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Showing posts from December, 2015

Can't see the Wood from the Trees (because the forest is burning)

Whether royalist or republican, we must applaud Prince Charles for using his power and influence to highlight the great problem of deforestation and its link to climate change as well as loss of biodiversity. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/01/no-plan-b-for-climate-change-without-forests-prince-charles-tells-paris-summit http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34973166 But we should we be taking advice from him? If we all took our lead from Charles, we would be sure to hit a four degree temperature rise by the early 2030s[1]. Alternatively if we mirrored land use in his personal estate, the Duchy of Cornwall, we would lose 90% of our forests, since the Duchy is only 3% forested compared to 31% of the world's land surface. And if we were each granted an estate similar to Charles, all of the usable land surface would be gone after the first 120,000[2] people and the rest would have nowhere to go! No matter how extravagant the lifestyle, a global popula