Happy Christmas!

As the year closes...

I have these questions in mind....

How will ELQ funding cuts affect the Open University?

How will adopting a roadmap help in dealing with issues of climate change?

How can I work smarter next year?

Will systems thinking and practice be more in evidence next year.....and the word systemic be used to describe more than failure or sleaze?

How can I make the most of what Etienne Wenger calls the 'unique trajectory' each of us has among the communities we're part of - both in terms of renegotiating my own identity and in terms of my responsibilities to those communities?

....I have a lot of less profound questions in mind also about just managing in my daily life. Time for a break I think.

Two sides of winter

The first is today - freezing fog in middle England. Pretty hoar frost and it felt timeless and closed-in and never really got light. The other is a cold but bright north-eastern UK beach where we were this time last year. I loved the blue sky and the way the wind blew the incoming waves back....and those oyster catchers!

Etienne Wenger and Yrjo Engestrom

Last Tuesday - 11th December I was lucky to be able to attend an event of the OU's Practice-based professial learning Centre in memory of the OU's Peter Knight who died earlier this year.

Etienne Wenger and Yrjo Engestrom whose learning theories I've engaged with quite a lot both made presentations. The morning in particular was very rich in ideas.

Two things among those I took away to think on....

1. Etienne's comments on identities as systems of expressability and accountability. In passing he commented that if you are not engaged in something you don't feel accountable. Although at one level it's an obvious comment his phrasing of it in the way he did got me thinking about how it helps to explain many people's lack of accountability regarding environmental practices regarding climate change....how can people feel accountable if not engaged in a particular way?
   
2. Yrjo's focus on climate change as an example of a 'runaway object' (borrowing from Giddens' 'runaway world') and his use of the metaphor of mycorrhizae....what's going on beneath the ground, invisible and huge.

Crisp winter morning

Winter at it's best. Cold, frosty and bright.

Can do?

Seen on a friend's shelves. He'd bought them at a Design exhibition in Denmark. If only such attributes were this accessible!

Best photographs ever?

A programme on the genius of photography is on TV tonight so I took a look at their website. It showcases what it describes as some of the best photographs ever taken.... (which strikes me as very large grouping dependng on who decides what you mean by best.) Certainly a very intriguing set of pictures. Some great links on this page also. I particularly like the one to the BBC photography portal!

CBI, ethics and climate change

Interesting to see both both business ethics and climate change at the core of the CBI's annual conference this week. Good to see also that CBI have a Task Force on climate change.

China and water

Interesting piece from Jonathan Porritt on water issues in China here. He describes the situation:

60% of China’s rivers are seriously polluted; 28% of them are judged to be “completely useless”; 20% of drinking water fails to meet minimum standards; almost every one of China’s fresh water lakes is heavily polluted by agricultural and detergent run-off, leading to massive algal blooms; 80% of discharges to sea are illegal, with huge “dead zones” stretching up and down the coast; at least 10 million hectares of land have been seriously contaminated by the run-off of toxic chemicals and heavy metals...

and what's being done to try and improve it. I get the impression that from necessity China could well take a lead on environmental technologies as time goes on. But as Porritt points out with climate change as context sorting out these problems won't be easy.

Climate change in Australia

Interesting piece on climate change in Australia from Ray Ison here. He makes a link to an interesting analysis from Clive Hamilton who makes the comment:

"It is no exaggeration to say that the way the Rudd Government deals with climate change will make or break it. Howard will be judged harshly by the historians for his resolute refusal to face up to the dominant economic and moral challenge facing the nation."

Ray also comments on events in Australia where climate change issues are surprisingly low key and asks the question about whether it's different in Europe because the discourse on climate change has been around longer.

Putting these two together.... I'd like to think that how climate change is dealt with would make or break a government but I think the way economic development is dealt with still ranks above the sustainability agenda in western societies. Much of the evidence in UK at the moment points to models of economic growth rather than sustainable development, even though at times we've appeared to be taking climate change seriously. There's a lot of window dressing - we might well now be more into recycling and sustainable procurement etc. but a long way to go on reducing wastes and use of natural resources. I suspect our Government is at present moving away from dealing with climate change rather than towards it and that it won't be that that brings it down though it might contribute. We still have areas where issues of climate change are just missing from the agenda. The moves to build another runway at Heathrow are a case in point. More on the 'laughable politics' around that in Sumptuous.

Changing climate change policy?

An interesting turn of events. Australia's got a new Government and according to the International Herald Tribune:

Ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on climate change topped the international agenda of Australia's new leader (Kevin Rudd) as he got down to work...

About time someone let John Howard know his stance on climate change was unacceptable.

Banning the bag. Just do it!

Nice posting in Sumptuous with an extract from Saturday's Guardian detailing how Rebecca Hosking became motivated to ban plastic bags after she'd seen how swallowing plastics had killed hundreds of birds and animals in the Pacific including many albatrosses she'd gone there to film. She returned home to Modbury, South Devon and in a few months got local shopkeepers to do away with plastic bags and find alternatives. She just did it. So why can't we just do it in the rest of UK?

Hoopoes

Looking at Vezon Thierry's amazing shots of birds , including hoopoes, got me thinking of a picture Simon took outside the Taj Mahal many years ago now. So I dug it out. Still like it a lot - I like the interaction and action of the shot and the way the colour of the ornate wall matches the colours of the hoopoes.

Memorable audio

In working on our new 'Environmental Responsibility' course we've been thinking through how we might use audio. Interviews and round-table discussions were suggested and I was wondering what else. Two thoughts I want to log here to remember:

(i) Poetry. John Clare was the poet I was thinking about. He lived from 1793 to 1864 through times of great change in rural England - including the land enclosures, came from a peasant family and had a deep love of nature and the countryside. Appropriate to this time of year - here's an extract from his poem November taken from here (thanks to Simon Kovesi).

The landscape sleeps in mist from morn till noon;
and, if the sun looks through, 'tis with a face
beamless and pale and round, as if the moon,
when done the journey of her nightly race,
had found him sleeping, and supplied his place.
For days the shepherds in the fields may be,
nor mark a patch of sky - blindfold they trace,
the plains, that seem without a bush or tree,
whistling aloud by guess, to flocks they cannot see

John Clare's work has quite a following today and is ranked with the greats. His relationship with the land and the countryside is an interesting example of a kind of environmental values possibly atypical of that time. Some say the disturbance of that relationship with the land caused by the enclosures contributed to the mental illness of his later years. Sadly he ended his days in Northampton Lunatic Asylum. In searching for more about him I even found this John Clare blog.

(ii) The other very engaging piece of audio I remembered was Max Nicholson at aged 91 on Desert Island Discs. There's a transcript online and I remember how lucid he was and the strength and expression of his voice....and now I see this was some 12 years ago! It struck me as quite remarkable at that time. Again it was his environmental values (and his interest in birdwatching) I found interesting.

What I'm keen on here is to find a few clips of audio of relevance to our course that might be engaging, remarkable and memorable.....as so much I listen to these days goes in one ear and out the other.

Which ecosystem? Stupid question?

The Guardian reported a debate hosted by Earthwatch a few nights ago at the Royal Geographic Society about our most vital ecosystem asking "If you could only save one ecosystem for the good of the planet, would it be forests, wetlands, oceans, mountains or the polar regions?" Speakers were allocated to make the case for each and it sounds like it went down well. Whether an online audience is always a bit more grumpy than a face-to-face audience or whether it just lacks something in the telling I'm not sure. The unanimous response online seems to be that it's a stupid question. As one commenter put it - a bit like saying which one organ of the body would you keep if you could only choose one....i.e. they're all important, what sense does it make just to choose one?

Snow!

It snowed last night - just for a while. Quite exciting and uplifting to see snow at this time of year, particularly looking out on it from a warm room. It's become quite unusual in this part of the country. Similar reaction to mine around the country according to these BBC pics. Further afield in the Alps there's a lot more of it around boosting early skiing opportunties.

Pete's pond Botswana webcam

Very glad to see the National Geographic's Wildcam Africa - live webcam at the Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana - is still going. Nothing quite like watching elephants at a waterhole and hearing the amazing array of sounds going on there, for cheering up a wintry afternoon.

Climate change agreed...what next?

"A UN panel has agreed a landmark report declaring that climate change is "unequivocal" and may bring "abrupt and irreversible" impacts." says this article on the BBC website. Behind the headline was what reported as 'arduous talks' to reach agreement and I've no doubt that in doing so this panel has a major achievement. So why does it feel like old news? It highlights for me something about our use of science....really important to know the 'what' but a lot of the challenge to humanity comes in recognising the 'so what?' What I can't tell from this article is what is new here. Are they saying the 'abrupt' nature of change expected is something new or are they saying the level of agreement is something new or both?...in either case I guess I'm already convinced about what's being said here and ready for more on 'what next'?

Complex systems and computers

This article looks at future directions in computing and how a new generation of 'quantum computers' will take us forward. Allegedly these computers work using 'Qubits' rather than electrons and presumably are special because of their very advanced data processing abilities. Some different views on the stage this new technology has yet reached but it seems to be on its way. A Professor Ekert commented "they will not be used in run-of-the-mill desktop applications but specialist uses such as searching vast databases, creating uncrackable ciphers or simulating the atomic structures of substances. ......The really killer application will probably be in designing new materials or complex systems" Sounds quite amazing. I also find it interesting that in thise sort of article people can seem a bit invisible.... 'application' implies people are still using the machines but reading the article the focus is on what the machine rather than the people can do.

This summer we wrote a paper on 'people, robots and systemic decision making' that looked at how people and 'more intelligent machines' might divide up tasks differently in decision making. We weren't particularly focusing on data processing but were considering the role of these machines in complex systems and situations. Depends what you mean by complex systems I suppose but as they always involve people, our position was that one of the key challenges for the future in working with these highly advanced computer-based technologies seems to be about getting both people and machines doing what they're good at. I'm sure these new technologies will mean we can do things we couldn't do before, which if that means for example more efficient and effective use of natural resources sounds pretty exciting. But it also seems likely they'll raise a lot of issues about what we could and should be doing with them. Interesting times.

Late autumn

The year marches on - what a splendid autumn it's been! Beautiful treetrunks that tell their own stories now emerging from those wonderful colours.

Bird photos

Prompted by some great shots posted on Picturepost I've been exploring Photonet. Found this amazing picture of bee-eater plus dragonfly. We heard and saw bee-eaters in Greece earlier this year. Too far away to see their colours but from this guide I guess they probably were, like in the picture, European Bee-eaters as they're most common in that area.

Another side of rubbish

These BBC pictures from the world of rubbish collectors, working at night in the city, got me thinking about the scale of the task and livelihoods and alternatives. Looks here like a job being professionally done and for some the focus of their whole working lives. To me it looks a bit of a thankless task but I'm glad it's being done. I wonder how those involved experience it, what ideas they have about managing waste and how they feed back those ideas? The 'some's recycled' I find chillingly low key compared with countries where there are more incentives to reduce and recycle waste. Professionalism surfaces in this area also elsewhere e.g. among the zabaleen in Cairo . Do we appreciate the job being done here enough?

Browsing for inspiration

I love this picture of a horse, called 'The elements' by Wojtek Kwiatkowski. Thanks to Sumptuous for the link to Picturepost that got me there. Some wonderful posts on both!

Sustainable tourism?

I attended a keynote presentation from David Crowther today in a workshop on sustainable tourism. He was talking about sustainability as better use of natural resources we have and social resonsibility as issues of distribution of benefits so people at large are happy. He seemed to be saying that this doesn't necessarily mean lowering level of economic activity but that there is a lot of evidence that economic development of a society reduces happiness of that society. So do we make changes on grounds of human happiness rather than environmental values or do both come together here? His focus was primarily on social responsibility I think, downplaying the environmental dimension. He made light of the challenge of better use of resources, claiming it was largely a technical issue (does that mean it's therefore a done deal?...not sure what to make of this). But the distribution of benefits he saw as a much harder problem to which he wasn't offering an answer. It was quite a provocative talk with some interesting models and I felt it to be more conceptual than practical. I asked a question about whose values and ethics were in evidence in his kind of sustainable tourism which led on to some interesting discussion. Some insightful comments from Frank Go that the kind of tourism being discussed was mainly a western model to which China was beginning to subscribe but India may choose a different road and it might be helpful to align with the Indian model. Generally quite thought provoking.

It was also the second time in two days that I heard reference to Lovelock's current position as at one extreme in terms of saying its already too late for sustainable development and our level of resource use is completely unsustainable. I heard indirectly that Jonathon Porritt thinks of a spectrum from Lovelock to Lomborg and his position shifts a little one way and another. Good to hear that somehow.

Out in the woods today.....golden, glorious and ever so well behaved!

Wildlife photos of this year

Good to see once again some of the pictures from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition that exhibits at the Natural History Museum.

More on "scientific truth".

Some nice summing up of the recent case against how Al Gore's 'an inconvenient truth' should be used in schools from Catherine Brahic, online environmental reporter for the New Scientist:

For my part, I would say that strictly speaking, Gore oversimplified certain points, made a few factual errors and, at times, chose the wrong poster child (Mount Kilimanjaro should have been replaced by any number of Alaskan or Andean glaciers, for instance). It's unfortunate, but it remains the most comprehensive popular documentary on climate change science I have seen.

Also interesting to see the extensive and diverse discussion in the comments that follow it.

Best environmental blogs

Looking around for good environmental blogs I came across this article from Josh Catone with a 'top 35'. Looks really good if a little overwhelming.

Lomborg on polar bears - refocus or distraction?

So Lomborg's once again slipped his scepticism into something of a void. This time in his book 'Cool it - is global warming a myth?', reviewed here, claiming that polar bears are more at risk from hunting than climate change. Once again he focuses on flaws in supporting data regarding climate change. In some ways any time data are presented uncritically as facts I think this kind of reaction is inevitable and Lomborg's contributions should help others to sharpen the arguments he opposes. I don't think environmental values should be beyond reproach. I get the impression Lomborg's more trying to refocus the debate about carbon emissions ...than deny that our activities contribute to global warming. But I don't yet see how his refocusing will improve the challenges we're facing. As with his 2001 book 'The Sceptical Environmentalist' I think many environmental writers and presenters leave themselves open to this kind of challenge. I think questioning and checking whether we're focused on the 'right' actions regarding climate change is important so value Lomborg's contribution in that way. But I share Porritt's concern that there's already widespread scientific consensus about the effects of people's activities on climate change in spite of many people in the UK believing otherwise according to this year's Ipsos MORI opionion poll which could do a lot of harm in terms of people sitting on the fence rather than taking environmental action. There's an unhelpful element of distraction from action, in arguing about the detail in Lomborg's approach. Not perhaps denying that the iconic polar bear will die out because of people's activities but just how and when.

Gore's response to court ruling

I was interested to find on a Greenpeace blog a report of Al Gore's response to the court ruling re use of 'Inconvenient Truth' in schools (extract below). It goes some way to address my question already raised on this blog about whose purpose the court case served.

"From the start, this court case has reminded me of the "intelligent design" lawsuits in the US. The whole point of the climate change denying camp is to create a false sense of debate, when (in fact) the science on global warming is painfully clear. They've done a pretty good job of this - delaying real action for years - but we can't afford to let them keep doing it."

Porritt on capitalism as if the world matters

Jonathon Porritt's book 'Capitalism as if the world matters' launches in paperback today. Here's an extract from what he says about it on his blog. I like his directness and think he's right in the links he's making.

"2007: the atmosphere warms up; the forests crash down; the poor of the world go on getting poorer; water resources in more than 30 countries are running dry; fish stocks decline; an additional 73 million people join the human race; 800 million go hungry while a billion get fat. Just an average year in the life of planet Earth. And still we wait for today’s political “leaders” to begin to get their act together.

This is not a question of disputed science. Even on climate change, the consensus is now overwhelming. Neither it is a question of money. The rich world squanders countless billions of dollars of tax payers money on subsidising life-destroying industries year in, year out. Instead, it is a question of fear and lack of political vision.

Politicians are fearful because they don’t believe the answers can be found within a capitalist framework. And they know they won’t get elected unless they go on offering voters the same kind of “get rich quick, party on politics” that has dominated our lives for the last 50 years."

Autumn mists

Wonderful light and effects coming through Rutland this morning as the sun started to burn off the mist.

Taking responsibility - green spaces and obesity

Walking out from the house this morning I was struck by how many people were out and about across the fields and round the woods enjoying the early sunshine and a bit of exercise. If the area was housed over and it meant getting in a car to get to the start of a walk, I doubt most of us would have bothered. With concerns about rising rates of obesity and the unhealthy lifestyles of our society in the news today I think keeping local walking areas that are away from traffic is pretty important. I was interested to hear about Natural England's current focus on 'greener green belts'. I think we really need our green spaces. I'm not sure I go along entirely with these 'findings' that this obesity trend is not the fault of individuals though. Externalising responsibility seems a current trend. I think it's easy to feel disempowered in the UK with the pressures of development and local opinion appearing to count for so little - as in the case of Centre Parcs and Warren Wood mentioned previously in this blog. But as individuals we can and do make choices about what we eat and how we live so to suggest that responsibility doesn't lie with individuals at all seems odd to me.

Autumn colours

Taken at Westonbirt Arboretum yesterday. Hard to believe that these colours can be found all together! The woods were splendid.

Whose purpose does this serve?

So a judge has found some scientific flaws in Al Gore's 'An inconvenient truth', casting doubt on how it's used in UK schools. The school governor and parent who brought the case is allegedly delighted. It made main headline news on the BBC's main evening news on Wednesday.

Whose purpose does it serve to take this through the courts? Surely good teachers and schools would use any film material critically and include discussion of values not just facts? What does this governor have to gain? Is he just making a point of principle about our Government dictating what's shown in schools? Or is he trying to suggest that science is somehow value free and that alternative ways of teaching about climate change would be so much better?

As an ex-teacher I think I'd have found Gore's film a very useful resource but it wouldn't be the only one I'd use. Doesn't this line of attack on such a film instead send out a message of reassurance to pupils that it's not as bad as was made out so it's OK for them to do nothing? Just about all resources used in school advocate one particular line or other and echo the values of those who've produced them. There's such an inertia in our society about taking action to positive effect rather than sitting on the fence and defending the status quo. There seems to me a good case for using material that provokes, which is what the Gore film seemed to me to do. Important that pupils learn about 'good science' but not at the expense of everything else and as if it's value free.

And why did this make headline news on the BBC?

Nuclear 'spin' from 1957

I spent my very early days in Seascale on England's northwest coast. We left just a few months before the 1957 October 10th fire, at the nearby Windscale nuclear reactor. Too early for me to remember but this association with place meant I was both fascinated and horrified to watch the BBC's documentary this week about events at that time. It was stated then that 'error of judgement' of workers at the site had led to the fire. But in practice it was they who put the fire out at considerable risk to themselves and in so doing averted a catastrophe that could have left that part of UK uninhabitable to this day. Political pressure to cut corners to keep up with the US in testing nuclear bombs sounds to have been the main contributor to the fire. The cover-up was an early example of political 'spin' - protecting those at the top. They passed the buck.....disgraceful! ....and to have to wait 50 years to set the record straight!?!?

The rut

We were in Woburn Park for a while today. The deer were all stirred up with many stags calling and very aware of each other and marking out their herds. It was a beautiful autumn day, a touch of mist with sun shining through and the colours were wonderful. All in all, quite an atmosphere.

Sitting on the fence

Greece in September...quite splendid!

Death, contribution, change and time.

Attending a neighbour's funeral today has me thinking about death, contributions people make, what changes and how time can get distorted. Nothing like big topics for a Monday morning! It's my belief that people live on in the hearts and minds of those who loved or appreciated them. I think Luciano Pavarotti who died last week will be with us in spirit for a very long time to come, he gave us something so very special and in his singing made a wonderful contribution to humanity.

But I will also remember Ron over the road with affection, for his good humour, courage and friendship. He too loved music. At 87, to me he's always been here since we moved to this area nearly 20 years ago. I heard much more about him at his funeral today - packed out with people - than I knew before. I heard he was born in the next village but one, attended the methodist church, played the violin, supported Luton at football, was a family man and enjoyed big family picnics, holidays in Scotland, his allotment and growing dahlias. We heard more about his working life in the area too and chillingly that he was among the first to go into Belsen after it was liberated, where he worked in a military hospital. He lived a full life and he too made his contribution to humanity in many ways and I've been very glad to have him and his family as neighbours.

I'm struck by the way the world appears to change when people die and time seems distorted. Death is inevitable but when people are alive it feels like they will always be there, even though I know at a rational level they won't. An important reminder not to take them or life itself for granted. Today I've been celebrating Ron's life with his family and friends. May he rest in peace.

Never again without paying for a Centre Parcs experience?

This was taken at Warren woods a couple of years ago - wonderful old beech hedgerow that has grown up to reach the sky. In future we won't get access to this place without paying out to go on a Centre Parcs holiday....which we won't be doing.

Centre Parcs taking over Warren Wood

Warren wood is known to us for the splendid Moneypot Hill which has one of the most interesting landscapes and lovely views in our area. It's not a real hill of course as Bedfordshire is pretty flat but it's a wonderful vantage point on a clear day. In future we won't have access to this area but will instead have a new path alongside the main road. We'll also have to put up with more noise and light pollution, unreasonable levels of traffic and much more activity generally in what's already a busy, noisy county where it never really gets dark, between the M1 and the A1. Why? Because of a new Centre Parcs holiday village that has finally got the OK to go onto Green Belt land because our Government has over-ruled local planning decisions. There are allegedly 'special circumstances' and economic and employment gains top the list but ecological considerations are allegedly also taken into account.

Aside of losing one of my favourite walking areas what concerns me are the values implicit here - that someone at national level who doesn't give a damn about rural Bedfordshire knows better than planners and communities at local level. That "It will attract a greater number of visitors to local sites and amenities in and around Bedfordshire." is automatically perceived as a good thing. To me it's consistent with Government's plans for economic growth rather than sustainable development. There's such a lot of papering over of the many potential adverse impacts ....swamping of local villages which will have smaller communities than this village, dominating the area with a Centre Parcs culture which has no sensitivity to local history and culture, taking over the whole wood not a part of it as with other Centre Parcs villages, the huge potential impact of increased traffic and new traffic infrastructure in an area that's already being significantly disrupted in this way. Extra employment? Yes - but according to newspaper coverage at the time of the appeal that won't necessarily be of local people or even people currently in the UK. It's also setting a precedent for building on green belt land and limiting public access to the countryside.

There are also unacknowledged opportunity costs - just because the woodland is a bit run down at present does not mean that it can't be managed more effectively for biodiversity and for public use in future rather than fenced off for extra weekend travel and tourism. Like with road building, I'm convinced that the result of providing this kind of amenity will encourourage extra trips rather than replace people's holidays abroad.

No doubt Centre Parcs and the Woburn Estates are well connected at Westminster whereas local people aren't. It's been a common pattern in our County for years that local planning decisions get over-ruled at national level. It smacks of arrogance and corruption to me not balanced judgement.

The invisible women

Hilary Spurling's review of Virginia Nicholson's book 'Singled out - how two million women survived without men after the first world war." in Sunday's Observer has stayed with me this week. Shocking to hear that the Daily Mail in 1921 commented that 'the superfluous women are a disaster to the human race'. At that time these women could not count on marriage or starting their own families, as so few men returned from the war. Nor could they count on reasonable employment or a career, as the men returning reclaimed jobs done by women in their absence. Of course it's in context of so many dying through war or flu so perhaps many were just glad to be alive? Difficult to know now. It sounds like a sad sad time for so many men and women and makes me think what a lot we take for granted today. Sobering to think these events took place less than a century ago.

Greek forest fires

So sad to hear about the forest fires of Greece this year, particularly the loss of lives. Even having spent time there these past few years, I can only begin to imagine the disruption to people's lives and livelihoods. Must be very hard to start again after such tragedy. A lot of issues here. According to this news article Greece has had 120 forest fires this year compared with 52 in 2006. A particularly bad year....but I'd no idea that so many occurred each year.

The Cumbria Way

We made it! Eleven of us, adults and children - 72 miles from Carlisle to Ulverston through the Lake District. Mixed weather, wonderful wild places and great to walk with good friends who just accept you as you are.

Tranquility maps

We've been looking at the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE's) tranquility and light pollution maps. Sad to see the decline in some areas and pleased to hear about their campaigns.

Interesting site

Technology, Entertainment, Design or TED is a site that aims to spread ideas by making talks and performances available from their annual conference, where a wide range of 'thinkers and doers' are challenged to give the talks of their lives. Those I've looked at are well done and there's an interesting range of themes. Thanks to Graham Jeffery for the link.

Nighttime again

Following up Peter Brown's comment on this blog about what sounds like an intriguing book from Roger Ekirch called At Day's Close: a History of Nighttime' I came across this review of it which I found thought provoking - both in terms of what we've lost but also perhaps in terms of what we've gained. For many of those in service for instance the 'nighttime hiatus' referred to must have been one of the few times they could call their own.

Interconnections of foot and mouth

Sad to see the return of foot and mouth at a time livestock farmers are already struggling, for instance with the aftermath of the floods and high cost of feed. As with last time it's also a reminder of how much movement of livestock and meat exports we rely on across Europe. Today's special report from the Guardian shows just some of the interconnections of today's livestock farming with other events, livelihoods, biosecurity... It sounds to me like efforts are being made to act on what we learnt last time round but any intervention is likely to have its unintended consequences. I hope it's over quickly and that we continue to learn from this sort of experience, not just in terms of retaining the status quo but in making changes for the better. Looking through the BBC's news in pictures...which to me often get through more than words...I came across this amazing picture from a foot and mouth outbreak in 1933. I guess farming's changed out of all recognition since those times but a lot must have been learnt also about how to deal with outbreaks... do we build on that or is society changing so fast with globalisation, technological development and new value systems that it's difficult to do so?

Is adaptability enough?

I was intrigued to see what Geoffrey Vickers had to say about this topic, as it's become current once again in the context of climate change. So I tracked down his paper*. Vickers was concerned with rapid industrialisation as a major disrupting factor in an established economic, social and political balance. As I've found in the past with his work, he made some interesting points such as...
"In an expanding society numbers increase and every individual claims to take up more room, both directly...and indirectly..... Since the surface of the planet does not expand, it is inescapable that people should become more thick on the ground....The problem for Western democracies is to socialise their indivualist ethic without losing its essential values."
50 years on, I wonder how Sir Geoffrey would think we are doing? In his models in his paper, he drew out what he considered as essential features of adaptation and put a lot of emphasis on regulation and understanding the systems that industrialisation disrupts. Along with his observations on value systems, this all still seems very relevant today.

*Vickers, G. (1959), "Is adaptability enough?" Behavioral Science Vol. 4 pp.219-34

Hidcote manor

We finally got to visit Hidcote Manor Garden on Friday. It's been near the top of my list for several years now so very satisfying to get there and also early in the day ahead of the crowds. It certainly lived up to my hopes - wonderful planting and such a lot of different atmospheres and lights created in Lawrence Johnston's 'Garden of Rooms'. Exquisite and wonderfully inspiring!

Turning in on summer evenings

Lovely quote about going off to sleep at twilight from late author Roger Deakin’s recently-published ‘Wildwood - A Journey Through Trees’ posted by DrFrank. I remember as a child going off to sleep on light evenings and sneaking a look through the curtains to see adults still out and about - gardening or walking the dog. I think as children we probably sometimes felt it too early for sleep while it was still light but I think Deakin's right that it's much more natural and I remember it as very atmospheric as the light began to fade.

Floods worldwide

I hadn't realised that the floods had been so bad worldwide until Kevin drew my attention to the following reported in this BBC article

"..... research from the charity Save the Children found that nearly 138 million people worldwide had been affected by floods in recent weeks. More than 1,000 people around the world have died and at least half a million homes have been damaged or destroyed because of the torrential rains, said Save the Children. The charity's director of emergencies, Gareth Owen, said: "This is an emergency on a worldwide scale and it deserves a global reaction, which is badly lacking at the moment from governments and donors." More than 17 million have been affected in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. But the worst affected country is China, where 119 million people have been hit by floods in the last month. "

Still very difficult no doubt if it happens to you but seems to put UK events in proportion. Also difficult to be magnanamous when under threat yourself so not perhaps surprising that it's difficult at this time to get a global reaction.

Branching out to local press coverage

I catch myself referring to the BBC's version of events quite often these days so decided to try and find out if Uttar Pradesh had met their tree planting target through more local channels. Came across this report from Newspost India which I enjoyed - language a bit more descriptive somehow. And according to UNEP they did indeed make it. There's something quite amazing about exceeding the target by a cool half a million. Great!

The sort of world record I like....

"The northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has attempted to set a world record by planting 10 million trees in a single day" Amazing!
From BBC online, thanks to DrFrank for the link.

The upside of all this rain

The plants this year seem to be thriving and those walks between showers have been quite splendid.

Managing water sustainably at household level?

So it's the wettest summer in UK on record....ever....so why doesn't it surprise me that someone somewhere is saying that we don't have enough water! Reservoirs not at capacity and groundwater levels going down in some places seems to be how that's worked out. Is 'enough water' just another social construct? Although there are undoubtedly biophysical elements that can be measured and compared with past times, what do those comparisons mean? In the UK many of us are pretty ignorant about where our water comes from or goes to and what it means to use water sustainably. But it doesn't take long living in an area where water's in short supply to cut usage substantially and there's no quicker way to slow down usage than to have to carry what is needed by hand. Must be devastating to experience floods at home and not a lot we can do about the quantity of rain we're getting right now but perhaps a lot more we can do about our water use and infrastructure at a household level? Examples include not paving over our gardens and avoiding using drinking quality water where clean waste water or rain butt water will do.

Widening gap between UK rich and poor

According to the BBC's report of Joseph Rowntree Foundation's findings the wealth gap between rich and poor is at its greatest for 40 years. So why has this happened under a Labour Government?

Planning?

Interesting to see what Jonathan Porritt makes of the new Planning White Paper. I hope he's right that NGO angst might be premature. UK currently seems to value quantitative rather than qualititative growth so highly I full agree with Porritt that the Air Transport white paper is laughable as a model of sustainable development proofing. Interesting also to see that he thinks the claim that large infrastructure projects are subject to planning delays is largely unsubstantiated. On this theme also the announced new targets for house building seem to me way out of line. How many would get into the hands of first time buyers rather than 'investors'?

England in July

This year clouds feature strongly in my July pictures. This one taken as we walked near Whipsnade on Saturday - quite a delightful and varied walk with lots to see.

The spirit of Richard Sandbrook

...lives on. I was delighted to see so many projects underway in memory of Richard, due to his friends and family who have set up the Richard Sandbrook Trust one year on from the commemorative event last year that I remember well.

Al Gore...campaigning and systems

Interesting to see the line-up of the Observer's 2007 ethical awards and that readers awarded Al Gore 'campaigner of the year'. I was also very interested to read in the Observer magazine a recent article from James Traub that started
"Gore was telling me about Ilya Prigogine, a Belgian chemist who won a Nobel Prize in 1977 for his insights into the thermodynamics of open systems, an intriguing subject that has very little to do with global warming. ... We had moved on to complexity theory, in which Gore would really immerse himself if only he had the time, and then to the concept of nested systems, which of course had been developed by the late psychologist Uri Bronfenbrenner...."
I think systems ideas have a lot to offer our current 'climate change and adaptation' agenda so found it interesting to hear where Gore's focus sits in this respect.
I haven't yet fully engaged with what he's been saying recently about energy efficient IT systems, embedded systems and total system design and architecture....but will.

Boring

Lamenting about my organisation's restructuring and renaming process with a colleague, we both used the word boring. It reminded me that at home this weekend someone on the radio was using a different concept of boredom than we were used to....and we found it interesting enough to discuss with our Dutch and Australian visitors (which shows what lengths the wet weekend drove us to). I'd always thought of boring as lack of stimulus but on the radio it was being discussed as a concept where there was lots going on but most of it dissatisfying or frustrating...with an element of 'white noise' about it. Perhaps these two situations just have the same consequence. But we wondered if it was more of a reflection on today's society and particularly on overdosing on multi-media. TV, radio, the internet, music, SMS, phone can all be going strong...and instead of providing stimulation, the result - boredom?

For me the antidote to both sorts of boredom is a walk outdoors across the fields. We tried it with our visitors....set off in bright sunshine with dramatic black clouds hovering not far away in two directions. Wonderful flowers, trees, smells, birdsong and crops around us as we scurried along. Then, sure enough, we got very wet. For me, definitely not boring and a lot more stimulating than sitting around all day indoors. Not sure what the others thought though - we'd already identified the previous day that our appreciation of being outdoors can be of very different aspects.

Weird weather

My recent trip to Greece has focused me this week on two different perspectives on the weather. Once again records are being broken. In UK, in Sheffield for instance, flooding as never seen before from yesterday's sustained and heavy rain. But across Southern Europe e.g. in Volos, near where we were recently the BBC's recording a heat wave - 47 degrees max with 48 degrees tomorrow!! It's cool here now and very difficult to imagine. But what an incredible contrast. Is this instability down to global warming?

The wonders of Greece

It's been my very good fortune to visit the Pelion peninsula in Greece...and Skiathos and Skopelos this past month. Wonderful!

Chapelcross

The cooling towers at Chapelcross were demolished on Sunday 20th May as part of decommissioning of this nuclear power station. Amazing to see that sudden change in a place and a landscape that was very much a part of my early childhood.

HIPS - a need for systems thinking?

Last week saw a delay in HIPS - the home improvement packs to be provided by home owners. I can't work out whether a HIP is designed to improve the home selling and purchasing process, make people more aware of energy management and carbon footprint or to provide more employment for those doing the certification that's needed. Or all of these and more? If giving benefit of the doubt I see the Government wrestling with issues of sustainability....though as much economic as environmental. But as they continue to climb down from it on grounds that were in some cases predicatable and others not, I see an intervention that has failed to take systemic factors into account. Can't help but think that this might be more about political point scoring and economic growth rather than sustainable development.

At least the rain makes everything grow!

OU Ethics Centre launch

A good event yesterday to launch the OU's ethics centre. We had a diverse set of speakers in the morning and went on to a panel discussion that was one of the most interesting I've heard for a long time. I'm not a great fan of panels but the presentations were all interconnected and questions brought out some of those links and new ideas. The speakers were our new Chancellor David Puttnam, Catherine Cameron, co-author of the Stern Review on Climate Change and working with the consultancy Agulhas; Professor Brad Hooker, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Reading and Sir John Drysdale, a member of the executive board of Transparency International UK, The Coalition Against Corruption. All were good but I was particularly inspired by Catherine's very clear and well argued points. I went on to run a workshop with her in the afternoon and besides learning a lot about the Stern Review, I found her conviction to do something about Climate Change very refreshing.

Jonathon Porritt - new blog

Interesting to see that Jonathon has recently started blogging on sustainable development. Looks good and with some interesting links.

Colours of Spring

Interesting distinction

......heard on telly last night from Karan Bilimoria, founder of Cobra Beer

Leadership makes change possible
Management makes change happen

As I'm just getting going on my contribution to one of our System courses that will have a managing change flavour it's something to think about. Many people at all levels in organisations make contributions to both leadership and management and I agree that both are needed in bringing about certain kinds of change. But some leadership and management styles seem to me more likely to bring about 'positive' changes than others. Does adaptation of social systems that accompanies climate change for instance need both leadership and management? Depends what sort of changes I suppose.

Why Science?

Nothing quite like a big question for a rainy day! This week I was part of an OU group that welcomed a group of Science Managers from the UK Environment Agency. We were exploring areas of mutual interest. I'm also preparing for the launch of the OU ethics centre in which I'm running a workshop with Catherine Cameron reviewing the Stern review on Climate Change. In both cases there's a strong focus on 'Science'. I've nothing against science.....my first degree was in Environmental Sciences and I get as hooked as the next person on its explanations for how the world works, on 'scientific evidence' and on how science informs or doesn't inform what we do. But it's a 'catch-all' and whether we want to talk about climate change and adaptation, about technology, about the 'natural' world or about ethics, I don't find it's always helpful to frame it primarily as science. More later on this I think....

A new blog

A rainy Sunday here so I've been setting up this new blog. I've been blogging for a while now elsewhere and I'm finding starting again quite liberating.

Exotic birds

A recent visit to a Cotswold bird park had me taking pictures of exotic birds, looking splendid in their Spring plumage. The mandarin duck is usually seen as dull compared with the drake but on this occasion at least had the light on her side.

Landscapes and Renoir

I finally managed to call in to see the National Gallery's exhibition of Renoir's Landscapes last week. Well worth it! It was a really diverse exhibition and I thought some of them were quite stunning in use of the whole picture and of colour. I excelled myself by trying, but not succeeding, to find the figure of Allie in 'Allee in the wood'. It did make me take a good look at the picture though.

Readings related to environmental responsibility

I've long been part of the course team for the OU course Environmental Ethics . We're in the process of developing a new course, shifting our focus to 'Environmental Responsibility' and looking around to check how what we have in mind sits with recent writings. Although I have access to an excellent library through my work I find there's nothing quite like a good bookshop. At Gower Street's Waterstones on Friday the following were among books I'd like to come back to:

• Environmental Justice and environmentalism. Ronald Sandler and Phaedra C. Pezzillo
• Business, Ethics, the Environment. Imagining sustainable futures. Joseph DesJardins
• Environmental Values. Linda Kalof and Terre Satterfield

Bluebell woods

The bluebell woods at Ashridge were amazing this year - they seemed to go on forever. Evening times were best for the light and after a warm April day the fragrance was wonderful. Enjoyable too to talk with many others who were out appreciating them. I was reminded of Rachel Carson's comments about cultivating our 'sense of wonder'.