As a frustrated would-be user of the government’s Green Homes Grant, I am saddened but entirely unsurprised by the confusion around the scheme at the moment. Might still be salvaged, but at the moment it looks like yet another wasted opportunity on refurbishment and energy efficiency.
I mentioned recently that Ikea had opened its first secondhand shop. It will soon be launching a buy-back scheme for unwanted furniture, taking responsibility for its goods at the end of their useful lives.
The Campaign Against the Arms Trade have re-designed their website, which makes it a good time to recommend their work generally. Among recent stories, the fact that Britain has given Yemen £1 billion in aid, while selling £6 billion in arms sales to its aggressors.
I’ll be on half term next week. Not sure if we’ll get away as a family or not, given the uncertainties of Covid, but if all goes to plan we’ll be in a cottage in the Midlands. There are some posts scheduled, but I hope to be offline and won’t be replying to comments.
Something a little bit different – Woodkid is a French musician and film-maker who I rather like. I’ve been listening to his new album this week and thought I’d share the music video to the track ‘Goliath’. It’s shot at an open cast coal mine, and it’s cinematic, industrial and striking. “This song refers to our individual and collective responsibility in creating a monster and in finding ways to defeat it”, he says.
Latest Posts
On AI and the railroads
This week I was reading about Silicon Valley’s investments in AI. Just four companies – Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet (Google) have pumped $670 billion into AI this year, equivalent to 2.1% of US GDP. The Wall Street Journal points out that in GDP terms this is vastly more expensive than the moon landings.…
What we learned this week
Beijing has 20 million citizens and 7 million e-bikes. There’s a boom in e-bike use going on in China right now, and Sustainable Transport magazine looks at how cities are adapting their roads and parking facilities to accomodate them. Teacher friends, if you’re a subscriber to Myatt & Co resources, they’ve just published a guide…
Book review: Street, Palace, Square, by Jan-Werner Müller
Human lives, both individually and collectively, unfold in a built environment. Generally speaking we don’t get to shape that environment all that much. Most of us don’t get to design our own homes, let alone streets and public spaces. Unless you have a particular interest in architecture or urban design, you might never really think…
What we learned this week
I came across the Missing Lynx Project this week, which is campaigning for the reintroduction of the Lynx to Northumberland and the Scottish borders and is worth commending for the name alone. Carbon in Context is a new comparison tool from Project Drawdown. Tonnes of gas is an unintuitive way of measuring anything, so stick…
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The Earthbound Report 
You might like the new album from iliktrains the Leeds based indie group called Kompromat . It’s about a post truth world and it’s impact on our fragile unsustainable world 🌎