River of Life - The Cunliffe Report & Us

Adults should drink 2 - 2.5 litres of water a day. Afraid I don't, but I do probably drink that much tea, with a coffee thrown in first thing. On the other hand approximately 2.2 billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water. 115 million people rely on surface water. 3.5 billion people lack safely managed sanitation, and 419 million practice open defecation. 

No river in England is free from pollution, with only 14% of England's rivers in good ecological health, and 83% show high levels of sewage and agricultural pollution. The Cunliffe Review, published in June this year, exposes just how bad things are in England & Wales & just how Ofwat, the Environment Agency, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, Natural England and Natural Resources Wales have let us all down, 36 years after privatisation by the conservatives under Mrs Thatcher. A privatised system needs strong regulators, but that hasn't happened, not just in the water industry. Cunliffe makes 88 recommendations. That shows just how bad things have been allowed to get. 

 

We have made the mistake of taking plentiful clean water for granted. We waste huge amounts, as do the water companies in leaks, because the infrastructure hasn't been maintained properly. But in comparison to much of the world we are so lucky. We have allowed our rivers, lakes & seas to be polluted to the point where it is unsafe to swim in them & some are effectively dead. 

We have all taken our eye off the ball, but the regulators & the politicians are culpable. What the hell have they been doing for 36 years? Basically they have allowed privatisation to run down what was a profitable, reasonably well run, industry to drain away vital income into the pockets of hugely well paid senior managers & shareholders. I actually think it is criminal. 

Now the public will have to pay. Again. 

  

 

Can't Stand the Heat

We have quite a few sayings about heat - "if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen", "the heat of the moment", "the white heat of technology", "as hot as hell".....  We have a very mixed relationship to heat, sun & heatwaves. Some love it. I actually dread it because, like many elderly people, I find it really difficult to cope with. I have to virtually shutdown & stay in the coolest room in my house which is North facing. 

We are now experiencing the third successive heatwave this summer in the UK. We have amber heat alerts with temperatures in the 30's & 3 areas now have hosepipe bans. The highest temperature so far was 34.7 degrees. According to RoSPA “Heat is no longer just a holiday perk, it’s a growing public health risk".

If you have pre-existing health conditions heat exacerbates the symptoms. Conditions like heart disease, respiratory problems, kidney issues, and diabetes can be worsened, leading to a higher risk of complications and even death.The body's attempt to cool down during heat exposure puts extra strain on the heart, potentially leading to chest pain, heart attack, or even heart failure in individuals with pre-existing heart conditions. Hot weather can worsen breathing difficulties & reduce oxygen intake. Heat and dehydration can strain the kidneys, potentially leading to acute kidney injury, especially in individuals with existing kidney problems. Some medications, such as diuretics, beta-blockers, and drugs for mental health, can interfere with the body's ability to regulate temperature and maintain proper fluid balance, making people more vulnerable to heat-related illnesses.

People like me with chronic health conditions need to take extra precautions during heatwaves, such as staying hydrated, avoiding strenuous activity, and seeking shade or air-conditioned environments. Actually I find there is no choice, because I simply do not have the capacity to do anything even slightly energetic. So the ironing remains unironed, the plants aren't watered, the bed is never made & the washing up sits and looks mockingly at me.

But I don't mind that. It will all get done eventually. What I mind is the enforced inactivity. The constant discomfort. 

But I am fortunate because I can & do swim, which is a temporary respite & makes sure I do get some exercise. I have family living nearby & friends who keep in touch. So many people are struggling with the results of climate change who aren't as lucky. 

The Climate Emergency needs to be taken far more seriously by everyone. We can see the evidence clearly, not least in the wildfire statistics. 

https://gwis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/apps/gwis_current_situation/index.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0m9gm3jwljo 

Heat is a killer, in more ways than one. 

 

Crypto Currency & Self Destruction

My understanding of finance is fairly basic. In order to function in society you need to work to earn money, which you can then spend or save for a rainy day. Your money can be in a bank, in investments, or under the matress. Banks are there, backed up by collateral, to keep your money safe, accessible & earning interest. Investments may do well & earn you profit, or badly & you lose money.

Modern finance is way beyond my understanding. Since we sold off half our gold reserves between 1999 - 2002 at the lowest gold price in 20 years, we no longer have as much actual wealth to underpin banking. Stability is crucial for national economies, as gold helps preserve wealth and purchasing power when other assets may lose value. In addition, these gold reserves act as a safety net for Central Banks and help ensure they meet their obligations during times of financial crisis. 

Quantitative easing, where banks purchase financial assets, and essentially increase the cash flow in the economy, literally seems to me like printing monopoly money. But what do I know? It can lead to asset inflation, wealth inequality, and potential for long-term instability. It can also lead to distortions in the housing market, devaluation of currency, and difficulties in reversing the policy. 

Crypto currency is way beyond my skill set. Crypto exists digitally or virtually and uses cryptography to secure transactions. Crypto currencies don't have a central issuing or regulating authority, instead using a decentralized system to record transactions and issue new units. This is a public ledger called blockchain, a record of all transactions updated and held by currency holders. Bitcoin came first in 2009. Now there are thousands of crypto currencies. To me that is "mumbo jumbo". Individual cryptocurrency projects or platforms, but seemingly not all, can be fraudulent and resemble Ponzi schemes. Some cryptocurrency projects, particularly Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), have been falsely marketed as investments offering high returns with little risk, resembling Ponzi schemes. Warren Buffett called the digital currency Bitcoin “probably rat poison squared.”

 

Having said all of that, my major beef is that, along with Streaming & AI, Crypto is really bad for the environment. Each bitcoin transaction generates carbon emissions roughly equivalent to driving a gasoline-powered car between 1,600 and 2,600 kilometres.Crypto high energy use often leads to increased greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change. In 2018 the level of emissions produced by Bitcoin sat between the levels produced by the nations of Bolivia and Portugal combined. Crypto's complex Proof of Work (PoW) process, requires substantial computational power. If electricity fails blockchains would be unable to verify transactions.

Basically, we are not Lemmings running over the cliff. We are human beings on the road to perdition & self destruction. 

Generating my own Electricity

I am quite excited. I feel I've done something really positive.

Last Wednesday scaffolders came & erected a complex network over my extension. They were very skilled. I thought it was quite difficult because the extension is clad with powder coated metal & the flat roof is covered with sedum. So the scaffolding couldn't touch any of it. 

On Friday a team of 3 came to install the solar panels, control box & battery. They too were very good at their job. The electrician in particular was really thorough & painstaking. He had to come back on Saturday morning. 

So around lunchtime on Saturday I started generating my own electricity. There is an app, of course, which tells you everything you need to know about the system & how it's working. It was generating even though it was cloudy. 

Because I live alone & don't use a lot of electricity I will be sending electricity to the grid which I will be paid for. The battery will just ensure that I use as little from the grid as possible.  

Yes it is expensive & I got nothing from the government to encourage me to do it. Yes, it is possible that I may not live long enough to recoup my investment. I'm willing to take that risk. I didn't do it to make a profit or break even. I did it because it is something positive I can do towards making the UK energy secure & combat climate change. It's important.

I simply canot understand why there has been no legislation or incentive from any government for householders to do this for years. It's a no brainer surely. Why would we willingly give up land for solar "farms" when that land is needed for both farming & housing? I actually think it's almost criminal. Even now the legislation making house builders install solar won't come in untill 2027. That could have been done decades ago.

It has been noisy & disruptive. It certainly is expensive. But my solar array will be there generating electricity long after I've gone. I would have to live to 105 before the guarantees end. 

It's worth doing something as an individual. None of us should sit back & wait for others to solve the energy & climate crisis. Mike Berners Lee says that "solar panels could be the best carbon investment you ever make" in "How bad are Bananas".

P S

https://theecologist.org/2025/may/30/ai-storm 

https://www.opportunitygreen.org/publication-data-centres-threaten-energy-systems-climate-goals 

 

Digital Marketing, Data Centres & the Carbon Footprint

When we think about carbon footprints aviation tends to top the list, with energy, industry & fashion. The Ecologist has done a piece this week about Digital Marketing. When I see images of cities like Tokyo, New York & London for example, I wonder why we don't consider this a complete waste of energy. It is costly in both financial & energy terms. It also causes huge light pollution & could possibly over stimulate the brain. Personally I can't see anything to recommend it.

https://theecologist.org/2025/mar/05/digital-marketings-carbon-footprint    

Data centres, which power everything from websites to social media, digital ads & streaming, online gaming, cryptocurrency & blockchain services, account for 2.5 per cent of global CO2 emissions - more than the entire aviation industry at 2.1 per cent. As the internet grows, so does its footprint. Data centers have a significant environmental impact due to their high energy consumption for running servers and cooling systems, contributing to increased carbon emissions and climate change. They also generate e-waste and require substantial infrastructure, including materials for construction and cooling systems. Data centres use about 1-1.3% of global electricity, largely sourced from fossil fuel, releasing substantial amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. 

As of March 2024, there were approximately 11,800 data centers worldwide, with the United States leading with 5,381, followed by Germany (521), and the United Kingdom (514). Data centers come in various sizes, ranging from small, micro data centers to massive hyperscale facilities, with the average full-scale data center typically occupying around 100,000 square feet. That's over two football fields.

If we are truly going to take action to stop our devastating CO2 emissions causing the Climate Emergency we really need to look at how much energy we are wasting on trivia. We do need to switch off our lights when no one is in the room, but frankly that is a drop in the ocean of CO2. We need to tackle the waste & pollution our digital world is creating.

Is Solar & Onshore Power our Easter Island Moment?

I watched last night's BBC Panorama programme - "Rewiring Britain - the race to go green". I thought it was interesting & balanced. I hope the Government was watching too.

We know we need to generate far more electricity in order to stop using unsustainable non renewables. At least I hope we do all agree on that. Developments in both onshore & offshore sustainable generation have moved forward at pace. The technology is amazing & is improving all the time. 

The problems are twofold - 

• We don't have appropriate infrastructure to transport the electricity to where it is needed efficiently e.g. Substations & Pylons.
• The current solutions are industrialising the landscape & using precious productive farm land e.g solar "farms", substations & pylons again

 

It seems to me that the decision making is based mainly on cost. It is cheaper & quicker to do it above ground on land. If we continue along this route, not only will the government alienate the public who have valid concerns, but we will lose land we desperately need for food security & wildlife habitats. 

Exactly what they think happened on Easter Island, where the population perished because they chopped down the last trees & they were too far away from land to be able to establish themselves elsewhere. This could be our Easter Island moment. Not me - I'm too old. This is the possible future we are bequeathing to our grandchildren.

If the government are determined not to listen to valid concerns & won't learn from what Holland, Belgium & Germany et al are doing we are sounding our own death knell. It just seems so obvious & short termist to me. Yet again we are going down the route of not thinking of the inevitable outcomes of bad choices.

Surely the point of government is to look widely at evidence & select the best, least harmful option? Or am I too idealistic? Is Britain incapable of that because of our adversarial, power at all costs, (sorry about the pun), system of government? 

We need to wake up & see the light.

Shame & Responsibility

I may be wrong, but I don't think I have anything that I need to be hugely ashamed of. That's not to say I'm perfect, far from it. I make mistakes & when I was younger I was far more volatile & emotional about things. But I do tend to think about what I do & say. I also have quite a noisy conscience & inner voice. 

Shame - "a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety"

              "a condition of humiliating disgrace or disrepute"

              "something that brings censure or reproach - something to be regretted " 

Occasionally eyebrows are raised because I do sometimes swear. For some reason people don't expect an 80 year old to swear. I also probably hold views considered by the "woke" to be politically incorrect. But actually I'm not ashamed of either of those. I don't aspire to perfection. I'm happy with my flaws. 

I am ashamed about some elements of our world today. I'm ashamed of how we have polluted our wonderful planet from the air we breath to the oceans & continents. I'm ashamed of how lacking in any moral compass politics & some international organisations & companies are. It's all very destructive. I am ashamed of how we have allowed inexcusable polarity in wealth & access to basic rights in the peoples of every country. I am ashamed of the current death & destruction perpetrated by countries on innocent victims casually referred to as "collateral damage". 

I do feel resonsible for some of this. I have watched climate change for decades & have contributed to it by my choices. Sometimes unknowingly, but not always. I have been responsible for some of the pollution, again sometimes unknowingly, sometimes not. As I aged & was wealthy enough to travel more worldwide & work in countries like Malawi & Nepal I realised just how fortunate I was. Seeing poverty in places like Yemen, Ethiopia & India makes you realise clearly how much we in the Northern hemisphere take for granted.

Although I was politically active when I was younger, family & work took up most of my life. I didn't do enough. Now I do have time, I'm only physically capable of supporting carefully chosen charities & politically lobbying a lot. The main thing I try to do is act as a primary source & commentator, through this blog. I will never be an influencer, but I do know I am read on Europe, Asia, America & Canada.

I believe the existential threat humanity is facing means that everyone has a responsibility to be well informed & to take action. We should all be ashamed of some of the things that are happening in our world & our lifetime. 

We all need to be brave enough to speak out & say "Not in my name".

  

Wishing, Desiring & Having Everything

I'm sure I could think of things my little heart desires. Human beings seem to spend a lot of time wishing they could have something else or do something else. We desire to be someone else, be somewhere else, have someone else in our lives. Seemingly we are never satisfied with what we have already got. Satisfaction seems hard to come by.

Wishing has a long & ancient history. Just think of all the fairy tales for example. Customs & rituals can be traced back to ancient cultures. People believed that wells were home to gods and that throwing coins or other tokens into the water would grant wishes. Some wells were also thought to have healing powers, and people would bathe in or drink the water. The Etruscans, believed that chickens could predict the future and that the "wishbone" of a chicken could be used to make wishes. We make a wish when we blow birthday candles out. 

I am interested in why we humans are never satisfied with what we have got. Apparently a combination of psychological factors including our natural inclination to seek new things, a tendency to compare ourselves to others, high expectations, the "hedonic adaptation" where we quickly adjust to positive changes, and a biological drive to constantly improve and evolve, which can make contentment feel stagnant and unmotivating, all play a part. Essentially, our brains are wired to always be looking for "more" rather than appreciating what we already possess. 

Shopping was the UK's favourite leisure activity. But Covid & online shopping seems to have changed that. It is still enjoyed by 70 - 80% of people according to Statistica. (I'm one of the minority who don't enjoy doing it regularly). There's very little I want that makes shopping worth the effort.

https://www.microbizmag.co.uk/ecommerce-statistics/ - interesting website.

I am tempted to try not to buy any new clothes in 2025. I'm sure I have enough to last the rest of my life, apart from possibly underwear & shoes. (Actually I've got a lot of shoes - Mental note take the ones that don't fit to the charity shop.) 

Similarly, I don't want to buy anything else for the house. I can't resist plants for the garden though.

I actually do think that I have more or less everything I want. There is nothing I really desire. On the contrary, I spend a lot of time trying to have less stuff in my life. Christmas brings this home to me every year. The sheer consumerism of it & the waste that follows from it. 

 

The most important thing about Christmas is who you spend it with. Enjoying the company of your friends & family. It seems easy to lose sight of that. It's easy to lose sight of the many people who don't have anything like everything.

 

 

Christmas Waste

My book club had a clothes swap last night. Great fun & a really good way to recycle unloved clothes, especially when it's the Christmas season & we all need a nice outfit for Christmas day. Fast fashion comes into it's own at this time of year. I know people who buy a new outfit for Christmas every year. Often the clothes will only be worn a handful of times. Nothing I will be wearing is less than a few years old & some items have been in my wardrobe over a decade. I love them & I'm comfortable wearing them.

Christmas must be the worst period for food waste. Sprouts & Christmas pudding are probably the most "marmite" foods we eat at Christmas. I love both, but lots of people don't & a great deal ends up in the green food waste bin. I tried making sprout soup one year, but it wasn't a success. How many people actually use all the left over bits of turkey to make a fricassee for example? Even less people I imagine use the turkey bones to make a wonderful soup. The art of cooking from scratch & not wasting good food has been replaced by the big 5 supermarkets Christmas food.

Then there are the Christmas cards. I stopped sending them years ago & send email greetings & give the money saved on the cards & stamps to charity. I see little point in sending cards to people I can actually wish Happy Christmas to in person. The waste of paper, whatever the source including trees, or even if it's recycled paper, really isn't acceptable to me. My time is valuable, so I send the cards electronically in batches to different groups. Writing individual cards by hand just isn't a good use of my time. If I get cards I do cut up appropriate ones to make gift tags, but I still think it's a waste of finite resources.

Wrapping paper is even worse. I am rubbish at wrapping gifts & doing it causes me repetetive strain pain. I try to take wrapping paper off carefully to re use it, but actually it rarely works. When you see the over loaded recycling bins after Christmas it gives you a small idea of how much waste there is.

The decorations & Christmas tree take quite a lot of effort & money. Goodness knows how many real trees are chopped down every year & growing them must take up land that could be used for food production or re-foresting with deciduous trees. It has become fashionable to change your christmas tree decorations on a regular basis according to the current fashion. I'm pleased to say that my daughter has all my tree decorations & some were her grandmothers. I gave her my artificial tree too. The sales, often starting before Christmas are full of reduced christmas decorations , wreaths & lights. 

Finally, the presents. Many will end up in landfill, charity shops or the "present drawer". I have come to the conclusion that really presents are only appropriate for children. I'm not a scrooge or a grump, but the time spent trying to think of & find presents people will actually want or need is often wasted. I do really enjoy seeing someone open a present that it's obvious they are delighted with, but that isn't easy to achieve. Much of the time people feign pleasure & to be honest what is wonderful about socks, ties, jumpers, nightwear or slippers. Surely we all buy those for ourselves?

https://www.asustainablelife.co.uk/12-not-so-fun-festive-facts/

It's a mad repetetive cycle. We consume & consume & in doing so waste so much. It's completely unsustainable. What are we thinking?

Obviously we aren't!

 

Making a Difference - Individual Agency

I had a conversation with a friend the other day about holidays & travelling. He didn't feel that what he does makes any difference to the climate emergency issue & wants to visit as many places as possible while he can. We are good friends, and although we agree on a lot of things, we do disagree on some major issues. Fortunately we can argue our corner without getting annoyed.

It did make me think though.

I do believe that when individuals mobilise to make change happen we can be really powerful. I used to live near Newbury & supported the demonstrators at Greenham Common & Aldermaston. (I didn't camp out though). I have marched on issues I believed needed to change & would do so again if I had the physical capapbility. I lobby a lot & support charities financially. I try to tread lightly in our world & not aid & abet it's destruction. 

"We are like raindrops, but together we turn into the sea". Iranian protester.

Public opinion is very powerful for both good and ill. I don't accept that an individual can continue doing things that they know are harmful because they are just one person & many others are doing the same. That way just stops beneficial change from happening. To my mind, if what you are doing is both harmful & unnecessary, you are simply being selfish. I can understand that it is very hard to change ingrained habits & practices. But once you have evidence that you should stop, then you should.

The difficulty is knowing what to believe, what is evidence based. Greenwashing is rampant about Climate Change, backed by huge resources of money & power. We live in a post truth world where knowing what to believe about a lot of issues is very difficult. Everyone has a responsibility to be confident in sources of information & not to believe any crackpot or conspiracy theory. 

But at the end of the day the survival of our world & all it's inhabitanats is dependent on every individual playing an informed & engaged part. Everyone acting together can make a difference. No one can opt out. Do you really believe that something magical will happen to put everything right? I stopped believing in fairies & Father Christmas decades ago.

If we don't all use our individual agency to change it really might be the end of not just the day, but much worse.

Are Humans Parasites?

I'm reading a book by a Norwegian author that suggests humans are parasites engaged in collective suicide. At first it seemed a bit drastic, but it intrigued me. I did A Level biology so I know what a parasite is - a living organism that lives on or inside another organism, (the Host), & harms it. The analogy is that our World is the Host & we are destroying it. 

Well, actually I can't argue with that. We are polluting our world in all manner of ways. Man made Climate change is proof of that, as are dying species, oceans & rivers. We are destroying the forests & ecosystems that are a vital part of the whole of our complex world. We are grabbing natural resources that are finite & in doing so we destroy the places where we find them.

The difference between humans & other parasites is that we are sentient beings. We know what we are doing. We are presented with the evidence every day, both in our own lives & through the scientific evidence & news media. That is why this is collective suicide. 

So I accept the premise. The question is why we continue to do something which any intelligent person must see has the real probability that it will ultimately cause our own destruction?

I think that most of us are cocooned, (protected from pain or an unpleasant situation), in a mindset that we can't reverse this. That we individually cannot exert any control. That anything one person does will not even have the effect of a butterfly wing. We are selfish. We want to carry on doing all the things that we have become accustomed to doing. Someone else will sort this out in the fullness of time. Technology will be the solution.

We are deluded.

Each & every one of us has to make a personal effort to stop doing the things that make us parasites. We all have to stand up to the powerful, wealthy, vested interests that are now controlling our politics & international companies. 

If you don't believe me look at what is happening in America now that Trump has been elected. The people in charge of Trumps America include;-

• Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, who is under investigation ny the ethics committee & is very right wing.
• Robert F Kennedy as Health & Human Services Secretary, promoter of baseless conspiracy theories about vaccines and other public health staples, such as water fluoridation.

There is a whole list in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/14/trump-cabinet-administration-maga-extremism  America has power, money & influence. It doesn't look as if it will go in the right direction when Trump actually becomes president for the second time. Obviously the lesson of the first presidency has not been learnt. 

Or perhaps it has. Maybe the Parasites are winning & we are actually participating in our own collective suicide. If we are, hopefully the Host, (the World), will recover without us.
 

AMOC - The Climate Change Impending Disaster you've never heard about.

Actually you do know what AMOC is - it's the Gulf Stream. But you probably don't know just how important it is. You almost certainly don't know what would happen if it stopped working properly. Therefore, if you are quite a bit younger than me, you aren't aware just how it's failure may well affect you. I'll hopefully be long gone.

 

It's a "conveyor belt bringing nutrients, oxygen and heat north from tropical waters, while moving colder water south — a balancing act that keeps the Northern Hemisphere warm". It has switched off in the past & the scientific concensus is that it is dangerously close to doing so again with massive consequences. Climate Change is causing it to slow now. 

This week a report was published saying "the risk of collapse has been "greatly underestimated" and will have "devastating and irreversible impacts" for the world". There are 2 possibilities;-

• Dansgaard-Oeschger events, leading to a sudden warming over Greenland, 10 to 15 degrees Celsius [18 to 27 F] within a decade

• Heinrich events, big ice discharges into the northern Atlantic 

The science is beyond my pay grade, but it is real & there has been a concern for over 50 years. I can remember it in the 60's.

The effects would be far reaching. " Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia, Iceland, would likely get several degrees colder and also drier. Southern Europe would still be warm and Northern Europe would be cool. These temperature differences drive extreme weather events, bringing a lot more variability and storms. The sea level would also rise by up to half a meter [1.6 feet] in the northern Atlantic in addition to the global average rise that is happening anyway".

Ocean carbon dioxide uptake would be affected. "If the overturning circulation stops, that CO2 will stay near the surface and quickly equilibrate with the atmosphere. That would make [C02 concentrations] rise faster in the atmosphere".

"An oxygen-depleted ocean it would disrupt the entire web of life in the northern Atlantic, and that would disrupt fisheries".

"In the Southern Hemisphere, greenhouse warming would get worse".

https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/rivers-oceans/we-dont-really-consider-it-low-probability-anymore-collapse-of-key-atlantic-current-could-have-catastrophic-impacts-says-oceanographer-stefan-rahmstorf

We have messed with our planet heedlessly for decades. Ever since we stopped being nomadic & settled. But the huge unsustainable rape of resources that I have seen in my lifetime has been exponential. 

We humans are literally destroying our habitat & everything in it. 

We really do need to wake up & understand what our children & grandchildren are facing if we don't take serious action.
 

Offsetting & Greenwashing - A Modern Fairy Tale

Offsetting Source "How Bad are Bananas" - Prof Mike Berners Lee 

"Can carbon be offset? - it is a nonsense - cheap offset options (are) fatally flawed - we can't just use them to counterbalance our emissions. The only genuine offset is removal of CO2 or other greenhouse gases, taking them out of the atmosphere & storing them permanently. There is no substitute for cutting our carbon footprint". 

"We should not fall for the idea that we can offset our footprint, as is often offered by airlines, often at absurdly low cost. The test for a legitimate offset is that it must actually remove carbon".

We need to have a realistic conversation about what "necessary flights" are.

Greenwashing Sources - https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/climate-issues/greenwashing  Shout Out U K - SOUK 

"Claims are often based on questionable plans, including emissions offsetting and “insetting” – rather than actual emission cuts. As such, the transparency and integrity of such claims remain critically low and risk creating a failure to deliver urgent climate action".

"Greenwashing is a marketing tactic where a company makes misleading claims about its environmental impact or the environmental friendliness of its products. The goal is to convince consumers that a company is more environmentally conscious than it actually is". 

"In 2020, a suit of consumer protection agencies gathered to carry out the survey that would turn to evidence of the wrongdoings of large UK businesses undertaking greenwashing practices. Hence, the study discovered that four in 10 international companies made deceptive statements. Greenwashing promotes false solutions to the climate crisis that distract from and delay concrete and credible action".

10 worst greenwashing companies Source - Earth.org;-

Volkswagen

BP

Exxon Mobil

Nestle

Coca Cola

Starbicks

Ikea

Plastic Bottle Water Companies

Major Banks

Fast Fashion Brands 

 

We have all the evidence we need, but we desperately need more action. But it isn't enough to say our politicians are not doing enough. They aren't. But neither are we on an individual level. Every single one of us needs to look at our lives & assess what we are doing, regularly, to stop the escalating & devastating effects of climate change. 

We will only solve this if we are all really well informed & are prepared to change our unsustainable habits.  

Food Security

I was shopping in a big supermarket yesterday. The mange tout & sugar snap peas came from Peru. The green beans came from Kenya. Why aren't we growing these basic vegetables in the UK? It is the season when they can easily be grown here. My husband grew green beans every year. They are prolific. 

Beans from Kenya come by air freight. Kenya is 4,475 air miles away. Kenya sends out about 350 tonnes of vegetables and cut flowers each night ready to be sold next day in UK supermarkets. Leguminous vegetables (peas, beans, mange tout) constitute the largest proportion of Kenyan imports to the UK. Kenya is on the East coast of Africa.

Peru is on the West coast of South America. Air transit time from Peru to an airport in the UK is approximately 3 days. It is 4,032 air miles away. Transit time by sea from Peru to port in the UK is approximately 28 days. Peru is now the world leader in blueberry exports, growing from 223 metric tonnes in 2021-22 to more than 286MT in 2022-23. It is the UK's largest source of blueberries.

I fail to see the logic of transporting basic foodstuffs half way round the world by ship, never mind by air. The cost, financially & in terms of air pollution, must be huge. Then there is the ethical & human cost. The key to this is money. Agricultural workers in countries like South America & Sub Saharan Africa get minimum wages. The minimum wage in the UK is much higher. We get cheap food because the people who harvest it are not paid as much as we would have to pay workers here.

We routinely buy fruit & veg out of season. I would say we shop quite mindlessly. We just select what we fancy or what we need for a recipe. Much of it is frozen & that impacts on the quality. I'm tired of complaining to supermarkets because apples rot when left at room temperature after being frozen. I spent much of my late teens & twenties in rural Herefordshire, where there were orchards everywhere, log ago grubbed up because there weren't enough people to pick them. I've now reached the point where I'm looking at the origins of all the fruit & veg I buy because so much travels huge distances in refrigerated containers. 

We are an island. We need to be as self sufficient in food as possible. We should have learned that after 2 world wars. Hopefully there won't be a third, but that really isn't the point. In a world disrupted by the climate emergency food production is being adversely affected worldwide. Wars elsewhere impact on food production. Acute hunger remains persistently high in 59 countries with 1 in 5 people assessed in need of critical urgent action.

It isn't just fruit & veg. There is a dark side to the flower trade. There is widespread exploitation of workers. In numerous flower-producing regions, the rights of laborers are trampled underfoot. Workers, predominantly women, are subjected to grueling hours, meagre wages, and rough working conditions. The danger of pesticide exposure is a risk, with many bearing the brunt of health issues due to insufficient protective measures.Then there is the environmental toll taken by the flower trade. From water-intensive farming to the rampant use of fertilizers and pesticides, the industry has carved deep scars into our environment. Even the process of shuttling these blossoms across continents leaves a carbon footprint that feeds into our mounting climate crisis.

Like so many areas of so called civilised life our choices & decisions are coming back to bite us. We really didn't think enough about the long term impact & results of so many consumer choices we made over the years. We became mindless consumers. We didn't think things through or even care what our choices were doing to our world or to people in other countries.

Well we do know now. The evidence is easily accessible & overwhelming. We need to stop, think, & make better choices for everyones sake. 

 

Heatwave Killer

The hottest day in Oxford was the 19th July 2022 when the maximum temperature of 38.1°C was recorded. Temperatures have soared past 30 degrees again. This current stifling heatwave follows on from an unusually wet & stormy Spring.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/past-uk-weather-events

In my youth I loved the sun & would spend hours trying to get a tan in blazing heat in places like Greece & Turkey. I'm lucky not to have had a problem with Melanoma. 

Now I literally cannot stand the heat. I hide away in my North facing front room & remain as still as possible. Any exertion causes me to be very uncomfortable, overheating & becoming breathless. It isn't my pacemaker that is unable to cope, it's me. I slow down, struggle to exercise, sleep, eat and easily become dehydrated. I have complete heart block / heart failure & other co morbid health conditions, which all deteriorate too. I become exhausted & need more energy which means my pacemaker needs to work  harder to keep me going.

But I am so fortunate. I live in a country with a good health service, I have a personal alarm & can summon help if I'm in trouble. There are good hospitals in Oxford. I have access to reliable information & know what to do & what not to do. My house is comfortable. I have a daughter & her family who live nearby. I can cope.

So many people can't. They really struggle. 2022 saw the highest number of recorded heatwave deaths over the last seven years in England, at 2,985, which followed the second highest in 2020, at 2,556 heatwave deaths, and 2023, which saw 2,295 heatwave deaths. These are excess death figures. The stress of a hot day can increase the chance of dying from a heart attack, other heart conditions, or weirdly, respiratory diseases such as pneumonia. The human body can't tolerate its temperature reaching 43 degrees C (about 109.4 degrees F). Anyone who reaches that core temperature — 99.9% would die. Heat also kills in more subtle ways — by worsening pre-existing issues, like cardiovascular or renal disease.

Extreme heat should be taken seriously. Climate change should be taken seriously. It isn't just people who are suffering. All wildlife is affected by extreme temperatures too. Intricate food chains are disrupted as hot weather also affects insect populations and dries up the soil. Heatwaves play havoc with already-declining insect numbers. Mammals become dehydrated.Trees prematurely drop their leaves. Warmer water affects amphibians & ponds dry out. 

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/about/state-of-climate  

Time is running out. The scientific evidence is plentiful & verified. We need to make difficult choices & accept changes to our lives that will impact everybody. If we don't this will only get worse.  

 

Travelling & Holidays - What are we seeking?

 In my life I have travelled to;- 

• The Americas - USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize & Peru
• The UK - England, Scotland & Wales
  
• Scandinavia - Norway
• Europe - Spain, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Sicily, Romania, The Czech Republic, Greece & Turkey, the Balearics & Canary Islands
  
• North Africa - Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt
• Sub Saharan Africa - Ethiopia, Malawi, Kenya
• Middle East - Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Palestine
• Asia - India, China, Nepal

In some countries I visited several different places at different times. That's a lot of travelling for one person. Most of it will have necessitated flying, sometimes very long haul. 

Because we are so aware of the Climate Emergency I now reflect on why I did it & whether it was worth it. Was the benefit I gained from seeing so many different cultures & the possible cross cultural benefit to other nationalities from meeting me worth the damage tourism does? Were my tourist dollars worth the cost? What was my motivation in going? Was it simply tourism - a holiday away from my normal routine? Was I really seeking enlightenment & knowledge?

I'm not objective enough to know. I would say that there is a difference between travelling & holidaying. In the case of Malawi & Nepal I went there to work for charities. But visiting the other places it was mostly cultural, wanting to see the landscape, archaeology & arts & meet the people to understand that there are different, valid, ways to live. Although I have never been a beach holiday person, there were also times I went away to relax, often on walking holidays getting out into the landscape.

The thing I now realise is that although we think that holidays are a right, they are, in fact, selfish. More so now that we do know the harms that tourism does. I know people who are like birdwatching "Twitchers" who have lists of places that they basically simply want to "tick off". They are seeking diversion, distraction, new experiences away from their normal lives. Some people are seeking to leave their daily problems behind, not realising that most problems stay within us. 

 

I'm sure that not everyone is like that. Many travel for knowledge & to broaden their horizons. But I wonder whether we can justify that any more. There are positive & negative effects.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impacts_of_tourism

In 1950 there were 25 million international tourist arrivals. By 2030, 1.8 billion tourist arrivals are projected. Negative environmental impacts of tourism are substantial including;- 

• The depletion of local natural resources 
• Pollution and waste problems.  
• Pressure on natural resources through over-consumption, often in places where resources are already scarce. 
• Enormous stress on local land use, which can lead to soil erosion, increased pollution, natural habitat loss, and more pressure on endangered species. 
• These effects can gradually destroy the environmental resources on which tourism itself depends.

We need to re-think our attitude to travel. Not just tourism travel, but all travel. By 2030, a 25% increase in CO2-emissions from tourism compared to 2016 is expected. From 1,597 million tons to 1,998 million tons.

https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/consumption/transport-and-tourism/negative-environmental-impacts-of-tourism

 

 

 

Symbiotic Relationships - Living Together

Generally this means a close ecological relationship between members of two (or more) different species in which both species benefit mutually. Parasitism is where one species benefits and the other is harmed. Commensalism is where one species benefits and the other is neither harmed nor helped. Different species often inhabit the same spaces and share—or compete for—the same resources. In simple terms Symbiosis is the art of living together.

People have to live together. They are mutually interdependent. The relationships can be horizontal or vertical. Horizontal is when two or more parties have equal power and responsibility.Vertical is when one party has more power and control over the other party. I leave you to decide which is best & what your relationships are.

In this context we have to consider Love - an intense feeling of deep affection, a positive, reciprocal, symbiotic flow between entities. I can love my child & my dog. I can love more than one person. To love is to care & support. Mutual benefits & aid flow from love. If there is no love or caring then the relationship is not symbiotic. Someone gets the lesser end of the deal. Someone has the upper hand.

Humans also have to live symbiotically with nature. All humans require the benefits of the land, waters and air for survival, making this a commensal symbiosis at best, but often becoming a parasitic symbiosis. Humans cannot exist without the benefits that nature provides. We deplete those resources with our constant demands for more. We are, in effect, doing what the Easter Islanders did creating a barren land that will not support human life. 

Looking at our world today I believe that humans are split into 2 distinct camps. The "Haves" & the "Have Not's". It is obvious at the individual & the collective level. There are people who are totally self absorbed & also those who are empathetic & altruistic. There are the mean & the generous. There are the very rich & the very poor. The polarity has become unacceptable.

I believe we are currently fighting a battle between the two. That battle is at the tipping point. I know which side I want to win, but I am beginning to doubt that we have the capacity to get ourselves out of the mess we have created. Our relationship with eachother & the world we live in is disfunctional & unsustainable.

Planned Obsolescence OR A Circular Economy?

"Designing products to break quickly or become obsolete in the short to mid-term". The general idea is to encourage sales of new products and upgrades to boost profits, a practice that has been banned in some countries, but not in the UK. For example, a cellphone manufacturer may decide to use parts in its phones that have a maximum lifespan of five years, instead of parts that could last 20 years. It is also when spare parts or software updates aren't available, or an item can't be disassembled without destroying it. Changing a battery for example. Naively when I buy an item I imagine the guarantee as the minimum period the item should work for, with the expectation that it may well work for a lot longer. 

In my experience of 79 years, the general rule is that old stuff lasts longer. I imagine that is because of the quality of the raw materials items were produced with & possibly the skill & care workers took in the manufacturing process. I had a John Lewis fridge when I first got married that lasted decades for example. I kept clothes that I loved for years & years. They didn't fade, or fall apart. Seam allowances were sufficient, unlike todays clothes that regularly split.   

My generation valued craftsmanship & durability. We expected things to be worth what we paid for them & to last. That simply isn't true today. Most people expect to replace goods very regularly. They desire the newest iteration of whatever they buy. I didn't expect to change my kitchen units & white goods according to the dictates of fashion. I expected them to last for as long as I lived in the house. I certainly didn't expect to change my phone on a regular basis.

Why on earth have we become such slaves to fashion? 

Electronic waste in particular is becoming a huge issue that now threatens the environment. I remember taking broken electronics to someone to repair or calling someone out to repair bigger items. Nowadays finding someone with the skills is very difficult & expensive. Manufacturers have got away with telling us that it isn't viable to repair stuff. Many electronic components use raw materials that have to be mined & supply is not inexhaustable. This is unsustainable & destructive.

 

There is light on the horizon though. I recently had to change my router. The broadband company I was with, Plusnet, now has free recycling of old routers to recover precious components. I have also taken small electricals to "Share Cafes" locally where volunteers repair all sorts of things. 

This is called a "Circular Economy" - reusing, repairing and recycling existing materials and products whenever possible to extend their life cycle. A model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. The Ellen McArthur Foundation is a charity actively promoting this 

https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview

We all need to change our attitudes & habits. There isn't much time to get this right.  

Choices

There is always a choice. Life isn't binary. 

We are sentient & intelligent beings, but we have made many choices & decisions for decades that are harmful or wrong. We are now realising that & paying a high price. Importantly, we now have crucial choices to make to either put things right, or go on mindlessly with those destructive & disfunctional ways of living, ultimately destroying the world we inhabit. 

It is your choice. Each & every one of you. It isn't a choice to be made on your behalf by someone else.

Every day is full of choices - mundane routine ones, what time to get up, what to wear, what to eat...we develop habits & we then mindlessly follow them. Some of those routine choices need to change. For example our idea that water is going to remain drinkable & instantly available in any quantity we need.

Water is a finite resource in a climate emergency world. Yes, we have just had a very wet spring, but if that is followed by a very long dry summer water will be rationed. If the climate continues to get more & more extreme we won't be able to rely on our water system. Our privatised water companies have already polluted every single river in the UK. In a world where millions don't have access to clean water we may well see mass population migrations & water wars. So, do you leave your taps running when you brush your teeth & wash? Do you ensure that you fill your washing machine & dishwasher? Do you use a pressure washer & garden hose? Do you flush every time you pee? Do you make the effort to save waste water? 

Choices, choices. Choices that matter, all the time, because every bit of water you waste cumulatively puts huge pressure on our creaking water system. 

That is just one example of choices that matter. The food we choose to eat also matters. Is it local & in season? Is it fresh or highly processed? Has it travelled miles? If so how, air, sea or land? 

The clothes we wear matter. Do we slavishly follow the dictates of fashion? Some fashion chains change their range more than 4 traditional collections a year. How long do we wear the clothes we have? (I reckon I don't need to buy any more clothes in my life except possibly underwear). What do we do with clothes & shoes we no longer wear? The fashion industry is notoriously unsustainable. https://hbr.org/2022/01/the-myth-of-sustainable-fashion

 

In a year of elections, world instability & the climate emergency make our individual choices matter more than normal. It is critical that we put people in power who do have an understanding of sustainability issues, who are not tied into powerful, wealthy, lobbyists, who will make the difficult decisions necessary in order to come out of this very challenging world situation. We need good leaders because we have had too many self seeking, power & money grabbing ones for a long time. 

Everyones choice matters, both on a daily basis & politically.

Holidays - Are they a Right?

I have just had two mini breaks, 4 nights in Italy on Lake Maggiore travelling by plane & 3 nights in The Netherlands (Amsterdam), travelling by Eurostar. I hadn't been abroad since 2019 when I went to Romania. I have travelled a lot to very far flung places in my life. I have also been lucky enough to work for charities in Nepal & Malawi. I do think travelling & experiencing other cultures & environments is important. I have benefited hugely from the experiences I have had. I hope that the countries I have visited have not been harmed by by my footsteps & maybe might have benefited from my presence.

My attitude to holidays as opposed to travel has changed over the years. I no longer think that we have a right to "go on holiday". I think that we have to weigh up the impact tourism has on the world & it's peoples, which is often detrimental in many ways.

 

Relatively wealthy people the world over have come to think that they have a right to go where they want & do what they want. They deserve it, they can afford it. We think that we need a break & in order to achieve that we need to go somewhere else, where the weather, the landscape, the food, the culture is different. I think we need to re-think that attitude in light of the many issues that surround mass travel. 

I live in Oxford. I rarely go into the centre of this lovely city because of the huge numbers of temporary visitors on the streets. We have students in the university. We have language students. We have tourists. The University alone has 26,000 students. We have 18 English language schools with thousands of students. The visitor population is approximately 8 million per year. That is a lot of people who often walk around in big groups & block the pavements. 

I accept that they also generate a lot of income too. But they use infrastructure & services & cost us money. They use up accommodation & make Oxford on a par with London for housing costs. Not only is it difficult to walk around Oxford because of pedestrians & bikes, it is also a horrendous traffic jam whichever way you enter or leave the city. 

Then there are the elephants in the room. The Climate Emergency - Pollution, Population increase, Species & Habitat destruction, Water pollution & scarcity, Extreme weather events, Supply chain issues, Food security....

I simply don't think we can ignore this any longer. We humans cannot continue to think in terms of our rights to do what we want. We have to start accepting that we each need to change the way we live our lives. It simply isn't sustainable. It is an existential threat.