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Fork in the road? (response to Tony Juniper’s article on Zero Deforestation)

Thanks to Tony Juniper for a great article that rightly raises (again!) the question of what ‘zero’ means when people talk about deforestation. I agree with every one of Tony’s suggestions on what needs to happen next: making use of degraded land, especially in countries like Brazil; working with…

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Pity the Prime Minister in his Energy Confusion

I’m always rather heartened by the fact that the Prime Minister takes his holidays in Cornwall – for the simple reason that at least once a year he gets to see wind turbines in action, happily churning around (as they do most of the time in Cornwall) without so much as UKIP zealot to be seen for…

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What does ‘Zero Deforestation’ mean to you?

This is not a trick question. But it sure as hell is a tricky question! As evidenced by a very mischievous article by Ben Webster in The Times today making out that I had just launched new campaign to cut down what’s left of the world’s rainforests just as quickly as possible! What I was actually…

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The Nuclear Industry Today: Declining but not Dying

Every year, the World Nuclear Industry Status Report reminds me why those in the Green movement who think nuclear has a major role to play in securing a low-carbon world are completely, dangerously off their collective trollies. The Status Report is not an anti-nuclear polemic. Over the years, its…

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Different Visions Of The Future

I’ve just finished reading a little tract by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway called “The Collapse of Western Civilisation: a View from the Future”. Not a very cheery title! And a deeply depressing take on where we are today in terms of both politics and the science of climate change. And that’s…

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California, Drought and some Crazy Politics

There’s this crazy American billionaire called Tim Draper, who’s currently spending tens of billions of dollars on raising signatures amongst the voters of California to hold a referendum on splitting their state in 6 – in effect, to add another five states to the existing 50 states. So far he…

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