Thinking

13/11/2024

Liberal Democrat MP Roz Savage is absolutely right in her defence of farming, the necessity to protect nature, and the priority of dealing with climate. She’s bringing a private members Bill, it’s a crucial opportunity to ensure that the government is committed to climate and nature. Here she showcases the plight of farmers. She’s correct in saying that the problem combines both climate issues and nature issues. If we do farming in the right way, it can suck vast quantities of carbon into the soil. I’m working with one local farmer who absorbs a nett 9,000,000 kg of carbon a year, the equivalent of 6000 EV cars.

02/11/2024

There’s a petition starting up to remind the government that campaigned to stay in Europe that being in it was a good thing.

We want growth. Well we’ve lost at least 3 years of growth that is basically not recoverable and will lag further unless something remarkable and magic happens. If you believe in magic wait for it.

If not, it is at least worth reminding Westminster that a flawed referendum design pushed us out on a slender margin in an “advisory” not binding referendum. And it’s been downhill since.

Apply for the UK to join the European Union as a full member as soon as possible

I believe joining the EU would boost the economy, increase global influence, improve collaboration and provide stability & freedom. I believe that Brexit hasn't brought any tangible benefit and there is no future prospect of any, that the UK has changed its mind and that this should be recognised.

31/10/2024

It’s easy in the day-to-day business of managing all that we have to do to overlook the big picture facing the future of humanity and indeed life on earth. But there are people we have elected whose job is to make that part of their daily business. A big part . I’m talking about MPs and the twin and related crises of nature and climate. The destruction of nature’s ecology speeds up climate change. Climate change harms human life, creates deserts and brings mass extinctions. We have a bill in parliament that makes it obligatory for this country to tackle those issues. You can support it.

Roz Savage MP has brought back the CAN Bill, the Climate and Nature Bill, a plan for a new UK law that addresses climate change, global warming, and the nature crisis in line with the most up-to-date science. The Bill is the only proposed legislation before the UK Parliament that focuses on a comprehensive and joined-up approach to the emergencies facing our collective futures.

https://www.zerohour.uk/climate-and-nature-bill/

We can transform farming to make it nature friendly and a carbon sink. We can shift our economy from fossil fuels to renewable energies and in the process improve our cities, making them cleaner, quieter and greener. We can change business practices. Modest shifts in how we live can make a difference. But most importantly, right now we can encourage our MPs to support this Bill. It puts intelligent commitment into the heart of government practice.

Please help.

Climate & Nature Bill is a plan to tackle the climate & nature crisis

17/10/2024

Hello neighbours, I thought you might like to see this information which is very relevant to your garden, your neighbourhood, and your planet. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/16/fungi-status-boost-conservation-cop16-uk-chile-biodiversity-plan?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

You probably know that there is another COP coming up. They are the major global meetings to discuss how we overcome climate change and on the agenda for this one is the proposal to put fungi on the list of living kingdoms that get protected.

They contribute over the third of the worlds sequestration of carbon. You wouldn’t be able to grow the grass on your lawn without them because plants can’t live except in water unless they have access to fungi.

Fungi are largely invisible ecosystem engineers that underwrite the regenerative capacity of the living world. they connect plants together, they bring nutrients from the soil to plants and in return get energy that plant is created from the sun through its leaves.

That would mean that it would be part of the bi diversity that needs to be protected in our neighbourhoods. I’m sure many people in Moreton-in-Marsh and the Cotswolds know all about this but if not, it’s one of the most fascinating revolutions of the last couple of decades as we discover how , plants effectively talk to each other across huge distances through what has been called the Wood wide web.

You probably know that I have an ecology brief for the Cotswold District, so I will be endorsing this.
Have a great evening and weekend.

Exclusive: proposal to Cop16 could see ‘funga’ get global legal consideration distinct from flora and fauna

09/10/2024

One of the more significant discoveries of physics is that strong winds heat up surface water a strong wind has force, energy, and this transforms to heat when it disturbs the water. Other factors may also play a part, like bringing up cooler water from the depths but these are additions to the equation for what happens to water temperature.

This isn’t just a curious fact. Hurricanes are caused by warm water. Temperature gradients lead to air rising in one place and air rushing in to fill the ‘hole’ from another. If the wind then warms the water, that can be part of the process of storm intensification.

13/09/2024

It is crucial that the farms in the Cotswold National Landscape become nature-friendly carbon sinks. That means that they encourage and develop ecology and capture more carbon than they emit. Both of these are readily achievable and can improve profitability.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/13/how-national-parks-failed-nature-and-how-to-fix-them?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The level of misinformation and disinformation about agriculture is significant. All this matters because 80% of the Cotswold District is National Landscape (APNB). More is a special landscape area. Also because farming is a major contributor to carbon emissions and has had devastating effects on our habitats and wildlife. 97% of meadowland in England hs been lost in recent decades. With that went insect variety including iconic examples like butterflies, bees, ladybirds, and many song birds.

It also affects food quality. Today I was in the Mathematical Institute in Oxford where there was an exhibition on plant pathology. I was told that glyphosate (Roundup) is the most perfect herbicide because it killed off everything except the cash crop that was being grown. You should also use inert nitrogen fertiliser and fungicides and pesticides.

There was surprise in hearing of successful farms needing none of these.

This is not a fringe concern. It’s about a way of farming with nature that supports the future or one that profits the present. Not one child will grow up unaffected by this. Not one adult had grown up unaffected.

Do read this and look out for other sources of information.

For your in formation I am Councillor for Regenerative Agricultures and Ecology in the Cotswold District Council. Thanks for reading.

The image of huge, glorious landscapes, where wildlife runs free under the protection of the state, is far from reality

25/12/2022

There is a special space in every human where we can remember our innocence, the same innocence that also gives optimism and ideals, that wants a world of good humour, play, trust, and love. Naturally we learn to temper that with experience. When we succeed well, we become wise and creative, not cynical. And every year there is a time that can be magical when our society encourages those two gifts of life. All that is best in business, government, science, and the arts, education, as well as life has something to do with these.

Merry Christmas & a bright 2023

07/12/2022

Thinking is proud to have been involved in helping to develop this project to this point. The video showing NOW and linked below portrays the Earth on which we live as seen from space with some of the changes that have taken place. It celebrates the iconic Blue Marble image of the whole Earth that was released 50 years ago today by NASA. It led to the Whole Earth projects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEvqHKOGMC0

LEO, or Living Earth Orchestra, is a terrific project applying advanced optical tech by senior scientists. It draws on satellite feeds from NASA and other satellites to provide near real-time imaging of the Earth – the whole Earth – and in focused detail. This combination has never been available before.

Users will be able to fly over the Earth and zoom in on a geospace to see how they it is today (and in the past) with different data filters to reveal what matters to them, as illustrated in this video. (There will be ten bandwidths available.) This is relevant to climate science, ecology, farming, social ecology, planning, and a host of socially and naturally useful objectives.

The main purpose of this video happening now is to initiate memory of the iconic image that was released 50 years ago today and awaken awareness of what has since happened. A further version is due to be released in a week. The service will in due course be available to NGOs and institutions as well as engaged individuals and project groups.

Please feel free to share the link re , , ,

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 17 photograph the 'Blue Marble', Living Earth Orchestra presents a reflection on what our space-view means fo...

08/10/2020

Brilliant rescuing of a rare butterfly. Talk to the American Society of Cyberneticians 2020