I recently attended the launch of a new air source heat pump, by Swedish company Aira. Heat pumps, widely, adopted, would make a significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions from UK homes. Look around any residential area, and what are the images that come to mind to define progress in reducing carbon emissions? Expensive electric… Continue reading
Browsing Category Environment Blog
Pop star takes the train. Will the fans follow?
There is a famous image, taken in 1966, of Bob Dylan waiting for the Aust Ferry on the Severn Estuary, in the shadow of the still unfinished Severn Bridge. Dylan was already a big star – it was just after he switched to the acoustic guitar. Barry Feinstein photographed him during his tour of the… Continue reading →
Freiburg – city of the tram
Freiburg in Southern Germany, and the new city of Milton Keynes, 50 miles north of London, are about the same size – populations of 215,966, respectively, against 229,941 in 2022. But in terms of public transport they are worlds apart. Reduced to the essential detail of how people get about, MK, as it is widely… Continue reading →
Is this what action on climate change actually looks like?
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.) There were many articles last weekend marking the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement. There is little more to be said on that we… Continue reading →
Attenborough warning on the environment – 2000 style
A chilling 2020 documentary on the state of the planet’s biodiversity A call to urgent action, surely. So why didn’t we heed it 20 years ago? “The future of the earth is in the balance. It’s up to us – who else?” Sir David Attenborough, with his unique authority, addresses the camera. His analysis is chillingly… Continue reading →
Signs for outstanding places
25 years ago this month (September 1995) signs began to spring up on roads leading into some of the most attractive landscape in England and Wales. In addition to already well-known beauty spots, such as the Chilterns, the Surrey Hills and the Cotswolds, the sites included less nationally-famous places, such as the Clwydian Range, Nidderdale… Continue reading →