Jeremy Williams's Blog, page 47

Book review: Earth for All

Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity is the latest report from the Club of Rome. It was they, if you remember, who issued the original Limits to Growth report in 1972. There have been many other reports in the interval, one or two of which I’ve covered (see below). This one is once again a multi-authored expert review of the future, grounded in computer modelling.

There’s a long list of contributing experts to Earth for All, including some globally recognised economists, thinkers...

What we learned this week

Since those on lower incomes spend more of their earnings on energy, opposing energy efficiency disadvantages the poorest most. Good article on energy efficiency and justice from Brian Kahn in the Guardian.

Is the bell tolling for the wood burning stove in cities? Apparently two thirds of Londoners would support a ban on them.

In the 1970s it looked as if Nepal’s forests were going to be lost entirely. They have recovered spectacularly, a result of switching from government management to...

Building of the week: Minor Homes

Tiny houses are entirely normal in many parts of the world. In developing countries, they’re very much a lifestyle choice, and in recent years a bit of a movement has emerged around the idea. Living in a tiny house is about simplicity. There’s no room for lots of stuff, and you have to be deliberate about what you own. It’s also cheap. Small homes cost less to build or to buy, and they cost less to run. Energy bills are low when there is less space to heat and fewer appliances to run. So there a...

Whatever happened to kite power?

In the early days of this blog I remember writing about kite power, and a pioneering project to attach kites to the front of ships to help them save energy. That didn’t come to much. Then there was a buzz around a kite power company that Google bought and had… ahem, high hopes for. That disappeared too. There’s a third round of interest at the moment with the start-up KitePower. It’s an idea that won’t go away.

The reason why kite power remains an attractive idea is that wind speeds are high...

How the green economy is rebalancing UK inequalities

‘Levelling up’ is a favourite phrase of the Conservative government. (Or at least it was under Johnson. Hard to tell these days.) In theory, levelling up is about rebalancing the economy across the regions, ensuring that nobody is left behind – a “plan to transform the UK by spreading opportunity and prosperity to all parts of it”, as the White Paper put it. How seriously the government takes this is an open question, but the good news is that one of the most powerful tools for rebalancing the e...

Seven heat pump myths

Heat pumps are an important technology in reducing carbon from Britain’s heating. As a country we have made good progress on reducing emissions from electricity. Heating is a bigger challenge. 85% of homes have gas boilers, and gas is of course a fossil fuel. We need to reduce and eventually eliminate gas boilers.

In typical British fashion, this whole process has become a bete noire for the tabloids. Like electric cars, smart meters and wind turbines, editors have taken a hysterical aversion...

The Golden Mole, by Katherine Rundell

There are lots of ways to advocate for nature. There are lots of ways to write about nature. Sometimes writers focus on the problems, explaining human impacts on the environment and the consequences for wildlife. Sometimes they focus on what it is that needs protecting. In The Golden Mole, Katherine Rundell invites us into wonder, celebrating the planet’s ‘living treasure’.

The book is a series of short chapters introducing a single species. Each one gets a portrait from illustrator Talya...

What we learned this week

Climate ripples and the rise of the far right – a beautifully presented multimedia photojournalism story from NPR showing how climate change drives migration from West Africa, which drives politics in Europe.

Why do we feel the need to own things? What is that possession does for us, psychologically? Good article from Clare Murphy at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation on ownership and the circular economy. (See also the book Possessed, by Bruce Hood)

Time magazine looks at windfall taxes and ...

Visions of car-free cities

Can you imagine your street with fewer cars? What about your town centre?

That’s an invitation that Possible have been putting to residents in four British cities. Focus groups in Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol and London considered what roads might look like if they were low traffic and climate friendly. Planners, architects and campaigners were consulted, and the results were drawn up into visualisations. The new street scenes remove the cars, and instead feature public transport, cycling and w...

Refills that benefit the poorest first

I don’t know if you have a refill shop near you. We don’t have one in Luton. The nearest one is a bus ride away in Hitchin and it’s lovely – nicely fitted out, lots of choice, friendly staff. I’ve only been there once though, because it was eye-wateringly expensive. Even if it was on my doorstep, there’s just no way I could afford to shop there.

That’s partly the choice of products. These were organic dried beans, and wild rice in exotic colours. Not your basics, although even the more every...