Andy Clark

Indie Ecologist & Filmmaker, Producer: @HighWaterFilm, @vitaminseafilm. Big on collaborations to make the world a better place. Comms for @GrowninBritain.

[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

We’re re-releasing The Carbon Farmer! Calling for global restoration of #peatlands to sequester HUGE amounts of #carbon, and cascade loads of public and biodiversity benefits.
https://t.co/KV0Cu6ltWL
#CarbonFarming #PeatlandPavilion #COP26
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[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

On your with @HighWaterFilm and @WildSheffield tonight! 🎥

[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

Well said @BenGoldsmith ! Here’s to a future Britain of rewilded and denaturalised landscapes teeming only with thriving biodiversity, and many other things to a sensible, comparably smaller, degree.

[Ben Goldsmith @BenGoldsmith]

It’s time to talk about sheep. The unavoidable truth is that sheep are the principal obstacle standing in the way of meaningful nature recovery in Britain’s national parks and other agriculturally marginal landscapes. There is no getting around it. The sheep have got to go.

It is because of forensic grazing by tens of millions of sheep that great swathes of Britain are largely of trees and scrub, and impoverished of wildflowers, birdsong, wildlife. Go and visit any of our national parks and you’ll see for yourself.

If it wasn’t for sheep, there would be little meaningful objection to the reintroduction of lynx, wolves, and other iconic but temporarily missing British species - the absence of which has triggered a parallel explosion in the number of deer, which only exacerbates overgrazing in what should be our most precious landscapes.

Sheep have a brutal impact on the hydrology of our landscapes, compacting the soil and expunging vegetation, thereby making soil erosion, flooding and seasonal drought ever more frequent and ever more severe and costing the country billions each year.

Sheep are not native to Britain. They come from the arid hills of Asia Minor. They must suffer terribly soaked through and exposed on our windy, wet hillsides year-round. The fact that even English acorns are toxic to sheep says it all.

Britons don’t eat much lamb or mutton. So why are our landscapes stuffed with sheep? Sheep farming is in economic terms hopelessly non-viable, propped up solely with taxpayer subsidies. The average age of sheep farmers creeps ever higher, while their net income (including subsidies) creeps ever lower. There are no winners, only losers.

Yes there is something of a tradition of keeping hefted sheep in some landscapes, but the numbers were dramatically lower than they are today. Perhaps half a million across all of Britain in early Victorian times. There are now more than thirty million! A few sheep as a hobby in some places, fine.

But what’s really needed is a fair and just transition across our sheep-wrecked landscapes back to extensive farming with native cattle, of the kind that once grazed and browsed in vibrant wood pastures across vast swathes of Britain.

Traditional silvopasture (cattle amid scrub and trees) really is a silver bullet if ever there was one.

I don’t buy lamb or mutton any longer. It’s not right. If people want to keep sheep, of course that’s their absolute right, but they should not be subsidised with public money for doing so.

[Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall @HughFW]

Dear @michaelgove @grantshapps, it's time to lift the #onshorewind ban in England - it has the power to address #climatechange, help the UK meet its net zero targets, and give us all greener, cheaper electricity. And it’s not just me that thinks so. ⬇️ ✍🏼
https://t.co/cyTOJpBWuu

[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

Here we go! Presenting #NetZeroOptics on @OpSupAssc stage @100Optical #sustainability #optics

[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

Someone once told me (undisclosed source) that optics was boring - not so! What a great first day at #100Optical talking #NetZeroOptics with people ready to transform this industry!
Bring on tomorrow!
#Sustainability #eyewear #eyecare

[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

Had a great day talking to a collaboration of art, design, film and TV students at @TrentUni about #purposedrivenfilms!

[Gloucester Brewery @GBrewery]

🍺🌳Beer and Tree Planting Giveaway🌳🍺

We have teamed up with @treeapp_uk to celebrate #NationalTreeWeek and we are offering you the chance to win a case of Island (4.8%) and to plant 100 trees! All you need to do to enter is:
- Retweet ♻️
- Follow us and @treeapp_uk 🌳

🌳💗

[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

@philknott83 Fascinating and gorgeous! @cloudforester - any ideas?

[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

I can't yet put into words the profound impact that trees woodlands have on my mental health - but I certainly feel it if I spend too long away from a forest!
#WorldMentalHealthDay is incredibly important; the role of #nature in maintaining mental health cannot be undervalued.

[Grown in Britain @GrowninBritain]

This year #GiBWeek2022 starts on #WorldMentalHealthDay - and what an important subject to begin with!
The benefits provided by woodlands to our mental health and wellbeing are tremendous (valued at £141M in England alone)!
🌲💚🌳
Visit and enjoy the trees as much as possible.

[John Curtin @JPCurtinClimate]

1/ So today I completed my journey learning about the reintroduction of the Beaver to England after a 400 year absence - including they don’t just build lodges but - canals! A 🦫 based 🧵…..

[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

@Forest2Furnitur @GrowninBritain With my @GrowninBritain hat on - we do recognise and care about the work that you do @Forest2Furnitur , but as things are we can only certify timber from UKFS woodlands. I am working on a way to include you though, leave it with me.

[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

“Trees are not a nature-based excuse for business as usual”
🌳🌲🚗🛩🌍
Love this. Cracking animation by Robin Lane Roberts for @VasternTimberUK

[Vastern Timber @VasternTimberUK]

🌳Series Two of #WoodfortheTrees takes a closer look at the future of UK forests.

❓Tom and Charly continue their quest to ask awkward questions. The next film is out today.
https://t.co/4AGchecFux

🧵 Here's a thread of the story so far...
#Woods #Trees #Forestry #Film

[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

This year I've been working with @GrowninBritain and it's been an absolute pleasure to put together this short film to celebrate #NationalTreeWeek! Start growing your legacy...

[Grown in Britain @GrowninBritain]

It's #NationalTreeWeek, and for many of us, that gets us thinking about our legacy...
https://t.co/6mc7hAfa3H

[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

@RichardLindsa16 @clough_UEL @joannarich @Sarah_Proctor1 @StamfordBrooks @AdamCormack_

[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

We’re re-releasing The Carbon Farmer! Calling for global restoration of #peatlands to sequester HUGE amounts of #carbon, and cascade loads of public and biodiversity benefits.
https://t.co/KV0Cu6ltWL
#CarbonFarming #PeatlandPavilion #COP26
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[Andy Clark @TheTopOfTheTree]

#TheCarbonFarmer was produced with support from @IUCNpeat @WildlifeTrusts @nationaltrust @N_T_S @moorsforfuture and @beadamoss.
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