Category Archives: Environmental politics

Environmental politics Science

A life-sized blue whale on your computer

March 31, 2007 – 9:59 pm

It is curiously calming … leave it open and pop by occasionally.

Via Inky Circus.

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Environmental politics

The Green Party conference

March 28, 2007 – 11:42 pm

Yes, I promised you voluminous live blogging and it never happened. A couple of reasons for that: one a bit of minor constitutional trauma for me personally (but it all sort of worked out in the end). The other excuses included the keeping of the Green Party members’ website up-to-date, organisation of a video camera, running three fringes (unfortunately I had to cancel one), and… well let’s say really I wasn’t slacking.

And thanks very much to everyone who came to my “internal communications in the Green Party” fringe – I was rather expecting to be talking to an empty room, but I had about a dozen participants and some excellent ideas.

For full, fair coverage you should go to The Daily (Maybe); Jim covered the big issue, leadership, here.

And if I can find the energy (on top of everything else I’ve now got the office cold) I’ll try to write a piece for Comment is Free.

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Environmental politics Science

Animals in peril

March 15, 2007 – 11:08 am

You’d hardly think it possible, but a new species of great cat has been identified – the Bornean clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi). Of course you can guess the final lines of the story – numbers are thought to be small, and he species endangered. Sigh.

And an introduced species is facing an equally bleak future – camels, although not native to Australia (and less harmful than the hard-hooved sheep, goats and cattle that tear up the ancient soils) are said to be causing ecological chaos (when they aren’t dying of thirst in the drought), and culls are planned. Or worse…

The plan will examine the economic opportunities presented by the camels, including making them into pet food and building up exports. Australia does not have a licensed camel abattoir, but it exports live camels to South-east Asia, where they are slaughtered for their meat.

These are feral — ie wild — camels. The kind of stress they must undergo during live export doesn’t bear thinking about.

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Environmental politics

Just a minor insanity

March 11, 2007 – 10:54 am

How institutional arrangements create greenhouse gases: a jet flies, empty, between London and Cardiff six days a week, so an airline can keep a slot at Heathrow.

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Environmental politics Travel

For Londoners and visitors

March 10, 2007 – 11:44 pm

You often come across visitors, and all too frequently locals, in London putting together incredibly complicated Tube journeys when they could walk the trip quickly and easily. The visitors have some excuse, since the standard Tube map, while a brilliant piece of graphic art, often doesn’t show you how close on the ground stations on different lines can be.

But now no one will have an excuse, for they can consult this map, giving walking times between various central London Tube stations.

(Hat-tip to Rashbre.)

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Environmental politics

Green roofs, a good example

March 7, 2007 – 1:14 am

An example of what can and should be possible, in Germany, where of course the Green Party has enjoyed a lot of influence, 14% of total roofs are “green” roofs – ie covered in vegetation, which has lots of environmental benefits.

“This technology offers us an opportunity to significantly improve not only the way our buildings operate, but to utilize wasted spaces — there are millions of square miles.”

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