The economics of biodiversity

In a collaborative study the United Nations, European Community and other organisations including Defra are exploring the economic benefits of biodiversity.  The study intends to put a value on forests, deserts, animals and plants to ascertain the value of ‘natural capital’. I fear that we are firmly in Thomas Gradgrind territory here, an unyielding obsession [...]

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No messages for anyone – Twitter, Herzog and Stephen Fry

Amongst the latest blogs to be posted at the bloggers’ circle, I was particularly interested in a piece by Blog for Prestolee on social intimacy and twitter. Prestolee outlines how the intimacy of regular contacts between ordinary people has been eroded in today’s increasingly dislocated society and as a consequence, the quality of our daily [...]

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Learning from Charles Darwin

If you were laid up at home, convalescing after an illness, how would you spend your time?  A bit of daytime TV, catching up on DVDs, drinking lots of cups of tea?  I’ll hazard a guess and say that you wouldn’t spend your time watching cucumber plants climb.  But that is exactly what Charles Darwin [...]

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