Ed Dowding

Category: Sustainability

My MP strives for growth

My MP strives for growth, quite possibly by selling your medical data to the pharmaceutical industry: The Department of Health should examine how to unlock the value of the UK’s goldmine of patient data – the holy grail of modern biomedical research worth billions to the Pharma industry. He’s also keen to invest in road ...

Tidy your room planet or else there will be no pudding Maldives.

A great piece from David Mitchell on the messaging around climate change. Why can’t we just dispense with all the talk about how wonderful it’s going to be and the opportunities for fun which await and say: Look I like driving cars and taking planes and eating strawberries at Christmas, but we’re can’t do it ...

Skipping dinner

I went skip raiding last night around the back of Waitrose with a friend who lives locally.We thought we’d go see what’s thrown away and liberate some meals from the tragedy of landfill. It’s illegal, but as an imaginary legal team suggested, “being immoral is clearly worse than being illegal.” We parked around the corner ...

Kings Lynn incinerator & Zero Waste

Today’s letter to my MP, George Freeman, PPS for Climate Science. George I know this lies slightly outside your realm, but the arguments in favour of the Kings Lynn incinerator seem to be quite simplistic. I fully understand the need to handle out waste, but burning it seems only to remove useful and hard-won resources ...

Organic is the only game in town. Get playing. Now.

The facts are these: Resources key to non-organic food production are either running out or becoming priced beyond viability. GM’s advantages come mainly from their convenience, but that convenience is only accessed through intense use of fossil fuels, for which, see (1). Food for 9bn people needs to focus on nutrition. Organic delivers this. (See ...

Fish, Forests, and the 21st Century commons

An extract from a letter I’ve just written to my MP, George Freeman, the PPS to Gregory Barker as Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change. In the meantime I wonder if I might press home one or two contemporary issues? Firstly you are no doubt aware of the “Hugh’s Fish Fight” campaign. ...

Reasons to be cheerful: Peak Phosphorous

Graphs like this make me very happy because they hint that thing might all work out OK. via Peak Phosphorus: the sequel to Peak Oil. I’m sure you know that phosphorous is one of the critical components to the most abundantly used fertilisers. I’m sure you’ll also know that it’s what causing algal blooms, feeding ...

Today's hero: Mark Kennedy

The trial of six green campaigners has collapsed after an undercover policeman who had infiltrated their group offered to give evidence on their behalf. via BBC News – Trial collapses after undercover officer changes sides. What a dude! Goes in to find out if anything bad is going on, does his job, a few protests ...

First petrol, then energy – now food prices skyrocket

Growing populations, rising affluence in Brazil, Russia, India and China, and crop failures caused by extreme weather have pushed up the prices of wheat, sugar, cotton and many other household staples. So far, bread, breakfast cereals and clothing have become more expensive – but the full effects of the cost of raw materials have not ...

I Wish This Was

New Orleans is full of vacant storefronts and people who need things. These stickers are an easy tool to voice what you want where you want it. Fill them out and put them on abandoned buildings and beyond. These stickers are custom vinyl and can be easily removed without damaging property. They’re free and can ...

Neo-Classical elements: Time, money, energy, politics

The world used to be (perceived to be) made up of four elements: Earth, air, fire, and water. A few years back Ollie and I figured all the problems in the world would go away if only we could sort out the energy thing. Not least because if we really nailed it we could just ...

Appropedia: the WikiLeaks of good knowledge

Appropedia: We provide the living resource library of individuals and organizations working towards a sustainable, healthier future, so that efforts can be spent evolving instead of duplicating past efforts.

Vision 2050. From here to there.

Zoom.it – Image foTF.

Self-Repair Manifesto

Self-Repair Manifesto – iFixit.

'Global Warming' may still be a problem

“I was a bit surprised by our findings, because I, along with the rest of my colleagues, thought that the process of fixing climate change ended soon after [2007 rock concert] Live Earth,” CGD assistant director George Oliver told reporters. “But it turns out that the things needed to stop it, like substantive energy legislation, ...

Wealth creators, or concentrations of power?

A few highlights from an article about reclaiming the commons: In practice it is impossible for the modern state to maintain an independent control over the decisions of big business. When the state extends its control over big business, big business moves in to control the state. It is vital here to distinguish between capitalist ...

8 rules or managing the commons

Clearly defined boundaries (effective exclusion of external unentitled parties); Rules regarding the appropriation and provision of common resources are adapted to local conditions; Collective-choice arrangements allow most resource appropriators to participate in the decision-making process; Effective monitoring by monitors who are part of or accountable to the appropriators; There is a scale of graduated sanctions ...

One final paragraph of advice.

One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast… a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While ...

What’s Mine is Yours – Collaborative consumption

Collaborative Consumption describes the rapid explosion in traditional sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping redefined through technology and peer communities. What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers charts this movement. WHAT’S MINE IS YOURS

Nature's gift: How much is the ecosystem worth?

A great series of articles from the BBC. 1. The full impact of the degradation of the natural world on the global economy – both on business and consumers. 2. The direct costs to businesses, both large and small. 3. The economic benefits of preserving the natural world.