Recycling in the Anthropocene Age

I think it’s fairly safe to say that technological advances on their own will not reduce per capita use of the Earth’s resources. That requires different ways of doing things, some new regulation and above all, changes in attitudes amongst consumers themselves to what they actually need. The Brookings Institution predicts that the “global middle…

Gatwick gone bonkers

Gatwick has become the first UK airport to announce that it will be Carbon Neutral: http://www.mediacentre.gatwickairport.com/press-releases/2017/gatwick-becomes-first-uk-airport-to-join-global-renewable-electricity-alliance.aspx. I have never been a fan of the concept of Carbon Neutrality. The level of certification required to substantiate such a claim makes the Brexit negotiations look like a tea party. All we really want is to reduce emissions,…

Não Joga Lixo!

The simple act of compelling larger retailers to charge 5p on plastic bags in England at the end of 2015 has had a dramatic effect on people’s behaviour – you now see shoppers emerging from supermarkets with trolleys filled with an assortment of reusable household bags rather than the one-off sort. The insistence of the…

Does it make sense to import wood for energy?

Suffice it to say, initially, that I believe the world’s present-day managed and semi-natural forest areas can sustainably produce a much greater biomass yield than they do, at present, and thus provide reliable energy, with some degree of carbon savings, while incurring no land use change at all. This is what the consultants’ reports tell…

Who should pay for climate change?

Often,  giving people  a  reason to think  or  act in  a certain way is  one  of the most powerful tools  one can  employ. The hope  of those concerned about climate change is that these reasons can be mutually communicated and agreed at the Conference of the Parties (to the UNFCCC) in Paris later this year.…