Conservation is not about setting things in aspic, it's about natural balance; getting the best outcome for wildlife, people and our economy.
The Thames Tunnel, which should prevent raw sewage spewing into the Thames as it passes through our Capital City in the 21st Century, is a typical example. It's also long overdue, which is why the RSPB has joined a coalition called Thames Tunnel Now.
I love the Thames and I love London, but London is a community heading for 8 million individuals. It's damning that the Victorian sewers designed to cope with a quarter of the population size we have today has never been upgraded, but it's no longer something that can be put off until tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow; to use a phrase you may hear escaping from the Globe Theatre on the Southbank.
However we arrived at this point, my view is that the Thames cannot continue to be polluted and that the best answer lies in a new dedicated sewer pipe. How it is built and paid for are excuses that have halted past action. There's so much we do know and so much that people refuse to want to know.. or to quote former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "Well, um, you know, something's neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so, I suppose."It's such a simple step to undertake. It's the simple steps that matter. One often leads to two, and then three, and before you know it, you're running.
Today - the first of November, more than 300 fish have died due to sewage entering the River Crane - a Thames tributary. An Environment Agency report is underway but it's yet another sign that London's infrastructure is groaning at the seams.
In the past six months, individuals like YOU have taken more than a million steps to support nature. That's quite a bit of ground we've covered together. But with common birds such as blackbirds, starlings and of course house sparrows vanishing from our Capital's gardens, we've a long way to go before the natural systems that keep us alive are protected.