In the interests of the environment I am cutting down on meat – not becoming a vegan fanatic, just cutting down. The following recipe looks particularly good – and most of the ingredients are ok – or easily altered!!! Those who know me will be aware that this ‘altering’ can reach epic proportions! Jamies epic bean burger.
POPULATION
I started teaching in 1976 and population was a major issue. Population Concern published great posters. Since then the world population has gone up from 4.2 billion to 7.6 billion. All those extra mouths to feed, bodies to house and clothes, excrement to be disposed of. Population growth has ceased to be an issue in much of Europe with a birth rate below 2.1, but immigration has become a major issue. In the same time period the population of Africa has almost trebled, SE Asia doubled.
A GREEN AGENDA
is urgently needed. Not piecemeal statements which will be picked over by the rightwing press like flies on a corpse, but a comprehensive document which cane sold to the public. One which shows that the main costs will be born by the wealthy not the poor. although how Steve Baker (rightwing MP will manage a U Turn on that will be interesting.
RAIN IN GREENLAND
Be frightened – Guardian
TIDY IS A FOUR LETTER WORD
I admit that tidy is not a word that I have ever been accused of, but I am proud of this. The green wheelie bins will be out tomorrow, taking away the bits that might make our gardens untidy. The stinging nettles and ragwort are purged from the pristine environment that society has come to expect.
TIME FOR ACTION
Dear PM, stop trying to sound like a super hero and actually come up with policies. I do not want to hear about the sums of money being spent (it is possible corrupt again anyway). No I want to hear about how many charging points are being put in, how much is being given to householders to replace gas boilers, how many onshore wind farms are being built, how many public buildings are being fitted with solar panels (and no exemptions for the H~ouse of `Windsor!). In other words targets that are verifiable and real, not sums of money that can disappear in someones trouser pocket. Great graphics
ONE MILLION
One million plastic bottles enter the oceans every minute! Fuck.
ALARMISM
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is accused of alarmism. I should hope that alarm is what it has generated. The latest heat re old is a report of 48.8C from Italy. Fires in California, Algeria, Greece maybe partially due to poor management over the last 100 years (possibly a result of population growth in these areas), but they. have been exacerbated by the record high temperatures.
Another, contradictory comment is one about the increase in eco-refugees. Millions of people have been displaced due to climate change, and this is likely to increase exponentially over the next decades regardless of COP26. Sea level rising is a process that takes years to initiate and years to reverse (if possible?). The warming of the oceans has taken place and water will this expand. This combined with the melting of ice on Antarcticas and Greenland will raise sea level over the next century. Pacific Islands and parts of the Maldives amongst others will be gradually swamped. Plans are already being made for a new Thames Barrier, managed retreat is a reality of coastline management in many parts of the UK (and the Netherlands). Signs of stress are appearing in coral reefs which at present protect coastlines from erosion by storms.
And the decline in insects in Europe is marked. I am not sure if this is related to climate change but something is affecting the ecosystem. My garden should be a butterfly paradise with lots of different insect friendly plants in flower. Apart from a few bees, small white butterflies and occasional visits from other species it is fairly lifeless. My trip down the motorway did not result in an insect graveyard on the front as it would have done 30 years ago.
CODE RED
ORCAS
I am torn between ‘Free Willy’ and images from David Attenborough showing them kill. But I have to love the fact that the Spanish Authorities have ordered small boats to avoid a large stretch off the Spanish Coast due to the boisterous behaviour of orcas. Let nature own the oceans and our environment, but let us cohabit sensibly.