Can we make nature exciting?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWqrbYwn7K4&feature=player_detailpage This post was my first to be published at activisionary, a new independent group focusing upon environmental writing within which I am volunteering as an environmental journalist. Take a look at their site and my first article here. The automatic response to the posing of the above question may be one of disbelief forContinueContinue reading “Can we make nature exciting?”

Seeking sustainable crops

Originally posted on Science on the Land:
Elisabeth Braw at the Guardian tells us about the search for sustainable crops. She says that we in the rich world focus too much on a tiny number of staple food species. But ‘at one time during the past 10,000 years, [people] used some 30,000 plants.’ Now some…

Is the farmer’s job to produce more and more food?

The idea for writing this particular blog post sprouted from an article on Farmers Weekly by Matthew Naylor available here. The article encourages debate on what the role of the farmer actually is. Naylor writes: ”Decades of discussion about grain mountains, subsidies, biodiversity, diffuse pollution and food flavour have obscured the main function of aContinueContinue reading “Is the farmer’s job to produce more and more food?”

Do we need to reinvigorate Environmental History?

‘‘Many people believe that the humanities are retreating, that they are irrelevant, and students—especially in the emerging world—are encouraged to study subjects that are considered to be more useful for the labour market. The task of the humanities, according to Wilfrid McClay, is to be distinctive from the natural and social sciences, by grasping ‘humanContinueContinue reading “Do we need to reinvigorate Environmental History?”