Prime Minister David Cameron said recently that the UK would be going ‘all out’ for shale gas, and mooted the idea that local communities would see a share … Read the rest
Category: Environment
This is the thirty-first in a series of posts that report on the state of the parties as measured by opinion polls. By pooling together all the available polling … Read the rest
By Pauline Eadie
On Friday 8 November super typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) traversed the Philippines leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The Philippines lies in the western Pacific and is the first major landfall above the equator before continental Asia. The Philippines is an archipelago comprising of thousands of islands. It is directly in the path regular typhoons that roll in from the Pacific. The capital Manila often bears the brunt of the typhoon season but this time the weather system struck land further south in the Visayan region. The storm came hot on the heels of a 7.2 earthquake in the same region in October. The earthquake demolished many historic buildings, left over 200 dead and many of the survivors were still living in tents when the typhoon hit.
The Eastern Visayan town of Tacloban has become the poster town for Yolanda in the international media. Over 10,000 are feared dead although there is no immediate prospect of an official death toll given the chaotic situation on the ground across a wide area. Despite the warnings many people in Tacloban were unable to find adequate shelter as the storm hit. People were advised to head for concrete structures. One of those chosen as a refuge, the airport, was completely destroyed by the strength of the storm. The images coming out of Tacloban are reminiscent of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The devastation to the city is near complete. Dead bodies litter the streets and virtually no structures are left standing. A similar although less extreme picture is emerging from other areas in the region.
Rainbow over the Graham Downs Community in New Zealand
I got caught in a hailstorm yesterday. On Saturday I got sunburnt in my garden. What’s going on with all this … Read the rest
Last week the UN World Meteorological Organization warned that the last decade has seen unprecedented climate change. We have had many warnings about climate change and the damage we … Read the rest
Image by Christian Bauer
At the last Conservative conference, George Osbourne announced “We’re not going to save the planet by putting our country out of business”. While he was referring … Read the rest
Image by KA via geograph
Shale gas, the ‘unconventional’ form of natural gas that is accessed through the controversial process known as hydraulic fracturing (or ‘fracking’), received a boost in … Read the rest
Most of our science and philosophy is ‘humanist’ and anthropocentric. It carves up the world into neat little distinctions between man and nature, human and animal, and human or non-human. … Read the rest
Here are some questions about nuclear power:
1. How is a nuclear reaction ‘controlled’?
2. How is a Generation III reactor different to a Generation II reactor?
3. Why do … Read the rest