Today, 5 June 2021, is World Environment Day.  This year’s theme is Ecosystem Restoration and the day marks the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.  In this post we share some ways to celebrate.

Explore your local ecosystems: Take a break from studying and get to know your local flora and fauna.  We are lucky to have meadows, rivers and woodland all within a few minutes’ walk of the SSL, including New Marston Meadows, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is located on the other side of the River Cherwell from the University Parks.  Look out for butterflies, kingfishers and swifts and let us know what you discover.

Read up:  Choose some inspiring reading from our selection of SSL books on restoration ecology.
Or take a look at these books recently enjoyed by SSL staff:

A Sting in the Tale by Dave Goulson, about the conservation of bumblebees and their habitats, and Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.Welcome wildlife into your outdoor spaces, whether that’s a window box, balcony or garden.  SSL staff have been leaving nettle patches and wild flowers to grow, taking part in No Mow May, providing nest sites for bees, ladybirds and other insects, adding a pot of bee-friendly plants to their balcony, and even digging a pond.  One colleague made an insect house out of old bits of wood and fir cones in an upturned flower pot.  If you’d like to try this, the RSPB provides a great guide to building your own bug hotel. And finally, if you’d like to learn more about global ecosystems, why they matter, and how we can all help protect and restore them see https://www.worldenvironmentday.global