In a flurry of interviews on the opening day of COP21, the UN climate talks in Paris, Sir David Attenborough, speaking with the authority few interviewers dare to counter, outlined the simple premise of the Global Apollo Project. Media coverage of the climate crisis has been lamentably low (with the honourable exception of The Guardian… Continue reading
As Paris climate talks start, is it time to aim for a zero carbon world?
It’s down to this. The world simply stops using fossil fuels, as soon as possible, and much sooner than the year 2100. Most delegations heading to the conference chambers of Paris for the vital UN climate talks from governments around the world won’t have it on their negotiating list, yet. Zero carbon is still a bold… Continue reading →
From old Eastern Bloc crock to cool powerhouse – Leipzig’s soar story
Leipzig, the great city of Bach and Mendelson, has made a remarkable, if belated, advance since the days of the Monday Prayer meetings in St Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche), the peaceful cradle to the peaceful overthrow of communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall. (This is an account of my recent visit.) At first the economy… Continue reading →
How Donegal’s brief encounter became permanent promotion
There’s a key scene in Brief Encounter (80th anniversary in 2025), when Laura and Alec reach the station where they are to part for the last time. She (Celia Johnson) tells him (Trevor Howard) “I will walk past here many more times, but not with you.” I don’t know how often they changed advertising posters… Continue reading →
Pavegen’s footstep energy advance “faster than solar”
The advances made in the pioneering technology of footstep energy has been much more rapid than the progress in solar power when it was starting up, according to the CEO of Pavegen, a UK company at the leading edge of the (kinetic harvesting) business. (Another story by me on Pavegen – here.) Laurence Kemball-Cook,… Continue reading →
Conference call of Bournemouth – First Lady of South Coast resorts
I have just been back to this elegant, recently promoted to the football Premiership, but for a century or more one of our elite seaside spots. It has one of the longest continuous beach-front walks in Britain, the perfect place for conference delegates to practice their speeches, lined with smart, upgraded beachhuts, above well-manicured sands…. Continue reading →