The Impact of Storm Boelo. What Can Be Done?

An AI-generated illustration

Tonnes of seaweed, plastic and wood washed up at the head of Loch Long after Storm Boelo, leaving debris across Arrochar’s foreshore, footpaths and car parks. 

The scale of the build-up has prompted calls for Scottish Government help with the immediate clean-up and a longer-term plan for a village where litter has been washing ashore for decades.

Councillor Iain Shonny Paterson brought together community leaders, Argyll and Bute Council officers, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park representatives, landowner Luss Estates and local charities on 5 November. According to the Friends of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, those at the meeting agreed that the volume of debris amounted to a local emergency and could hurt tourism beyond the village.

Can storm debris be put to use?

John Ritchie of 4c Design outlined a pilot backed by the Scottish Government’s CivTech programme and sponsored by the GRAB Trust. 

It will test whether anaerobic digestion can turn organic material such as seaweed into biogas and a nutrient-rich residue with potential use as fertiliser. Plastic and wood would be separated for recovery or disposal.

The pilot would be too small to handle the waste already on the shore, the charity said. Clearing it mechanically would mean lifting and transporting large quantities of mixed material, with disposal and potential landfill costs adding to the bill.

A causeway across Loch Long?

John Urquhart, chairman of the Friends, proposed a curved causeway across the head of the loch. The charity’s idea is to intercept floating debris and carry the A83 above projected storm-surge levels, taking heavy traffic out of Arrochar. It also envisages a sheltered tidal lagoon and wetland that could provide habitat for wildlife.

The proposal brings together three problems that often get dealt with separately. Where does the rubbish end up? How does the village cope with heavy traffic? How can the shoreline adapt to rising seas? The National Park’s climate risk assessment already identifies the A83 at Arrochar as an area at risk of flooding.

Urquhart said residents had lived with the problem for decades and that Storm Boelo had brought debris ashore on a different scale. “This is a wake-up call for the politicians in Edinburgh. It is time to get a grip!”

For Arrochar, the immediate question is who will fund the work to clear the shore. The longer-term question is how to stop the same debris building up again after future storms.

https://www.lochlomondtrossachs.org.uk

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World Animal Day: See the Forest Fires Through an Orangutan’s Eyes

Imagine carrying your baby to safety while the forest around you burns. 

The air is thick with smoke, the ground scorches your feet, and familiar routes to food and shelter have disappeared.

For orangutans in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan, this is a heartbreaking reality.

This year’s World Animal Day, on 4 October, carries the theme “See the World Through Their Eyes”. 

International Animal Rescue (IAR), based in Sussex, is urging us to do exactly that as its Indonesian partner, Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI), responds to devastating forest fires.

IAR’s current appeal reports that YIARI has rescued 38 orangutans from the fires. Behind that number are individual animals, including mothers desperately trying to keep their babies alive.

Among them is Mama Penja, rescued with her infant after they were found weak and severely undernourished. She had serious burns to both feet, thought to have resulted from walking across burning peat soil. Veterinary staff administered oxygen and fluids before taking the pair to the rescue centre for intensive care.

Another mother, Mama Man, was evacuated with her baby after fires left them isolated, with nowhere safe to escape. Although she had no visible burns, her infant showed worrying signs of smoke exposure.

These stories bring the scale of the emergency painfully close. A forest is an orangutan’s home, food supply, shelter and network of safe routes. When it burns, all of those essentials can vanish together.

Animals driven into plantations and closer to communities face further dangers, including hunger, injury and conflict with people. Smoke adds another threat, damaging the lungs of wildlife and affecting the communities living nearby.

IAR chief executive Gavin Bruce says a mother orangutan’s world should be somewhere she can find food and protect her baby. Instead, rescue teams are finding mothers and youngsters surrounded by fire and struggling to breathe.

YIARI works with authorities and local communities to locate animals in danger. Emergency treatment is vital, but so is protecting the remaining forest and preventing further fires, giving survivors somewhere safe to return.

For That’s Green readers, World Animal Day offers a moment to look beyond the flames and recognise the lives caught within them.

If you can help, consider supporting the rescue appeal or sharing it with others. Compassion begins with seeing their world; action can help protect it.

Find out more and support the International Animal Rescue Urgent Fire Crisis Fund.

https://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/appeal/urgent-fire-crisis-fund

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Protect the ’Pods Campaign Calls for Stronger Animal Welfare Laws

Animal welfare charities have launched a new campaign calling for crabs, lobsters, prawns, octopuses, squid and other sentient sea creatures to receive stronger protection under UK law.

Crustacean Compassion and Compassion in World Farming unveiled the Protect the ’Pods campaign in Westminster, accompanied by a giant lobster and octopus. Colourful stilt walkers helped attract attention as campaigners carried their message across Westminster Bridge and towards Downing Street.

At the heart of the campaign is a striking inconsistency in animal welfare legislation.

Decapod crustaceans, including crabs, lobsters and prawns, and cephalopod molluscs, including octopuses, squid and cuttlefish, are recognised as sentient beings under the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022. However, they are not currently covered by the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

This means the law acknowledges that these animals can experience pain and suffering without giving them the same practical welfare protection afforded to many other animals.

As the Animal Welfare Act approaches its 20th anniversary, the two charities are urging the Government to “get their Acts together” and close this legal gap.

Dr Ben Sturgeon, chief executive of Crustacean Compassion, said recognition of sentience meant little while the animals remained outside the scope of the main welfare legislation.

“The Sentience Act says they can suffer. The Animal Welfare Act should protect them,” he told That's Green. “It’s time to close the gap, align the Acts and give these animals the protection they deserve.”

James West, chief public affairs manager at Compassion in World Farming, described cephalopods as extraordinary creatures and said scientific evidence concerning their sentience was clear.

“Recognition was an important first step, but now it must lead to meaningful protection,” he told us.

The campaign follows recommendations from the Animal Sentience Committee, which has called for the definition of an animal to be applied consistently throughout relevant legislation. It specifically suggested that using the definition contained within the Sentience Act for the Animal Welfare Act would bring decapods and cephalopods under its protection.

The Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy has also acknowledged that gaps remain in the treatment and protection of these animals.

Through Protect the ’Pods, members of the public are being invited to join the “Pod Squad” and ask the Government to extend the Animal Welfare Act.

The campaign’s message is simple: if the law recognises that an animal can suffer, it should also protect that animal from unnecessary suffering.

Two organisations have united behind one clear demand: it is time to put the ’pods in the Act.

http://www.crustaceancompassion.org