Category Archives: Uncategorized

London Interdisciplinary School has geared its courses around tackling real-world challenges, but some students seem reluctant to step outside the traditional higher education sector June 28, 2024 Source: Grant Rooney / Alamy Three years after the London Interdisciplinary School (LIS) opened its doors to students, its dean, Carl Gombrich, describes its curriculum as “radical but simple”. TheContinue reading “Interdisciplinary campus battles UK sector status quo”

After nearly 5.5 years the Wolds Planning application for 430 new homes on the hillside above Matlock came to a full planning meeting of Derbyshire Dales District Council on Thursday 28 March-The application faced bitter opposition on many fronts not least the fear of surface water flooding in the town itself. I was involved inContinue reading “Climate Emergency and the WOLDS Development”

Negotiations with MP supporters of the Local Electricity Bill amendments, deleted by government from the Energy Bill, have resulted in the government creating the Community Energy Fund of £10m over 2 years to help identify and develop projects in England. Once admin and running costs are deducted the fund will be £9m. At the conference last week, Olivia Blunn, Head of Local Energy PolicyContinue reading “Community Energy Fund – latest news”

Being open to the limitations of their knowledge can help researchers to foster interdisciplinary and cross-cultural collaborations. When Ike de la Peña encountered a lack of energy, even an air of disinterest, on a Zoom meeting, he did the opposite of taking control. He exercised humility. De la Peña, a research pharmacologist at Loma LindaContinue reading “Engaged in collaborative research? Try a touch of intellectual humility.”

There is a growing appetite for the development of community energy programmes across the UK. Currently over 400 proactive programmes exist in the UK according to Community Energy England’s State of the Sector report, which  have generated over £3 million of community benefits. In Derbyshire there are currently five second stage 1 Rural Community Energy FundedContinue reading “Celebrating the Community Energy Pioneers in Derbyshire”

Transformation Moment – can Britain make it to the Age of Clean? Preface This pamphlet is a ‘Call to Arms’. It comes at a time of confused and divisive global politics, accelerating climate damage and a dangerous retreat into tribal answers to international problems. The UK’s contribution has been to add to the confusion. Britain’s BrexitContinue reading “Transformation Moment”

Greenwashing is a form of climate action delay so deepening our understanding may be the first step to preventing it. Or at least being able to call it out. And that is exactly what financial think thank Planet Tracker has done. Its new report deciphers six types of greenwashing: Greencrowding: hiding in a crowd ofContinue reading “Some Further thoughts on Green Washing”

Humanity is well into the Anthropocene , the proposed new geological epoch where human pressures have put the Earth system on a trajectory moving rapidly away from the stable Holocene state of the past 12,000 years, which is the only state of the Earth system we have evidence of being able to support the world asContinue reading “SAFE AND JUST EARTH SYSTEMS”