The climate actions that make a difference When people become aware of the importance of climate change and want to do something about it, they often want to know what they can do about it. What simple actions can we do that will make a difference? There are a few things to say about this question…

Levi’s tackles the repair skills gap Buying quality items and repairing them when they break is one of the best antidotes to a throwaway society. Whether it's electronics or appliances or clothing, maintaining and fixing them can keep our possessions in service for longer, reducing waste and using…

Book review: The Care Economy, by Tim Jackson The last book I read by Tim Jackson, Post Growth, saw him stepping back from what you might expect from an economist and taking a more narrative driven, philosophical approach. This latest goes even further along that road, presenting a case for care…

What we learned this week The High Seas Treaty came into force this week, the first global treaty to cover marine biodiversity, deep sea mining and a number of other issues. 148 countries have signed it, so it covers two thirds of the world's oceans. The UK has missed its deadline to sign up by…

Sustainable transport with Kochi’s water metro The winner of the ITDP's annual Sustainable Transport Award was announced this week. Each year the award is presented to a city doing pioneering things in sustainable transport, and this year the winner is Salvador in Brazil. They have expanded and…

Book review: Here Comes the Sun, by Bill McKibben Bill McKibben is not a man known for his cheerful disposition. His books include The End of Nature, one that suggested we should rename the Earth now that we've ruined it, and Falter: Has the human game begun to play out? This new book bucks the…

What we learned this week Featuring China's climate targets, a marine treaty, a bonus book review, and solar panels from Aldi.

What is a carbon handprint? Carbon footprints are a familiar term for the climate emissions of something, whether that's a person's lifestyle or a business, or a product or event. It's a term that is well understood in green circles and is recognised among the general public. Its popularity is due…

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…

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…

What we learned this week Featuring China's climate targets, a marine treaty, a bonus book review, and solar panels from Aldi.

Wattswatt: A fairer energy comparison website When I was a child, there was one national supplier for electricity and gas in the UK. Since privatisation in the late 80s and early 90s, households get to choose who their energy provider will be. It doesn't change the electrons coming into the house,…

Climate justice and heat deaths One of the recurring themes of climate change is the disconnect between cause and effect. Those most responsible for causing climate change are insulated from its effects, while the damage of climate change falls on those with the smallest carbon footprints. There…

Book review: Enshittification, by Cory Doctorow "Dirty words have political potency," says Cory Doctorow of the term he coined for the exploitative turn taken by the digital economy. First using it in 2022, Doctorow captured the sense of eroding value on social media and other online platforms.…

Worried about lithium? Here are five unexpected materials for energy storage We're more sophisticated at it now with our gas boilers and internal combustion engines, but humans have depended on a simple energy principle since we lived in caves: if you need energy, set something on fire. If we're…

What we learned this week Featuring China's climate targets, a marine treaty, a bonus book review, and solar panels from Aldi.

The National Emergency Briefing There was a ground-breaking event in London this week, a first of its kind update on climate change called the National Emergency Briefing. Members of Parliament were invited to attend and many did, as a series of experts set out the state of the climate and the way…

Book review: Sink or Swim, by Susannah Fisher The earlier the world had started to reduce carbon emissions, the easier it would have been. We'd have had time, and activists would never have needed to demand radical action. The same is true of climate adaptation. We are going to have to adapt to a…

What we learned this week Featuring China's climate targets, a marine treaty, a bonus book review, and solar panels from Aldi.

The Green Libraries Manifesto It's Green Libraries Week this week, an event that is organised by the library association CILIP. There are a handful of events across the UK, looking at the role that libraries play in climate change. They are also encouraging libraries to sign up to their manifesto.…

Could you swap your boiler for a data centre? If you follow the news in the energy world, you will have noted the huge energy needs of data centres. Global energy demand for computer processing has been growing at 12% a year, with AI now added to cloud storage, streaming services, apps and smart…

The rise of more plant-based eating In my work with schools, I advise them on all aspects of sustainability, along with my fellow climate action advisors at Let's Go Zero. That includes food, and the most important aspect of that is meat and dairy. Local and seasonal food only gets you so far. The…

The global appeal of the doughnut This week it's the now annual Global Doughnut Days, hosted by Kate Raworth and her Doughnut Economics Action Lab. There are events happening around the world and online, exploring and investigating the ongoing work around doughnut economics. As my own…

Book review: How to fall in love with the future, by Rob Hopkins Years ago when I was more involved in the Transition Towns movement, I took part in one of their community training sessions. One of the highlights was an imaginative exercise where we interviewed someone from the future about how…

What we learned this week Featuring China's climate targets, a marine treaty, a bonus book review, and solar panels from Aldi.

Can São Tomé make its entire country a nature reserve? A few years ago there was an unusual campaign to make London the world's first national park city. London, especially south of the river, has enough green spaces to just about make that plausible. In 2019 they achieved it, though I don't…

Book review: The Green Ages, by Annette Kehnel I'm doing a bit of a reading series on the future at the moment. I reviewed Designing Hope last week, with more to come. The Green Ages is part of that too, despite being a book on history. Written by German historian Annette Kehnel and translated by…

Heating homes with seawater Just outside my office window is a heat pump, which provides our house with low carbon heating and hot water. It's an air source heat pump, which means it draws heat from the air and channels it into the house. There are other forms of heat pumps, notably ground source,…

What we learned this week Featuring China's climate targets, a marine treaty, a bonus book review, and solar panels from Aldi.

Film review: Power Station When you put solar panels on your roof, the sun pays for them. It might not feel like it when you get the installation quotes in, but those panels will generate more than they cost and the universe pays you back. So why aren’t we putting them everywhere? Why are so many…

Currently reading: Sink or Swim, by @susannahfisher.bsky.social - very good so far, and a hardback book without a dust cover is a classy object, no?

Book review: Waste Wars, by Alexander Clapp Did you know that during the Cold War, 10% of East Germany's GDP came from taking waste from West Germany? People couldn't move across that border, but rubbish could - and it moved from the richer territory to the poorer one. That's a pattern that…

Racist is a descriptive term This week we've seen the Prime Minister at pains to call out the Reform party's racist policies, while insisting that people who vote for Reform are not themselves racists. It's a tightrope walk, with journalists repeatedly inviting politicians to call their opponents…

What we learned this week Featuring China's climate targets, a marine treaty, a bonus book review, and solar panels from Aldi.

The landscaper of the climate age The landscape architect Kongjian Yu died this week, but as a pioneer of climate resilient cities, his visionary work will only get more relevant as the world warms.

Book review: Designing Hope, by Sarah Housley In 2021 a survey asked 10,000 young people in ten countries how they felt about climate change. 75% said the future was frightening and 55% thought humanity was doomed. "People are not excited about the future any more," notes design futurist Sarah…

Marching for and marching against There are two very different climate events this weekend - Draw the Line, and SunDay. What can we learn from comparing them?

China’s clean tech turning point China is still regularly used as an excuse for inaction on climate change: if China isn't doing its bit, then anything we do is pointless. This line became popular about 20 years ago and it had some validity at the time. It hasn't been a serious argument for a…

Book review: A different kind of power, by Jacinda Ardern I don't generally read political memoirs. In the 18 years I've been posting reviews here, I can only think of a handful of politicians whose books I've featured. But I've got time for Jacinda Ardern, former prime minister of New Zealand and…

What we learned this week I did a bit of a double-take this week when I read that both Dale Vince of Ecotricity and Greg Jackson of Octopus - two leaders in green energy in the UK - had followed the Conservatives' in calling for support for oil and gas production in the North Sea. One of the main…

What is plug-in solar? Earlier this year I wrote about alternatives to rooftop solar, and all the many ways you can benefit from solar power without investing in a full scale installation. The most intriguing of those alternatives is balcony solar, which has been booming in Germany over the last…

Five roles you can play in climate action What can I do about climate change? That's a very common question, and it's an important one. Climate change is a global phenomenon that is unfolding over decades. It can be hard to find a useful role for individuals when the problems are so clearly…

How war drove Moldova’s energy transition Moldova is surrounded on three sides by Ukraine, with Romania to the West. Like many countries in Eastern Europe, its energy systems are a legacy of the Soviet era. Infrastructure runs East towards Russia. For decades Moldova has run on Russian gas piped…

Book review: The Climate Diplomat, by Peter Betts Peter Betts was involved in climate negotiations for longer than almost anyone in the British government, from COP4 in 1998 onwards. At times he was a negotiator, at other times an advisor. He worked with a succession of governments and ministers,…

Meeting my own net zero target A few years ago now there was a big drive to set more ambitious climate targets. Net zero emerged as the phrasing of choice, with the UK government aiming for 2050. I was involved in the Extinction Rebellion movement at the time, who were calling for net zero by…

Book review: Breakneck, by Dan Wang If you want to understand China and its distinctive relationship to the United States, then framing it as communism vs capitalism isn't helpful, argues Dan Wang. Instead, think of the differences between lawyers and engineers. "China is an engineering state,…

From coal power station to battery storage Tilbury A and B were twin coal-burning power stations in Essex, built next to the river Thames so that coal could be brought in by barge. For decades they served electricity to nearby London, before they were decommisioned. There was a brief attempt to…

Including t-shirt durability, an all electric town, and beer made from pasta.

Renewable energy is almost always cheaper Rewind back a decade, and fossil fuels were the cheapest form of energy almost everywhere on the planet. There were just three countries where wind power was out-competing coal and gas, and solar was always more expensive. That changed fast. Over the next…

How climate action can support the arts Pay someone's electricity bill, and you keep their lights on for another month. Pay for their solar panels, and they've got cheaper electricity for a decade or two. I risk echoing that cliche about teaching proverbial men to fish here, but solar has a way of…