products but not all, and a great more needs to be done, as there are more products out there which use plastic including cleaning products. If you love our planet, and everything about nature, then PLEASE sign my petition so we can help our beautiful oceans and everything that depends on it to live, including us, and our grandchildren to come. A BIG and heartfelt THANK YOU.

Loch Ness is under threat from over 500 wind turbines approved and in the planning stage within a 22 mile radius. Loch Ness and the Great Glen are now prime targets for windfarm developers. There are calls to classify Loch Ness and the Great Glen a World Heritage Site because of their international importance. They are Scotland’s second most popular tourist draw. Yet, environmental destruction could threaten some of the Highland’s most scenic areas. Loch Ness and environs and the Great Glen are under threat as never before from the attention of wind farm companies. You can make a difference by signing a petition to the Scottish Parliament pleading to save Glen Urquhart, Loch Ness and the Great Glen. These are the world’s most beautiful landscapes and contain some of Europe’s last remaining wild land. http://www.savelochness.com/main.html http://www.stop-turbines-at-glenurquhart.co.uk/index.html http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/2015/04/03/loch-ness-anti-wind-farm-campaigners-speak-out-about-new-turbine-proposals-for-this-scenic-scottish-jewel/ Windfarm developers Force9 have now appealed this ruling to turn down the windfarm at local authority level. They have now appealed to the Scottish Government. https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands/914554/victory-for-campaign-after-windfarm-above-loch-ness-is-turned-down/ https://www.johnmuirtrust.org/about/resources/774-cnoc-an-eas-wind-farm

Portavoe holds a special place in our hearts, and it would be devastating to lose such a haven of beauty and tranquility. The decommissioning of our open reservoirs and placing them onto the open market has quite rightly caused outcry from us, the public, who have enjoyed them for so many years. A local property developer has won a recent High Court battle with Northern Ireland Water in his wider bid to buy lands, and if successful could completely ban the public from them. NI Waters fought the case at the High Court as hard as they could, but the judgement could be subject to appeal. Ards/North Down Councils had also expressed interest in purchasing the land for the benefit of all residents. Please sign the petition to show your support for keeping Portavoe accessible to all! For more information please follow "Friends of Portavoe" page on Facebook.

In the UK we use a staggering 38.5 million single-use plastic bottles and a further 58 million cans every day! Only half of these are recycled, so it’s no surprise that many of these end up on our beaches and in our oceans. Plastic bottles take 450 years to break down, killing marine life, harming the coastal ecosystem and ruining our beaches. Placing a small deposit on plastic bottles and cans would dramatically increase recycling and reduce marine plastic pollution. This petition has been set up by Surfers Against Sewage, a marine conservation charity. Find out more about Surfers Against Sewage here: www.sas.org.uk For more information on deposit return systems please visit Surfers Against Sewage’s Message In A Bottle campaign site. https://www.sas.org.uk/messageinabottle/ A delegation from Surfers Against Sewage will deliver the petition signatures to the Governments in Westminster (London), Holyrood (Edinburgh), Senedd (Cardiff) and Stormont (Belfast).

Between August 2012 and January 2016 Amey the Council contractor felled over 3500 trees across Sheffield. Now they are planning to chop down many of our local street trees. While some of these trees are near the end of their life and should be replaced, many others are mature healthy trees that help to keep the air clean (1), protect our homes from flooding (2) and provide a habitat for local wildlife (3), as well as making our streets nicer and healthier places to live (4). Mature trees are particularly good at filtering out pollution (5), cooling the air in summer (6) and maintaining nature's delicate balance (7). Four of the trees are said to be damaging the pavement and are therefore discriminatory to disabled people and those using pushchairs. We believe the damage is minor and does not significantly impair accessibility for disabled people, or the use of prams and pushchairs. Sensitive engineering solutions (8), such as use of flexi-pave and/or pavement restructuring and localized remediation near trees, with kerb stones sculpted to accommodate root morphology, would represent a sustainable solution to perceived problems. The other trees are said to be diseased or dangerous. Our independent ecologist says with sensible management the above 11 trees will thrive for many years and should definitely be saved. The Council carried out a survey of households to see if people wanted to save the trees. This was deeply flawed as many houses and in some cases whole streets were missed out. References (1) Karl, T., Harley, P., Emmons, L., Thornton, B., Guenther, A., Basu, C., & Jardine, K. (2010). Efficient atmospheric cleansing of oxidized organic trace gases by vegetation. Science, 330(6005), 816-819.http://www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6005/816.short Escobedo, F., Kroeger, T. & Wagner, J. (2011). Urban forests and pollution mitigation: analyzing ecosystem services and disservices. Environmental Pollution, Volume 159, pp. 2078-2087.http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?cluster=14928633190131047233&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5 (2) Trees and Design Action Group (2012). Trees in the Townscape: A Guide for Decision Makers, s.l.: Trees and Design Action Group.http://www.tdag.org.uk/trees-in-the-townscape.html Construction Industry Research and Information Association, 2013. CIRIA Research Project RP993: Demonstrating the multiple benefits of SuDS – A business case (Phase 2). Draft Literature Review. [Online] Available at: http://www.susdrain.org [Accessed 25 May 2015].http://www.susdrain.org/files/resources/ciria_guidance/ciria_rp993_literature_review_october_2013_.pdf (3) Ewers, R. M., & Didham, R. K. (2006). Confounding factors in the detection of species responses to habitat fragmentation. Biological Reviews, 81(01), p. 117-142. http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?cluster=1003233194462145743&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5 Gilbert‐Norton, L., Wilson, R., Stevens, J. R., & Beard, K. H. (2010). A Meta‐Analytic Review of Corridor Effectiveness. Conservation Biology, 24(3), p. 660-668. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01450.x/full (4)Sarajevs, V. (2011). Health Benefits of Street Trees, Farnham: Forest Research. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/INFD-8JCEJH Williams, K., O'Brien, L. & Stewart, A.. (2013). Urban health and urban forestry: how can forest management agencies help?. Arboricultural Journal: The International Journal of Urban Forestry, Volume 35, pp. 119-133.http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03071375.2013.852358 (4) Shackell, A. & Walter, R. (2012). Greenspace Design For Health And Well-being, Edinburgh: Forestry Commission.http://www.forestry.gov.uk/PDF/FCPG019.pdf/$FILE/FCPG019.pdf Velarde, M., Fry, G. & Tveit, M. (2007). Health effects of viewing landscapes – Landscape types in environmental psychology. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Volume 6, p. 199-212.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1618866707000416 (6) Forestry Commission (2011). The UK Forestry Standard: The governments’ approach to sustainable forest management. 3rd ed. Edinburgh: Forestry Commission. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/ukfs (7) Gonzalez, A., Rayfield, B., & Lindo, Z. (2011). The disentangled bank: how loss of habitat fragments and disassembles ecological networks. American Journal of Botany, 98(3), p. 503-516.http://www.amjbot.org/content/98/3/503.full (8) Trees and Design Action Group. (2014) Trees in Hard Landscapes: A Guide for Delivery. TDAG http://www.tdag.org.uk/trees-in-hard-landscapes.html To find out more visit Save Norfolk Park Trees on Facebook.

I planted this wood at the edge of Brampton Ash, near Market Harborough 6 years ago and it is thriving with wildlife. Some trees are now 30 foot high and there are field mice, hares, rabbits, badgers, hawks and Muntjac. It may be a small wood, but it is a living, precious eco system that should be protected at a time when every tree counts. Please save Tempest Wood. Thank you.

Reducing the speed limit will make the Village a safer place for all users Increasingly it is accepted that 20mph speed limits save lives, and they are being implemented on roads across many London boroughs. Where cyclists and horse riders must share space with motor traffic, reducing the speed differential is important: both for reducing the risk of death and injury, and for creating more pleasant cycling, horse riding and walking environments.

In the village of Cornforth is a deserted public house in an extremely unsafe condition and is also being used as a point for fly tipping. Concern for the health of our children and the environment of our village has led us to forming this petition. Will Cornforth residents please sign and share this link.

At almost two hundred years old, Northfields Allotments is London's oldest allotment site. It dates back to 1832, when the Bishop of London enclosed the site for use as allotments by the local community. The original allotments were more than twice their current size, however over half of the site was compulsorily purchased and built on several decades ago. We now fear that we could be facing the loss of the remainder of the site. Northfields Allotments is an important heritage site and we believe it should be given the same protection as Ealing’s many parks and public open spaces. The importance of allotments in London is recognised at the highest levels. The Mayor of London’s London Plan clearly states that “Boroughs should protect existing allotments” (section 7.22). The benefits provided by allotments are widely acknowledged. A large and growing body of academic research makes clear the social, mental and physical well-being benefits provided by community green spaces. What’s more, the Public Health Agency has identified numerous benefits of allotments to the community, including the promotion of good mental health, physical activity and nutrition, as well as the encouragement of social interaction. At Northfields Allotments, we have 141 plots with 72 people on the waiting list so demand is high. 29 plotholders live in flats meaning their allotment is their only garden. We have many families on site, with the result that the allotments provide approximately 50 children with a safe place to play and learn about nature. We have more than 25 retired plotholders who love the exercise, fresh air, and social aspect of being part of an allotment community. The allotments are an important habitat for a wide variety of wildlife, including hedgehogs, nesting birds and insects – and in particular stag beetles, which are endangered and protected. Bats are regularly sighted, not only feeding over the allotments, but also using the ancient hedgerows for navigation. These hedgerows are recognised by Ealing Council as a Site of Interest for Nature Conservation (SINC), which is supposed to provide protected under planning legislation. We recognise that housing is important, but so are green open spaces. It shouldn’t need to be a choice and there are alternative options that would allow Pathways to house its residents while leaving this historic site untouched by development. Ealing is already extremely built up. Once green space has been built on, it is lost to the community forever. This is why we implore Ealing Council’s planning department and planning committee to protect the allotments from development, whether that be now or at any point in the future.