Thousands of soldiers have stepped forward to take part in The Global Charge – an initiative to secure a better environment for future generations, the British Army say here.

Some 8,000 personnel volunteered their time to participate in tasks such as cleaning riverbeds and beaches, building bridges and tree planting.

“The Global Charge initiative focuses on people’s individual contribution, encouraging them to get involved in making changes to benefit the climate, conservation, and sustainability footprint. In essence, to focus on their personal legacy.”

The military driving force behind the project, Major General Tom Bateman CBE, General Officer Commanding 1(UK) Division said:

“There are plenty of people making substantive contributions to increase the resilience and sustainability of the planet. Their work is inspiring in its energy and impact. However, there are billions of people in the world who remain passive. They acknowledge the problem but fail to enter what Theodore Roosevelt termed ‘the arena’ or are stopped by the sheer enormity of the challenge and their inability to see a pathway to follow. And it is those people we want to encourage to get involved in The Global Charge.”

The Global Charge initiative is rooted in the sad death of Guardsman Mathew Talbot in 2019. The Coldstream Guardsman was tragically killed by an elephant, one of the very animals he was trying to protect; you can read more here.

Lisa West
Lisa has a degree in Media & Communication from Glasgow Caledonian University and works with industry news, sifting through press releases in addition to moderating website comments.

56 COMMENTS

  1. Very admirable and on local level cleaing up beaches etc will make a big difference locally but as for saving the planet I think thats a bit of a stretch, here’s the fly in the ointment China as of January 2023 had 3092 coal fired power plants in operation, and has more in construction.

    I do wonder why China thinks coal is cheaper, according to figures banded around in the West its many times more expensive to use coal. Someone somewhere has their maths wrong 😀

    Of course from an energy security perspective, coal will guaranttee energy when you need it allowing China’s factories to have enough energy to produce at full capacity 24/7 should war production scenario arise with out being reliant the weather.

    • Yes exactly… UK has 3 Coal powered stations China has an 80% reliance on Coal….. This is used to produce EV’s and Solar Panels and Wind Turbines that the rest of the World buy………… not to mention all the other stuff they produce…. and another thing, there are something like 5 major rivers that contribute something like 70% (don’t quote me, I’ll check later !) of all the plastic rubbish found in the Worlds Oceans…. guess where they all are ?

      Search Google and look at the burning of 42 million old Car Tires in Kuwait ….. Accidental or not, that’s some pollution.. We are but sacrificial Lemmings.

      • “We’re importing Energy from hostile foreign nations, that don’t understand our freedoms, so what we need to do is build our American Wind Farms we can harness the manly American Wind to power our American homes! And Solar Farms so that gods beautiful sun shining on America can power America! That’s what we need: American Energy for American Freedom from these terrorist nations! Remember the biggest contributor to Carbon emissions IS CHINA, them commie B*stards.
        We invented The Bomb and we’re can use it now to protect Americas freedom from the Chinese Communists who are producing the Emissions! I don’t believe in evolution, and I refuse to believe that some Dinosaurs that turned into frogs that turned into us created the energy that we’re producing today! That’s what those West Coast professors at CalTech want you to believe! NO! I know the Sun! I know the Wind! And I know the Geothermal, and I know the Nuclear and that’s what we’re going to use to save the world!”

        Still one of my favourite rants.

          • A bloke called Forrest Valkai, when asked to do an impression of what right wing American MAGA Christians would be like if they where opposing climate change.

          • Dern did you see that Great American Solar farm in the Mid West hundreds of acres of Solar panels and then one hell of a Hale Storm reduced it to splinters of broken glass in minutes God’s wrath or the Devils work in MAGA country

    • Yes but…but…think of all the environmental damage that would cause- how dare you !
      As for Coal being nore expensive-well theres lies damn lies and statistics…just ask Cameron- whose punative taxes helped close many coal fired power stations sacrificed on the alter of the Green agenda.

      We could always re-open some (one?) of the coal mines in South Wales and nationalise Port Talbot of course ..if we started that project now it could be ready by end of the decade (just not sure which decade).

      As for offering to clean up a few beaches… that wont make one iota of difference….such a waste of time – not like they have anything else they may need to be doing at this time.

    • Doesn’t have to be wrong Maths: If China is burning locally produced coal it may very well be cheaper for them: in the West we long ago raided much of our easily accessible coal deposits so if we want it we need imports.

      • That’s interesting Dern, I was always led to believe that the UK (for example) has 400 years worth of relitivly easily minded coal deposits remaining.

        I thought coal mining in the UK was stopped, purely on economic grounds??

        • Do you mean Environmental grounds in that last bit John? Because I’d have thought if we had a lot of coal remaining it would’ve been economic to keep going.

          I’m not going to pretend to be an expert, I’m just suggesting a reason why it might (emphasis on might) be cheaper for China to use coal than for us? If their coal is relatively easier to access and mine *shrug*

          • Afternoon Dern, Coal was and is still a devisive subject, certainly from about 1970 onwards, it was becoming uneconomical to mine our own coal, as cheap imports from Poland ect, were steadily undermining ( excuse the pun) the whole industry.

            In reality, governments of both colours had ignored the issue since the war, no one wanted to pull the pin on that hand grenade.

            Labour started in on it during Callahan’s Government and Mrs Thatcher rolled it up along with all our heavy industrial base and forced it through her Thatcher trickle down economic programme.

            Less said about that the better as the important
            ‘trickle down’ bit simply didn’t work, new industries didn’t pop up to replace steel and coal.

            So basically, environmental grounds didn’t even register on the radar at the time, it was purely a hard nosed geo political industrial decision.

          • Please will you stop thia ludicrous behaviour of being gracious enough to accept a shortfall in your argument. This can only lead to an outbreak of civility and mutual education. Madness.

        • You’re right…. the UK has at least 300 years of Coal reserves… at least…. I think Coal Mining was stopped more because of the Unions… just like UK Car Production and Ship Building….

      • I think you’d find the maths applies across the West, so even countries like the US and Australia who stoll have access to cheap coal wind is said to be cheaper. The problem is the maths doesn’t include all the factors, cost at the output side of a wind turbine is one thing but cost for batteries, infrastructure etc that are needed to make that power usable aren’t. China is probably using the correct maths model in some respects. But in others perhaps not if you add in the cost of climate change itself. However adding that into our cost models is also flawed as we only contribute 1% and falling to global CO2 so we may have to take that cost either way as we have minimal impact on the outcome.

    • China is holding onto it’s developing nation status. They will harm their own citizens to appear as if they are backwards on the bigger issues. It’s ironic and absurd that they benefit from that status while preparing to attack Taiwan and conducting operations in space.

    • its also in their ground . but burning it and selling it around the world doesnt help global warming . there is an agreement to reduce emissions of which china is signed up to .

    • Indeed True,
      Too much soot to clean out.
      Many congratulations to Each and Everyone of you, who was responsible enough to Think of The Environment.
      I did it as an art project, many years ago.

  2. When I was in 16 Para Brigade in the 60’70’s a small band of soldiers every morning did ” area cleaning”.
    One of the lads remembered that everywhere we went especially such as Kenya Libya Sudan, first thing was of course area cleaning.
    He suggested we change our name to WACO “World Area Cleaning Organisation”
    We always left a place cleaner than when we arrived.
    Wait for the repartee or others!

  3. Not wanting to blow China’s horn, but if I’m not mistaken China is the world leader in green energy. I think the problem lies in the fact the coal industry is supported by a huge number of workers and like the UK not so far back a lot of towns/villages dependent on the mining industry. Obviously they do need move away from it but we have seen the anguish and violence here when that happens.

    • But the energy they use to make it is mostly produced by Coal… something like 80%…… that’s the biggest load of bollox ever……

    • Not a problem for China, if they wanted to stop mining, they simply would and the miners would just have to lump it…

      Any sign of descent and the PLA reach out and say hello!

  4. “Volunteer”? Well it used to be a dirty word for most of us, so as for eight thousand “volunteering”? Think maybe they were “encouraged” a bit.

  5. Some of you have picked up I’m a Church Of England clergyman. I also love saying things that stir things up on this forum, as one or two others on here might be doing too! Keep it up folks! When I hear people refusing to believe in evolution I inwardly weep. It’s the refusal to listen to the science that is causing many of our ongoing problems. (It’s also one the reasons that the Christian Church is in decline, but that’s for another forum!)

    And it’s not just conservative religious people. Populist, and the extreme right wing politicians, as well as lots of hairy lefties and social liberals have also lost faith in science, because... it tells them things they don’t want to hear.. like the fact, and it is FACT, that we’ve doomed our grandchildren unless we change everything NOW.

    But we won’t change because we believe the western myth that “We can have it all, and heaven too” – But that’s a lie, and we can’t. And my 5 grandchildren are facing a future I would not want for them… and as are yours, I’m afraid.

    The populists will poo poo my prognostications (nice alliteration there) but they would wouldn’t they? Their response to the science is usually just banal.
    We live in a western world which says, “Here’s an expert, oh and out of balance and fairness, here’s a complete plonker to give their view too.”

    Science is not the whole answer. But it does point out the problems accurately. The answer require science, but the answer also requires the whole range of human abilities, in terms of community, shared meaning, faith (not just Christianity, by the way, all faiths), art, and a rich understanding of what it means to be human. Human nature being what it is I’m not holding my breath.

    The result is an increasing contested world and in Bulletin of Atomic Scientist putting the Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight – the closest it’s ever been and far closer than at the height of the cold war. And which is one reason why I take part in this forum.

    But the science of Climate Change and its causes is irrefutable. I studied Geography before being ordained and we knew all this in the 1970s. We did nothing. Mea culpa.

      • Thanks for your succinct reply …. but your leave me with a question and comment:

        • firstly, what is it you don’t care about? Science, Climate Change, being human, grandchildren? What?
        • secondly, thanks for the advice, but I’ll choose where and when to preach … cheers! You don’t have to listen, course!
        • Im not entering into a religious debate here but Wyn hasn’t preached one word. He has had the temerity to offer a reason based opinion. Even criticising his own passionately supported faith and belief sytem.

          You see I think subtly there is a bigger issue here and I think some responses exemplify this beautifully.

          We are a global society that is thinking digitally. Right Vs Wrong, Good Vs Bad. There is no grey analogue debate. We saw the anger and division amid the ugliness of this in the B word (Brexit) we seeing it in Populism ..Maga Vs Antifa, Left Vs Right. It is obvious there is a changing climate. There is more plastic in our seas (thank you Sir David Attenborough aside from anyone). There is shit in our rivers (Fergal Sharkey you should be lauded for your work). The issues are obvious … common sense. Thiae are facts.

          I do actually fear for our grandchildren. Not so much (just) from an ecological POV but actually from Digital Media … the ability to propel this “Im right you’re wrong ?

          This isnt communism or socialism I’m not a screaming leftie or anti capitolist or a fundamentaliat Christian, Jew or Moslem….(other deities religions are available). Im worse. Im an Engineer. I believe in logic. I believe in Science and I believe people working together can solve problems and in turn control at least jnfluemce corpprations western governments.

          This cant happen whilst we scream at each other.

          Wyn is right and offers a beautifully delivered logical opinion. Shutting down reasoned debate is not progessive. Through conversation we learn.

          Thanks Wyn I may not share you faith in its entireity but I embrace your opinion amd views sir and moreover your right to express them.

          • Lol….. You obviously didn’t read what he wrote….. He comes here to wind people up…. And this is your 5th comment ? how odd you chose this ….😆

            Ahh the joys of the anonymous cloak.

          • No, I don’t wind up, I stir up, which is very different. Stirring up gets people to say what they really think, winding up is just winding up. Dave kindly read all of what I wrote, not just the first line! Funny you should mention a cloak. I took a funeral this week in the worst rain I can remember in years, Happily I was in my big back Gandalf cloak. We should all go back to wearing them. I once found some youngsters breaking in to a tool shed near my church. It was dark and winter and I was wearing my cloak, I put the hood up and just stood silently behind them in the gloom. I’m sure they all wet themselves when they realised I was there and then ran faster than they ever have since!

          • Looking at your FB pic, I think they were probably pissing themselves laughing more like….. Nice stories you tell though, very entertaining… how many profiles do you actually have now ?

          • Well if they were I don’t really care, (as long I don’t have to clean the pews) Laughing at oneself is a very important ability. And if others laugh at me, what does it matter? It certainly engaged the congregation … and if you think I look silly, you should have seen them 😉 But steady on, Frank, you’re almost in danger of saying something nice there. I only have one profile on FB but my children hijacked my account years ago and set up a page for our dog.. which I haven’t the heart to delete.. and another page for information for the 3 villages I’m looking after for a few months. I also have a LInkedIn account which is to keep in touch with some friends… but they keep suggesting I apply to be CEO of various large companies. I keep telling them I’m way too over qualified, but they won’t listen. I also have an Instagram account but have no idea how to use it. All the other accounts are are bogus and set up jealous rivals, of whom there are many. I have complained to my old mate Elon but… you know how it is.

          • Thank you Dave, for a considered reply. I agree with everything you said. Conversation is a lost art in digital world. I still try to write emails like I’m writing a hand written letter. I suspect it makes a lot of people laugh, but I think it’s important. Sound bites, quick wins, jibes and scoring points is what matters now. Technology is wonderful, but easily misused… and social media is scary. Deepfakes will be a big thing in the next election, and it would be fine if people weren’t fooled, but they will be. In the end I’m on UKDJ because we’re not just defending a few islands off the west coast of Europe, but some sense of civility, a culture that is open and not defensive, that does right by the weak, that takes truth, not least scientific truth, seriously…. populism, with its fear of the different, the stranger, the “other”, and especially inconvenient science, is threat to a decent society.
            I sometimes tell a story when (I’m preaching.. but mention that) about a Mathematician, a Physicist and an Engineer in a pub watching a match on the TV. The mathematician says, “Without my mathematics, you could not have TVs”. The Physicist says,”Yes, but without my physics it would still be a pile of numbers”. The Engineer says, “Yes, we need the maths, and we need the physics. But without an Engineer you wouldn’t know where to thump the set when the pictures goes wrong”. Hurray for Engineers! Engineering is real wisdom, and real wisdom is “skilful living”. It’s the engineers that will win any war.

        • Are you familiar with the Greek Philosopher Herodotus ? lol, of coarse you are…. he was a “Geographer” too and he sure liked to preach on here !!!! ……. nice Elf suit mate…. 🙄

          • Heroditus…”You never step into the same river twice”, “all is in flux”, yes my old pal H. We were at school together. He never told me he was geographer though… but then we lost touch. Geography and Theology are the King and Queen of the sciences. You know where you are, and you know why you are. 😂 Oh, sorry, I’m preaching.
            So you’ve googled me. Don’t tell the Archbishop of Canterbury about the elf suite, they’ll do me for moonlighting. Not much chance of being anonymous after the very public live I’ve lived!

    • The same scientists that said in the 1970’s that it was indisputable that we would now be in a mini ice age, the River Thames would be frozen for 9 months of the year,we would have completely exhausted all fossil fuels by the year 2000, and we’d all he traveling around in flying cars.
      So I always take what these climate scientists as being undisputed fact, and I’m of In my flying car in to London to do some ice skating past parliament and then a bit of skiing down Crystal Palace hill

      • It was the 1960s that started talking about a new ice age.. before atmospheric carbon began to go exponential. It was not the 70s which is when we geographers saw the science coming in. None of us wanted to believe it though. That’s the problem. We were all too slow to realise that we needed to act then. Remember there’s always been the Oil lobby bigging up false science…. And people still believe them because it’s easier. Flying cars by the way.. not so far away…

  6. Great idea but i suspect not many volunteers if truth be told. This is the sort of activity that really annoys serving personnel when an Army Officer has an idea and they are told to carry it out essentially as cheap labour. The focus should be training these 8000 troops for operations.

  7. What you meant to say is thousands of military personnel were volunteered!
    No one stepped forward, but we’re in fact told they were volunteering! Lol!

  8. Is the beach cleaning going to be done before during or after ww3 and if ww3 kicks off are they going to have regular cease fire so that the forces can relocate to a beach for a few days

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