On Saturday 19th September me and mum bought some flowers and set off to drive to the woodland/moorland burial site in which we lay my Dad to rest in last year.
Mum had not been to the site before and the only time I had been there was on the day of his funeral. I was struggling to remember where he was! It’s a relatively small beautiful site and we needed the help of Dad’s partner, Shamen who was able to send a photo of where the plot was in relation to some trees and hedges. I had a good feeling and was grateful that we visited Dad’s site. The weather was a little misty and grey which kind of added to the mysticality of the site. I know dad would have found it amusing with me stumbling around the site trying to work out where he was.
When we laid him to rest we organised a pipe tobacco and matches with him in his coffin. (These were items that he had carried around with him for most of his adult life and it only seemed fitting to let him have them on the other side of life too.
We have also designed a slate to go on his grave which will be ready in a few weeks which I think is very fitting for him (having a pipe on the image too).
As much as I think about him and my brother almost every other day I feel Dad would have appreciated the visit to where he now rests that we did today and I am pleased he has a sight for us to visit. My brother Andy’s ashes were scattered to sea from one of his favourite beaches in Cornwall which now seems quite far away to me so please Dad is nearer by still.
Another hot day in the UK lots of wildlife fires breaking out across western europe and so I thought to my self what could or should I do in this real life climate crisis ratcheting up on planet earth.
At first I thought why not write an email to some of my favourite musicians and ask them what they felt about climate activism and could they write a song to promote their views and feelings on the issue – I thought that this would be a lot to ask of them though so thought of my next target that of the new government in the UK. Andy Burnham has just been voted in by his party to be our next leader or Prime minster so I thought I would contact the different departments of government and ask them instead what they were doing and also what I could or should be doing myself. I sent the following letter to them this afternoon with the help of Copilot to get their email addresses and draft the letter to make it more professional looking.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to you out of deep concern for the escalating climate crisis and the increasingly visible impacts we are experiencing here in the United Kingdom and across the world. It feels as though we are no longer asking whether climate change is happening, but instead confronting the harder question of whether we are truly doing enough to prevent the worst outcomes.
As our shared home—the Earth—faces what feels like a slow passing away through a “death by a thousand burns,” with rising temperatures, intensifying wildfires, deforestation, and widespread ecological destruction, the warnings have become so frequent that they risk being treated as normal. Extreme weather events across western Europe, conflict over land and resources in other parts of the world, and the growing instability caused by environmental degradation all point to a crisis unfolding on our doorstep.
My purpose in writing is to ask: What is the plan? What is being done—right now—to prevent further climate catastrophe in the summer of 2026 and beyond? And does the Government believe that current action is sufficient to ensure that we will still have a stable, habitable planet by the time my generation grows old?
I appreciate that many departments hold different but interconnected responsibilities for climate action. For example:
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero oversees emissions reduction, energy transition, and net‑zero strategy.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is responsible for nature recovery, biodiversity, water quality, air quality, and environmental protection.
The Department for Transport shapes decarbonisation of roads, rail, aviation, and maritime transport.
HM Treasury determines the scale and direction of investment needed for a green economy.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government influences planning, housing standards, and local climate resilience.
Given the urgency of the situation, I would be grateful if you could provide:
A clear outline of the department’s current climate priorities and actions, particularly those planned or underway in 2026.
Information on how these actions align with the UK’s legally binding net‑zero commitments, and whether additional measures are being considered.
Guidance on how citizens like myself can constructively contribute, whether through public consultations, local engagement, or direct communication with relevant ministers or committees.
Advice on which departments, ministers, or parliamentary groups are most appropriate to contact regarding specific areas of climate policy.
I am not writing out of pessimism, but out of a desire to understand how we can collectively respond to the overwhelming truth that the climate crisis is real, present, and accelerating. I want to play a constructive role in ensuring that we all have a planet to call home in the decades ahead.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I would greatly appreciate any information, guidance, or direction you can provide.
Kind regards,
Huw
I’m please with what I sent and have no idea if I will get a response or what I might have to do if they do respond.
Whether our global system is immoral or corrupt is one of the most debated questions in modern philosophy, economics, and sociology. There isn’t a single factual answer, but rather a tension between two primary perspectives:
The Argument for Systemic Corruption
Critics argue the system is inherently flawed because it often prioritises capital accumulation over human well-being. They point to:
Extreme Inequality: A tiny percentage of the population holds more wealth than the bottom half of the globe combined.
Environmental Exploitation: Economic growth often relies on the depletion of natural resources, leading to the climate crisis.
Power Imbalance: Large corporations and wealthy individuals often have disproportionate influence over political legislation, which can undermine democratic processes.
Environmental Degradation: The current economic model relies on extracting natural resources, which has led to overshooting planetary boundaries. Seven out of eight earth system boundaries—including climate, biodiversity, and fresh water—have been breached.
Inequality: Despite overall growth in global GDP, wealth inequality is increasing in most countries. This leads to a concentration of power and wealth, where “marginalized communities often bear a disproportionate burden of environmental pollution and degradation”.
Unsustainability: The focus on short-term profit and “planned obsolescence” results in excessive waste and pollution. The current model is described by some researchers as an “environmental pyramid scheme” that depends on intergenerational theft.
Social Distress: Modern economic life, characterized by high-demand jobs and job insecurity, is linked to lower social connectedness and higher mental distress.
The Argument for Systemic Progress
Conversely, proponents argue that the current global exchange has done more to improve the human condition than any previous system. They point to:
Poverty Reduction: Global extreme poverty rates have plummeted over the last 50 years.
Innovation: Competition drives advancements in medicine, technology, and renewable energy.
Rule of Law: While imperfect, modern systems have established human rights frameworks and international trade laws that provide a level of stability unprecedented in history.
Conclusion on Future Outlook
Ineffective Decoupling: It is unlikely that economic growth can be fully decoupled from environmental damage at a global scale, meaning a, “selective downscaling of production and consumption” is necessary to lower the ecological footprint.
Fundamental Transformation Needed: Research indicates that to ensure a “good life for all within the planet’s limits,” the current system must be drastically restructured.
Towards a “Wellbeing Economy”: Many experts advocate for a shift toward “wellbeing economies” that prioritize sustainability, social health, and environmental safety over purely economic, growth-based metrics like GDP.
Capitalism is an economic system where private individuals or businesses own capital goods like factories and resources, rather than the government or state. The goal is to produce goods and services and generate profit, with supply and demand playing a key role in determining prices and resource allocation.
But in our global system, capitalism enables the wealthy and powerful to not just own business and means of production but ownership and direction of our governments, public perceptions of reality through the media and a persuasive overarching state of opinion on what should be considered successful, truthful and normal over what is considered a failed system, abnormal and even a lie.
We operate and exist in extremely complicated economic global structures which dependent on where you look at it from can look extremely pleasing e.g. for those with wealth and power and control its a system within which they see considerable benefit for themselves but to those that live in areas of the world that are exploited such as taking away ecological resource being harvested and irreversible destroyed for economic gain such as the destruction of tropical rain-forest or the abstraction of finite minerals and other resources or even worse those living in an area where there are wars or violence inflicted on people as a means to obtain wealth, power and control things are a lot worse when your being exploited at the expense of the person that is exploiting you.This can be done through both legal and illegal means of exploitation.
The most logical means of production and consumption to a maximum number of people at a competitive price should be by individuals and organisations but just as ‘power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. The cost to humanity, our ecosystem and our governments integrity should all be priced into production, the means of production and our ability to consume and sustain our ability to produce and consume.
Our governments today are not deep thinkers and do not show signs of thinking outside of the box of tools within which they think they are provided with. Capitalism and consumption should not be at any cost. A system that eats itself, destroys its own environment and severely impacts on humans within its own sphere of influence is not a healthy form of government and should therefore not be aspired to or believed to be the only economic game in town.
Just because the exploitation that feeds your economy take place on a global scale and not in your back yard does not mean that the people within positions of power whom exploit others that live within your countries are not in some way responsible for the exploitation of the globe, the chances are the greater wealth that is obtained by someone in this world will likely be at the expense of the planet or the humans within which live upon it that have been exploited in order to capitalize on said wealth
Just as bees collect pollen and produce beautiful wondrous nests full of honey. We as creatures must consume to exist and wondrous things have and continue to be produced as we consume and exist. As we produce and engage in ever wondrous antics to assist us to hopefully at first survive and if and when possible thrive. Consumption to exist and where possible thrive is very much in our nature but just to be a capitalist being born to exploit at the expense of others is perhaps perceived as normal but not truly necessary or sustainable into the future.
A healthy society of consumers needs to have strong and robust legal system designed to prevent genocide, ecocide and other forms of manipulation, destruction and death across society so as to maximize the amount of sustainable growth and consumption but not at the expense of those with power, wealth and money being entitled and enabled by our political, legal and media establishments to destroy the environments of others or itself merely for profit from such actions themselves. That is not just an unsuccessful use of a system but one that is inherently flawed for humanity and the planet within which we live upon and sustains our lives.
Richard George Adams FRSL was an English novelist. He is best known for his debut novel Watership Down.
Watership Down is an adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published in 1972. Set in Hampshire in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natural wild environment with burrows, they are anthropomorphized (the act of attributing human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities), and the wildlife in the story possesses its own culture, language, proverbs, poetry, and mythology. Evoking epic themes, the novel follows the rabbits as they escape the destruction of their warren and seek a place to establish a new home, the hill of Watership Down, encountering perils and temptations along the way.
Watership Down was Richard Adams’s debut novel. It was rejected by several publishers before Collings accepted the manuscript; the published book then won the annual Carnegie Medal (UK), annual Guardian Prize (UK), and other book awards.
The novel was adapted into a 2D animated feature film in 1978 and a 2D animated children’s television series from 1999 and 2001. In 2018, the novel was adapted again, this time into a 3D animated series, which both aired in the UK and was made available on Netflix.
So rather than World War 3 has Donald Trump started an economic war and how has he done this and why? Well in simple terms he does not like the fact that US tends to buy more goods and services from other countries than other countries buy from the US. Secondly because he is a moron willing to do as yet incalculable damage to the global economy in the name of the USA and Trumpism Economics (whatever they might be) by raising tariffs against other countries across the globe that are looking to sell their goods and services to the US. A tarrif is a tax added to imported goods. Trump has done this for a variety of reasons such as A) he does not like a country that boarders his attitude to emigration and so wacked a tariff on, or B) because a countries goods and service are simply better or more competitive on the global market so he hits a tax on those too. Or finally C) where there are taxes already charged to US goods in the way of such as in the UK where nearly all goods and services including its own are charged VAT (value added tax) as an income stream for the UK. So Trump is adding this 20% tax to all goods imported from the UK too.
Trumps Tariffs might make the US a considerable amount of taxable income in the short term but it will increase inflation and prices to US citizens as well as other citizens across the globe and as yet in world history I am not sure if anyone has won a trade war it just tends to unnecessarily hurt those countries and citizens of those countries that get caught up in it.
Ultimately Trump is detonating an economic bomb simply because he can.
The state of a countries economy is one of the main headline topics in the news these days and it is judged by whether the economy is doing well by growth and stability and its very much a numbers game. Economic growth refers to an increase in the size of a country’s economy over a period of time. The size of an economy is typically measured by the total production of goods and services in the economy, which is called gross domestic product (GDP). Economic stability definition is a term used to describe the financial system of a nation that displays only minor fluctuations in output growth and exhibits a consistently low inflation rate.
GDP in a country is usually calculated by the national statistical agency, which compiles the information from a large number of sources. In making the calculations, however, most countries follow established international standards. These types of financial measurement are seen and believed to be accurate.
Bigger question to ask might be what’s the point in these stats? How does a growing or stable economy effect our lives? Well in basic terms a growing and stable economy increases an individual living within that economy of having a job and prosperous opportunities to live and have a future.
So what are the strengths & weaknesses to this model and to an economy within this model. Strengths are the measurement are generally accurate and can be updated and corrected if and when needed, when the sums add up a country can be confident that it is doing something right.
Weaknesses of this model relies on growth of an economy as a sign of health and productive economy although a sustainable and environmentally non-destructive economy that provides value to its citizens and environment whilst not necessarily increasing profitability on a spreadsheet can still add tremendous value to its citizens and also enhance the environment of the country and people within that society but this is more difficult to measure on a spreadsheet but invaluable over time. A damaged and dying ecosystem can still be tremendously profitable up to a typing point where then the damage might be so catastrophic that the land or sea has no value or profit to it at all.
Adoption of circular economy principles can help in reducing the negative impact on natural resources as well as damage to our climate.
“Ecocide” means unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.
What is considered ecocide?
Ecocide is committing any unlawful or detrimental act that one is well-aware will cause severe, irreversible long-term damage to the environment. Ecocide has a negative human impact on the environment by causing mass destruction to our delicate ecosystems that are imperative to sustain all types of life on Earth.
This has been a challenging start to the year and although President Trump is what I will most likely write about and his actions and inactions, have mostly been far from my mind. My lovely father has been incredibly unwell and it is serious, but the light and joy I get from him at this time gives me a shield of warmth and love in which to take on and cope with this world of ours.
President Trump just merely picks up a document and has to sign it into law in order to turn from reason to madness. He ordered the US to leave the World Health Organisation sighting mismanagement and poor decision making for this quick cash crab for America on a most important humanitarian organisation. This organisation does a great deal to internationally keep diseases from peoples doors and to withdraw money from it for administrative reasons is self inflicted wound on the world and utter madness. Though on the other side of a coin it will save people in the USA money and so means you have to pay less taxes – there will be a lot of this important activity stopping in order to save money, taking place over the next four years and no matter how much money you save and how much your stocks, shares and crypto currencies increase the world will be in a far worse place for these cash grabs by the Trump administration.
To live a love of money is that what the profits said?
Those whom are inadvertently or directly affected by Trump’s cash grab in the name of freedom (freedom from what, I don’t know anymore, as to free someone of a financial tax also enslaves and potential condemning others to death that would have benefit from the live saving healthcare and planning provided by the WHO).
Ca$hing in on the act!
True there is never enough money to provide for the greed of this world it looks like Trump has chosen to take a rain check on America’s commitment and responsibilities to the needs of this world and itself – I wish someone could tell me how this makes America great again.
Back to my own perspective of humanity and how people should, could and do treat each other – at this challenging time for my family I have uttermost respect and goodwill for those that at this difficult time have shown me random acts of kindness, support and love –it really does mean the world to me and gives me strength to carry on, survive and hopefully thrive.
I hope that those forced into difficulty directly due to Donald Trump’s money saving and spending antics, wickedness and cruelty also happen to meet people along their way in their life that are able to offer compassion, comfort and warmth as well as the strength to carry on, survive and hopefully thrive along there way.
Just heard the phrase on a clip on my X website on the Peston show from tonight in the UK where Martin Lewis talks about ‘people living within their own fiscal eco-chambers’.
To me this really struck a chord and is so insightful to so many political expressions, opinions and perspectives. An echo chamber is “an environment where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own.” The term is a metaphor based on an acoustic echo chamber, in which sounds reverberate in a hollow enclosure.
I often wonder why both in the UK and US why elections often appear to be so close and nobody really knows who is going to win or lose or even or by how much of a percentage and also why people seem to express certain strong held views or appear to disbelieve or not have an interest in or care about the views of others that can be considered to be an opposite to their own.
Well I still don’t understand why one would ever vote for Trump and over the next four years were going to see that political reality unfold. But as a businessman and salesman that made a pitch to multiple pockets of people with a wide spectrum of opinions and he was able to rally enough people in enough fiscal eco chambers to ultimately be able to now dominate the political landscape for the next four years in the US and beyond too.
Sadly in the UK the right have dominated our politics in terms of proportion of governments voted in over the years and an eco chamber of people that look inwards to what is in it for themselves when their lives are profitable or are sold a story or business model that looks inwards to making them wealthier and more prosperous, you can see the logic in why a majority would vote for this consistently on an election by election basis and then once elected our government and politicians fights for this ethos for our nations and fight to tell us that this is what they are doing for us and thus the cycle of inward looking self-serving politics continues.
Trumps political perspective might be an extreme perspective of such self serving interests and needs to be fulfilled and voted for but it is neither new nor in many ways an unexpected thing to vote for when given a choice to do so.
The main problem for me, which I mention from my warm, hobbit hole in the shire of Devon in what is after all considered to be a relatively affluent part of the planet and well looked after space and place is that the world aspires to be. A self serving place like many that looks after its own interest and needs but not everywhere in the world is relatively affluent part of the planet or a well looked after space and place on the planet. There are conflicting interest, desires and opinions and not everyone can have or should get their own way. There are not enough trees to be cut down, not enough rivers and seas to be polluted and robbed of life, not enough land to be bought and sold or mines to be dug out or shares to be bought and sold for everyone.
There are many in the wealthy areas of the world whose eco chamber of reality and political perspective often encourages them to ignore or turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, alien to themselves, to ignore and pretend that it does not matter to them because of who they are or what they have and where they live.
Foreign places to many that are experiencing great poverty or suffering in developing or underdeveloped or third world nations, due to lack of fiscal opportunities and jobs or due to wars (not caused by them) or climate change (not generated by them) or pollution (not produced by them), or political stagnation and corruption (also not their fault) are often seen as not our problems too.
Such people living under such circumstances will seek to possibly escape to a wealthy region of the world, safer from all of the above mentioned negatives, these people will be known as immigrants, both legal and illegal ones. Or if fortunate in the country they live in they might seek to work as best they can to provide their future generations with great chance of wealth and opportunities that they could never have had in their own lifetime, but this opportunity will not be there for all.
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