The Vale of Glamorgan Says No to Fracking

The Vale of Glamorgan is a green and pleasant part of South Wales. It is one of the more prosperous parts and the market town of Cowbridge is a friendly place where you bump into friends when you shop and where almost everyone greets you as you wander around. The Vale itself is farming country. [...]

Marine Protection Zones are Coming But don’t hold your breath

There is a strong and urgent need to protect the marine environment around theUnited Kingdom, which is rapidly becoming in some places a marine desert. It is always easier to destroy than it is to restore. It has not taken long to harm the seas around this island but it takes so long to even [...]

The Inconvenience of Democracy

The United Kingdom is not very united and not much of a kingdom. There is one Parliament which makes laws for the whole country and separate elected parliaments which administer and make laws for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The monarch has very little to do with the making of these laws, but signs off [...]

What is happening to Ice and the North Pole and South Pole

We are close to the time of the year when Arctic sea ice extent is traditionally at its lowest. In the second or third week of September we can get news of whether the extent of summer sea ice in theArctichas reached a new low. In 2007 the extent of summer sea ice reached its [...]

“by their friends you shall know them”

Politicians are supposed to have private lives. They should have friends, relations families and even in some cases lovers and mistresses. Having a private life enables them to understand the people whom they are elected to govern. As such they are entitled to keep their lives private, unless their private life prevents them from doing [...]

Giving the EPA more powers does not threaten the Constitution

Some folks in the United States of America are getting upset about measures which are proposed to give the Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA) more authority to grant permits and regulation greenhouse gas emissions. It is claimed that not only would these measures bring an end to economic activity as we know it, but that [...]

The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation

The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation claims that policies to curb climate change “would destroy jobs and impose trillions of dollars in costs”. These are odd claims to make for an organisation for stewardship of creation. Policies to curb climate change are of only two kinds.

The aftermath of revolutions

In the immediate aftermath of every revolution in which tyranny is overthrown, there is a period of elation. The people are joyous and because they have deposed of a despot and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land as the gunfire abates. It is easy to feel that the revolution has changed [...]

Burning the Forests

It was nice to see that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds are now almost coming to the view that I expressed about burning biomass some three or four years ago. The RSPB are a powerful lobby group and when they speak people listen. The RSPB has over a million members (the British [...]

It’s broke and needs fixing

Governments get elected to do things and for most governments that means that they feel that they were elected to change things. There are two important maxims or rules about change, both of which are usually ignored by governments. The rule first is “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” and the second is “if [...]