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Alan Boatman obituary
My friend Alan Boatman, who has died suddenly in his sleep aged 46, ran his own environmental consultancy, Geo-Sys, in Laos, working on projects identifying and mitigating the impact of resource exploitation in this remarkable area of south-east Asia. Recognising the depth of his experience, the United Nations Drug Control Programme hired Alan to conduct opium surveys in Afghanistan and Laos. At one stage this led to an uncomfortable disagreement with the authorities, as his figures from the field research differed from theirs, but Alan was unmoved and held his ground.
Alan developed a sense of adventure from an early age. He was born in Gibraltar, son of Ian, who worked on overseas projects for Cable & Wireless, and Carolyn, a poet, and was brought up in the Gambia and St Lucia, with two sisters, Kelly and Dale. Alan went to school in Essex, at Holmwood House and Felsted school. He then did a variety of jobs, including working in insurance, in a ski resort in France, as a deckhand on a private yacht and helping to open a night club in Antigua.
Continue reading...Maths sheds light on perfect cup of coffee
Database helps plant 'right tree for the right place'
East Midlands site gets green light for shale gas exploration
Nottinghamshire council approves iGas planning application to drill two wells at Misson, the third UK site to be approved for exploration this year
An energy company has been given the green light to explore for shale gas in the East Midlands, the first step towards the site being potentially fracked in the future.
Nottinghamshire council approved iGas’s planning application to vertically and horizontally drill two wells at Misson in north Nottinghamshire, by a vote of seven to four.
Continue reading...Syria's food production edging nearer to collapse, UN warns
‘Grave consequences’ for food supply with wheat production halved since the start of the war and the area of fields planted at an all-time low
Food production in Syria is edging nearer to collapse with wheat production having halved since the start of the war and the area of fields planted now at an all-time low, according to the UN.
The World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned of grave consequences for the availability of food in the warn-torn region unless immediate assistance is provided to farmers. Lack of food could add to the 11 million Syrians already displaced by five years of conflict, they said.
Continue reading...Keep it in the ground: 2016 likely to be hottest year on record
The world’s temperature is running at 1.2C above pre-industrial levels after another year of record-breaking heat affecting people around the world
Latest figures from the UN’s World Meterological Organization (WMO) released on Monday showed that 2016 would very likely become the hottest year on record. This is a new high for the third year running, and means that 16 of the 17 hottest years on record have been this century.
This year saw searing heatwaves from South Africa to India, Arctic ice reach its equal second-lowest extent and coral mortality of up to 50% in parts of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Continue reading...Global climate change action 'unstoppable' despite Trump
UN’s Ban Ki-moon expresses hopes that the US president-elect will drop plans to quit a global accord aimed at weaning the world off fossil fuels
The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said on Tuesday that action on climate change has become “unstoppable“, and he expressed hopes that US president-elect, Donald Trump, would drop plans to quit a global accord aimed at weaning the world off fossil fuels.
At a meeting of almost 200 nations in Morocco to work out ways to implement the 2015 Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions, Ban said US companies, states and cities were all pushing to limit global warming.
Continue reading...Dino-bird fossil had sparkly feathers 'to attract mate '
Medina bikes: Africa’s first cycle-share scheme launches in Marrakech
With the potential to curb urban congestion, could a successful trial scheme in Morocco act as a launchpad for borrowing bikes across the whole continent?
Moroccans claim you can identify someone as a true Marrakech local if they own a bicycle. The streets of this north African city were once full of ardent cyclists, but in recent decades they’ve been overtaken by scooters and cars that swarm the city’s congested roads.
Now, French bike company Smoove, is trying to revive Marrakech’s biking culture — and boost sustainable transport — by launching Africa’s first fully functioning bike share scheme in the city. The launch coincided with the start of the COP22 climate conference in the city.
Coal mines to turbines: how energy shapes the Welsh landscape – in pictures
Photographer Richard Jones’s Energy+Notion project tells the story of energy in Wales, from the remnants of coal mining that shaped its towns and landscapes to the new windfarms springing up where the mines once stood. The project was conceived in collaboration with the Arts Council of Wales.
• These photos feature as part of a touring digital installation and photo exhibition. The next venue is Blackwood Miners’ Institute, November 24 and 25
Continue reading...Governors’ Domain and Civic Precinct proposed National Heritage listing
Why our hearts go out to Sherwood's ancient oak
Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire Perhaps it is a human-sized story – that after 400,000 days on Earth, the Major Oak is still full of life
Although British place names make frequent reference to different tree species, there can be few road signs giving directions to a single specimen. Nor can there be many English woods more steeped in story than Sherwood Forest.
I found a few incidental tales even as I walked up to the Major oak. There were fairy bonnet mushrooms painting their way across a dead stump like Lowry crowds through Salford. There were some last wasps around a waste bin, and wood pigeons so glutted on acorns their crops bulged. A robin laced its sad song among the birches, but sadder still was a bench with the following inscribed across its seat: “Abby Louise Hucknall – Missed So Much.” An emotional counterpoint came amid much open-armed laughter from the children playing along a Halloween-themed trail.
Continue reading...Editorial: polluted rivers are a national problem – archive, 15 November 1927
15 November 1927: A central authority to control inland waters must be a priority for the government
The appointment by the Minister of Health and the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of a representative Joint Advisory Committee under the chairmanship of Sir Horace Monro “to consider and from time to time report” upon the pollution of rivers and streams and suggest appropriate legislative or administrative measures to reduce what is admittedly a growing evil is welcome, though tardy, news.
Such administrative bodies as the Mersey and Irwell Joint Committee, the West Riding of Yorkshire Rivers Board, the Ribble Joint Committee, the Thames Conservancy Board, and other similar bodies have long been doing excellent work. But the problem is a national one. A strong deputation, representing numerous interests, recently urged upon the Government the immediate need for “a central authority to control inland waters.” It was able to support this demand by quotations from Royal Commissions, Select Committees, Departmental Committees, and scientific authorities for a period of more than half a century.
Applications open for the Reef Trust Phase IV Gully and Stream Bank Erosion Control Program
France faces blackouts, price spikes as nuclear plants closed for safety
AGL says one-third of households could have solar and storage
ABC still linking renewable energy to South Australia blackout
Unitywater and ARENA investigate the hidden power of waste in an Australian first
Network value of solar? Not much, says Victoria regulator
Bear with tin can stuck in its mouth 'a litter warning'
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