Climate change

When last week’s IPCC report warned that the human race may soon have trouble feeding itself, my reaction was: duh. Having pooh-poohed the 1960s ‘population bomb’ alarmism that would have us all balancing on our allotted five square inches of Earth by now, we’ve grown complacent about increasing our 7.7 billion world population by at least a quarter in the next 30 years, and by about half in 2100, when we’re likely to number around 11 billion. Perhaps it’s forgivable that an outfit called the ‘Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’ would blame a perilous future food supply on climate change. Yet it’s astounding that in the report’s broad news coverage

If the recent remonstrations around climate change have been anything to go by, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the government has been dragging its feet on the environment for some time. Doubtlessly, one could quibble about whether more could be done in less time, but – sorry protestors – the idea that nothing is happening simply isn’t true. Last year, climate change minister Claire Perry asked independent experts to scope out a net zero target for greenhouse gas emissions (which it recently completed, recommending we do so). Environment secretary Michael Gove has been ceaseless in his drive to restore our natural world to its verdant best. Alongside a host of

Laikipia, Kenya   ‘An elephant has fallen over,’ said the man running up to me. My first thought was that poachers had killed the animal for its tusks. ‘Has it been shot?’ The man shrugged. ‘He was eating leaves, then he just fell over.’ As Claire and I made our way to the place, I was worried. Around our home, where we see elephants almost daily, I have come to learn that our destinies are closely interwoven. Meet a calm elephant who goes on browsing while gently billowing his ears because his herds are not being hunted and we know our valley is at peace. A skittish elephant is a

Spires on fire Paris was lucky not to lose its medieval cathedral entirely, a fate which London suffered in 1666 in spite of great efforts to keep the Great Fire away from it by pulling down surrounding buildings. The original St Paul’s, commissioned by William I in the 1080s and completed in the early 14th century, would still be one of the world’s largest cathedrals. It was 586 ft long, 68 ft longer than the current St Paul’s and 30 ft longer than Winchester cathedral. Its spire was estimated at between 60 and 80 ft higher than that of Salisbury cathedral (404 ft) — although still 30 ft short of Lincoln cathedral, whose spire

The thousands of children across the UK on ‘strike’ from school today to protest climate change are admirable. They’re part of a movement, Fridays for Future, which wants more aggressive measures to reduce emissions. It seems clear to me that climate change is real, man-made and requires action. If these kids can do their bit to make this point, good luck to them. Okay, some might just fancy bunking off from double maths or be dabbling in fashionable politics for its shareability on social media. Either way, what these children can’t expect is special treatment. There are calls from adults — almost exclusively those who agree with the aims of the

One of the few pleasures of advancing age is that, no matter how awful some looming catastrophe may be, you can always remember a time that was worse. On hearing the polar vortex was headed for Chicago last week, my wife and I smugly reminisced about having survived the coldest night in the city’s history — 20 January 1985 — when the mercury fell to -27ºF, or -33ºC. (Temperature scales are a nuisance in accounts of this sort — more on that below.) Spurning the temptation to huddle beneath blankets, we went out for deep-dish pizza, thinking we’d have the joint to ourselves. On the contrary, it was packed. We