MyEnviroMind

Sorry for not posting last week. There was too much going on in the world. So much in the news, so much fear, so much scrutiny. Our world just seemed so disjointed. But never fear, today I bring you good news! Live: Energy Consumption via the National Grid http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/ Notice anything fishy about this photo? Take a close look at the coal dial. This is no phoney photograph. Yes, the UK's National Grid, as I type the blog, has no coal powered electricity running through it. Today is a fume free Friday as the National Grid are aiming to run for an entire 24 hours without coal - the first time since Britain's Industrial Revolution! It's not even a particularly sunny day so this is quite amazing. The British Industrial Revolution http://galleryhip.com/textile-factory-industrial-revolution.html The statement is astounding but, if we look a little more into what is fuelling today's electricity, we see nuclear and biomass topping the...

"I had to learn how biases can create a totally different world in the mind of the reader" - Professor Agnes Binagwaho - TEDx Skoll I read this on Twitter today and thought it should be valued as much more than a fleeting retweet. Over the years, I’ve come to realise how what we hear and see can so easily be manipulated. Many times by accident. In conversations and on the news, vital information can be forgotton, mispronounced or withheld. On the other side, the observer can also get it wrong through blanking information, misinterpretation or simply not knowing the background of the topic. As information is passed down and down through the crowd – what minute percentage can we actually trust? It’s the real-life game of Chinese Whispers. These are basic human mistakes. We have all done it on both sides; intended or unintended, biased or elaborating, good intentions or bad intentions. The blurry line exists when deciding whether a bias is a lie or not. Is it? ...

On the 24th March, China's State Forestry Administration listed 12 licensed ivory factories (out of 34) and 55 retail ivory shops (out of 143) that are to be closed by the end of March. Today, I believe! By the end of this year, all of these remaining businesses will cease, but is it enough? For China, this is step 1 in setting out a ban on ivory trade - making the act illegal throughout the country. Slowly but surely, this should but poachers out of business. Ivory ornaments for sale. Highly valued items could cost thousands of dollars Source: GETTY IMAGES Through history, we've seen a trend. As the overall economic wealth of a country has boomed, so has the demand for materialistic items so that people have something to squander their extra cash on. Despite how we scrutinise those people who demand such a valued material in our western world, we, in the UK, were in fact part of this trade once. Our ancestors did the same and we do ignore that fact. The African eleph...

The oceans around us will naturally rise. Due to the Earth's axis & position relative to the Sun, as explained in the theory of Milankovitch Cycles, the Earth will naturally warm as we approach the interglacial maximum (period of time between 2 glacial periods) of the Holocene Epoch (the current interglacial period we are in). Milankovitch Cycles explained http://gulfcoastcommentary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/what-causes-ice-ages.html  - grahamhancock.com origin Theses factors have been suggested as the ones which determine when we live in an ice age. An ice age is made up of glacial and interglacial periods and do you know what that means? Technically we are living in an ice age right now. Here's a link   to a BBC video you can watch whilst you let that last statement sink in a little bit. This video portrays just how interlinked each aspect of the Earth is. All individual parts can be isolated but, much like cogs in a machine, depend upon each other to ...

The Darfur region of Sudan has been at war since 2003. The area has been filled by tension, fear and slaughter for over 14 years. A lifetime for some - I am only 16 yet I feel empowered within my nation-state. The inequality between 'us' and 'them' is atrocious. I should not be able to sit here, sympathise about their lives in fleeting commentary, and still embellish my life with technologies and comfort when our relatives (all-be-it distant) can't even find a meal more nutritious than leaves tonight. We scoff at the lives they lead; their impact on us is merely a brush on the shoulder. But if you whittle our societies 'morals' down through the hardships and losses they have - we would be just the same. So let me rephrase. There is no 'them.' Only an 'us.' Women and children wait to be registered prior to a food distribution carried out by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Thonyor, Leer state, South Sudan, February ...

Coral is all that's been on Greenpeace's mind this week. Location of the Great Barrier Reef http://palnetshotel.blogspot.co.uk/20 12/11/great-barrier-reef-australia.html On one side of the world we have a Great Barrier Reef mass bleaching unfolding as we speak, just off the coast of Australia. The vast wonder is suffocating under warmer temperatures - caused by climate change. On Thursday, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority declared widespread damage from an underwater heatwave. Here's something I learnt whilst researching, a bleaching doesn't mean the coral landscape has died; a bleaching can occur and later on bounce back into life. Learn something new every day! Nevertheless, marine biologist Brett Monroe Garner expressed concern, after seeing these new images of the reef: “Just a few months ago, these corals were full of colour and life. Now, everywhere you look is white. The corals aren’t getting the chance to bounce back from last year’s ble...

Today is UN World Wildlife Day. Set up just 4 years ago, it aims to remind us of, and celebrate, the wide, wide variety of flora and fauna on our planet. All over the world people unite their voices to speak out against wildlife crime; an act of inequality to the many species around us. The genius theme for this year is “Listen to the Young Voices,” giving those aged 10-24 the loudest say in a topic that will determine the future earth which they, I, will have to inhabit & govern once our present leaders pass on. Your background, ethnicity, gender; none of it matters when we all strive to care for the creatures that are marginalised by humans. We always hear about how conservation efforts need to be made and that many species are nearing extinction - some well known (tigers) and some not so ( saola ) - but aside from the magnificent diversity they possess, why actually bother trying to protect the animals? What benefit does this actually provide to us? Biodiversity is...