Category: Original
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Canada’s climate crisis by coach: a photo story
A baking Western Canada is on fire once again, following droughts and high temperatures. A week ago I took the bus from Vancouver to Calgary, snaking our way through scores of active and out of control fires. The route also follows the construction of the Transmountain Pipeline which scars the mountainsides (below). Canadian Government-funded, the […]
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Oily sponsors come home to Scotland at the World Cycling Championships
The World Cycling Championships are coming to Scotland this week. It’s big news, not just because our wee country likes a spectacle but because it’s the first time all the different disciplines of cycling will compete together: mountain biking, track cycling, BMX and road racing. A first ever ‘olympics’ of cycling. The road races will […]
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Documentary Short: Torry: Lost to the Harbour?
I’m pleased to announce the completion of a new documentary short film ‘Torry: Lost to the Harbour?’ It premiered an event with the Friends of St. Fitticks Park at the Old Torry Community Centre on Saturday and is now available online. Further reading The film features the campaign to save St. Fittick’s Park, Torry, which […]
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Cycling through Spaghetti Country
This summer I travelled with my bike from Derby to Kidderminster cycling along some beautiful lanes and canals, stepping off a new train and finishing on an old one. Beginning at Willington, my route followed the Trent and Mersey Canal, Coventry Canal, Birmingham & Fazeley Canal then Birmingham Main Line Canal before leaving the waterways […]
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The science of Edinburgh’s gloaming
Last night we had the most gorgeous velvet simmer dim in Leith. I thought I would dip into the science of twilight because as it turns out, 1st June – 11th July is the gloaming time at 56˚ north! For most of the year the night is bordered by different depths of twilight. “Astronomical Twilight” […]
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A Coronavirus reading list for UK Climate Activists
Published 13 April, minor updates 15 Apr This is a reading list about Coronavirus, ecological breakdown, system change and justice. It’s aimed at UK climate but hopefully will be of wider use too. I’m a slow reader and this all took me about 3hrs to read. If you don’t have this time I’d choose one […]
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Fossil fuels are coming to the UN talks in Glasgow
This is a script for a workshop I wrote for the Fossil Free UK Gathering held in Yorkshire, October 2019. In 1992 world leaders (mostly men) convened in Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Earth Summit. They signed the first major treaty on global warming, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). […]
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Diary: Making a safer world for trans people
Content warning: suicide, depression Earlier this year my friend Danielle Myriam Fisher suicided. Today is Trans Day of Remembrance, and so I wanted to say a few words to remember her, what her story means to me, and why I think we need to act. Danielle was a deeply committed activist and contributed hugely to […]
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Visualising UK oil and gas extraction
Oil and gas exploration began in UK waters in 1965. Since that time 44 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent have been extracted, 7,800 wells have been drilled and the industry’s operations pepper vast regions of the North Sea. Unlike coal or on-shore renewables, this major industrial activity goes far away from communities and […]
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A Climate Justice Reading List
In Spring 2018 Friends of the Earth and 350.org hosted the Fossil Free UK Gathering, with a major focus on justice issues. This ‘reading list’ was created, and I share it here for others benefit: UPDATE: 350.org have published a more developed version of this list here.