Environment
Upstream struggle: we are running out of time to save Britain’s salmon
In a few years’ time, there could be no more wild salmon in Britain
Fight fire with fire: controlled burning could have protected Australia
Sydney By modern standards, my grandfather would probably be considered an environmental criminal. To clear land for his farmhouse in…
Our tree-planting obsession may do more harm than good
‘Four beef burgers is the same as flying to New York and back! FOUR BURGERS!’ When I arrived at the…
Let’s give Extinction Rebellion protestors what they want
Extinction Rebellion’s leaders have arrived in London by fossil-powered train, car and bus – brandishing their mobile phones full of…
Young recycling zealots are talking rubbish
Church attendances may be falling, but there’s a new religion in town: recycling. Its followers are devout and full of…
Sebastiao Salgado – master of monochrome, chronicler of the depths of human barbarity
Occasionally, we encounter an image that seems so ludicrously out of kilter with the modern world that we can only…
By taking on grouse-shooting, Labour is risking rural jobs
The Glorious Twelfth this year, signalling the start of the grouse-shooting season, was overshadowed by a Labour party press release…
In praise of the bands that said no to Greta Thunberg
My faith in rock music has been temporarily restored. According to the manager of The 1975, the execrable essay/song that…
Were the US shootings racially motivated?
Who wrote ‘Our lifestyle is destroying the environment of our country … creating a massive burden for future generations. Corporations…
Pure hagiography – the BBC’s Extinction Rebellion: Last Chance To Save The World?
I’m beginning to feel like Donald Sutherland in Invasion of the Body Snatchers: almost the last person on Earth who…
Re-wilders forget that humans are nature too
‘Life pours back in.’ A score of us, listening to Charlie Burrell at the Knepp estate ten days ago, will…
Greenwashed: The strange triumph of eco-Toryism
Even before the government this week announced a legally binding target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by…
How plastic saved the elephant and tortoise
Plastics — even venerable, historically eloquent plastics — hardly draw the eye. As this show’s insightful accompanying publication (a snip…
The truth about air quality? It’s the best (and cleanest) in living memory
We are, of course, in the midst of an air pollution crisis which, like every other threat to our health…
The trouble with Greta Thunberg
In popular mythology Greta Thunberg is a one-girl revolution who has inspired millions of young people into action by being…
Will no one ever take on the Green Blob?
Gosh it hurts when your little corner of paradise is destroyed by a few idiots’ ignorance and greed. This is…
I had no idea how fascinating rubbish could be: The Secret Life of Landfill reviewed
Not the most beguiling of titles, I admit, but The Secret Life of Landfill: A Rubbish History (BBC4, Thursday) was…
Grain of truth
We routinely feel emotional about materials — often subliminally. Which is why new substances and techniques for manufacturing have provoked…
Ocean acidification: yet another wobbly pillar of climate alarmism
Another pillar of climate alarmism is looking distinctly wobbly
It starts with tidying your sock drawer. It ends with emptying your mind
It starts with tidying your sock drawer. It ends with emptying your mind
Justin Trudeau has his mother’s looks – and his father’s dodgy economics
Justin Trudeau has his mother’s good looks – and his father’s dodgy economics
How humanity learned to love whales (and what they taught us in return)
How humanity learned to love them – and what we learned about ourselves in the process
Are we at peak ‘peak’ yet?
Near Victoria Station in London they began to build a tower-block advertised as ‘The Peak’. I expected it to resemble…
Zac Goldsmith: the London race will be tough for me – and the Conservative Party
Zac Goldsmith explains how he will sell himself to a city that’s now solidly Labour
A Supreme Court justice and the scary plan to outlaw climate change
How do you make an imaginary problem so painfully real that everyone suffers? It’s an odd question to ask, you…
