Category Archives: ecosystem services
Ecosystem Services for whom?
Ecosystem Services – the idea that we benefit from goods and services provided for free by nature. To be frank, the phrase is ugly. It’s ugly language to use to describe so much beauty – Nature; the bringer of joy, … Continue reading
Natural Capital, Greshams Law and the Tainted Altruism Effect
I am in two minds whether to buy Tony Juniper’s new book, What nature does for Britain. On the one hand I think it will be well written and entertaining with lots of good examples of positive action for nature. … Continue reading
UKIPs policy for farm subsidies: strip away all environmental protections and public goods.
As we approach the dreaded Euro Elections on Thursday, I have been keeping (or should that be kipping) an eye on some of the claims made by UKIP on matters environmental. Last week they claimed that every household in the … Continue reading
Gone to the Dogs
I grew up with dogs. We had a succession of Welsh collies. Kirsty was a family pet before I was born, but sadly died young. Meg accompanied me through childhood into teenage years – I will always remember going up … Continue reading
Feed the World….. sugar till we are all obese.
We are told that Fat is the new normal and this is undoubtedly true. It’s another example of shifting baseline syndrome, also known as the “frog in the saucepan“. I have noticed my own waistline expand over the years … Continue reading
No targets and prescriptions – Conservation: The Knepp Way
wild daffodils on Knepp Estate (c) miles king On Wednesday I was privileged to spend a day at the Knepp Estate in Sussex, with Natural England Agriculture Policy experts – not that NE do policy of course. Other experts (and … Continue reading
The Supergrass that betrays real Environmental Goods
I was intrigued by this headline in Farmers Weekly (where else?) – “£2.5M boost for grass that helps prevent floods“. What can it be? A panacea for all our flooding problems – is it superabsorbent? Is it a climate change … Continue reading
Conservation needs Change
This a continuation of the series of blogs stimulated by the re-wilding and conservation debate at the Linnean Society on Wednesday. I looked at how people’s relationship with nature has evolved to the point now where we can more or … Continue reading
The Age of Can Do
Here’s the piece Mark Avery published on his blog this morning. It encompasses some of the thinking I’ve been doing in preparation for this evening’s debate. Let me know what you think. Can Do We are living in the age … Continue reading
Biodiversity Offsetting – some further thoughts
Today’s blog appears on the Woodland Trust Blog site. http://wtcampaigns.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/biodiversity-offsetting-some-related-issues/.
a new nature blog 