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Monthly Archives: January 2016
Oliver Letwin reveals enthusiasm for natural flood management
Oliver Letwin is our local MP here in West Dorset. I’ve met him a few times, to talk about different environmental issues. He’s friendly, fiercely intelligent; and loves a good argument. I don’t agree with his politics at all, but … Continue reading
Posted in flooding, George Monbiot, Oliver Letwin
Tagged Dorset, flooding, George Monbiot, Maize, Oliver Letwin
5 Comments
Natural Capital Day
Monday was Natural Capital day at the Green Alliance. They produced a report called Natural Partners, in which they sought to explain that Natural Capitalists and Nature Conservationists could get along fine, instead of bickering. On the same day, they … Continue reading
More Maize Madness: Far from being a climate change panacea, producing Biogas helps intensify its consequences
Tackling climate change is one of the most pressing and urgent things facing humanity, alongside (and related to) the 6th Global Extinction crisis. Some suggest that tackling Climate Change trumps all other considerations. One of the biggest consequences of climate … Continue reading
Posted in Anaerobic Digester, biogas, climate change, flooding, Floodplains, Maize
Tagged AD, Biogas, climate change, flooding, Maize
25 Comments
All Carrot and no stick
Last week a farmer in the Yorkshire Wolds successfully sued East Riding Council for compensation of £14500 for the loss of a field of carrots. The carrot crop was apparently lost when floodwater was pumped onto the field at Burton … Continue reading
Posted in Common Agricultural Policy, drainage, farming, flooding
Tagged Burton Fleming, common agricultural policy, compensation, flooding
7 Comments
Two epiphanies at Kelmscott
David Cameron isn’t the only person to have had a personal epiphany about nature at Kelmscott. Cameron related a story about Two Water Voles, to the Parliamentary Liaison Committee yesterday, about which I have just written. The PM used his … Continue reading
The story of the Voles, the ditch and the Prime Minister
Those of us who believe that nature is important and that in order for nature to be better protected from the activities of people the best approach is to gather evidence, scientific evidence, analyse it, and present it to those … Continue reading
Posted in David Cameron, deregulation, Dredging, Environment Agency, flooding
Tagged David Cameron, dredging, flooding, water vole
24 Comments
Somerset Levels Drainage: Back to the Future
While the debate over flooding continues to ebb and flow, it seems that the newly minted Somerset Drainage Authority, sorry Somerset Rivers Authority, have found their way back to the bright shiny future of the 1950s, when electricity would … Continue reading
Posted in drainage, flooding, Somerset Levels
Tagged drainage, flooding, River Sowy, Somerset Levels
5 Comments
The Flood, The Environment Agency Chair and the Grouse Moor
The Forest of Bowland is an interesting place. It’s a chunk of Northern England’s uplands, where a number of rivers originate. Much of it is owned by Unitied Utilities, and they ran a project called SCAMP, for Sustainable Catchment … Continue reading
Posted in countryside alliance, Environment Agency, flooding
Tagged Bowland, flooding, grouse moor, Philip Dilley, upland management
23 Comments
Food or Floods?
So much has been written about the recent flooding, that I have resisted the temptation to jump in with size 12 boots; not least because, so far, we have escaped the worst of it in the south-west. However, I read … Continue reading
Posted in deregulation, Dieter Helm, farming, flooding, Kerry McCarthy, Liz Truss
Tagged Catchment Management, Dieter Helm, flooding, Kerry mcCarthy, Natural Capital
19 Comments
Nature Conservation: barking up the wrong tree?
I wrote this article for the latest edition of ECOS, the magazine of the British Association for Nature Conservationists (BANC). You can see all of the articles in this edition of ECOS here. The article was my response to the … Continue reading
a new nature blog 