Jeremy Williams's Blog, page 72

The unreported climate crisis in Zambia

Every year the NGO Care International compiles a list of under-reported humanitarian crises. They do this by tracking news stories in the global media, and seeing which ones got the least attention. I wrote about it in 2020 and in 2021, and some themes emerge – Africa dominates, and so does climate change and conflict. Some situations blend all three.

The 2022 list found that the world’s most under-reported humanitarian crisis of the last 12 months was Zambia, where a drought led to 1.2 milli...

10 things I learned from eating vegan for a year

I’ve been ‘plant-based’ or ‘mostly vegan’ for several years now, since coming to understand the role of livestock on the climate. But towards the end of 2020, my son asked if he could be properly vegan. I joined him and we have done it together.

I haven’t mentioned this before on the blog. I see more value in reflecting on the experience afterwards and sharing what I’ve learned, rather than providing a live commentary on my lifestyle choices. But over a year in now, it’s worth thinking about...

What can we learn from Insulate Britain?

“It is with an extremely heavy heart that today we have to announce that as Insulate Britain we have failed” said Insulate Britain yesterday. If you didn’t know the context, it would be a slightly strange statement. The cost of living is all over the news. The need to insulate Britain and buffer households from energy poverty is more obvious than it has ever been. So why the failure?

There’s no question that Insulate Britain were right in their key demands: to insulate all social housing, and...

Book review: Climate Adaptation, by Arkbound Foundation

Climate Adaptation was released to coincide with COP26 and highlight the issue of adaptation – but so much else was happening around the conference that I’m getting round to it now. The need to adapt to climate change isn’t going anywhere, so that is not a problem.

The book is a project from Arkbound Foundation, a charity that exists to expand the diversity of authors, journalists and ideas. They publish from the margins, with a focus on under-represented voices. I like what they do, and...

What we learned this week

For watchers of green hydrogen, the world’s installed electrolyser capacity increased by 50% at a stroke as China switched on the largest ever green hydrogen plant.

Boris Johnson was a climate sceptic until he became prime minister, and his mind was changed by a presentation on the topic when he took office. So Carbon Brief asked if they could see the presentation that did it and see what they could learn from it.

Another entry in the list of self-charging solar cars, Aptera‘s vehicle has ...

Can Kenya electrify its bus fleet?

Here in the UK, electric transport has been for the rich first, with the electric car market dominated by expensive options. It’s not like that everywhere. In China people have been able to shift to electric bikes in big numbers. In India it’s three-wheelers that have broken through. And in Kenya, it may be bus passengers that benefit first from the electric transport revolution.

In much of Africa, Asia and South America, buses are the heart of the transport system. Cities and towns are ofte...

Introducing Zero Carbon Luton

Last week I told you about a local project to place some Little Green Libraries around the town where I live. It’s part of a wider programme in Luton that I’m working on in 2022, as a bit of an experiment in networking, storytelling, and raising ambitions for the town’s response to the climate crisis.

Zero Carbon Luton is a not-for-profit agency created to support climate action in Luton. We’ll be looking at communications and sharing stories, celebrating what is already happening and connec...

How is your local council doing on climate change?

After a spate of climate emergency declarations in 2019 and 2020, local authorities up and down the country began to set climate targets for themselves, independently of government. Climate action plans were drawn up to outline how cities and towns could reduce their carbon and meet those targets. A couple of years on from that moment, how is that wave of good intent translating into real change? Are council climate action plans getting us anywhere?

One organisation that’s been looking into ...

Book review: Capitalism and slavery, by Eric Williams

This is a book that has taken a long time to find its audience. Eric Williams’ ground-breaking treatise on the economic role of slavery was good enough to secure him his doctorate from Oxford in 1938, but not for the gate-keepers of the British publishing industry, who baulked at this upstart black historian. The book was published overseas, and this is the first time it has been given a mainstream print run in Britain.

I came across Eric Williams in my research for Climate Change is Rac...

What we learned this week

Why climate change is inherently racist – article from me on BBC Future this week, with my serious journalist hat on. It includes interviews with some interesting people, and it’s a good summary of what my book is getting at, so please do read and share.

The online design challenge One Minute Briefs collaborated with Oxfam to create posters about inequality. Lots of striking ideas in the collection that resulted.

A very useful overview of minerals and metals and their role in the energy t...