If we’re f**ked on the climate, what can we do?

Blasted Peruvian uplands, ploughed up and burned for superfood maca. Those who visit this blog know how concerned I am about climate change, and the psychology of human denial of the urgency of approaching catastrophe. Our 32-year-old son Alastair is now on a kind of retreat in Peru, where we as parents were ourselves recently […]

NZ biking – a final two-day solo ride along Forgotten World Highway, through spectacular rainforest, and… sheep. Oodles of.

OK, my name is Mark and I’m an internet addict. And this is positively (probably) my last post (sounds of trumpet) from solo biking in NZ, with a map to show you where I started and where, on this last Saturday in 2012, I’ve ended up. Which is, slap bang in the middle of the […]

Tornado-delayed, finally in Queenstown

Well, that was a bit of a journey. But I’m here, as are bike and luggage, and the stunningly lovely NZ Adventure Capital of Queenstown even arranged a rainbow of welcome for us all. But not before, first, my Primus fuel bottle was halted and turned back at UK check-in security; then my pedal spanner […]

Right, NZ ahoy. This bike trip’s for real…

So, after the disappointment and nerve dramas of the RTW bike ride that wasn’t last Easter, Raven and I (doesn’t it irritate when cyclists anthropomorphise their bikes!) are on our way to cycle the South Island in New Zealand. And this is also my first attempt at blogging with WordPress direct from my mobile. Hope […]

Climate Change and the Failure of Today’s Journalism

(Cross-posted with kind permission of Greenpeace Energy Desk) What was the most important angle in the news coverage of Superstorm Sandy? Was it – should it have been – the storm’s impact on the US presidential elections a week later? Was it the number of human deaths – the usual measure of newsworthiness – or […]

Forecast of 45mph headwinds – why am I doing this?

With departure set for the day after tomorrow, just 36 hours away, I was amused trawling old photos to find this first recorded evidence of my passion for spoked wheels. I guess I’m under a year on the left, and about three on the trike on right. The photos will have been taken in the summers […]

Climate Progress blog post on the Journalism of Climate Change

I thought I might post here a contribution I made this week to Climate Progress, a site I read daily and consider the best current blog on the science and politics of Climate Change. The post was in response to some (partly but not entirely justified) sharp criticism of a BBC piece by my old […]

Talking at Deutsche Welle about Climate Change and Journalism

It’s not the most comprehensive of packages, but Deutsche Welle in Bonn have done an interesting job of summarising a panel on the journalism of climate change which I ran, together with Mary-Jayne Rust, in Bonn in June. With some 1400 participants registered, many from developing countries helped financially to take part by the German […]