March 9, 2023 As I indicated last month (Blog #11), authorities around the world are becoming increasingly concerned about the likely impact of climate change on cities and city life, especially the effects of extreme weather events. A month’s rain fell in a single hour recently in Auckland, New Zealand; few cities could cope with this kind of assault, but
Read moreMilner on Biodiversity Blog #11 “Urban Tree-planting” Planetary Health Weekly Edward Milner, February 9, 2023 In midwinter the prospect of a long hot summer may look inviting, but I advise caution: be careful what you wish for. While the thrust of international gatherings like recent COP meetings in Egypt and Canada and headline writers of the popular press are all
Read moreJanuary 12, 2023 My grandchildren will be at least 77 by the end of the century. Will there be any true ‘Nature’ left in the world by then? The alarm raised by this question is not helped, I fear, by the celebrations over the UN Biodiversity Charter signed by 196 nations at Montreal last month. The predominant model of development
Read moreCredit: Public Health Notes If there’s anything that defines the 21st Century it is perhaps the disturbing rise of evidence-free decision-making, ‘not driven by reason at all but by emotion’ as the influential British novelist Jonathan Coe has it, or that people “have had enough of experts” as UK MP Michael Gove has claimed. Instead of reasoned argument, decision-makers seem
Read moreThe UN Biodiversity Conference at Montreal in December will be concentrating on the 30:30 proposal – every country and all the seas to have 30% in ‘protected areas’ by 2030 – with as many governments as possible to ‘pledge’ support. As I indicated in a previous blog, I am unconvinced that ‘pledges’ agreed at these conferences advance actual performance at
Read morePlease excuse the perhaps heavier-than-usual tone of this blog, but we are dealing with very serious issues; indeed, our children and grandchildren’s futures depend on them. As I am about to become a grandfather, I am more aware than ever of our failures in respecting nature across the world. The much-delayed UN Biodiversity Conference will finally meet at Montreal in
Read moreBiodiversity is adversely affected by the torrent of plastic pollution in every aquatic environment from the smallest stream to the depths of the ocean. What can be done about it? A recent news report from the Food Packaging Forum (a trade paper) proclaimed the news that ‘drafting of the International Plastics Treaty is now underway’. Wonderful! I nearly ran outside
Read moreIf rivers can be granted legal rights (see my Blog #2) what about other natural features and ecosystems such as forests? It’s an idea first suggested nearly fifty years ago by Christopher Stone, an American law professor in his classic essay ‘Should Trees have Standing?’ If revisited perhaps it could help us revalue forests and all their inhabitants. It might
Read moreSeals are known to be attracted by the sea around windfarms; researchers found that tagged individuals in the North Sea traced out ‘a striking grid pattern’ in their daily movements, swimming directly from one wind turbine to the next – hunting for fish. As with other physical structures in the sea, from mangrove roots to coral reefs, wind farms appear
Read moreEdward Milner June 9, 2022 A recent news item in the UK publicised the claim that the construction of 120,000 new homes was delayed because of a ruling by Natural England (the Government’s biodiversity agency) because pollution to local wetlands would result unless major changes were made to the builders’ plans. For a moment I was quietly astonished; environmental protection
Read more
PLANETARY HEALTH WEEKLY 