Unpopular decisions Nowadays, the manifestos of most political parties (rightly) include a target year by which they aim for their country to reach 'net zero' carbon emissions. Whilst these numbers can vary by multiple decades, there is an overall consensus that this is something we need to achieve soon, for the sake of our continued … Continue reading Electric cars are not the answer
Climate change
Buy. Wear. Wash. Repeat: The True Cost of our Clothes
Do you really need that? How many items of clothing does a person need? One hundred items? 66? 33? Fewer? It is an interesting exercise to examine how many clothes you own and to try and determine how many of them you actually need and how many you are holding onto just in case. To … Continue reading Buy. Wear. Wash. Repeat: The True Cost of our Clothes
Don’t Just Wait for a Movement (part 2)
[Sequel to the March 2017 piece titled Don't Just Wait For a Movement.] Regression The final piece in Rebecca Solnit's collection of essays advocating a positive approach to tackling what often feel like overwhelming problems, Hope in the Dark, is quite memorably titled Everything's Coming Together While Everything Falls Apart. In this excellent essay, Solnit … Continue reading Don’t Just Wait for a Movement (part 2)
Exoneration for environmental sins?
In August earlier this year I started an internship just outside Chicago, where I will be until December. In order to get to the US, I had to take an (almost) inevitable Transatlantic flight from the UK, despite efforts to book a room on a freighter ship. Fine, I thought, at least I am taking … Continue reading Exoneration for environmental sins?
After the flood
Possible reasons why Boxing Day 2015's flooding of the North was so much worse than usual.
Has the Paris agreement been Trumped?
"I REPRESENT PITTSBURGH, NOT PARIS" It came as no surprise when Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, announced earlier this year that he intends to pull his country out of the 2015 Paris agreement, joining just Syria and Nicaragua as countries unhappy with the deal's terms. Since that time, both Syria and Nicaragua … Continue reading Has the Paris agreement been Trumped?
One Planet Living
If everyone in the world lived as the average UK resident does, the consequent rate of consumption means we would require three planets' worth of natural resources to sustain us.
London’s choking
Brixton Road, London, exceeded the yearly recommended maximum air pollution by 4th January 2017.
Fly less, it won’t cost the Earth
Stop flying and start considering the alternatives, for the sake of the planet and for your own enjoyment.
Are you imprisoned in Plato’s cave?
Emitting carbon dioxide is not something we can opt out of. By the very fact of our existence, we are polluters of the Earth's atmosphere, breathing in oxygen and breathing out this greenhouse gas. In addition, we are (mostly) born into societies which are driven by fossil fuels.
