[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)
Climate change
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.
Summary of the UK parties on climate change
If you haven't heard, the UK has an election coming up... But what are the stances of the parties on action on climate change?
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.
Nuclear power: the ongoing green controversy
One possible approach is provided by the newly developed integral fast reactor, which could meet the UK’s energy needs for 500 years through consumption of its nuclear waste stockpile...
