lnspiration from Ocean and the Regen Festival on Parker’s Piece

Inspiration from Ocean (2025), and the Regen Festival on Parker’s Piece.

I recently went to the see the film Ocean (Not Oceans, part of Blue Planet, though both feature David Attenborough.) This is the second time I have seen it and it was definitely worth watching again. The film is horrific in places but also beautiful. The horrific bits include the trawling for fish and shellfish and consequent devastation of the sea floor vegetation and (separately) the turtle tangled up in ghost fishing gear. Did you know that trawling is still allowed in most marine protection areas? Hopefully not for much longer, however.  Also in this blog post I describe my reaction to snorkelling over a coral reef, some advice on avoiding microplastics and the book: ‘A Dairy Story’ about adapting a dairy farm to avoid separating calves from their mothers. 

The most beautiful bits of the film were undoubtedly the kelp forests, and I also loved the footage of huge orcas (or something like - we could only see part of the head) delicately picking up and eating sea urchins. This is akin to watching donkeys eat stinging nettles. 

Experiencing a coral reef had an amazing calming effect on me.

The film reminded me of the first time I went snorkelling. This was on a tropical coral reef and it was the best thing I have ever done in the sea. As soon as I put my head under the water I was overwhelmed by the vibrant colours and strange contours of the coral, the bright markings on the fish and other sea creatures nosing around, making bubbling noises; I felt the most amazing sense of calm; I am sure my heart slowed. The worst result of climate change in my view is the effect on coral. However there is hope as the coral can sometimes recover from bleaching. 

Microplastic is another threat to marine environments though there is legislation to reduce this.

Anyway, seeing this film again reminded me that climate change is not the only threat to sea life. Plastic is another. I wrote about it in this blog once before. Microplastic is still a huge issue though there have been helpful changes to legislation.

In 2018, sale of rinse-off soap, shower gel etc. with micro beads was banned.

In 2021, the 5p charge for plastic carrier bags was introduced.

Avoiding microplastics in the home.

The issues around microplastic are quite complex but this web page gives useful advice about how to avoid microplastics at home. by avoiding:

• Plastic cutting boards. (The page recommends glass instead but that is terrible for blunting knives. We use wood, which is actually less likely to be contaminated.
• Plastic tea bags (paper ones have less plastic)
• Microwavable food containers (use glass rather than plastic)
• Ice cubes made in plastic trays – use stainless steel
• Paper cups (lined with HDPE)
• Synthetic makeup

I greatly enjoyed the book: ‘A Dairy Story’ about adapting a dairy farm to avoid separating calves from their mothers. 

The day after the film, I went to the Regen festival on Parker’s Piece and there were many interesting stalls. One was selling books and I bought ‘A Dairy Story’  which is about a husband-and-wife dairy farming couple who decided they wanted to stop separating the calves from their mothers. This is a big deal for a dairy farm as calves consume a lot of valuable milk. However, the separation causes much distress both for the mother and the calf. Spoiler – it took a few years but they did manage to change their practices and still run at a profit. Their new scheme involves ingenious tricks such as

 

• Giving the new calves some stored colostrum (the first milk which is very rich in antibodies) to protect the calf from disease when they are only a few hours old
• Configuring the milking parlour so there is room for the calf to stand next to their mother – reassuring for both mother and calf. 
• When the calf is big enough they are separated overnight to start with, so that the mother has milk for the farm in the morning. 
• Keeping mother and calf happy and (mostly) free of stress is essential as otherwise the mother will not let down milk. I do like it when the requirements of welfare and profits coincide.

There is a directory of dairy farms using calf-with-cow methods. 

Pasture-reared chickens.

I was also impressed by a stall from Castor’s Pastures who sell pasture-reared chickens.

The chickens are kept in portable coops that are moved a few metres every day giving the grass and soil time to recover from the devastation of the chickens’ foraging. They sell online with chicken meat packed frozen. However the shipping is expensive (slightly more than the meat) and we can get free range chicken from our local butcher if we organise ourselves to go there on the right day of the week before they have run out. Obviously free range is not the same as pasture fed, organic and regenerative. However, wherever they range the chickens will produce manure which is a powerful fertiliser so there are regenerative effects.

Meeting people ‘at the coalface’

I am always on the lookout for tips on how to be more sustainable without too much effort. Reading academic articles can be very useful but other media can be more accessible and just as relevant. I especially enjoy meeting people ‘at the coalface’ like the farmers at the Regen festival and reading true life stories like ‘A Dairy Story’. Personal experience, even if it is second hand, is essential for understanding where there is a conflict between sustainability and profit (and often how it can be overcome.) This is the first year of the festival and I do hope it returns next year.