envirograph

Talking about humanity’s relationship with a warming world through photography, sketching and writing. // Interested in how we get humans to act less like boiling frogs.

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This speaks for itself. #climatechange #pollution #bluewhale #endangered (at Natural History Museum, London)

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#environment #fossilfuels #climatechange (at Putney Bridge)

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Today, the 22nd of August, is #WorldPlantMilkDay. I'm not sure how effective it is at getting people to think about consuming less dairy, but it could help. ... Turning up our noses is a common reaction to plant-based milk. But is it as weird as drinking a cow's bodily fluids? ... Don't get me wrong, I love cheese. It would be one of the hardest things to give up. But I don't buy cow's milk anymore and haven't looked back. A few weeks after I stopped, it started to taste rank. If I drink it nowadays, I get stomach cramps. Without changing how much I exercise or sleep, I now have more energy -- I can run for longer before I get tired. ... My favourite plant milk brand is @oatly, whose goal is to deliver products with minimal environmental impact and make fun of the dairy industry while it's at it. ... Oatly says its lawyer Mats has to read through every word it writes 'to make sure that we don't get sued by the Milk Lobby for encouraging you to drink our product instead of cow's milk.' Given that humans can't digest cow's milk very well, it's hard to believe that it's good for us. Which means the dairy industry has no leg to stand on. ... Add this to the fact that the mass-market dairy industry has to be cruel to cows to be profitable, that it guzzles unimaginable amounts of water, food, land and fossil fuels, and that it's a major source of the greenhouse gases cooking our only home, and you have a strong case to give up buying cow's milk. Now is good. ... #WorldPlantMilkDay #climateaction #postmilkgeneration #vegan #milk #dairy

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The documentary @cowspiracy says that 51% of greenhouse gases are created by livestock, citing a report by Worldwatch Institute. ... The film therefore asks why large environmental organisations like Greenpeace don’t seem to want to talk about animal farming as a major cause of climate change. ... It suggests that because the meat and dairy industries are so powerful, environmental organisations dare not stand up to them for fear of being sued – or worse. Many environmental defenders have been murdered by agribusiness, mainly in South America where rainforests are ripped up to make room for extensive farmland. ... @guardian reported in July that: ‘In the first five months of this year, the most striking trend is that for the first time agribusiness is rivalling mining as the deadliest sector, with 22 deaths worldwide – just one short of the total for the whole of last year.’ ... Whether or not Worldwatch’s 51% is true (according to Doug Boucher of the Union of Concerned Scientists, scientific consensus is closer to 15%) or there is a cover up, Cowspiracy didn’t talk about the small matter of humanity’s deep-rooted craving for eating animals. ... For many, any meal that doesn't involve eating an animal is preposterous (except at breakfast). Until the majority of people are persuaded that eating far fewer animals is a major part of the struggle to keep our planet habitable, the number of factory farms will only increase. ... However, this is unlikely to happen until the wealthy and the big corporates also change their ways. Ordinary people won't make further sacrifices while the rich are allowed to continue to do what they want and pollute without consequence. Any form of radical systemic change must apply to everyone. ... Sources: www.cowspiracy.com/facts; www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/13/environmental-defenders-being-killed-in-record-numbers-globally-new-research-reveals; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowspiracy ... #climateaction #eatinganimals #meat #climatechange (at McDonald's Restaurant)

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A bee at #BedZED looking me straight in the eye. At least I like to think she was. ... I'm pretty sure this is a common garder bee, a species of bumblebee throughout Europe. #bee #biodiversity (at Beddington)

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Our fixation with baby calf growth fluid is a main driver of the greenhouse gases that come from food production.

All in all, global food consumption spews out a quarter of all emissions, largely from livestock.

Livestock has a far greater impact on the planet than plants, and we don't need dairy or meat. So let's rather grow plants to feed billions of humans rather than grow plants to feed billions of cows just so we can eat them and drink their milk. 

As for the milk alternatives, there are so many. I like @oatly, although soy milk is cheaper.* The dairy industry in Sweden will sue Oatly if it ever claims to be a milk alternative. Well, it is an alternative. You can use it in your tea (although I find almond milk better for coffee -- or just have it black*) and on your porridge. It tastes good. It's better for you (I stopped buying milk and now I get stomach cramps if I drink it). It doesn't demand that cows fall pregnant over and over again, or for day-old calves to be taken from their mothers. And it's far lighter on the Earth -- perhaps more than soy and almonds, and definitely more than cows. 

Sources: 'Baby calf growth fluid' attributed to Dr Michael Klaper, interviewed on @cowspiracy; www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/07/tax-meat-and-dairy-to-cut-emissions-and-save-lives-study-urges ... #dairy #dairyfree #vegan #climatechange #climateaction (at London, United Kingdom)

*Correction: I was mistaken, it's actually the same price. I was also mistaken about almond milk being better in coffee than Oatly. The only decent cup of coffee with almond milk is made by baristas who use the special barista almond milk. Standard almond milk in a standard home-brewed cup of coffee isn't great.

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The UK throws away 7 million coffee cups a day and less than 1% are recycled, says @hellohubbub. ... This is 'even if they have a green recycling sign and you put them in the recycling bin.' It all adds up to an unimaginable 2.5 billion cups a year that end up in landfill, nature and the ocean. And that is just the UK's contribution. ... 'The tricky issue is the mix of the plastic film on the inside of the cups which need special treatment to separate and recycle, plus the dregs of coffee which contaminate the recycling.' ... So if you regularly buy takeaway coffee, buy a reusable cup like this @keepcup here. ... Source: www.hubbub.org.uk/Event/recycle-your-coffee-cup-with-the-squaremilechallenge ... #coffeecup #pollution #landfill #oceans #waste #zerowaste #recycling #circulareconomy (at Mud)

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Keep up the good work, @mayorofldn. When do you plan for the fleet to be entirely hybrid and electric, and for it to be entirely electric? @sadiqkmp ... #cleanair #climateaction #pollution #climatechange #cleanenergy (at Tooting Bec)

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Some of the wind cowls that help to insulate and ventilate the homes at BedZED, the UK's first large mixed use sustainable community. 'Here, fresh outside air is drawn into the building and pre-heated by outgoing stale air via heat exchangers.' - Bioregional ... Source: www.bioregional.com/bedzed ... #sustainability #housing #climatechange #climateaction (at Beddington)

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This bin outside Sainsbury's was bursting at the seams with everything but glass. ... Beyond just making it easier to recycle (i.e. not just one bin), the challenge is how to get people to give a shit. ... #waste #zerowaste #recycling #plastic #consumption #oceans (at Tooting)

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Bumblebee at BedZED diving into the local pollen. 🐝 #biodiversity (at Beddington)

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As Megan King says in the BBC article below, 'I feel like time just stops when you’re sitting there.' ... Letting go from our devices helps ease our minds and makes room for thought and creativity. If we all did this more often, maybe we'd think more about what matters and why the fight to protect our only home is worth it. ... Source: www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170414-why-idle-moments-are-crucial-for-creativity ... #climatechange #daydreaming #londonmoment (at London, United Kingdom)

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Vicious cycle: 'Studies show that climate change will increase wind speeds in some areas of the globe, forcing airplanes flying through them to burn more fuel. Total global carbon dioxide emissions could see a boost as flight times increase in the stronger winds.' ... And while it's positive that 'airplane makers are building more fuel efficient aircraft, such as the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350', this needs to happen faster and people need to simply fly less. ... Source (12 months old): www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/26/epa-ruling-on-aircraft-emissions-paves-way-for-new-regulations ... #climatechange #flying #emissions (at Fulham)

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#climatechange is going to make it harder for planes to take off. ... In the coming decades 'during the hottest parts of the day between 10 and 30 percent of fully loaded planes may have to remove fuel, cargo or passengers...' - @grist ... It already happened this year to an American airline that had to cancel 40 regional flights due to dangerous temperates, and in 2012 to a plane departing from DC whose wheels sank into the tarmac. ... Source: www.grist.org/article/climate-change-will-make-air-travel-even-worse + Martin Weil, "US Airways Plane Gets Stuck in 'Soft Spot' on Pavement at Reagan National," Washington Post, July 7, 2012; "Why Is My Flight Cancelled?" https://m.imgur.com/r/pics/Ir3wJ ... #flying (at Tooting)

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On a cycle tour through the Karoo in May 2016, my mate and I came across an empty dam about 30km from Prince Albert. The dam covers 620 hectares and can hold 42 million cubic metres of water.

Dried-out fish corpses like the one here littered the brittle earth. In some places the ground was still damp and we'd sink knee-deep into the mud. In one hairy moment we almost lost our bikes.

I don't know the dam's current status, but in September 2016 I wrote an article about it for news agency, GroundUp, republished on envirograph here: http://envirograph.tumblr.com/post/162853821349/karoo-dam-is-dangerously-empty 

#drought #elnino #climatechange (at Seweweekspoort - Gamkapoort Dam)

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'By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp.' - Cormac McCarthy, The Road ... Taken in Jan 2017 ... #cormacmccarthy #climatechange #capetownfire #wildfire #sunrise #bookstagram (at Cape Town, Western Cape)

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'Beyond that the ocean vast and cold and shifting heavily like a slowly heaving vat of slag and then the gray squall line of ash. He looked at the boy. He could see the disappointment in his face. I'm sorry it's not blue, he said. That's okay, said the boy.' - Cormac McCarthy, The Road ... Taken in Dec 2016 ... #cormacmccarthy #climatechange #bookstagram (at Silvermine Nature Reserve)