Hello there! This week I have been enjoying the video of the lady in the red raincoat in 1977. So fascinating! I’ve also been enjoying this Facebook group – terrible art in charity shops – so good in every way! But without further ado, on to this week’s environmental news.
This week’s links:
1. It’s official, July was the hottest month in human history.
“In cities and towns around the world, record high temperatures outpaced record low temperatures on nearly a 3-to-1 basis during July, underscoring the fact that this crisis is being felt almost everywhere, by almost everyone.
But there’s an added madness to this crisis. In its annual Statistical Review of World Energy released a few weeks ago, the global oil giant BP confirmed that in 2018 the world burned the most fossil fuels of any year in history. In short: Our addiction to fossil fuels is getting worse and worse even as the planet gets hotter and hotter”.
2. This week Greenland lost 11 billion tons of surface ice. In one day. This caused sea levels to rise by 0.5mm. In one day. Temperatures are currently up to 9C above the 1981 to 2010 average, and it may be the second-largest melt event – in terms of surface area of melt – since records began in the 1950s.
3. Ethiopians planted 350 million trees. In 12 hours.
4. Government intervention works – plastic bag sales fell by 90% in the four years since the 5p plastic bag charge was introduced in England.
5. Fossil fuels are becoming a toxic market – BlackRock, the world’s biggest fund manager and the single largest investor in the global coal industry, has lost $90bn investing in fossil fuel companies. What a crying shame. Let’s get the violins out for them, shall we?
6. Three steps to a more diverse green movement.
“In 2015, Craig Bennett (Chief of Friends of the Earth) referred to the green movement as a “white, middle class ghetto”. This condemnation of the green movement was widely acknowledged, however, 4 years later, little has changed in the movement to make it more inclusive and relevant to a broader and more diverse variety of people“.
7. “This is the beginning of the end of the beef industry” – alternative meats aren’t going to stay alternative for long, and cattle are looking more and more like stranded assets,
8. “Zero waste swaps I’m not making“. Seconded on the dental and sun care products. See also medication.
9. “It’s grown-ups who are doing this and other grown-ups who are letting it happen” – on why if you want to change the world then talk to kids.
10. I’ll end this week’s post with this article on a vampire tree stump. It’s undead and feasting on other trees. Trees. Infinitely fascinating. Seriously – see also exhibit b and exhibit c and tell me trees don’t fascinate you either.
Wendy.x
I love trees they are so fascinating! But it’s not a vampire tree that’s feasting on other trees. Trees have developed to support each other and work as a community to help the whole forest thrive. You should read The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, one of the best books I’ve ever read!
Adding it to my to-read list! Thanks Sally!
Wow, I only just stumbled across this blog today and this is the first post I read, brilliant stuff, love how you’ve put all this good stuff in one place.
Particularly loved the articles about the trees. They really are so fascinating, and who’s to say they aren’t fully conscious, intelligent beings? It’s certainly a possibility; there’s so much we just don’t know. After reading the article about the trees I felt compelled to share a poem I wrote about two years ago, as it seems so so relevant. Who know’s, someone on here might find it entertaining!
The Tree
Since the tree has existed for millions of years,
and it dominates land with it’s trillions of piers,
is there wisdom within it so complex and profound
it transcends all our senses and connects with the ground?
It’s directly enrooted to the world where it thrives,
so there must be such knowledge that it surely derives,
from a planet that’s ancient and versed in the ways
of supporting the life forms the universe craves.
Just the way that a human when older and wise
gets less active and mobile but their mind can still thrive,
maybe trees as a species have got to the stage
where they’re fed up of moving and have found where to stay.
Or maybe they’re moving in ways that deceive,
like when car wheels spin backwards the faster they speed,
and it’s just that our senses and minds are so young
that we can’t comprehend trees and think that they’re dumb.
So maybe in millions and millions of years,
if we’re still in existence and haven’t careered
on a course to destroy ourselves along with the rest,
maybe we’ll be the trees, and the trees will have left.
Thanks so much for the helpful post, looking forward to following the blog from now on! :)
Adam Millett
wordchameleon.com
Great information. Thanks!