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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
When I was young, I remember being told about the Cutty Sark, a now preserved Victorian tea clipper. It was a story bound up in an empire that was coming to an end as I was growing up. And, less obviously, it was a story about the limits of renewable energy in a world
The Iran war will hit food prices, fuel costs and interest rates. But with a few smart moves, we could could turn this crisis to our advantage Energy shocks don’t just raise our energy bills – they can be turning points in how our economy runs. The UK responded to the energy crises of
America is waging wars of expansion across two continents at the precise moment its energy foundations are giving way. The war on Iran is a stress test of a late-stage empire — and every indicator says it will fail. The American empire is falling. The Trump-Netanyahu war on Iran - launched weeks after the
Fossil fuels aren’t a shield against chaos. They are a conduit for it. Iran’s daily strikes on Gulf energy infrastructure didn’t just set oil terminals ablaze. They have also torched one of the most persistent myths in modern energy politics: that oil and gas are the irreplaceable foundation of “energy security.” It’s a myth
The ever-shifting, interconnected system of global air and ocean currents dictates the weather we experience daily. This year, however, scientists are warning that a particularly potent version of one of Earth's most infamous climate phenomena, El Niño, could dramatically alter these patterns. Climate scientist Daniel Swain recently posted on X (formerly Twitter), stating: "Whew. All
A team of scientists has warned we could be reaching a number of tipping points that might trigger runaway heating and a devastating and 'disruptive' future for humanity Earth is teetering on the brink of a climate “point of no return” and scientists reckon we may be far closer than anyone thought. If global
It has rained in parts of the country every day of the year so far and downpours are expected to continue this week In a “miserable and relentlessly wet” start to the year, rain has fallen somewhere in the UK every single day for weeks on end. With more than 100 flood warnings in
From the age of 16, Tom Blakey was in the British Army’s Parachute Regiment. After 25 years of regular service, he spent another eight years as a reservist. The regiment’s motto, Utrinque Paratus – Ready for Anything – remains front of mind in his daily life, even though he’s now 54 and no longer
It took an FOI request to bring this national security assessment to light. For ‘doomsayers’ like us, it is the ultimate vindication I know it’s almost impossible to turn your eyes away from the Trump show, but that’s the point. His antics, ever-grosser and more preposterous, are designed to keep him in our minds,
You get up and go to the loo, only to find the flush doesn’t work. You try the shower, except nothing comes out. You want a glass of water, but on turning the tap there is not a drop. Your day stumbles on, stripped of its essentials: no washing hands, no cleaning up the