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OGE: Hello and welcome to On The Outside, the podcast sharing diverse views on what’s happening outdoors. This is an outdoor news roundup for 10th July, 2023.
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For those that are new to OTO this is Oge, your friendly neighbourhood hiking girl! (I just saw the new SpiderMan animated movie and I’m obsessed) I’ve been a part of OTO for a while, I love the outdoors and hiking specifically, when I’m not finding a mountain or hill to climb, I’m learning how to swim and spending time with my family. I’m also part of an amazing hiking group called Black Girls Hike and have a TedX talk about the 2 things I love; hiking and the importance of community groups.
Here are a few stories that I wanted to share.
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Speaking of the importance of Community groups, ESEA Outdoors UK is a new community to connect outdoor enthusiasts of East/Southeast Asian heritage all around the UK. Whether you climb in the Peaks, hike in the Highlands or wild swim in Wales, this community is for you!
In an Instagram post, ESEA said “Many of us have felt like we don’t belong in the outdoors as the only Asian person on the hills, at the crag or in the water. In our posts we’ll improve the representation of ESEA people in UK outdoor spaces, empower each other to feel less isolated doing what we love and inspire others to join our sports and activities!”
Follow them at @eseasiansoutdoorsuk
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On Saturday, June 24, Muslim Hikers, a community group encouraging muslims to explore the outdoors, visited the stunning landscape of Gower, in North Wales. Around 150 people joined the hike from Mumbles to Caswell Bay, a walk of about 8 miles. A second hike also took place 1st July from Criccieth to Portmeirion that was just as successful.
The hikes were in partnership with Wales Coast Path and also a celebration of how much the community group has flourished.
The full Wales Coast Path is 870 miles or 1,400 km long.and officially launched on 5th May 2012.
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Patagonia has launced a global environmental campaign, focused on ocean protection and restoration. Through a series of films, website, petition, and events across Europe, Patagonia will mobilise individuals and call on governments to end bottom trawling, starting with an immediate ban in marine protected areas and inshore zones.
Bottom trawling is a method of fishing that involves dragging heavy weighted nets across the sea floor, and it is one of the most damaging practices for ocean and seabed ecosystems.
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The impact of rising sea temperatures poses a serious threat to marine species. Sea temperatures, particularly off the north-east coast of England and the west of Ireland, are several degrees above normal, smashing records for late spring and early summer. The North Sea and north Atlantic are experiencing higher temperatures, data shows.
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In some more fun sea news National Marine Week from Wildlife Trust starts on Saturday 22nd July and will run until Sunday 6th August - it lasts for a fortnight due to varying tidal conditions around the UK.
This year the Wildlife Trust is aiming to inspire a new generation of marine conservationists and volunteers through rock pool rambles, snorkel trails, beach cleans and other events that help nature, around the British Isles.
Lissa Batey, head of marine conservation at The Wildlife Trusts, said:
“We are encouraging young people to join events and find out more about the work being done to protect our shores and seas. From backing campaigns to beach cleans, there are so many ways to get involved.”
A full list of events and volunteering activities is available on The Wildlife Trusts’ website. To find out more, visit wildlifetrusts.org/national-marine-week.
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Some news from ultra-running, and Jamie Aarons set a new record-time for scaling all the mountains in Scotland that are higher than 3,000 feet (914m). Aarons finished the challenge in 31 days 10 hours and 27 minutes, breaking the previous record by more than 12 hours. The challenge was self-supported and she also ran, cycled and kayaked between each of the mountains.
The mountains in Scotland that are over 3,000 feet are sometimes called Munros, and the Scottish Mountaineering Club has listed 282 Munros.
"Munro bagging" is the activity of climbing all the listed Munros.
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Following the success of last year's Women in Mountain training conference, Mountain Training are hosting a series of online webinars covering a range of topic. The webinars include Making Menopause Matter and Understanding leadership styles and behaviours, and developing your own practice. Find out more at mountain-training.org/
Mountain Training is the collection of awarding bodies for skills courses and qualifications in walking, climbing and mountaineering that operates across the UK and The Republic Of Ireland. They’ve been running events to address gender disparity in mountain sports for years, and you can learn more about that topic in our episode “Afghanistan’s outdoors connections, gender disparity in mountain sports, and uptake in outdoors use” where Kirsty Pallas talked about her experience training to be a mountain leader.
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And lastly, I will be one of the many panellists at the Blue Earth Summit this year. The Blue Earth Summit is a three day event that brings together businesses from across industries and is about finding innovative solutions where people and the planet thrive. The power of the outdoors is at the heart of Blue Earth, and other speakers include Phil Young, and Hana Sutch who founded the Go Jauntly App.
Find out more at blueearthsummit.com
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Those are the stories for this episode. You can find links to all those stories and more in our newsletter.
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If you are not currently getting that, you can sign up ontheousidepodcast.co.uk/newsletter. And if you have any stories you would like us to share, please tag us on social media @ontheoutsidepod or send us an email to ontheoutsidepod@gmail.com.
We will do our best to share as many as we can.
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