Jeremy Williams's Blog, page 84

Creating a more inclusive economy

In the past 18 months, the UK has depended on its key workers to keep country running during the pandemic. While many people stayed locked down at home, key workers went to work in healthcare, kept the supermarkets open, ran government and council services, and delivered us the things we need. Despite being vital to the economy and society, many of these jobs are poorly paid. Recent research shows that 1 in 5 children of key workers is growing up in poverty.

Poverty, including child poverty,...

Timor-Leste – the first plastic neutral country?

In her book #Futuregen – Lessons from a Small Country, the Welsh politican Jane Davidson argues that small countries can be useful test cases for innovative policy. Her own innovation was the world’s first legally binding commitment to future generations. Delivered in Wales first, other countries have since studied the legislation in the hope of doing something similar.

Timor-Leste has hoped to apply this same small country pioneer approach to plastics. It’s an important issue in the country,...

What we learned this week

I’ve enjoyed Foreign Policy magazine since I was an international relations student, so I was delighted that they’ve published an excerpt of my book: The racial violence of climate change.

On other book related matters, I recorded a podcast with Dr Myriam Francois of We Need to Talk About Whiteness and that came out this week.

The Royal Air Force is investigating options for zero emissions planes. The obvious place to start is with planes used for training flights, which usually only last ...

UK should reduce its global footprint by three quarters

Climate change looms so large over the environmental movement that it can overshadow a lot of other issues, something I’m just as guilty of as anyone else in my blog coverage. One agency that has been taking a broader view is WWF, who have calculated the UK’s total ecological footprint, and then worked out what a fair global share would be.

Different aspects of our footprint give different specific targets, with an overall reduction of three quarters. Here are some of them, with lots more in...

Who is still building coal power in 2021?

Coal power has collapsed in Britain in the last decade. It’s in decline in the US. The economics of coal have shifted so profoundly that 27% of coal power around the world is making a loss. The benefits to this collapse are enormous. It is cutting carbon emissions, delivering cleaner air and improving health. Through respiratory illnesses, cancer, mining accidents and so forth, coal kills a million people a year around the world – at an average of 30 people for every terrawatt hour.

It was c...

What we learned this week

Yesterday China’s long awaited emissions trading scheme launched. It’s the biggest carbon trading scheme in the world, incorporating 12% of global emissions, and its success or failure has truly global implications. In terms of significance, if not coverage, it’s one of the climate stories of the year. FAQ from Carbon Brief here.

I wrote last year about the possibilities of using old coal mines as a source of renewable heat for British homes, so it’s good to see the topic investigated by BBC ...

Madagascar’s famine is climate injustice

Famines are complicated things. Amartya Sen’s studies, recognised in his Nobel prize, showed how they are political, to do with distribution as much as food availability. It’s not usually that there isn’t enough food to go around, but that it’s in the wrong places or those who need it can’t afford it. Many famine situations are caused by conflict, due to disruption to planting or harvesting, or farmers displaced from their land. Sometimes crops are destroyed or confiscated and hunger is used as ...

The meat and climate supermarket ranking

If the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change, greenhouse gas emissions will have to be reduced across every sector of the economy. Unpopular though it may be, that will include diets. As things stand, there’s really no way for everyone in the world to consume as much meat – especially beef – as people do in the richest countries.

Not that this is anything to grumble about, to be honest. A lot of people are eating too much meat than is good for them, so a reduction in meat consumption...

7 ways to reduce the urban heat island effect

With heatwaves in the news again, there’s been a bit of a wake-up call on the growing risk of heat. Cities will want to consider how resilient they are to the increasing threat of heatwaves as the climate warms – especially as exposure to heat is a matter of justice. Those most vulnerable to heatwaves include the elderly, those on lower incomes who can’t afford air conditioning, and residents in parts of town with less green space. The latter category often includes a higher percentage of people...

5 ways to reduce the urban heat island effect

With heatwaves in the news again, there’s been a bit of a wake-up call on the growing risk of heat. Cities will want to consider how resilient they are to the increasing threat of heatwaves as the climate warms – especially as exposure to heat is a matter of justice. Those most vulnerable to heatwaves include the elderly, those on lower incomes who can’t afford air conditioning, and residents in parts of town with less green space. The latter category often includes a higher percentage of people...