Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
What happens when the world’s population stops growing?
July 15th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Most adults around the globe – me included – have contributed to the relentless rise in the world’s population which has devastated the planet. Today the world population stands at 7.8 billion and it is still growing – but this will not always be the case with huge consequences. You can find a good estimate […]
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Think coronavirus is the worst thing that could happen to the world? Think again. It could be worse, much much worse. Feeling better now?
April 26th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Things are tough just now, right? You want to be cheered up, don’t you? Well, consider this: things could be much worse. The existence of humankind is not a given. There are a variety of existential threats out there and, put is this way, the odds could be better. I was reminded of this by […]
Posted in Environment, Science & technology, World current affairs | Comments (2)
50 simple ways to make your life greener
February 29th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
We all need to our bit to respond to the climate emergency facing our planet. We can’t all do the same things, but this article provides expert tips on how to be kinder to the planet – from cooking and cleaning to fashion and finance. Please choose at least one.
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It’s World Toilet Day – and that’s no joke
November 19th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
4.2 billion people live without safely managed sanitation – more than half the global population. 673 million people still practise open defecation worldwide. Globally, at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces. Inadequate sanitation is estimated to cause 432,000 diarrhoeal deaths every year and is a major factor in diseases […]
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How green is your energy tariff?
November 12th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
A recent examination of the UK energy sector by the independent consumer body Which? commented as follows: “A third of customers believe that if an energy tariff is marked ‘green’ or ‘renewable’ then they expect to get 100% renewable electricity supplied to their home. Another 11% expect that the supplier generates some of the renewable […]
Posted in Consumer matters, Environment | Comments (0)
Greta Thunberg at the UN: What an incredible young woman. What a stunning speech. What a clear message.
September 23rd, 2019 by Roger Darlington
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A (very) brief history of the River Thames
September 7th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
For the last five months, I’ve lived in a flat in a block which is less than one minute’s walk from the River Thames as it snakes its way through central London. So I see the river every day and, throughout the day and night, it changes level and character considerably because of the tides. […]
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Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside …
September 5th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
… and today I’m off for a day trip to Brighton before summer is completely over. Of course, here in Britain, you’re never too far from the sea. But how far from the idea is the furthest location and where is that? The answers are 70 miles and the delightfully named Coton in the Elms […]
Posted in British current affairs, Environment | Comments (0)
The world population of 7.7 billion forecast to reach 10.9 billion
July 11th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Today we mark World Population Day. As a recent article in the “Guardian newspaper put it: “This will be the 30th anniversary of the annual event set up by the United Nations in 1989 – when there were a mere 5 billion people on Earth – to focus attention on the urgency of our impending population crisis. […]
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Humans threaten one million animal and plant species with extinction
May 6th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Three years in the making, a global assessment of nature draws on 15,000 reference materials, and has been compiled by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). It runs to 1,800 pages. The brief, 40-page “summary for policymakers”, published today at a meeting in Paris, is perhaps the most powerful indictment of […]
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