rachel.blog

Tag: global warming

  • Global meat consumption

    I saw this graph in my Twitter feed today. It comes from an article in the World Economic Forum: I’m not surprised to see Australia at the top but the numbers are still mind-boggling – 93kg of meat per person, per year. I almost doubt their accuracy but the numbers come from here. They’re extraordinary and…

  • Thin Ice

    A little while ago I donated to the Kickstarter campaign to bring the Thin Ice climate change documentary to US television. My name is even listed on this page. WooHoo! I haven’t heard anything about it for some time and so went looking to see what stage they’re at. It turns out the documentary began…

  • Skip showers for beef

    I’ve been meaning to share the Skip Showers for Beef video which is very funny but has an important message. They’ve also got a website at: http://www.skipshowersforbeef.com A friend sent me a link to the Cowspiracy movie this morning and I’ve just been watching it. Most of it I am already aware of and indeed…

  • Scientific consensus and arguments from authority

    A British science journalist who posts to YouTube under the handle Potholer54 has released another video and it’s just as entertaining and informative as all his others. In it he demonstrates how to pick fact from bullshit with a funny commentary. Why are people so easily duped? A couple of times recently I’ve received some scam calls…

  • The age of science denial

    A commenter on the …andThenTheresPhysics blog has shared a terrific excerpt from a 100-year-old science book by Huxley and Gregory he found in his attic. It’s about the greenhouse effect and how we knew way back then that adding CO2 to the atmosphere would increase the surface temperature on earth. The atmosphere surrounding the earth…

  • Has Elon Musk solved the climate crisis?

    I just watched this video of Elon Musk revealing Tesla’s new “Powerwall”, a battery pack for the home. The Powerwall can store energy from solar panels when the sun’s shining and then deliver this stored energy to the home when it’s dark. I have to say it sounds wonderful and Elon Musk had me convinced…

  • Cousins, Provence, wine-making, and climate change

    I’m back in Aberdeen after an amazing trip to France for my sister’s wedding. We landed in Aberdeen last night to heavy snow! I’m feeling very tired today and think I need a holiday to recover from my holiday 🙂 I got these nice photos of the cousins together yesterday: As we drove back through…

  • Duthie Park and ice shelves

    I took this photo of Duthie Park today. I love watching the plants change as we move deeper into spring. There’s about to be an explosion of green there as all the buds on the trees open up probably in the next week or so. Duthie Park is a gorgeous place: great for running, walking,…

  • Ethical investments?

    I just got around to joining the superannuation program offered by my employer in the UK and so I thought I’d investigate fossil fuel divestment. After all, I don’t want my, er, £364 going into the pockets of fossil fuel companies. I’m sure fossil fuel companies are shivering with fear just at the thought of…

  • Global warming = smelly armpits

    One of the best things about living in a cold climate is an almost complete absence of armpit stink. Women aren’t supposed to get smelly armpits but we do in fact get just as smelly as men. Perhaps we have the heating too low in our home here in Scotland but for whatever reason, I find…

  • A new word: Reducetarian

    I just watched an interesting TedX talk about the negative connotations behind the words vegan and vegetarian. Tell a stranger you’re a vegan and they make all sorts of negative assumptions about you. This is why I prefer to call myself a plant-eater. A friend of mine once told me that when they first found…

  • How whales change climate

    This is a wonderful 5 minute video about the many wonderful things whales do for our planet.

  • I shave my armpits and the ice is still melting

    I’m finding the school trip with Busby and two kids easier and easier. It’s almost too short a journey for me now. Certain “Skeptics” (you know who you are) might mock me and my bicycle and all I have to say in response is that I have a damn fine set of legs now thanks to cycling everyday. So…

  • Thin Ice kickstarter campaign

    Thin Ice is a brilliant documentary made by geologist and amateur cameraman, Simon Lamb. I’ve seen it a couple of times and it’s my favourite climate science film. It’s informative, clear, and it doesn’t have the Hollywood drama of some of the other climate documentaries which is a good thing in my view. I think…

  • Creepers against climate change

    I’m feeling a bit disheartened. There were not very many people at the Auckland climate march. Maybe a few hundred? I feel a bit disappointed about this. Don’t people care? It feels a bit like that right now. Perhaps I’m just down because it’s the end of a week with lots of disappointing news. The people…

  • My birthday, computer science, clouds, pauses, and helmets

    I’m 39 tomorrow, boo hoo. Only one more year and I’m 40. That’s scary. Apparently a new computer science curriculum has been launched in English schools as a replacement for the old ICT course. I think this is wonderful. Teaching children how to create software is far more useful than simply teaching them how to use it;…

  • Taking climate change to the streets

    How do we get the majority of the population engaged with the problem of climate change? Apparently some young Australians don’t even know what climate change is. How can this possibly be? There are plenty of websites about the topic: masses of them, in fact. But you can’t force a disinterested person to go and read…

  • What’s in store for your habitat?

    What’s going to happen to your habitat with a changing climate? I thought I’d skim through chapters 22 – 30 from IPCC report part II which deal with regional impacts. I actually wrote this quite a few months ago and never finished it but a recent post about the impacts of climate change at …and…

  • I will be a hummingbird

    This is a nice story with an important message. The world needs more hummingbirds.

  • A four-year-old on climate change

    Elizabeth’s kindy teacher said she heard Elizabeth mention the words “climate change” earlier this week. She thought this was an odd thing for a four-year-old to be talking about so she asked her what it was. Elizabeth said, “It’s when the Earth gets very hot and all the animals die”. Haha. If I’ve been brainwashing…