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The worlds top sovereign fund is cutting ties with a dam which will likely lead to the extinction of the Tapanuli Orangutan

In most countries, if a dam was to cause so much destruction to the last habitat of a species, the dam would likely not get permission to be built.

It is true that the dam will only take about 20% of the land in question, directly. It will also split the population in half.

It is not surprising that the Norwegian sovereign fund has pulled out of this dam

Given that only around 800 Tapanuli Orangutans survive in the wild, the loss of just a handful is bad. A loss of 20% of the remaining population could quite rapidly push the population towards extinction, particularly as it will split the few remaining Orangutans into separate populations which cannot interbreed.

Norway has a huge sovereign fund, into which it pours the countries earnings from fossil fuel extraction. Perhaps recognizing that this has a shelf life which is not far from ending, Norway has made sure that for the most part its sovereign fund is good for the natural world (alongside giving good returns)

Generally rules on financing should have ruled this project out in the past, so it is good that this decision has been eventually made.

Will the dam still get built? We will have to wait and see.

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Lab grown milk could arrive in shops by 2024 – without the cows or carbon

Milk is an important part of the diet of many people in the west, alongside other dairy products. It has, in recent years been one of the problems: while many people have cut down on eating beef, far fewer has cut down on dairy – but now, if you do not eat beef, you can stop supporting dairy farmers all together.

This is not to say that dairy farmers are bad. Governments need to create different careers and paths for these people to take out of their current work.

Continue reading “Lab grown milk could arrive in shops by 2024 – without the cows or carbon”
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UK could quit ‘Climate wrecking’ treaty’ – encouraging, must see more

The treaty in question is called the Energy Charter Treaty, and apparently if changes are not made by November we will look at exiting.

Under this charter, any coal power plant forced to shut could require the government responsible to continue paying the company for the lifetime that the power station could last.

What is in this egregious rules? Well, it would be run with a system of secrets of courts, and it would allow a company to sue any signature country should they bring an a law that might cut their profits in the future.

Given that any cuts in coal use, oil use, wood or many other things would impact many companies bottom line. Given that coal and oil use must cease within the next couple of decades, and only wood from land that would be replanted, the vast majority of companies would have their profits hit.

This foolish treaty would either lead to governments abandoning all carbon reduction targets, or paying large companies billions for all time.

This treaty is not centuries old, rather, it came into being back in 1998, at a time where we knew about climate change. France is similarly talking about quitting. Other countries are also looking at leaving, and it is thankfully likely to collapse.

It is strange how this possible became a treaty, as this plan is insane.

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European farmers are suggesting that wolves have recovered too much, is that true?

There is heavy pressure to end wolf protection in the EU because farmers are suggesting that they have recovered to too great a degree.

With intelligent animals like wolves, deterrents are often more successful than defence. The deep bark of dogs make wolves think that the are really big, and that it is too much of a risk to attack
Continue reading “European farmers are suggesting that wolves have recovered too much, is that true?”
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The UK has said that pure petrol and diesel cars will be banned from sale – impact? Electric cars are increasingly affordea

Arguments against electric cars continue, from suggestions that the range they have is not high enough, the batteries do not last long enough, they are worse for the environment, they will break down too much or there isn’t enough choice as well as many more.

Would you rather fill up with petrol or electricity?
Continue reading “The UK has said that pure petrol and diesel cars will be banned from sale – impact? Electric cars are increasingly affordea”
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Are Climate doomers replacing climate deniers? Unacceptable

Climate change deniers are those people who, no matter what the evidence there is, deny that the world is warming. These people are frankly idiotic, with the childish equivalent is 2 toddlers arguing over the colour of a building brick. Scientists all agree that the world is, on average, getting warmer – it is, your opinion is not relevant. Increasingly, this is belatedly understood. Now it is only extreme groups (like Prageru) can possibly continue to deny the fact that the world is warming. There are likely to remain fools who continue to deny that the world is warming – in the same way there are people who believe that the world is flat. We need to act now, we cant wait for 500 years more, for denialists to believe it.

Climate Doomers are no better than climate deniers. We must not listen. We need to change our behaviour now
Continue reading “Are Climate doomers replacing climate deniers? Unacceptable”
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“You have adapted a bunker mentality” letter to Rishi Sunak

Now that the dust has settled, lets have a look at the whole Greenpeace debacle and what it is going to mean in the future in the UK.

This was started by Greenpeace engaging in a public protest at Rishi Sunak’s mansion. The reason that they went to his house, is that he is the UK prime minister.

This is Rishi Sunak’s private house. While private property it seems reasonable behaviour given the problem
Continue reading ““You have adapted a bunker mentality” letter to Rishi Sunak”
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Ozone layer hole early – Antarctic sea ice in danger?

The fear is that, with the Tonga eruption, this larger than normal hole might do extra damage to the vast store of ice on Antactica.

The Antarctic Continent has about 30 million cubic kilometres of ice. If just a small amount melts were in trouble

Why is this concerning?

Well, given the Antarctic and the Greenland icesheet has enough ice to raise sea levels by 65m worldwide. This means a 5% melt in Antarctica would raise sea levels by several meters (even without any melting of Greenland at all).

This quantity of sea level rise, would threaten cities such as Shanghai and London, to large parts of Florida and Bangladesh to total nations that would be wiped out, such as Maldives.

This means that while it may well take a century and increased carbon emissions for all of the ice at the poles to melt, it could threaten human populations long before this occurs.

Around 410 million people on earth live within just 2m of the height of the sea. This is roughly 5% of human population. Currently, there are issues with just 2% immigration into the UK. A sea level rise of 2m would likely trigger an order of magnitude more to move here, Western Europe, USA and other countries. We are all going to be hit hard, but some far harder than others.

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Serbian wildlife crime a potential threat to its continual survival in the country

Due to the low numbers of all of the large mammals that live in the country, poaching could rapidly threaten the survival in the country.

Might this sight become a part of history in serbia. It is better for the country if this does not happen.

Currently, about 500 wolves survive, 50-60 bears and perhaps only 30 of the Balkan lynx (the Balkan lynx only has around 120 members spread across the whole Balkans).

According to SWIPE (Successful wildlife prosecution in Europe)

“While compiling the Report, a total of 165 cases were collected and analyzed, 110 of which were misdemeanors and 55 were criminal offenses. In 75% of initiated misdemeanor proceedings, the accused was found guilty, while that percentage is lower in criminal proceedings – about 57% of them ended in a conviction.“

In this report, the wild species most often targeted include song-birds and after this the bear. There was issues with captive animals that came between (I find this repugnant, but this website is to do with wildlife primarily) and then came targeting of bears.

Now, given there are only 50-60 left in the country, a poaching level of just 5-10 bears a year could threaten the countries population to extinction within the next decade. It is true that the Serbian bear population, like the wolf and the Balkan Lynx is part of a transboundary population which is more healthy. Never-the-less, local extinctions is almost always how extinction starts.

Indeed, wildlife tourism has the capacity to lift more people out of poverty, than hunting of the animals that would otherwise be photographed. Currently, world wildlife tourism is thought to be worth $156 billion, and this often goes to little places where there is little work. It seems quite conceivable for Serbia to seize a sizable portion of the wildlife tourism for Europe.

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Off on our annual holiday

We are off, traveling in Europe. By the time you read this, we should be deep in the wilds of the northern Italian Alps, and with any luck will have spotted some bears or wolves.

We will be back in about 12 days when things will continue. Hopefully with plenty of stories to tell

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