- Jody Bourton
- 31 May 06, 05:04 PM
Joining the Planet Earth Under Threat team is very exciting – this is a huge and important subject that I’m delighted to get my teeth into, if a little over-awed by the sheer volume of information. How to choose what we include?? One of the first things on my long to-do list is to line up some stories in the Americas for Howard Stableford to cover for us. A trip to the far north seems likely to look at the changes in the ice and permafrost and the resulting effects on polar bear and caribou populations. But hey, isn’t this all a bit familiar? Haven’t we all seen the pictures of stranded polar bears and submerging Pacific Islands? The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ is currently running a Climate Chaos Season and on all sides there are signs of doom and gloom fatigue. So how can we engage with this subject so that we don’t all turn off, but are in equal parts inspired, informed and motivated?
Continue reading "Message from Jan - Peut Researcher"
- Julian Hector
- 31 May 06, 02:01 PM
Gabrielle and I have just come back from Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire (UK) to record the dawn chorus and hear about the ambitious expansion project of the National Trust to recreate "The Great Fen" of 300 years ago. This is a massive 100 year vision which we'll tell you about in another blog. 
But we also picked up an interview from Bill Adams (Professor of Conservation Development, Cambridge University). We asked him the question - why bother to protect anything: Bill came up with the best quote ever on that one. Keep an eye on this entry because we're going to give you a taster of the dawn chorus for you to enjoy.
Continue reading "First Rule of Intelligent Meddling"
- Gabrielle Walker
- 21 May 06, 01:29 PM
Hello everybody from rainy London. I’ll be presenting this series, and I’m happy to report that the first of our trips will soon be underway. Next week, Julian and I should be heading over to the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge to talk to some Antarcticans about their work in the Deep South. That will make me very happy since, as you can probably see from the picture, ice is one of my passions. (More about that later.) 
The following day we plan to be at Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire to record the dawn chorus and talk to some expert naturalists about the effects that drought and weather changes could have on this extraordinary habitat. We might have to postpone the trip if the nasty weather doesn’t pick up. (I offered to go and crouch in a field at 4am whatever the weather, but Julian assures me that the birds won’t sing properly if it’s windy and wet. Thank you birds!) Anyway, for that and all our other endeavours, watch this space.
Meanwhile, let me introduce myself a bit. I’ve been writing and broadcasting about earth science and the environment for more than ten years now, for places like New Scientist, where I used to be Features Editor, and the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½â€™s radio science unit. But usually I’ve been covering the physical side, climate, rocks, oceans and ice, rather than animals and plants. So it’s great to be working with the Natural History Unit, where I’ll get much more of a chance to see the effects of climate change on living things. I do have some thoughts about this already, which I've added below (along with a few more pix). Please let me know what you think.
Continue reading "London calling"
- Julian Hector
- 19 May 06, 04:39 PM
Like the pic? 
A little while ago we made a show about these lovely little creatures. Have a listen some time. Meerkats are despots! Female dominated despots at that. As a species they live in co-operative groups, with most of the individuals in the group helping the dominant female rear her young, instread of their own. So, the two big questions are: Why live in a group? And why not breed your self and help another? Read more.
Continue reading "When the interest of the individual is the same as the group"
- Julian Hector
- 18 May 06, 03:50 PM
Hello everyone - just had James Lovelock pass through the office and we're hoping to get him to do a far reaching interview for PEuT. For those of you who don't know him - he's the author of a number of books about "Gaia". Lovelock presents the earth has a whole system able to respond to change and counter the forces that move the earth away from stability. Lovelock last year famously came out in support of nuclear power in the UK to provide cleaner energy to meet our immediate needs. He argued that the re-newable solutions to solve our energy crisis are sufficiently far off in the distance to be too late to counter the causes of global warming (implicating coal and gas fired power stations). He told me briefly this afternoon that if climate change shifts the gulf stream away from the UK "we'd have fewer west winds" making the west country (where he lives) less suitable for wind turbines. I think he was implying that it might not make a great deal of difference, so why bother using the land in that way. Many would argue that every little helps.
What do you think about nuclear energy as a responsible way to reduce our carbon emmisions and maintain our life style?
And do you think we should change our life style to reduce our energy needs? If so, what are you prepared to do to reduce your need of electricity?
- Julian Hector
- 16 May 06, 03:23 PM
Written in 2002 Paul J Crutzen suggested we are now in a geological era which is defined by mankinds impact on the environment - more specifically an age defined by our generation of green house gases. Crutzen in the science journal "Nature" suggests this period started about 300 years ago - A time when industrialisation really got going. This is the Anthropocene.
Continue reading "The Anthropocene"
- Julian Hector
- 15 May 06, 12:37 PM
Hello world. We have Jan Castle doing some specific research for this big series. She has a lot of cred. She's made radio programmes for us on many occasions and has worked for countless years in wildlife television - both for the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and the "inde" sector. Her native tongue is English, but she's fluent in French and Spanish - And this means we can really start probing into South America, Europe and Africa for stories. Her first major job is to sort our Howard out and get him into the field. From my end, Gabrielle and I have a trip to one of Britains most important wetlands - And actually our first official nature reserve. We're off to Wicken Fen to record a dawn chorus and learn about one of the most ambitious conservation projects in recent times, with a projected end game in 100 years time! Wicken Fen is near Cambridge - part of the "soft counties" of the UK and much is on or below sea level. These great flatlands are a Mecca for wildlife, but are vulnerable to sea level rises. Some have written "Cambridge-on-Sea by 2050" I'll tell you more next week when we go. Oh yes - we're also off to the Antarctic, to the HQ of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge to hear about their amazing work in the southern oceans. Keep blogging - talk to us.
- Howard Stableford
- 11 May 06, 02:51 PM
Greetings fellow bloggers from Colorado, my home for the last seven years. Through my office window I can see the spectacular heights of Pike's Peak, a four thousand plus metre snow capped mountain along Colorado's Front Range. At least I can today. Yesterday it was snowing!
I am delighted to have been invited to cover the Americas for this series. My association with NHU Radio goes back several years during which time I have battled with the Generation X Cicada in Ohio, swum with sharks in the Bahamas and followed the trail of ace American biologist John Steinbeck in Monterey California. In fact while I am standing on this soap box of shameless self promotion I should point out that you can still hear some of my programmes on Radio 4's rather excellent "Listen Again" site!
I am equally delighted to have been given the opportunity to contribute to this blog. I must say that giving a presenter free reign to vent on an open forum is a bit like me offering the local population of black bears full access to the contents of my dustbin whenever they feel a bit peckish. However, I promise to use this site judiciously as long as you agree to rummage through the debris of my thoughts in similar fashion
Continue reading "Colorado Calling"
- Julian Hector
- 10 May 06, 09:58 AM
This is an amazing story and one that shows there are things we can do to combat the effects of global warming. A year before this photograph was taken, there was a field of barley. Now the field is full of delicious mud and is the spawning ground for many species of marine fish.
This is part of the county of Essex in the SE of England. Not far from London. The Environment Agency (A public funded body that looks after the earth, water and air of England and Wales) have punched some holes through the sea defences and allowed the land to be reclaimed as salt marsh. A piece of landscape alteration called "managed retreat". Global warming has kicked in, sea levels are rising - And in this part of the UK, the land is gradually tilting into the sea to boot. The upshot - the sea walls built to protect farmland from salt water are at their very limit and valuable salt marsh on the seaward side has all but disappeared. And obviously there's the ominous threat of flooding. Managing the retreat in this way regenerates the salt marsh on the old landward side of the sea wall (at the loss of some farmland - but fantastic for marine biodiversity - fish, birds, sea snails etc) - And arguably the salt marsh is a better sea defence than the wall. The marsh absorbs the energy of the waves reducing the risk of flooding. Listen to a show we made about it.
Continue reading "Managed Retreat"
- Julian Hector
- 5 May 06, 01:15 PM
In researching for this series we talk to many people and there are many different bodies of thinkers. There are those who work directly on the nature of global warming : its causes and effects. These are massive stories. But there are many other people who are interested in landscape changes, species extinctions and loss of habitats who don't directly blame global warming. Far from it. For many, the unsustainble use of natural resources is a far greater threat to life on earth and humanity - and a threat which, in their view, will be felt quicker and harder (fisheries, forests, rivers, viable farmland etc etc). In PEuT we're trying to balance these two huge fields of interest. At the moment we're talking to the people who design conservation strategies that both embody sustainable use of resources and take into account the impacts of global warming. These are big stories - one from the Congo and another from Madagascar. I'll tell you about them next week. And to you, fellow bloggers! Tell us about any inspriational people you have met or know of. It would be very valuable to us - we might be able to pay them a visit.
- Julian Hector
- 4 May 06, 10:45 AM
Picture copyright Andrew MacColl
Many of us here in blighty are familiar with this little bird. Their body is tiny (size of a grown man's thumb), but they look much bigger because of their long tail, and during winter they can be seen flitting in little bands between gardens and in open scrub country. And it's good news: Ben Hatchwell - a Reader at Sheffield University - has studied them for years and he says they're on the up, they probably like the milder winters.
We made a programme about them - have a listen. More about Long-tailed tits: ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 4 - The Living World
Continue reading "Long-tailed Tits - Good News UK Story"
- Jody Bourton
- 3 May 06, 05:47 PM
Weve just heard that there has been an in the Tongan region of the Pacific, very near the region of Kiribati as written about previously - will write more as we hear it.
- Julian Hector
- 3 May 06, 02:12 PM
If you look on a map of the Pacific Ocean there are many unimaginably remote coral atoll islands. One group of islands are known as the Karibati (pronounced Kee-ree-bus). As one source writes, "they are far away, untouristed, hard to get to and deeply religious...". Here's a which gives some indicative geographic and population information of the Karibati. For our series on global warming, this looks like an important place to visit. Sea levels are rising globally and these coral atoll island nations are low lying in the extreme - And there's fear amongst the population that they will have to evacuate. We hear that their fresh water is already being infiltrated by the sea (there's a fresh water cell beneath each island) and they too, like the rest of us, experience more frequent extreme weather events. I could get Gabrielle to stand on the island and actually broadcast from the first nation state to leg it because they fear being engulfer by the sea.
Continue reading "Sinking Islands"
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