Category Archives: Environment

Is It a Fair COP?

Posted on November 2, 2021 by davidsberry

“Humanity has long since run down the clock on climate change, It is one minute to midnight to prevent catastrophe.” —Boris Johnson at COP26, November 2021 Intensifying media blanket coverage means most of us were fed up with “last-chance-saloon” mood … Continue reading →

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Can You Canute?

Posted on August 21, 2021 by davidsberry

(Note: this is the column I would like to have written for my local paper, The East Lothian Courier, but was constrained to half the words and neither of the maps) The new agreement between the SNP and Greens to … Continue reading →

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No Life on Mars

Posted on March 14, 2021 by davidsberry

On Tuesday, BBC4 broadcast two excellent Horizon documentaries from a few years back. An hour of “Mars: A Traveller’s Guide” from 2017 at 9pm followed by an hour of “Mission to Mars” from 2012/13at 10pm. Given that, fifty years ago, … Continue reading →

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Wind Farms or Windbags?

Posted on February 6, 2021 by davidsberry

The Scottish energy strategy published in December 2017 sets a 2030 target for the equivalent of 50% of the energy for Scotland’s heat, transport and electricity consumption to be supplied by renewable sources. By June of last year, Scotland had … Continue reading →

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Greta vs The Red Center

Posted on September 19, 2019 by davidsberry

Greta Thunberg,, the immensely sensible 16-year-old who triggered mass protests at the reluctance of nations to address looming climate catastrophe, sailed across the Atlantic in a non-polluting yacht to address the UN’s Climate Summit this summer. Her message was impassioned, … Continue reading →

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The Blank Coast

Posted on January 5, 2019 by davidsberry

Retirement is great. It means you can welly off somewhere without having to explain yourself. After half a century of travel, I finally decided to try somewhere I’ve been avoiding all that time: Spain’s holiday coast. Never having been one … Continue reading →

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Drought? It’s a Fecking Desert

Posted on December 11, 2018 by davidsberry

Say what you like about America but, once Britain had wearied of empire-building, the USA pretty much invented the modern world single-handed. China is a great country now coming into its own. But, like its prosperous Asian neighbours their recent … Continue reading →

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Get Yer Wellies Out

Posted on November 27, 2018 by davidsberry

Like a spoiled kid in a toy store, President Donald Trump has played with just about every lever of American government available to him. Unlike his moderate predecessors, he has rampaged about, playing fast and loose with immigration laws, trade … Continue reading →

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To End All Wars

Posted on August 12, 2018 by davidsberry

This week we had another series of news items reminding us of te centenary of yet another WW1 battle—this time the Amiens offensive when the Allies finally had success in breaching German lines on the Western Front and rolling them … Continue reading →

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Our Clowns Are Back

Posted on June 3, 2018 by davidsberry

SOS Puffin is a volunteer project sponsored by the Scottish Seabird Centre which started in 2007. It aims to bring under control the invasive plant tree mallow which had taken over the islands of Craigleith and Fidra, threatening important populations … Continue reading →

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