I was part of a brief discussion the other day about lifetime offsetting. The idea of offsetting is probably familiar to you: we all do things that cause the emission of greenhouse gases (travelling is a prime example). Jumping on a plane increases GHG emissions and that increases the impacts of climate change. But heating…
Year: 2017
Our own little referendum
Here in rural East Northants some of us will be going to vote a week today. I have my polling card already. I will be voting on this question ‘Do you want East Northamptonshire Council to use the Neighbourhood Development Plan for Raunds to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?’ – for…
Dr Coffey’s reading list (19)
Dr Therese Coffey is the junior minister at Defra. Now that Gavin Gamble’s e-petition in favour of banning driven grouse shooting has passed 10,000 signatures Dr Coffey will need to sign off a government response. Yesterday the e-petition passed 11,000 signatures; tomorrow Dr Coffey will have kept Gavin Gamble waiting for two weeks for a…
Gove does good
In an article in today’s Guardian, Michael Gove writes ‘While there is still uncertainty in the science, it is increasingly pointing in one direction. Not to act would be to risk continuing down a course which could have extensive and permanent effects on bee populations. That is not a risk I am prepared to take,…
Bitterns up, Corncrakes down
Two species which have been conservation success stories, and ones for which the RSPB has led the species recoveries, have had very different recent fates. Bitterns continue to go up in numbers (yes, they’re booming!) and Corncrakes are declining. In 1997 there were just 11 male Bitterns making their booming calls from reedbeds in the…