Jeremy Williams's Blog, page 85

The pandemic has widened the wealth gap

Usually a recession makes people poorer. The Covid-19 induced recession hasn’t. Because people have been saving, and because house prices have continued to grow, wealth has increased even as economic growth took a dunking. As households have saved money, many of them will come out of the pandemic with lower debts.

However, the distribution of this wealth increase is not very even. In fact, it is spectacularly tilted towards the wealthiest.

That’s the headline from the Resolution Foundati...

Book review: How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, by Bill Gates

I know some people have grumbled about Bill Gates writing a book on climate change. But if we have to have billionaires, we want them to be involved in the biggest challenges facing humanity, rather than firing their money into space*. Even if you disagree, this is likely to be the most read climate book of the year. Politicians who read one climate book a decade will probably pick this one. It’s worth reading because it’s going to be influential.

Because he’s a very smart man, Gates is ...

What we learned this week

I noticed that the queen mentioned climate change the other day. “It does mean we are going to have to change the way we do things really, in the end” she said, in possibly the most token words ever uttered on the subject.

“I have been called the father of critical race theory, although I was born in 1982, and critical race theory was born in 1981”. Ibram X Kendi responds to the bizarre paranoia around the theory, and the fact that those most paranoid about it don’t know what it is.

The B...

Francis Kéré – architecture that empowers

Francis Kéré is one of Africa’s most prominent architects, perhaps best known for his new building for the parliament of Benin. It draws on the West African tradition of meeting under a tree to make decisions for the community. This is reflected in the soaring roof of the chamber, and in the shape of the building, with a central ‘trunk’ and large shaded plazas at the centre of a park.

That’s perhaps the most high profile of Kéré’s commissions, but many of his buildings are more modest. W...

Who faces the highest risk of deadly heat?

Over the last couple of weeks there have been extraordinary heatwaves in North America. Heat records were broken across the Pacific Northwest, with temperatures over 40 degrees C in usually temperate cities such as Portland or Seattle. The full toll is yet to be counted, but authorities in British Columbia are reporting 500 or so heat-related deaths so far. Beyond the human casualties, the total harm of the heat wave will include damage to infrastructure, wildlife, agriculture, and the damage of...

Carbon importers and exporters

When nations calculate their carbon emissions, the internationally agreed method is to count domestic emissions. That means you only count up greenhouse gas emissions that occur within your geographical boundaries. Certain things get left out when you do this, such as aviation and shipping. Imports and exports also complicate the picture.

The UK runs a trade deficit. We import a lot of stuff from elsewhere, and everytime you import something you leave the carbon emissions for making it on so...

Don’t fight plastic, fight the producers

It’s Plastic Free July at the moment, a campaign run by a charity in Australia. According to the website, it’s a “global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution… Will you be part of Plastic Free July by choosing to refuse single-use plastics?”

I have two reactions to campaigns like this one. The first is ‘all power to your elbow’. The more people who refuse single-use plastics the better. The second is almost an equal and opposite reaction, which is...

Book review: Our Biggest Experiment, by Alice Bell

Alice Bell is a science writer and communications director at Possible, and describes herself as “part-time historian of the apocalypse, part time campaigner for a better future.” I’ve been looking forward to her book for a while, and here it is: Our Biggest Experiment – A history of the climate crisis.

I notice that in the US edition (available in September), there’s an extra word in the subtitle, and it’s called ‘an epic history of the climate crisis’. Perhaps it was left out for a mor...

What we learned this week

In a great piece of undercover investigation, Greenpeace’s Unearthed team caught Exxon lobbyists explaining how and why they lobby against climate change, plastics and chemicals regulation. “Did we aggressively fight against some of the science? Yes.” Also on Channel 4 news.

China is the world’s biggest CO2 emitter, but to what extent is it to blame for climate change? DW’s factcheck helpfully and colourfully contextualises China’s huge impact.

I wrote an article for The Big Issue last we...

Tune into Rivercide on July 14th

On hot summer days, one of our favourite places to go as a family is down to the river Lea. For us here in Luton, the Lea is our river. It rises in Marsh Farm, and flows as a modest stream through the town and Wardown Park. By the time it eventually spills into the Thames down in London, it’s an important and navigable tributary. Unfortunately it’s mostly paved over at the Luton end, disappearing into a tunnel under the shopping centre. The sections of it that are accessible are usually full of ...