Welcome to The Hotline, the 3-part mini-series answering environmental questions coming out of Lewisham, Croydon, Tower Hamlets and Hackney.

Show notes:

To kick off the show we discussed how to go about starting your very own community garden. A good place to begin is the Government’s Community Garden Toolkit and if you need an example of a Risk Assessment Checklist, we have you covered.

For further inspiration, we recommend having a look at the existing community gardens across the ELL boroughs. Find out which are closest to you in Lewisham, Tower Hamlets, Croydon and Hackney.

To learn more about local biodiversity have a look at No Mow May and Eco-Active UK which are running fantastic projects including The Buzzline.

If animal life is more your area of interest, the Zoological Society of London has cameras set up all over the city as part of Hogwatch, where you can catch wildlife in action.

For more information, explore the data on Tree Canopy Cover in ELL Boroughs and the recent UK legislation on Biodiversity Net Gain.

Episode 2: Biodiversity and green space, was edited and produced by Kate Balding. The show was researched and presented by Kate Balding and Pius Bentgens; with original music from Pius Bentgens.

You can catch up on The Hotline episode 1 and episode 3 now.

The Hotline was produced as part of the ‘Climate Refresh’. Want to learn more about local responses to the climate crisis? See the rest of the series here.