miscellaneous

What we learned this week

Portugal had a goal of ending coal power by 2030, but this month it closed its last coal power station, nine years ahead of schedule. It’s the fourth European country to stop using coal, joining Sweden, Austria and Belgium.

Can you raise Christmas turkeys through regenerative farming practices? This company in California is claiming that by using native grasses rather than farmed feeds, their turkey farms are a net gain for nature.

Credit Suisse have been fined £147 million for fraudulent loans to Mozambique, which have cost the country billions. But since it was the London branch of Credit Suisse, the fine will be collected by the FSA and given to the UK Treasury to spend as they like. Sign the petition from the Jubilee Debt Campaign to send the money to Mozambique where it belongs.

“We need to be alert to context and not ask ‘what will work, generically?’ but ‘what will work and be right for this place and contribute to the bigger picture?’ – because population size, landscape, climate, skills, identity and culture all hold opportunities and barriers for change.” Josie Warden at the RSA asks questions about making global change in specific places, something I often consider here in Luton.

An upcoming talk for this week – in conversation about climate and race with Greta Arena, for the Festival for Change, on Youtube at 9:50am on Wednesday 1st of December.

On still blogging in 2026

I realised recently that I’ve been writing a blog for over 20 years now. Those two decades have not softened my reflexive dislike of the word blog, by the way. I mentally hesitate before ever using it. I will suck it up and use it here, because at the beginning of a new year, I…

Some favourite posts from 2025

It’s time to wrap things up for the season, and I will do so with a selection of highlights. Having looked back over this year’s articles, here are some that I’m pleased with. The landscaper of the climate age – The Chinese architect and landscaper Kongjian Yu died in a plane crash this year, and…

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