As Scotland goes to the polls today we should remember the huge power that our councils have to deliver on climate and environment ambitions. Our 32 councils control a huge range of things that shape our daily lives. How far you …
Diet and climate
One of the biggest ways we can reduce climate emissions is to eat less meat and dairy produce, but governments are terrified of going down this route. Any list of the things with the biggest personal climate impacts will tell …
Africa feels the force of climate change
As the death toll from floods in South Africa continues to rise, people in the Sahel face drought-driven food shortages, and climate change will only make things worse. This week’s floods in KwaZulu-Natal province in eastern South Africa have killed …
UK and Scottish energy strategies on collision course
The UK Government’s new energy strategy makes no sense at all and puts Westminster on collision course with Holyrood. In early March Boris Johnson said he would produce, as a matter of urgency, a plan to respond to the twin …
Climate pathway off track
This week saw the publication of a major report which lays out how we might save the world from runaway climate change. It urges very rapid emissions reductions, with global emissions having to peak by 2025, but relies heavily on techno-fixes …
30 years of progress, but still not enough
Today is my last day at Friends of the Earth Scotland, after 30 years in the Scottish environment movement. There has been good progress in those three decades and the environment and climate change have moved from fringe concerns to mainstream …
Warnings from a warming planet
So far this year Scotland has experienced its sixth warmest January, 2 whole degrees Celsius warmer than the 1981-2010 average and its tenth wettest February, which was also 1.1ºC warmer than that longer term average. As I write southwestern Europe …
What war in Ukraine means for energy
The terrible war in Ukraine is being used by opponents of green energy to promote more oil and gas, new nuclear and even fracking. None of which makes the slightest sense.
Climate Change – it’s worse than you thought
The latest IPCC climate report warns of the impact of rising temperatures on billions of vulnerable people around the world.
Power in the EU
There is no doubt that being part of the UK has been a problem for Scotland’s ambitions on climate change and energy. From artificially high costs to deliver green electricity into the grid to the UK Government cutting support for wind …
The idiocy of climate compatible oil and gas
The UK Government's plan is a scam designed to enable business as usual for oil and gas drilling.
Review must see an end to incineration in Scotland
From health impacts and issues of equality to climate concerns and competition with recycling there are plenty of reasons to say no to more incinerators.