‘Now that the traffic engineers have had their say it’s clearly about time that the public, not the notionally public servants, have a say about this space. I still hold to the view that sculpture – and new work in particular , the 4th plinth idea – would work here.’
Environment
Garb-Age in the Highlands
“They filled a boat with 15 bags of plastic waste. By weight, 90% of the waste was from the area’s salmon farms, which regularly discard long black snakes of feeding tubes into the sea.”
Jobs and a just transition can deliver climate ambition
“Governments should work with unions and employers to ensure green jobs: offer good wages, benefits and job security;
provide better training and advancement opportunities;
give workers the right to organise, and are safe and accessible to all.”
Regenerative farming could cut methane emissions
Food production will have to change to deliver the methane emissions reductions agreed at COP26. How will this work? Last week, I interviewed a “regenerative farmer” in Fife who may have some answers. Claire Pollock has a mixed farm of animals and arable – she doesn’t plough but sows cereal straight onto harvest stubble. Cows […]
Scotland’s road to net zero: how far, so far?
Scotland has ambitious targets to reach net zero by 2045 and, so far, we are falling behind in the cuts to emissions needed to reach these targets…More needs to be done to improve our green and blue spaces, and protect the species that depend on these habitats.
Climate change and farming
“The prizes in terms of turning farming into a low emissions sector are significant, and necessary, to meet Scotland’s climate change targets. The challenge is to ensure food production can operate at a sufficient scale and quality to make the sector financially, as well as environmentally, sustainable.”
Energy efficiency could boost economy and jobs
A no-brainer ahead of #COP26: “The UK’s buildings account for 17% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Making them more energy efficient could cover 34% of the emission cuts needed in the sector by 2030. It would also increase GDP by nearly £1.3bn (0.07%) a year, and create 22,545 new full-time jobs across the UK economy.”
SNP-Scottish Greens deal: key takeaways
‘The risks are higher for the Greens than they are for the SNP. Voters are likely to see any failure of government as Green failure too. And with only two ministers, their ability to effect meaningful change is limited. They may find themselves carrying the can for any mistakes without ever having been in a position to take a different path.’
Putting energy at the centre of Scotland’s history
“..whilst natural resources from coal to oil and gas to wind and tidal have been pivotal to recent Scottish history, we have to understand them in terms of their constitutive role in human social relations. These themes will become only more pivotal as the energy future dominates political discussion and the urgency for socially just climate action continues to grow.”
Why Huntington’s Disease is so prevalent in the North of Scotland
‘Our findings mean that northern Scotland has among the highest rates of Huntington’s disease in the world. Its prevalence is almost three times greater than reported elsewhere in Europe (4.7 per 100,000); North America (4.1-5.2 per 100,000); Japan (0.1 per 100,000); Australia (5.70 per 100,000 people) – and more than five times the estimated worldwide rate of 2.71 per 100,000 people.’