Welcome to

Boiling Frogs Blog

Local Solutions to Global Problems

Welcome to

Boiling Frogs Blog

Local Solutions to Global Problems

In a nutshell we are a family living in Essex who are extremely concerned about the climate and ecological emergency, our children’s future and the alarming lack of preparedness shown by our communities to deal effectively with the consequences of a rapidly changing climate.

So we came up with a plan to do more than just stand outside Parliament waving our homemade placards. Instead, we will attempt to act as a catalyst to raise more public awareness of the problems and stimulate community action to prepare for what’s ahead.

Our website and social media activity will act as a showcase of solutions to raise awareness and stimulate debate within the general community. While our #EssexInTransition project will attempt to bring key stakeholders from the Essex third sector together under one roof so to speak to realise their vital role and collaborate in building a foundation of solution based initiatives for wider community participation.

We will endeavour to work together with common sense and a common purpose towards a Transition of Essex communities:

  • A Transition away from fossil fuels and industrial profit before planet mindset.

  • A Transition towards a greener brighter future and a reverence for nature.

  • A Transition towards strong local economies with Renewable Citizen Solar Community Ownership Projects and Local Cooperative Food Production and Distribution Networks.

  • And more…

We see Boiling Frogs Blog as a time capsule for our children and theirs. We hope it will act as a chronicle of the action taken by the people mobilising to cocreate a bottom up response to our climate and ecological challenges. Citizens coming together making the impossible possible.

Please join us!

#EssexInTransition

Bringing networks together because #TogetherWeCan

A Community project from BoilingFrogsBlog.org

#EssexInTransition is BFBs public awareness campaign and a call-To-Action.

The United Nations have called for a wartime-style mobilisation and a paradigm shift in thinking to combat Climate Change. Well, we are very sorry but we don’t see that happening here in Essex.

However, we believe that the citizens of Essex have all the expertise, experience and resources we need to start preparing our community and its citizens for the climate challenges ahead.

Local people taking action in their communities across the world is proving time and time again to be the only way to realise true and lasting social change. As a family we have decided to move our focus and energies away from protests and confrontation and move towards more peaceful community collaboration in cocreating the solutions. If you’re protesting or procrastinating you’re not preparing and repairing.

“If we wait for governments, it will be too late. If we act as individuals, it will be too little. But if we act as communities, it might just be enough, and it might just be in time.

– Transition Towns

Of course, we aren’t going to do all that needs to be done alone, now, are we? There are already many in the county that are working hard on aspects of climate and social justice. Our strategy is a simple one: get key elements of the third sector in Essex and local concerned citizens under the same roof, so to speak. Then encourage debate and collaboration leading to action appropriate to the situation and challenges facing our communities.

With the tools and support available from the Transition Network we intend to help cocreate a shared vision of communities in Essex coming together to reimagine and reorganise the local level. That’s because as communities we need to be more responsive, resilient and realistic to the challenges and changes of a global climate and ecological emergency. No one is coming to rescue us.

To get things going we are inviting members of six different networks already operating in Essex to come together and help realise the power and the potential of starting to talk with each other.

We think Professor Stephen Hawking summed it up perfectly when he said:

“For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk. We learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn’t have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.”

So let’s start talking! #TogetherWeCan

The six networks we are inviting to the table are: Transition Towns Network, Eco Church A Rocha Network, Essex University Network, Pesticide Free Towns PAN-UK Network, Essex wider 3rd Sector Network and The Greens.

The 6 networks will be invited by BFB to the Transition Together Digital Platform, Vive. For Debate -> Collaboration -> Action
  1. Transition Towns Network

    Transitioners and those already getting on with what needs to be done. They have lots of resources and expertise and are ready willing and able to help others to do the same.

  2. Eco Church A Rocha Network

    Dozens of local Christian churches going for gold while going for green. We will, of course, follow a multifaith approach to this network and welcome input from all of our community faiths.

  3. Essex University Network

    Sustainable academia and expertise with 20 thousand plus students with a very large stake in a brighter future.

  4. Pesticide Free Towns PAN-UK Network

    The science and sensibility of the continued use of toxic cocktails of chemicals in our streets, schools and places we play. Even though they have been proven time and again to be deadly to people, pets and planet. A diverse network from organic gardeners, bee keepers, childminders and landscapers to scientists and dog walkers.

  5. Essex wider 3rd Sector Network – 13 Essex Voluntary Associations and their members

    Charities of all types forward-thinking enough to declare a climate and ecological emergency and realising the vital role they must play in supporting community sustainability initiatives with their own expertise, influence, leadership and investment.

  6. The Greens

    Organisations and individuals from across the Essex Green spectrum from conservation to confrontation.

Creating a community think tank.

One of the more positive outcomes of the Covid crisis was that lots more people started to use the internet and associated technologies to come together, communicate and take action. We have an unmissable opportunity to use this technology to our advantage.

So working in partnership with the Transition Towns Network we will be inviting people from the above six networks to join us to talk about the climate and ecological elephants in the room on the Transition Together platform VIVE.

“Vive is an online space just for Transitioners and others working for community-led change. It’s a place where you can ask questions, share ideas and inspiration, and where we can learn, grow and support each other.”

Transition Together Digital Platform Vive where we can talk to one another and start planning real meaningful action.

Over the autumn, winter and spring of 2023/24 we hope that the people who except our invitation will get to know each other and ideas and collaborations will start to form and flourish.

Then by working in closer collaboration than ever before and with a shared vision, mobilise the community and initiate hundreds of new projects that will start to build the resilience that our communities and the most vulnerable members of them will need. Together supporting each other to adapt to the challenges ahead.

We hope together we can design and fund resilience building community-owned projects that will benefit the whole Essex community and the generations yet to come.

The Transition movement and its support network is perfectly situated to benefit greatly those of us in Essex willing to make a stand for people and planet. With support from the Transition Network our strategy can help instigate an Imagination Rebellion with dozens more new Transition initiatives. These initiatives can take many forms but we will be encouraging bold and ambitious projects like cooperative community-owned solar generation and storage, food growing and distribution networks, forest gardens with urban and rural rewilding. We want to see hundreds more community projects and thousands more people acting greener.

Of course, anyone interested in Transition issues should join in the conversation but please let’s keep it positive, polite, on point and productive.

Education to action conferences

We will also depending on available funding be cocreating online conferences for summer 2024 in three areas we believe to be of vital importance:

       1. #TogetherWeCan

Growing transition in Essex and where do we go from here with the help of Transition Together.

       2. #BeeTheChange #PesticideFreeEssex

In partnership with Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK) and other experts we will debate the severe consequences of the continued use of cocktails of pesticides on people and planet while strengthening the coalition of organisations and individuals that are calling for action against them.

       3. #CommunityEnergy #FuelingPositiveChange

Encouraging the 3rd sector to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in community-led people power. Using their expertise, experience and investment capabilities to help kickstart new community ownership energy, food and rewilding initiatives.

What else is BFB doing to raise awareness?

BFB website will be a smorgasbord of stories about people just getting on with it.

Our News From The Front (NFTF) bulletins will give the inspiring community pioneers and their stories a platform to be heard and shared.

Excellent examples from communities across the UK and beyond of what could be reproduced if supported in any given community including our own.

We will call on citizens to Take Action by joining initiatives or even start their own.

Online we will use our social media platforms to raise awareness of the issues and ask people to act as eco cyber warriors by joining ours and others’ online campaigns.

We will show you who to follow and who to not, the best content to inform and share, real world action options, hashtag campaigns, community investment opportunities and crowdfunding campaigns including our own and many many more Local Solutions to Global Problems.

Our Problems/Solutions categories include:

#BeforeTheLastTreeIsCut

Stories from citizens campaigning to save green belt and other natural habitat from a rising tide of concrete and plastic lawns.

#TheLastRiverPolluted

Horror stories from across the UK on what’s in the rivers and the people taking action.

#TogeterWeCan

Transition stories and other groups coming together to take action.

#BeeTheChange

Averting an insect Armageddon. The vital importance of biodiversity and what we need to be doing and not doing to help heal the natural world.

#CommunityEnergy

One of the best examples of local solutions to global problems. Citizen solar projects bringing power to the people and funding for jobs and further investment in a stronger, fairer local economy.

#EcoChurch & #WildChristians

Stories from Christian communities taking the lead on climate action, biodiversity and rewilding.

#CitizenScience

Utilising the powers of observation and communication of volunteers from the general public.

#Rewilding

Reintroducing species both plant and animal to bring ecosystems back into balance.

#InternationalDays

Celebrating and spreading the word of our vision, our determination and our successes by supporting international days.

And if all that wasn’t enough we have more for those who like vintage campaigns:

🌎 If you still believe in homemade placard waving and Petition signing

The latest petitions and their success or failure plus calls to gather outside Parliament and wave, AKA protest.

🌍 More about me and BFB

Some stories from way back in the day of my walk on part in the environmental movement.

And there you have it.

HOW MUCH WILL ALL THIS COST?

So far we have funded BFB ourselves but it hasn’t been easy. Like most people we need to pay the rent, the bills and feed the kids but that won’t take much. As a not-for-profit company we can put all the rest to good use and the more we can raise the more we can achieve. We are just getting started and there is a tremendous amount of work to do. So if you like the sound of what we are doing then please feel free to help out if you can.

Ways to support our work with your hard earned cash:

To support us with some of your time while on social media:

  • join us on Vive
  • follow us on social media
  • repost our posts
  • follow our hashtag campaigns

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres said:

“the era of global warming has ended” and “the era of global boiling has arrived.”

After decades of apathy over global warming we have all become like Boiling Frogs. Are you going to carry on just sitting there or are you going to join those us in leaping into to action?

BFB Categories so far....

We have prioritized Community Action into several categories below. Each one will give you some basic information on the topic. Our News From The Front section further below will give you regular updates on all these topics.

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Problem what problem❓
Above photo: myself with my son, my son with my grandson Why BFB? Since I can remember I’ve been totally flabbergasted that so many people are simply ignoring the truth about the drastic...
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"Averting the Insect Apocalypse"
Things we can do in our homes, our gardens and our communities to help nature heal. This #BeeTheChange section of BFB is all about the plight of those pesky insect species and how incredibly...
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International Days, what are they and why do we have them?
This section’s purpose? To promote international days and show how people can get involved in awareness raising either in the real world or by supporting online campaigns. It seems...
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#BeforeTheLastTreeIsCut
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This is the most...
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#EcoChurch and #WildChristian
Some People believe that Faith can move Mountains when in reality it’s chemical high explosives, high pressure hoses and bulldozers that are literally moving Mountains. I believe we...
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Growing the Transition Network in Essex
Time is running out! I have no idea how many protest rallies I have been on over the years. Our family rejoined the fray back in 2018 at the Cambridge Rise For Climate March. We definitely...
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🌍 If you still believe in homemade placard waving and the power of petition signatures
I would love to have a photo album dedicated to the homemade placards that I have either made myself or with my family and friends, and back in the day with Greenpeace. Banners, such...
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#TheLastRiverPolluted
Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink! In fact not a drop to swim in or use for cooking or watering crops. Fresh water contaminated with a deadly cocktail of everything from...
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#CommunityEnergy
#TakingBackOurPower Our societies’ energy requirements which some may identify as more of an addiction is a major global problem. There is no better example of how local solutions...
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#Rewilding
EXTERMINATED I love that word reminds me of Dr Who and the Daleks. How scared I was as a boy literally hiding behind the settee for every episode and ducking down when it got too scary....
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NEWS FROM THE FRONT

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Autumn Equinox
#BeforeTheLastTreeIsCut Lots in the news about HS2 and how recently even the government is questioning the validity of the project. Go figure! Of course, you have to consider that a general election is on the horizon and that my friends is like blood in the water to sharks. Is the indecision about the project first proposed by an outgoing Labour government all about the cost in financial terms or is it more about pleasing the potential electorate? Whichever it is there still seems to be no mention of the environmental cost like the impact on ancient woodlands, biodiversity...
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#BeeTheChange #BanUrbanPesticides
As l write: Saturday was named the hottest day of the year so far, with 32.7°C recorded in Heathrow. Forecasters predict that Sunday could be the seventh September day in a row where temperatures reach above 30°C. You could say that we have got off lightly compared to the summer experience in mainland Europe and the Mediterranean. Climate change is real, it’s happening and, of course, we are all still just seeing it as a beautiful Indian summer and more time on the beach. Already decimated insect species cannot slap on factor 50 and enjoy the chance to top up their tan. Climate changes are effecting...
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Late summer 2023
#BeforeTheLastTreeIsCut BFB is all about sharing stories about communities coming together to take action for the environment and the fight for Coton Orchard is one hell of a great story. It’s good to see some celebrities are giving their support to the cause. This is a fine example of a community making a stand or in their words “fighting for their ragged patch where nature clings on”. They have organised a crowdfund to help with the next phase of action details of which are below. If you can’t afford to donate then please support them by doing your thing on social media.   #TheLastRiverPolluted Imagine...
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Mid Summer 2023
More about me and BFB It’s taken a lot longer to build the foundation to our blog than I thought and it’s not really happening in real time yet. It’s the beginning of August as I write this and we are just about to edit and publish lots more categories to the blog and give you some ideas about how our News From the front will keep you updated with information from these areas of environmental activism. So bare with us and read on. #BeeTheChange So how was #WorldBeeDay and #NoMowMay for you? I have seen signs that our local parks department and highway maintenance people here in Sunny Southend...
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Snail's progress on Swift Bricks
The homelessness plight of some of our aerial fast mover friends came up a few months ago in a petition that we signed and shared with our social media networks. Like all good campaigns it is a collaboration between highly motivated individuals and organisations championing what little Biodiversity we have left. On Monday 10th July I spent some of my very valuable time watching the debate on #SwiftBricks in Parliament. What are Swift Bricks I hear some of you asking? Well, if you are fortunate enough to have Swifts, Swallows or House Martins living either in the eves of your home or in other homes...
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