Earlier this year, Darlington Borough Council declared a nature restoration emergency. The move was described by advocates as a win for nature, driving enhancement of depleted green spaces.

What’s not to applaud? And yet, council opposition called out the motion as daft, arguing that resources would be better focused on supporting people facing inequalities, “not pie-in-the-sky green and woke agendas”.

So, when did wanting to protect and enhance nature become ‘woke’? While widening inequality needs to be reversed, at speed, how can that happen by being pitted against nature?

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