The Guardian has an article about a poll of Europeans [PDF], which, according to them, shows that 'Europeans fear climate change more than financial turmoil'. I have little time for opinion polls. There is only one real test of opinion, and that is an individual...
The Poverty of Diagrams
Pop wisdom has it that 'a picture paints a thousand words'. Here's a picture that tries to paint so many words, but says more about its painters than the subjects they intended to portray. The diagram is from The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society, and aims...
Economy of Thought
I didn't get to study economics at University. I sat in on a few lectures, and was glad that I didn't. But it would be nice to understand why and how economists arrive at their often counter intuitive conclusions. Science and philosophy often surprise us with what...
Environment, 'Justice', 'Fairness'
Apologies for this very long post -- things which I felt needed to be said kept occurring to me... Mike Childs is Head of Climate at the Friends of the Earth, and Chair of FoE Europe. He writes in a blog post at the FoE site today that, One of the reasons I joined...
The Guardian — Keeping up Appearances
Pure poetry: Ice is the white flag being waved by our planet, under fire from the atmospheric attack being mounted by humanity. From the frosted plains of the Arctic ice pack to the cool blue caverns of the mountain glaciers, the dripping away of frozen water is the...
Huhne Does He Think He is?
What the Minister for Energy and Climate Change thinks about the public: Who does he think he is? The environmental movement and the UK government previous and present have emphasised that price is fundamental to 'sending signals', both to the market to encourage...
Throw Enough Dirt… Hope it Sticks…
That old chestnut... That the 'climate denial machine' is 'well-funded'... is about to suffer another blow to its credibility. Luboš Motl of the Reference Frame has an entertaining take on the Climate Reality project, which seems to be Al Gore's latest stunt. Says...
Stuff the NGOs
I have an article up on Spiked today... The growth of environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) over the past 50 years has been extraordinary. Starting from humble beginnings and means, organisations like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, which are both...
The Energy Leak
Something of a brouhaha is developing over the leaked briefing to David Cameron, claiming that UK energy bills will rise 30% (roughly £300) by 2020. The Telegraph, who reported the leak, say, Mr Cameron is said to be “very worried” about the figures in the paper,...
Feudal Energy
A recent article in the Telegraph aimed to expose: The aristocrats cashing in on Britain's wind farm subsidies Growing numbers of the nobility are being tempted to build giant wind farms on their estates by the promise of tens of millions of pounds being offered green...