Photo by Michelle Mendieta Mean. And here we are, at the end of 8th Week, the end of Trinity Term and another year done and dusted. Over the last few months this column has looked at Oxford’s continued ties with fossil fuels, unpicked Boris Johnson’s hatred of bunny huggers, detailed the never-ceasing battle between kites Read More…
Photo by Michelle Mendieta Mean. Guest Climate Columnist Oli Storey argues that fairness must lie at the heart of a green recovery from Covid-19. Time and time again human society has faced crises of existential order. In each instance people show themselves to be resilient, innovative, and resourceful. Individuals use these skills for a range Read More…
Photo by Michelle Mendieta Mean 25,000 people own half of the land in England. That’s far less than one percent of the country, who are in possession of millions of acres of farmland, upland, peatland, forest (what little of it we have), parks, and every other type of land you can think of, from London Read More…
Photo by Michelle Mendieta Mean. People don’t look up enough. They don’t stop enough. They certainly don’t listen enough. Apologies if this stop, look and listen stuff sounds like those primary school crossing-the-road lessons, but I stick by the important message of those words, albeit in a quite different context. In Oxford especially it’s important Read More…
Photo by Michelle Mendieta Mean. Whilst much of the media’s attention last weekend was on the Labour Party’s failings at the local elections, Greens up and down the country were marvelling at the party’s successes, taking seat after seat. Indeed, in all regions of England, from the North East to the South West, as well Read More…
A common falsehood in climate talk is that we’re all in this together. Manifestly this is not true. Just like with Covid, whilst we may all face a threat from the virus, for a variety of reasons, some of us are at greater risk of catching it and dying from it than others. Similarly, the Read More…
Photo by Michelle Mendieta Mean. Shockingly, for a man usually so befitting of the respectability that the office of Prime Minister demands, Boris Johnson’s appearance at last week’s Leaders Summit on Climate was an utter shit show. A BBC News article summarised what the PM had to say in his speech: “Tackling climate change is Read More…
Photo by Michelle Mendieta Mean On the one hand, the University of Oxford’s scientists, economists and other academics have led ground-breaking work to tackle the climate and ecological crises, producing invaluable research and finding solutions to some of our most pressing problems. At the same time, however, their employer accepts millions of pounds in donations Read More…
A report released on Tuesday reveals the extent to which Oxford University has received funding and donations from the some of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies, including BP, Shell and Eni. The report, entitled ‘Money, People, Reputation: Oxford’s Ties with the Fossil Fuel Industry’, was researched and written by the Oxford Climate Justice Campaign, Read More…
Photo by Michelle Mendieta Mean So far in this Column we’ve looked at two issues – climate anxiety, and destructive fishing – both of which provide perfect examples of what Michael E. Mann discusses in his most recent book, ‘The New Climate War’. Mann is a renowned American climate scientist, most famous for his hockey-stick Read More…