Welcome to my personal blog covering my adventures in and opinions on homesteading/smallholding, self-sufficiency, climate change and related issues.
Trevor Larkum, January 2020
Welcome to my personal blog covering my adventures in and opinions on homesteading/smallholding, self-sufficiency, climate change and related issues.
Trevor Larkum, January 2020
Key UN reports published in last two days warn urgent and collective action needed – as oil firms report astronomical profits The climate crisis has reached a “really bleak moment”, one of the world’s leading climate scientists has said, after a slew of major reports laid bare how close the planet is to catastrophe. Collective
As talk about the threat of nuclear war is being heard against the backdrop of the Ukraine war—and with continuing fears about climate change and economic turmoil—people are beginning to wonder how they can prepare for the worst. Building Collapse (Image: F. Anzola/Flickr) Concerns about a nuclear "Armageddon" or global food shortages may
David Anderson first started worrying about shortages around the time of the Brexit referendum. After reading reports that supermarkets could face disruption, he thought it would be sensible to have some supplies set aside for emergencies. My first seedlings appear (Image: T. Larkum) He also realised he
Hurricane Ian’s catastrophic winds and flooding are likely to bring long-lasting power outages to large parts of Florida. The storm is the latest in a line of hurricanes and extreme heat and cold events that have knocked out power to millions of Americans in recent years for days at a time. In many disaster- and outage-prone
It is hotter than ever. The country is tinder-dry. There were more wildfires in the single month of July than during all of last year. During the recent heatwave, temperatures exceeded 40C and scores of houses burnt down on the edge of London. Another damaging heatwave is on its way. Water restrictions are now in force. These catastrophic climate conditions have been knowingly fuelled
Scientists say there are ample reasons to suspect global heating could lead to catastrophe The risk of global societal collapse or human extinction has been “dangerously underexplored”, climate scientists have warned in an analysis. They call such a catastrophe the “climate endgame”. Though it had a small chance of occurring, given the uncertainties in future
The economic impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are being felt around the world. This is especially true in the energy and food markets whose supply chains depend on both countries. The crisis has reinvigorated a long-running debate about land use for solar farms, increasingly polarised around energy versus food security. Gas provides 40%
“Four Meals From Anarchy” – We Must Grow More Food Locally. A friend sent me a link to this video interview of Michael Raw, an agricultural consultant, about the fragility of Britain’s food supply, which frankly shocked me. The “four meals from anarchy” is a quote to MI5, meaning that Britain could descend very rapidly indeed to large-scale
‘Rational’ preppers tell Kasia Delgado about preparing for everything from nuclear strikes to bank collapse to drought: “If a prepper has to panic-buy, they’ve failed” David Bowen recently found a good place in his North Yorkshire seaside town to take refuge in case of a nuclear attack. “I’ve just discovered there’s an old underground
Anyone concerned with sustainable living will at some point sooner or later come across the concept of permaculture. Permaculture is notoriously difficult to define, but the term is a portmanteau of the words ‘permanent,’ and ‘agriculture,’ although it was later expanded to include ‘culture,’ as it encompasses much more than just agriculture. Permaculture was