Resilience in food production: is UK agriculture prepared for climate change?

Author Dr Paul Lunt (Director of the Low Carbon Devon Project) At Christmas time, our attention is drawn towards food. My last harvest of the summer, pictured, consisted of brightly coloured peppers, chillies, tomatoes, onions, butternut squash and garlic. Like all growers, I spend the summers working with whatever nature throws my way in weather, pests and crop disease. This year in between the planting and replanting of lost crops, I also wrote an updated chapter on weather and climateRead more

Lost Words Poetry Reading, Green Minds Festival of Nature

Post by Dr Eva McGrath, Research Fellow Greenminds Project Otter, acorn, dandelion, willow. Heron, conker, magpie, kingfisher. Bramble, fern, heather, newt. These words are the names of plants, trees, birds and animals that live, move and breathe alongside us. They can be found in the streams, in the sky, falling from a tree, growing from the ground. These words are threads towards our connection with the natural world around us. Language is a fluid entity that can often be a litmusRead more

How human caused climate change is affecting UK weather

Author Dr Paul Lunt, Director of the Low Carbon Devon Project As we approach the winter solstice, it is a good time to review our winter weather. It is so far so good for my favourite garden plant, the giant viper’s bugloss (Echium pininana). This plant, photography at my south Devon garden at 100 m above sea level, is endemic to the Canary Islands with limited tolerance to UK winter frost. Whether it survives through to the spring, as itRead more