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In our series marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the author calls for an end to blaming mums for everything, including climate change
Everyone has mummy issues these days – including climate scientists. A recent study made headlines by suggesting that the number-one thing a person can do to reduce their carbon footprint is to have fewer children. Right on cue, a neo-Malthusian chorus seized on the study as another opportunity to shame women for their reproductive choices. Averting climate catastrophe is a collective responsibility – but it’s far more comfortable to blame your mother, or someone else’s, for every social ill.
I’ve just crossed the invisible rubicon between the age when you’re shamed and terrified out of the very idea of breeding and the age when you’re coerced and cajoled into it – if you have a uterus, of course. If you don’t, you can pretty much sit back and wait for some woman to do the donkey work of organising your genetic legacy, safe in the knowledge that you’re unlikely to be judged on your reproductive choices. I’m consistently taken aback by the number of men my age and older who speak offhandedly about their “future children”, without having planned in the slightest for the arrival of these notional sprogs – simply assuming that it’ll happen someday, when they’ve had time to dedicate themselves to their life’s work.
Babies are rather like hard drugs: once you’ve had one, it’s surprisingly hard to simply put it down and walk away
Related: Want to fight climate change? Have fewer children
Continue reading...Squid and anchovies are moving into warming waters in large numbers, a report finds, with the long-lost bluefin tuna also returning
Squid and anchovies, more commonly eaten by Britons holidaying abroad, are being drawn into UK waters in large numbers by climate change, according to major new report that suggests the nation’s long-lost bluefin tuna is also returning.
However, global warming is harming sea birds, such as puffins, fulmars, terns and razorbills, as the fish they rely on are driven north or deeper as waters warm. The analysis of the impact of climate on the UK’s seas, which draws on the work of 400 scientists, found a steady rise in water temperature.
Related: Admiral calls Britain's plan to control fishing waters ‘amazingly complacent’
Continue reading...So, the government is committed to banning all diesel and petrol cars by 2040 (Report, 26 July). Has it considered the wider impacts?
Power stations will face huge peak-time demand when drivers charge vehicles overnight. Can they cope? Will we face increased electricity charges?
Continue reading...Met Office figures for 2016 also show long-term decrease in amount of frost, while last winter was the second wettest on record across the country
The winter of 2016 was the warmest for England and Wales in records that stretch back to 1910, the Met Office’s annual State of the UK Climate report revealed on Thursday.
The average temperature from December 2015 to February 2016 was more than 2C above the long-term average across the southern half of the UK. The report also found that, over the last decade, the number of air frosts has dropped by 7% and the number of ground frosts by 9%, compared with the average between 1981-2010.
Continue reading...Met Office figures for 2016 also show long-term decrease in amount of frost, while last winter was the second wettest on record across the country
The winter of 2016 was the warmest for England and Wales in records that stretch back to 1910, the Met Office’s annual State of the UK Climate report revealed on Thursday.
The average temperature from December 2015 to February 2016 was more than 2C above the long-term average across the southern half of the UK. The report also found that, over the last decade, the number of air frosts has dropped by 7% and the number of ground frosts by 9%, compared with the average between 1981-2010.
Continue reading...Kevin Trenberth - recent award winner - is one of the world’s foremost climate scientists
The American Geophysical Union - the pre-eminent organization of Earth scientists - presents annual awards to celebrate the achievements of scientists. The awards, which are often named after famous historical scientists, reflect the contributions to science in the area of the award namesake. With the 2017 award winners just announced, it’s appropriate to showcase one of the winners here.
The 2017 winner of the Roger Revelle medal is Dr. Kevin E. Trenberth. One of the most well-known scientists in the world, he is certainly the person most knowledgeable about climate change that I know.
human beings are now carrying out a large scale geophysical experiment
Continue reading...The route, which will span 2,000km from Cairns to Coolangatta and west to Toowoomba, within six months will offer drivers 18 free recharging stations
Queensland will have a 2,000km network of electric vehicle charging stations that make up one of the world’s longest electric vehicle highways within six months.
The state government announced on Thursday it would build an 18-station network stretching along Queensland’s east coast from Cairns to Coolangatta and west to Toowoomba.
Related: Electric cars: everything you need to know
Related: Is there enough electricity? National Grid reacts to fossil-fuel vehicle ban
Continue reading...With the UK planning to ban petrol and diesel cars and vans in 2040 we asked you what it’s like to drive the vehicle of the future
Amid fears that rising levels of nitrogen oxides pose a major risk to public health, Britain plans to ban all new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040. As part of the government’s much-anticipated clean air plan it has said the move is needed because of the unnecessary and avoidable impact that poor air quality was having on people’s health.
With the inevitable demise of diesel and petrol vehicles we asked electric car drivers to tell us what it’s like to drive one, and why they are the future.
Continue reading...From how to charge them to whether they are really better for the environment
The first generation of electric-car buyers have been people with homes where it is easy to plug one in. “The vast majority of Nissan Leaf customers are [families with] 2.4 children, mums and dads, with off-street parking,” said Gareth Dunsmore of Nissan Europe. “Tomorrow that won’t be the case.”
Continue reading...Michael Gove’s pledge to ban new petrol and diesel cars in 23 years is not enough to tackle health crisis now, say campaigners
Michael Gove, the environment secretary, has been accused of “kicking the can down the road” with his air quality proposals, after campaigners said those dying from the effects of pollution could not wait another 23 years for a ban on new petrol and diesel cars.
The long-awaited document contains a pledge to stop new petrol and diesel cars being sold in the UK after 2040, as well as measures to encourage councils to tackle pollution hotspots and potentially a limited scrappage scheme for the most polluting older vehicles.
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