In photos: Bristol’s climate news – August 2024

Connor, Kashyap and Kaustubh, all 18, set off from Bristol for Munich on their bikes in a two-week cycling trip to raise awareness of the issue of soil health – photo: Kashyap Karthik

The trio met up with other Save Soil campaigners along the way – staying with one group in Belgium. They hope their trip can help more people to understand the devastating consequences of soil loss across the globe – photo: Save Soil

Soul Trail Wellbeing run courses for marginalised groups that inspire creativity with nature and the surrounding natural environment, in a bid to reduce stress and improve wellbeing – photo: Soul Trail Wellbeing

Their free programmes, which as well as artistic activities include hikes, foraging workshops and guided nature walks, begin again in September; details and bookings can be found at https://soultrailwellbeing.com – photo: Soul Trail Wellbeing

Yew Tree Farm, home to an abundance of wildlife including rare and threatened species, launched a fundraiser to cover the cost of a judicial review into the council’s decision to expand south Bristol cemetery into the farm’s land – photo: George Cook

Danica Priest, who has been active in the ‘save Yew Tree Farm’ campaign, organised a Yewnity event at the farm welcoming people from different backgrounds and ethnic minorities in the wake of the anti-immigration riots in early August – photo: Rob Browne

Most recently, an internal review exonerated the council of any wrongdoing in its decision making around the cemetery expansion. To support the farm in its ongoing battle with the council visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-yew-tree-farm-protect-nature-in-bristol – photo: George Cook

Nature Rising, a collaboration between the Black Seeds Network and Bristol Friends of the Earth, is celebrating its summer series of nature events for Global Majority communities with a gathering on September 8 – photo: Nature Rising

The events, which have included contributions from Flourishing in St Pauls, Bristol Rainforest, May Project Gardens and Divina Botanica, and community leaders including Judit Davis, Elsie Harp, Amrish Pandya, Tay Aziz, Tara Miran, Ian Solomon-Kawall, Gnisha Bevan, Roger Griffith, MBE and Mike Birkin, have focused on pollinators. Their celebration takes place at the Pickle Factory – find full details at creativeconnex.org/events – photo: Nature Rising

Herbs Yourself community garden held their first foraging workshop, where they discovered local plants with medicinal and culinary uses such as the prolific artemisia – photo: Herbs Yourself

Community organiser Bernie Muñoz and team are celebrating the garden being granted official approval by the council and looking forward to expanding the growing space in the coming months – photo: Herbs Yourself

Massive Attack caused a stir with their first hometown gig in five years which intended to set the bar for sustainable live music events, being the lowest carbon event of its kind ever staged – photo: Andre Pattenden

The group has been working with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research on a pioneering roadmap to sustainability for the live music industry – photo: Andre Pattenden

The Bristol Packet’s popular passenger ferry the Redshank became the first UK passenger boat to go fully electric, with lithium batteries and electric motors replacing the boat’s traditional diesel system. – photo: Bristol Packet

The narrowboat has been in continuous service since she was built in 1936, and could now play a real role in establishing the sustainability of the sector – photo provided by the Bristol Packet

Shambala – the brainchild of Bristol’s Kambe Events, once again proved it’s possible to run a quality event with top sustainability credentials – photo: Lindsay Melbourne

The festival’s theme, ‘wild and free’, encouraged attendees to take inspiration from and immerse themselves in the natural world – photo: Ursula Billington

There was a high calibre programme of environmental talks, shows and workshops, including ‘BirdGirl’, Bristol’s Mya-Rose Craig, who recently received an honorary degree from the University of Bristol

The festival has successfully eradicated single-use plastic as well as eliminating all meat and fish, and reducing emissions from audience travel with eco-travel packages – photo: Ursula Billington

Little ones have plenty of opportunity to start being inspired by the natural world at Shambala – photo: Ursula Billington