Last night I watched the new documentary from 350.org on the train home. Do the Math draws from Bill McKibben’s recent speaking tour, which in turn draws from the Carbon Bubble reports to put a new angle on climate change. The math in the title refers to the vast carbon content of the world’s oil […]
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Hanging your washing as a revolutionary act
The most insignificant of behaviours can be political in the right context, even hanging your washing.
You can either fly or drive
George Monbiot’s book Heat: How to stop the planet burning is one of the more comprehensive popular attempts to square our modern lifestyles with the reality of climate change. He describes how the energy system can be made low carbon, how we can change our diets and renovate our houses. To his surprise, he finds […]
The climate does not change by CO2 alone
Imagine you are riding a bike. You are pedaling at a constant speed, but sometimes you have the wind at your back, and at other times you’re pedaling into a headwind. You go up hills and down hills. Even though there’s no change to your pedaling, you will slow down or speed up at various […]
Why we can’t depend on a shale gas boom in Britain
One of the more depressing developments in government in recent days has been the series of resignations from the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Several senior climate advisors have quit the government, with rumours that progress on renewable energy or climate change is being quashed by the treasury. There appears to be something of […]
The carbon black hole in the economy
There is an aspect to climate change that I have been aware of but have not given much thought to – the potential for climate change action to trigger a financial crisis through stranded carbon assets. The problem has been explored by Carbon Tracker’s Unburnable Carbon reports, and I’ve just been reading their 2013 update. […]
Carbon Omissions – the CO2 we’re not counting
There was an event in London last night that I’d have got along to under normal circumstances* – the launch of Carbon Omissions. It’s a project from the Public Interest Research Centre (PIRC), whose previous work includes Climate Safety and the advertising report Think of me as Evil?. Both of those were engaging and thought […]
Margaret Thatcher on climate change
With the news yesterday that Margaret Thatcher has died, there will be a lot of ink spilled today in appraising her legacy. Her influence will be lauded and decried in equal measure. I don’t intend to add anything much, other than to offer a reminder of her work on climate change, as I suspect it […]
Winter in a destabilised climate
In 1988, the UN chose to formally adopt the term ‘climate change’ rather than ‘global warming’, recognising that the climate was being destabilised in unpredictable ways. Some parts of the world might warm, but others might not. Some might see greater extremes at both ends of the temperature scale. This year’s weather proves the wisdom […]
The web of power
On monday I wrote about how bad forecasting by the energy agencies could be giving us a false sense of security about oil and how sustainable our lifestyles are. But there are other reasons why governments continue to find funding for roads and bailouts of car companies, while pleading poverty on public transport investment. One […]
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