EcoWarriorMe

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...

On the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. Simple cause and effect is not enough to explain a chaotic world. A single action seldom result in a single reaction. More often, it triggers a chain of reactions, a wave of perturbations through the fabric of reality, like ripples on a pond. Some are obscure, like dropping a small pebble in a big ocean while others stand out like a large rock dropped in a mill pond with long lasting ripples reflecting back from the edge generating complex interference patterns.  It may sound philosophically abstract but here are two examples of such complex interactions in nature.  The first involves the smallest primate, Madame Berthe's Mouse Lemur and the second involves the largest land mammal, the African Elephant.

Have you had your summer holiday yet? Did you stay local or did you fly away somewhere exotic? How do you fancy this three thousand mile trip: First stop off in France to soak up the culture then on to Mont Blanc and the Swiss alps for a few weeks rest and recuperation in the beautiful mountain scenery. It can be cool in the mountains, even in the summer so head south into Italy, perhaps Tuscany or further south again to Sicily. If that isn’t warm enough, take a short hop over the Mediterranean Sea to Libya then across the Sahara to Lake Chad. It’s not an itinerary that you’ll find in many travel brochures but it is quite popular in certain circles.  Mungo, a bird from near Loch Katrine made that very trip and met up with Chance who travelled by a different route from Loch Katrine, via Belgium and Austria, and Chris from the Norfolk Broads.  They are all Cuckoo’s that have been tagged by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) in order to track their annual migrations to A...

Sometimes nothing beats a cool refreshing glass of the milk. But the White Stuff is not as innocent as it looks. In fact, its cool clean exterior masks a multitude of sins. Milk has hit the headlines recently in a battle between farmers and the processors which are imposing cuts to the price paid to farmers for milk.  This is leading to farm gate prices which are less than the cost of producing the milk .  This is not a new fight.  For several years the large powerful dairies, such as Robert Wiseman (now owned by Müller), have put downward pressure on the farm gate price of milk.  This in turn has driven “efficiency” measures in the farming sector, i.e. industrialisation of the process.  About ten years ago I spoke with a farmer planning to build a huge shed so that his cattle could be kept indoors all year round.  This was, he said, due to pressure to cut costs. It was necessary of his farm was to remain sustainable .  The surrounding pasture that t...

"@EcoWarriorMe Is it time to give up on tigers and pandas? http://t.co/QgrWaAx0 > I hope not." According to an article in this morning's Independent, " A majority of professional conservationists believe it is time to consider shifting efforts away from some of the world's most famous species, such as the panda, to concentrate on others which have a greater chance of success. "  Should we be more selective in our efforts? What animals should we choose? By what measure will we evaluate which lives and which dies out?

Biofuels could provide 27% of transport fuels by 2050, says IEA | Energy Efficiency News : "Biofuels could provide 27% of transport fuels by 2050, says IEA Biofuels produced from biomass could provide up to 27% of global transport fuels by 2050, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA)." The report, Biofuels for Transport, indicates that sustainable biofuel consumption – using only biofuels that bring life cycle environmental benefits without compromising food security – could increase from 55 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) now to 750 Mtoe in 2050. The switch to biofuels would, by 2050, provide one fifth of emission reductions in the transport sector – equivalent to 2.1 gigatonnes of CO2. “While vehicle efficiency will be the most important and most cost-efficient way to reduce transport-emissions, biofuels will still be needed to provide low-carbon fuel alternatives for planes, marine vessels and other heavy transport modes,” says Bo D...