I saw a bus in London the other day with an advert for the film Contagion on it. I haven’t seen the film but I have seen the trailer and the striking thing for anyone who loves nature is this: “Character 1: Is there any way you can weaponize the bird flu? Is that what…
Category: Uncategorized
38 degrees, conservatism and forestry
38 Degrees has made quite a big impact in its short life. Its praises have been sung by people leaving comments on this site several times and I have suggested that readers of this blog should sign up to some of its campaigns. Let’s do it again now – how about signing up to its…
Planning for wildlife
It was good to see this story in the Daily Telegraph on Saturday. The RSPB have a legal opinion from Nathalie Lieven QC, the environmental barrister, who has “ no doubt the draft NPPF lessens the policy protection for SSSIs”. I wrote in comments on this blog on 9 September the following: ‘Although European designations…
Veggie
Today is world vegetarian day. Will that make a difference to you? I’ll be vegetarian today even though I am not vegetarian. But I am sticking to my self-imposed regime of four vegetarian days a week – and this year I think I am averaging closer to five rather than four. Why? Well the reason…
Ecocide
Today I am hoping to attend an event in London’s Supreme Court where there will be a mock trial for ecocide – a proposed new ‘crime against humanity’ Isn’t it an interesting idea – that a company or perhaps a government could be put on trial for destroying the natural environment? But wouldn’t we all…
Bits and pieces
– The Independent has come back to the subject of NE’s treatment by the coalition government and the need for an independent voice for nature – and this blog even gets a mention – do remember to go out and buy Birdwatch – if only to read everything else in it other than my first…
A natural solution
How do you feel about these two technological breaks-through which might change your life (if you live long enough)? Laser fusion is a way of forcing atoms together to make new atoms with the release of energy. Make a load of heavy hydrogen atoms come together to make helium and neutrons are released which produce…
Just a quickie!
I’ve been looking at the proofs of my first article for a well-known and excellent birding magazine. My first column as the Political Birder will appear soon. But where and when? Watch this space…. And I think that a reader called CaperKylie wins the prize (there is no prize) for the most amusing merger suggestion…
Are all Americans stupid?
I am, of course, only referring to American bird species. I ask the question because of a conversation I had back at the Bird Fair but first let me tell you about the Carolina parakeet. The Carolina parakeet was a native north American parrot that was widespread in the east of the USA when the…
Sharing or sparing?
A couple of my mates, and a couple of people I don’t know, have recently produced a paper in Science – the US-based not-quite-so-good version of Nature. They look at two versions of land-use and ask which is best as in the title of this blog. Starting from the point that we may soon have…