Going Nuclear

So the plan has been announced! Thoroughly interesting it is too.

 I can understand the rational behind adopting nuclear power - low carbon etc, but let us not gloss over the issues!

The govt. are citing France as an example of best practice, yet do not highlight the fact that France wastes far less energy than we do in the first place. Perhaps addressing the issues of energy efficiency would be more cost effective, and productive seeing as Britons currently waste one third of energy produced in this country. Also bear in mind that France has a lot more space for nuclear than we do, and a lot less people per square mile.

Secondly, many of the new reactors would not be online for at least two decades! That is after we have developed a shortfall in energy.

Now my third point is a little double-edged. The safety of radioactive products and the longevity of radioactive waste has to be highlighted, yet at the same time how can you learn this unless you allow for funding and research to be carried out into making nuclear power.

Flooding: the new terrorism

So apparently flooding is just as big a threat to the UK as terrorism.

Yes, allowing development all over flood plains (the clue is in the name) led to a huge impact on thousands of UK citizens over the summer, but extreme rainfall is really out of our hands. There is really nothing we can do to prevent widespread flooding. Aside from a mass migration to higher ground, everyone is just going to have to move their plug sockets a bit further up the wall. Clean drains would also help.

We should just be thankful this isn’t Bangladesh. I bet people over there have bigger things to worry about than insurance premiums.

Apologies

For the utter lack of content.

I’ve started a new job, which covers the whole of South East England, so have been very busy.
Also will be out of action for a few weeks more, but when i come back, i’ll have a lot to say, especially now i’m witness to the seedy underbelly of environmentalism. Or something.

The Three Gorges, or “My blog is about to become inaccessible in China”

The Chinese are apparently about to relocate a further 4 million people, due to landslides and other geological things, caused by the massive Three Gorges Dam project.

This is on top of the already vast number of people previously relocated during the construction phase, who have lost a way of life and are now more dependent on the state for help than ever.

Environmentally, not only is mass migration of humans bad news in the short term, it also has huge long term consequences. Was the dam really worth all this?

Sharks: Not as bad as you think

Sharks are scary creatures, this i will not dispute, especially as i saw one take a small bite out of someone’s arm once when i was surfing!

However what i do dispute is the need to kill them all! This entirely unneccesary thing happens for a number of reasons.

Shark fins - highly prized for food, medicine etc. As of recently Holland and Barratt still carried herbal remedies which contained cartillage from shark fins, fished from an unsustainable, and some have said possibly illegal source. Of course i wouldn’t say that though. I appreciate that some island communities can use this practice as a sustainable means of income, but large scale culling is creating a huge problem for ocean biodiversity.

Secondly, sharks are killed because they interfere with our lives. Did you know that in South Africa, sharks are lured away from popular tourist beaches by towing bait to more remote locations? Once the sharks reach the bait they are caught and killed. Of course this becomes a vicious cycle, as more and more sharks are attracted to the area.

Yes, some sharks can kill humans, but only when they mistake you for a nice seal or some such. There may still be undiscovered species of sharks swimming around down there, due to a real lack of research.

Cute and cuddly species such as dolphins and sea turtles get all the good press, and therefore all the good funding. If you were a jobbing marine biologist looking for some work, would you pitch an idea that was more likely to get long term funding, or an idea that had very little chance? Exactly.

I’m not suggesting that you go and hug a shark, but i would like you to see them for the amazing role they play in regulating ocean ecosystems. Remember, they also keep nastier creatures than themselves at bay.

If all the sharks in the world disappear, we could be in a whole lot of trouble!

I am terribly sorry for being rubbish

I am between internet connections for the time being, which means no updates until i settle.

It’s been really infuriating, especially as so much has happened that i want to talk about!

1. Live Earth - what a shocking waste of time and money

2. Flooding - i know Worcestershire very well indeed, so the ‘unprecedented’ flooding was more than a little upsetting. However, it is not down to this ridiculous ‘global warming’ idea. If it’s anything like that, it’s going to be climate change. There has been flooding this bad before, it just hasn’t seemed as important because a)there were less houses back then to be flooded, and b) there was less media coverage and fewer instrumental records of the flooding back then, and finally c) our sewerage system is pretty damn old, and can’t cope with what we put through it these days, and certainly can’t cope with increased surface run-off during heavy rainfall (’flash flooding’).

Ok, rant over………for now!

The most disgusting crossword clue i’ve seen

I was undertaking the Guardian quick crossword this afternoon (of course i read the Guardian, i’m an environmentalist) when i reached the following clue for 16 down:

Wound crust (4)

Yum.

Hmmm

So i met Miliband the other day, got all excited about his views on protecting our coastal environment, and now Brown has made him the bloody foreign secretary! Gah!

Google search terms

People who have been referred to this blog by google have searched for the following things:

1)Why do environmentalists lie?

2)What do environmentalists think about pollution?

3)Why is tuna dolphin-friendly?

 The mind boggles.

Exciting things afoot…

I will be attending a coastal climate change conference on Friday.

The environment minister will be there, as well as scientists from the IPCC and other important people.

Watch this space for a full report!

In other news, i am now fully qualified to talk about these things!