Extinction Rebellion protests are reflecting public climate anxiety – BBC Radio

Burning fossil fuels is what is causing the climate to change. We are seeing it on our TV screens. We are seeing what that means right now. The climate is already changing. We have a very simple thing to do if we want to stop the climate becoming a unlivable […]

We need politicians to step up and lead on climate change – Al Jazeera

We have been talking about this for years. The scientists have been telling us that we should pay attention. The military have been telling us, since the end of the last century, that we need to pay attention. The public has got very anxious, as the experience they are having […]

Are we prepared for the unprecedented extreme weather happening now? – Al Jazeera

These extreme weather events could become a lot more volatile and deadly. We are now experiencing the effects of a rise in global average temperatures of about 1.2 Degrees. If we don’t stop burning fossil fuels, then by the middle of the century, we will be living in a world […]

There’s no doubt about government green intentions, but what about its ability to follow through? – Green Alliance

Fifty years ago, extending the rule of law over the then wild frontier of the British environment was the main challenge facing environmental campaigners. Post-Brexit, the challenge we now face is protecting the rule of EU environmental law from populist politicians. Environmental law is the tool we use to balance […]

Listen to the Canaries

Outside of the global wars of the twentieth century humanity has never experienced a shock as sudden or as profound in its implications as that brought to us by the Sars-CoV-2 virus. It surprised everyone bar a very small number of medical and ecological scientists. For them, the canaries had […]

Are Extinction Rebellion protesters just annoying, or are they informing, and making a point? – LBC

I did an interview for LBC on Saturday 12th October with Clive Bull. The discussion was “Are Extinction Rebellion protesters just annoying, or are they informing, and making a point?” Here are some excerpts from the interview: The protesters are doing a good job of getting people’s attention, which is […]

Mobilising the Public

On March 7th, I spoke at the Belvedere Forum in Warsaw, Poland. I discussed what needs to be done to mobilise the public to support action on climate change, and whether last year’s COP24 in Katowice has kept alive the flame of hope from Paris. . Climate change is a […]

Blue Sky Thinking – BBC Radio 5 Live

          I think that government has got far too centralised, it started under Thatcher, was taken further forward by Labour, and the level of centralisation has now really got quite ridiculous. I would want to push a lot more power and authority, certainly over finance, out […]

How to break the political silence on the environment

  This piece was first published in the Guardian       A YouGov poll published last week found that 40% of voters wanted to hear more about the environment. They also wanted to hear more about education, pensions, foreign affairs and Europe. They have been disappointed. It is too […]

THE FRAGILE CITY AND THE RISK NEXUS

                          This is a new short book I have written with leading urbanist Charles Landry. It brings together for the first time two disconnected narratives. The first is about the future of the cities in which half the […]