A personal view of the planet from Richard Brock, a producer at the BBC Natural History Unit for 35 years

The Life (or Death?) OF PLANET

Planet Crunch by Richard Brock Planet Crunch THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF by Richard Brock

This book and the three films are dedicated, with much gratitude, to my mother, Eileen, and my sister, Cherry, who helped them happen in our efforts to survive the crunch of planet Earth.

This book © copyright 2021 Richard Brock

Unauthorised reproduction of any part of this publication by any means including photocopying is an infringement of copyright.

Written by Richard Brock Typing Moira Sage Film image delivery Gareth Trezise

Abbreviations Because many of the sources of the material I’ve included vary considerably, so do the forms of abbreviation such as % and per cent; trn, b and m = trillion, billion (bn) and million; UN and U.N.; km – kilometres; I do hope you can understand – literally!

Sustainability and the environment. As part of my commitment to demonstrable environmental management, conserving raw materials and energy, my printed materials are sustainable wherever possible. I select printers who recycle, reuse and prioritise sustainable practice and who have gained FSC ® and ISO 14001 Environmental Standard certification. As well as other planet-friendly work-place initiatives, our printer guarantees: all paper and cardboard waste is recycled, all printing plates are recycled, use of vegetable-based inks, papers from managed forests and use PUBLISHED BY RICHARD BROCK, of recycled papers when appropriate. THE BROCK INITIATIVE, CHEW MAGNA, BRISTOL, UK Contents

Chapter 1 – Foreword ...... 4 Chapter 7 – Fishing ...... 32 Chapter 11 – Energy and Oil ...... 54 Chapter 15 – Money ...... 86 Richard Brock’s introduction to his method of working i.e. A very obvious food chain involves fishing lines and nets. It’s Oil has seemed to be the solution to needs. Not just plastic Can money save the planet? Much is carefully hidden away or searching the media for appropriate content to be included in a a fairly primitive form of hunting which started with simply everywhere, but for transport, heating, cooling, in fact to us, living exists in the value of human property. If the people really wanted total of 19 chapters. 2021 is a crucial year for planet Earth, and the collecting shellfish or seaweed off the shore, on to massive anywhere, anyhow. But now it’s changing fast. “Big oil” is getting to set aside, protect, re-wild nature it could surely be achieved. media have featured this fact – alongside Covid-19 of course. industrial freezer trawlers that can dredge a whole marine smaller – and greener. Really? “Green-washing” is a trick that Forget Mars and the Moon and the astronomical costs involved? ecosystem to death. Which is a shame because fish, given the needs watching, because immense corporations like Shell, BP, Try to reduce that massive spending on military hardware. Chapter 2 – Greta Thunberg ...... 6 chance, can multiply exceedingly. The answer is to set aside Exxon and their shareholders (you, me?) are terrified of words like Question the costs of the unsustainable fashion circus, especially is a phenomenon. A little schoolgirl from Sweden who doesn’t fly reserves for the species to breed and be protected when small. “decline” “reduce” and “loss”. They imply failure and on a planet “fast fashion”. Take a hard look at places of great consumption like but uses boat or train for environmental reasons. No is too With enforced fishing quotas the future could be bright for fishing addicted to endless growth it simply won’t succeed as a policy. Dubai, “bling city” – which we do in this chapter. small to make a difference. From school strikes to presidents she forever. Millions of people worldwide depend on aquatic food in Much has to change with that attitude and just words simply won’t makes her points forcibly and persistently in her determination to both sea and fresh water. But as long as a giant bluefin tuna (“the do to deflect the problem. Chapter 16 – Trump ...... 94 fix the climate crisis and rescue biodiversity. Porsche of the sea”) can assuage the greed of a Japanese customer The Donald. The Loser. Air Force None. Gone. Can Joe Biden, for £1 million, sorting out the industry will be a challenge. More Chapter 12 – Climate Change ...... 64 the new President, turn terrible Trump’s plans around? fish fights? Give a fish a chance! They’re good food. Chapter 3 – Biodiversity ...... 10 And that couldn’t be more true than with the climate. Originally, A celebration of the wonders of nature on our unique blue planet, mild “climate change”, to “climate warming” to “climate crisis”, Chapter 17 – Aviation, Tourism and Travel . .98 Chapter 8 – Food ...... 36 a mere dot in the solar system. A wonderful mosaic of life from to climate emergency. In the shadow of a pandemic Covid-19, The steady growth of this apparently glamorous sector has gone plants and insects up (in evolution) through the fish, amphibians, So far we’ve looked at major sources of food for the human the importance of this subject has been weakened, though it will into reverse, especially airlines and cruise companies. Before reptiles, birds, mammals and . Our species has changed planet. From the “Three F’s” – forests, farming and fishing it’s probably turn out to be much more important than the much- Covid-19 it seemed the sky was the limit, for aviation with cheaper the planet hugely, and so the challenge into 2021 is to try and pretty obvious we’ve exploited just about every possible edible, publicized coronavirus. Ecologically, the disease may reduce the fares, more destinations, so, as it was turning out as a result, much repair the damage whilst there is still time – just. There are some or drinkable product from our activities everywhere we can human population pressure on the planet (the “unsurvival of the more of the dreaded CO2, adding to the climate crisis. Greedy encouraging signs as our “theme bird” the white stork will reveal. reach. Aviation (until Covid-19) could bring anything, anywhere, unfittest”). That may enable nature to recover, with help from companies (and their shareholders?), and the disastrous Trump particularly if the price was right. In some rich countries like the surviving humans. That’s a controversial view, but the next few didn’t want to know. But they do now. Is “now” too late? UK and the choice, in say, large supermarkets is enormous, years will reveal the results of “Planet Crunch”. Chapter 4 – Mural ...... 20 with competition between them always fierce. Nature often avoids Greta appears again – this time on a wall at a supermarket in Chapter 18 – China / Population ...... 104 this problem by, for example, giraffes eating the top-most leaves Chapter 13 – Water ...... 72 Bristol, England! Her forceful eyes see the shoppers collecting all The influence of China, in one form or another, is appearing right down to a hippo at ground or underwater level, or a wart hog sorts of “stuff”, much of which we take for granted, with little idea In this chapter we follow the familiar journey of water from melting everywhere, pushed by the appetite for just about everything, in its burrow underground. where it comes from, and what the true cost to the planet is – not ice, rain, downwards, via streams and rivers to that rather different of 1.4 billion people. That’s a lot of mouths to feed and huge just at the check-out. For example, now the notorious palm oil may kind of water, the sea. In all its forms water is essential to life, and consumption by a fast-increasing middle class. When you add in Chapter 9 – Supermarkets...... 44 lead to the deaths of orangutans the other side of the world where it’s been manipulated massively by humans. In many countries the demands of the USA, Europe, , it comes to an alarming ancient rainforests are felled to enable us to indulge in ice cream, Some shoppers would say there’s not much that’s super about rivers have been blocked for hydropower or irrigation. The impact total for the future of planet Earth. In fact, the Crunch. shampoo and cosmetics. And more and more people want more these ever-expanding sellers of everything…all that queuing, of these large dams affects fish migrations, and the resulting and more “stuff” from a planet that may have already reached its searching for the best price…until you have to go back once again. reservoirs may silt up, meaning yet more dams have to be built. Chapter 19 – Nature and Us ...... 122 limits. Simply ingesting so much merchandise is a big complex job for Pollution is often a problem but these days big efforts are being So, is there any room for nature left? Can we live together all the main eight or so supermarket chains in the UK. But that’s made to clean up these vital waterways. That’s going to be even on a limited blue dot? Probably not, at the rate we’re going. nothing compared to China where, on Single’s Day consumers more important as more people on the planet want more and more Chapter 5 – Forests ...... 22 Consumption and population are negative pressures. However, spent $1 billion in just 1 ½ minutes. That makes Black Friday in of it. The lungs of the planet are ill. Like any living thing our forests being a clever species of considerable initiative, it’s possible the West look like a bring-and-buy sale. But, either way, every item need help and in some places they’re getting it by us re-planting (just) to change (if Covid-19 doesn’t get us first). There are many is probably wrapped (or even over-wrapped) in materials you don’t Chapter 14 – Media ...... 80 and protecting. That’s good for the great diversity of wildlife which examples, worldwide, of winning, rather than losing. (Please see want, even perhaps really dislike, though it did reach you safe and can then move in. And the timber may be used, on a sustainable …is an all-encompassing term, which, can connect almost 100-film series “Wildlife Winners and Losers – How to turn losers sound. Think the hated plastic – so useful, so in both sea basis, into a greener future, and the climate crisis averted every person on the planet. Social media connects space with a into winners” on YouTube and Vimeo. www.brockinitiative.org and on land too. Masai nomad on his phone selling a cow, to the deep-sea where (perhaps?) as the dangerous CO2 gets absorbed by the trees. But plus 3 special 25-minute films called “Planet Crunch”). As at the will it work? Looking at the Brazilian Amazon and South East Asia submarine signals by the military distress whales when their own beginning, when we started with the formidable Greta Thunberg, Chapter 10 – Waste, Plastics and Recycling. . .46 it doesn’t look too promising. But we can try. communication is damaged, possibly causing death. Is anywhere we come back to the young people of today. The politicians and remembers how plastic was hailed as a kind of sacrosanct and silent now? Wildlife television can be a powerful corporation bosses must listen and, at last, act, act, act! At the end miracle product (of oil). Strong, transparent, long-lasting, cheap, influence, but not when it endlessly depicts sharks in “fang TV” Chapter 6 – Farming ...... 28 of 2021 a major conference in Glasgow, Scotland, offers perhaps potential to be in any shape or form, in theory, for ever. And so it’s “ruthless assassins”, “deadly killers”. That’s more like us, making A major reason for clearing forests is to use the area for cattle, crops the very last best chance to repair a broken planet. It’s certainly a turned out to be many years later as revealed globally on television. around the world. and mining. Once the roads are in, so are people, looking for that crunch. Now the world can see the problems of this magic disaster. With land and money that they may be able to earn. Can you blame similar ingenuity and invention can we turn the problem around them? Increasingly, we are being urged to eat less meat and dairy Acknowledgements...... 146 so that we don’t end up with a plastic planet? Can we cut waste? – (if only for our health), so that less forest is felled to make way for surely we can. cattle or soya which is sent across the world to feed, for example, chickens and pigs. Right there … another food chain, with us at the end of it.

2 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CONTENTS | 3 Chapter 1 Worth Saving? Foreword All of us? By whom? It’s now clear that nature, indeed the whole planet, is in peril. Can we help? If so, how?

Yours sincerely,

Storks Back to Breed For some two years I will have in UK After 600 Years! scanned and clipped from newspapers, including The Daily Star, The Sun, The Daily Mirror on (up?) to the The Daily Express, The , to The i, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and The Times. I also checked the papers and regular magazines like The Week and Time, as well as many Apologies are due in those (hopefully what they find to show us. My own continue? So I have written this book to environmental/wildlife/conservation publications, few) cases. Some people may object to view comes from many years (81!) of provide a lighter, more refreshing plus TV, radio and social media. I’ve made (100) my selection, context and presentation. loving wildlife and being able to help it perspective. Major conferences on the films on such subjects (“Wildlife Winners and But I do not apologise for my bias. In my via television. It’s now clear that nature, subject are planned for 2021 and they Losers – How to turn losers into winners”) for long career (35 years) at the BBC Natural indeed the whole planet, is in peril. For a should be the real crunch. Too often YouTube and Vimeo. I wouldn’t say I’ve become an History Unit in Bristol, often filming with long time the BBC avoided telling the truth these events end up as lots of promises expert on such green issues, but what I have really David Attenborough – on Life on Earth, – the bad news that might affect ratings. and hot air – rather like one of the subjects noticed is the way such subjects have moved from and much else, the To some extent, those who allowed or climate change! The other is biodiversity, small items on inside pages to front page displays. golden rule was “balance”. Increasingly planned or commissioned that to happen on which, ultimately, every human being Some of my many hundreds of clippings and For the this has turned out to be very difficult are to blame. At long last the facts and depends. One of those is a very special pictures, and cartoons, may contain errors, due good news to achieve. Instead we have “a personal the message seem to be getting through schoolgirl from Sweden who challenged perhaps to the hectic rush of publishing, and read on… view”…as various presenters travel round with a surfeit of attention in all the media the people and politicians of the planet, no printing deadlines. and round the world seeing and assessing in autumn 2020. But how long will that less. Her name is Greta Thunberg.

4 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH FOREWORD | 5 Turbines kill Factory emissions big birds Wagtail on ice Chapter 2 with dead bird below Sun and Greta Thunberg stork 2 men/sun Balloon Hot air

It’s just amazing how Wind turbine& plants Buffalo in rain Wrecked one small girl can house make such a difference. Sea level rise Greta’s campaign to force adults to stop prevaricating, and act to save the planet has inspired thousands of like-minded young people. School strikes have taken Tree/ Climate erosion place in Belgium, , Switzerland, Canada and the US. Greta, Swedish, was change just 15 when she started her one woman, or rather girl, crusade – the campaign A very varied which has gone truly viral and all around impact on places, the world. How did this happen? It’s an extraordinary story, which we’ll follow people and through in this “Planet Crunch”. It’s a Dried out lake wildlife. mixed media review of the life (or death?) of a planet. That’s us. Sun/lake Greta refuses to eat meat, and has converted her own parents to her cause. One of her biggest challenges was to visit Dust the USA, the United Nations in New York. Cars She doesn’t fly, uses trains for distance, but Flood Cattle in this case she came across the bumpy Atlantic in a zero-emission racing yacht Birds in trees with pretty basic living conditions. She Waves at sea Coast sailed across an ocean that is rising as Men/erosion Rainbow glaciers melt at both ends of the planet, Glacier melting the and the Antarctic, from polar bears to penguins. That’s what science tells us, and that’s what Greta is pushing For the and she’s made it front page news on The Ice on lake good news Times and The Guardian – not bad for a read on… 15-year-old. And she’s focussed on the next 15 years when she and her millions Ducks in snow of followers will be grown-ups, all around the world. Uniting nations in fact. There And she moves on to spread her words to South to recycle paper to save resources.” To Poland at the UN she told them how it is, what the America – Chile. But not – in fact. Because to the huge Climate Change Conference in science says. At the climate action summit of political unrest there the conference was December 2018… “We have not come here to she delivers. But did Donald Trump get switched to Madrid, Spain, very disappointing beg world leaders to care. You have ignored us it? Her brief glance could have re-frozen to some of Greta’s followers who’d sailed in the past and you will ignore us again. You’ve a glacier or two. She also met a very from Europe to Chile. But, if nothing else, run out of excuses and we’re running out of different president, the previous one, who like Greta, they’re totally committed to the time. We’ve come here to let you know that saw sense. Of course, not everyone agrees Front Page Girl cause. Extinction Rebellion. Greta, meanwhile, change is coming whether you like it or not. The with Greta, being told: “If you fail us we had another 4000 mile voyage to endure. In real power belongs to the people. We are about will never forgive you. We are watching.” the beginning, in London on 31st October to sacrifice our civilisation for the opportunity Very mixed opponents – Putin, and less so Snow scene 2018…“When I was about eight years old, I first of a very small number of people to continue broadcasters and journalists Piers Morgan Can She Win? heard about something called climate change, or to make enormous amounts of money. We are and Jeremy Clarkson who prefer business global warming. Apparently that was something about to sacrifice the biosphere so that rich as usual. Except it can’t be, as Greta keeps humans had created by our way of living. I was people in countries like mine can live in luxury. telling everyone. told to turn off the lights to save energy and But it is the sufferings of the many which pay

6 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH GRETA THUNBERG | 7 begun the process of withdrawing from the the US President to it. It’s said Donald even be too late by then, a classic case of previous conference, the 2015 Paris accord. Trump always desired that accolade so our species not being able to fix things A lot of wasted hot air, human emissions he had that kind of front page made up as when all the warnings are there. As Greta from delegates from around our heating him. “Person of the Year”. But he wasn’t. says “the longer we wait the harder it will “I will not be planet, into which the US and China send Apparently, the “covers” were displayed be to turn things around, for too long the the most emissions. in his many golf clubs and had to be taken people in power have gotten away with down. More fake news, from Donald basically not doing anything to stop climate silent while the So Greta and Extinction Rebellion face a Trump, Greta’s adversary. and ecological breakdown. They have massive challenge. As ever, nothing much gotten away with stealing our future and world is on fire came out of COP25 except for yet more Rather different to her fame-hungry selling it for profit. But we young people hot air in lots of languages, with some opponent, Greta wanted to share the award are waking up. And we promise we will 200 delegates attending, most flying by with others in the global movements – will you?” not let you get away with it anymore.” But plane, adding yet more emissions. The she helped to inspire. Another time she there was a big fly in the ointment. And United Nations said… “levels of greenhouse declined another award because a rather nasty one – Donald Trump who gases that are the main contributor to many finalists had to fly to was personally trying to withdraw climate change hit a new high in 2018. Stockholm for the ceremony. from the previous Paris The concentration of carbon dioxide That sort of thing doesn’t agreement. What kind (CO2) in the atmosphere exceeded the seem to worry “The Donald” of message does average annual increase of the past decade, who used his own 747 that send to other according to the UN’s World Meteorological jumbo jet “Airforce One”, nations? Will it Organisation (WMO). The levels of both plus a spare, several weaken their methane and nitrous oxide also hit record helicopters and a fleet Time resolve next time, highs last year…so no sign of a slowdown of special limousines magazine’s whenever it’s let alone a decline”… The intention is to plus a large entourage. rearranged? As keep global warming below 2 degrees And that may be for a youngest long as Donald Centigrade. The US, Russia, China, India long distance, short- Trump remained and Australia are not helping. And look term visit, as at Davos, “Person of in the White what happened to Australia, its people or London to meet the House, the US and its wildlife two months later. As Queen for tea… and a the year” would continue to Greta famously said to a privileged group few hours in England. Climate activist @ impede global climate of millionaires, billionaires and the ultra You do wonder what a poor efforts. GretaThunberg tells powerful at the World Economic Forum in African who’s saving up for crowds in Bristol, UK, that Davos, Switzerland in January 2019: “Our a bike would make of that. It so So, perhaps Greta needs a “world leaders are behaving house is on fire.” And she’ll be back – as happens that previous critics of Greta had little cheering up. How about having like children” so it falls on we’ll see. to swallow their tea, or wine, too. Piers a beetle named after you? Well, that really Morgan from TV’s “Good Morning Britain” happened, as yet another accolade appeared For Greta, it’s now back to London, which young people “to be the stopped twiddling his pen for a moment on the scene. Actually it was found over 50 she left several weeks ago, crossing the adults in the room.” to acknowledge Greta’s immense efforts years ago but was only discovered recently Atlantic to Canada and the USA, then back and Jeremy Clarkson had his petrol head by scientists in the Natural History Museum again, via Portugal to Spain, briefly to Italy, mind changed when he found a lake in in London. You may not think it very and always carrying her message “School Cambodia almost dried up and the mighty flattering to have a tiny beetle with no eyes Strike for Climate” – in her own language River Mekong a trickle of its former self. or wings named after you, but the Museum of course. She said that 2020 would be It was that which eventually turned him was “very impressed with the work of the “year we bend the global emission for the luxuries of the few”. Greta is difference. We, the people in Extinction were said to have a duty to protest over green – and he’s even started farming. this young campaigner, raising awareness curve”. Time for a brief chat to Sir David Swedish but her words have appeared in Rebellion, and those schools striking for climate change because it’s the “most Remember, he apparently said to Greta of environmental issues.” Sir David Attenborough, another formidable adviser two best-selling books both called “No one the climate, we are making a difference. important existential crisis facing the “How dare you stand there and lecture us, Attenborough has also had various species on the future, handing over the baton is Too Small to Make a Difference”. Two It shouldn’t be like that, but since no one human species” with a website of Doctors you spoilt brat?” (September 2019). He around the world named after him. of environmentalism. She was then 17 years later Greta was to confront the private else is doing anything, we will have to do for Extinction Rebellion. called such people “eco-mentalists”. “But Greta was nominated for a Nobel Peace and him 93. He’s seen the world human jet-set, and the “Denier-in-chief” President so. And we will never stop fighting, we we don’t blame mankind for it” he said, Prize in 2019. “Climate Change Dwarfs Brexit” as John population grow three times in his lifetime Donald Trump, Greta’s main adversary in will never stop fighting for this planet, “we’ll let Greta Thunberg do that” and, Newman of High Coniscliffe, County to the current nearly 8 billion people. At At the Museum, finds of lichen, marsupials, this battle for the planet – the “Crunch” and for ourselves and our futures, and “Now go back to school. But I genuinely Durham wrote to The i Newspaper on this rate we’ll need several more planets snakes and even long-extinct dinosaurs no less. for the futures of our children and our hope people are working on what on Earth 20/9/2019. “Our juvenile manoeuvrings – and there’s nothing else like the Earth. were among the 412 species officially grandchildren. Thank you.” to do about it”. Well, some are and some But back then, to all over Europe, around Brexit feel like squabbling over The Moon and Mars are no use – except for named in 2019. However, experts warn are not. from COP 24 in Poland, to Belgium, and So, welcome to some new words: “Climate the arrangement of the deckchairs on the view of our tiny fragile planet. And, of that species are being lost faster than they Germany for a film and TV award… strike”. It took off in late 2018 when the Titanic.” course, that connects very much with our The United Nations two-week climate are being discovered and many may vanish “I dedicate this award to the people fighting Thunberg’s decision to skip school on The 36 Dutch activists, who’ve been changing climate, oceans, and biodiversity talks, COP25, ended in Madrid with before they are known about. 2019 saw the to protect the Hambach Forest…But here is Fridays and protest in front of the Swedish trolled and received death threats had as we’ll see at the end of our story. And a compromise deal that was met with naming of 8 lizards, 5 snakes, 4 fish and the truth, we can’t do it without you in the parliament made headlines. In September planned to sail to , take a bus across Prince Harry backed her too. almost universal disappointment. A very an amphibian native to India, plus the first audience tonight. People see celebrities 2019 an estimated 6 million people joined the Andes (as you do) to Chile. Sadly sad result, or non-result, for Greta and new species of pit viper described from as gods. You influence billions of people. the worldwide climate strike. It was At last Greta’s got back home to Sweden to they had to travel back and missed the her followers. As is typical, the 200-or-so the country in the last 70 years, as well as We need you. We are standing at a Collin’s Dictionary’s 2019 word of the her parents, sister and her dogs, Roxy and re-arranged COP25 meeting starting on delegates prevaricated, pledging to set wasps, centipedes, aphids, snails, moths crossroads in history. We are failing but year. And there was the “Greta Thunberg Moses. And a happy Christmas. 2nd December 2019. new improved carbon-cutting plans by and butterflies. We do still have a treasure we have not yet failed. We can still fix this. Effect” that took hold too, resulting in big After that it got even happier. Greta seems the time they meet at their next planned trove of life on Earth. Take beetles, like It’s up to us.” increases in individuals and businesses Greta appealed for a lift by boat and to be unaffected by fame and that may be conference, COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland. Greta’s, with 350,000 species, and counting. opting to offset emissions by investing in managed to get to Madrid, Spain in time. Greta also visited France, Austria, Italy and why the much-respected Time magazine Because of Covid-19 that was postponed to Some people think there were only four, carbon-reducing projects in developing Her enemies were there too – the US sent London, UK. “We are the ones making a devoted some 18 pages to her as “Person late 2021. But, for many, this merely kicks musical ones, with an ‘a’! That’s John, Paul, countries. Medical doctors and nurses a delegation but President Trump has of the Year” – the youngest ever, and beat the climate can down the road. It could Ringo and George.

8 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH GRETA THUNBERG | 9 Chapter 3 Biodiversity Flowers and Insects Flowers are pollinated by bees, butterflies and Solar System Follow our stork other insects as they feed on nectar. Our own A winner or a loser? survival depends crucially on the continuing success of these interactions. Some orchids and Earth bloom at just the right time and emit scents that attract specific insects. Certain members of If there is really any point in going to the bee orchid group have even evolved to look the Moon or Mars, at exorbitant expense, like their pollinators. One site in Wales, with over 10 orchid species, is ideal for observing it’s for this view. this miracle of nature. Earth is the only place at all out there where life exists, where people and nature live together. Or at least seem to be trying to. But it would appear that wild plants and are the losers these days and we’ll track those changes across the following chapters over one year and beyond. That’s “Planet Crunch”. Staggering diversity Dodo: A single protected

Extinct: about A certain loser has been the Dodo…”as why, possibly a global disease which place in Wales is 1681 dead as”, a flightless pigeon-like bird, continues to spread. home to 14 species that was not born to win, on the island of Mauritius in about 1681. We’ll look at solutions later. Never give of orchid up! Can three “extinct” species return? On the other side of a changing planet, – Formosan clouded leopard, a giant in Costa Rica, the brilliant golden bee and a giant tortoise in Galapagos, toad crashed to zero and is now difficult to confirm you’d think, last totally extinct. No one knows exactly seen in 1906. Golden Toad Extinct For the Bee Orchid good news read on…

Man and seal A very monk seal and its friend – probably a too common species. Us “One million species at risk of extinction”… out of 8 million, according to the UN biodiversity report of May 6th, Planet in Crisis 2019. That loss is now happening “tens of hundreds of times” as fast as the average rate over the past 10 millions, posing a dire threat to ecosystems all over the world. So how have we got what we have and why are we losing it?

Sir David Attenborough is a great butterfly fan and supporter of research into our 58 or so species.

10 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH BIODIVERSITY | 11 Amazing variation Amphibians Fish The junction between below the water and above is a strangely elastic one. Surface The sun, the sea, life. From the tension. Amphibians, as their name says, must simplest invertebrates – organisms, break through and make that huge move to like jellyfish, later creatures developed the land, yet still, all of them are tied to water backbones, a crucial structural move for breeding. That may have its limitations towards other vertebrates culminating but frogs, toads, newts and others have shown in us millions of years later. Is that it can be done – that’s over millions of years progress? Or are we now travelling of evolution. Not only that, but like their backwards and destroying that predecessors, the fishes, the amphibians are a incredibly diverse inheritance? The success story. So far that is. Just look at their fishes have moved in everywhere. Poison arrow frogs are brilliant global diversity. But pressure from us can make The sharks and rays with their Sawfish variations on a theme. their lives very difficult. If not impossible. primitive skeletons of cartilage That’s called extinction. The final crunch. with the Greenland shark living to Mouths a great age under the ice, unless slaughtered by temporary man, to the and teeth It’s tense at the top! international harmless to the infamous great for the white whose territory we have invaded, and Job! Piranha whose reputation has been exaggerated and Some are see-through. wrecked by the media Some are being reared in tea! with the myth of Jaws and its many sequels.

This frog tadpole is a loser.

Grouper Basking Shark Some are tiny. Sunfish The newt is a winner! Some are goliath – Mackerel and eaten by local people.

From sawfish shark, basking shark Arowana sieving plankton (their very distant ancestors) at the surface to the depths. leaping for prey from the Yes, mouths for the job. Such a Amazon versatile group. And that’s just the sea where it all started. The conquest continued to fresh water not just accessible to fish but, as it turns out, vital to us as food, as we’ll see later. Whether it’s the Amazon, or across the world, both in the sea or fresh water, with eels crossing the Atlantic to spawn, even sliding across land to Jump, and swim get there. away if you can!

Eels

12 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH BIODIVERSITY | 13 Baby turtle in the Pacific Sea Eagle Galapagos tortoise – gull attack! More stone curlews Award for team’s success Birds Reptiles affected by climate famous for its commitment to justice, You certainly would if change – up to including hunting of innocent female The age of modern reptiles, you were a Guam rail, continuing their survival from the a third, research suggests. tourists. isolated on an island in For example, the turtle dinosaurs, is possible because of But in our changing world of Wildlife the Pacific. Flightless, dove - famous for its their waterproof skin, an advance Winners and Losers, now in “Planet therefore vulnerable, Christmas role “in on the water-dependent amphibians Crunch” there is a scattering of good it was an easy prey to a pear tree” – is though they haven’t done too badly news. For example, in , the the snake accidentally Sea Eagles: have down by 94% except for that disease spreading fattest species of parrot is winning with introduced at the end of been reintroduced since 1995, worldwide. Famously, Charles a lot of help from its friends. There are the Second World War. probably due Darwin, worked out the natural to Scotland. only some 150 kakapos alive today. They The poor rail was actually to habitat loss selection process in the Galapagos used to be really common, before being Formentera declared extinct. But, was and farming; Islands in the Pacific. Different hunted and killed by introduced predators Lizard saved by captive breeding Turtle Dove: down though an islands produced different giant (similar to the problem with the brown and reintroduced – Hoorah! by 94% since 1995 encouraging re- tortoises, and some land iguanas tree snake and the flightless Guam rail). wilding is under floated across from the South It does show what nature can In 2019, 76 chicks have hatched and 60 are British grass snake way in Sussex and American mainland, diversified, Waterproof skin do if it’s given half a chance expected to grow up due to heavy seeding at a wildlife park in some even becoming marine, “a spark of hope”, against the of its favourite food tree. So some will be Norfolk. But when holding their breath and diving odds. The snake population had even fatter than normal. What a thought! they migrate across the to munch . Back in Europe a grown to two million but scientists Though disease is still a problem. We’ll Mediterranean twice a somewhat similar radiation of lizards captured 21 of the rails and bred them see. As ever, food is crucial. And that’s year to and from Britain took place on the Balearic Islands Fangs and brought them back from the brink. certainly true for sea eagles. Successfully they are “hunted” in their notably on the island of Formentera, like they’ve But worldwide, many bird populations reintroduced to Scotland, they’ve done thousands. However, now fortunately not (yet) damaged always been are declining, mainly because of what we well on plenty of fish, but farmers worry illegal bird killing by poachers by mass tourism as on Ibiza and do. In North America three billion birds about their lambs. Hopefully that’s a false at a military base seems to be Majorca. have disappeared over the past 50 years, alarm. A rabbit or a squirrel or even a especially small species. British ones are falling – by 70%, though Cyprus is hardly The reptiles have hung on around deer calf would be tasty. Again, we’ll see. the planet but a crunch is coming. Teeth on living Crocodiles and alligators are not dinosaurs easy to live with, and humans are Vulture increasing everywhere. And snakes are so often portrayed as “fearsome Feathers predators, deadly killers” by crappy What a breakthrough! Stork TV. Yes, like many species that must catch prey to survive, they have made the most of where they are. An amazing invention! The feather; derived from the reptilian scale, from press-ups in and must always be meticulously the Namibian desert Deadly snakes hiding on maintained. Their lives depend on the brown jungle floor it – to fly across continents, to display, to mate and generally survive. And man has helped that happen, as white storks increase and share the same Osprey habitats, and even houses, on which or up in the green trees they nest. We’ll follow them through this book as they lead each chapter towards a happy ending. Another great traveller, the osprey, can hover and hunt with a steady stare at fish below. Then plunge for catch of the day. No problem. And… perhaps next to a puffin, whose wings will carry it over the waves and then Puffin effectively “fly” under the water to grab And up from those dead leaves to green its prey in that brilliant beak. ones, where many species of snake can Penguins use their flippers in a similar climb with their serpentine bodies… like way, but they’re not much use on land. the brown tree snake too successful you They can’t fly. We need aeroplanes and may say. submarines. In many ways birds are better and they now rule the skies on those amazing feathers.

14 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH BIODIVERSITY | 15 Chimp storyAs we compete for space and resources with our nearest relatives, it seems Mammals Pine Marten 26% of British inevitable who will win and who will lose out. A huge sugar corporation This most advanced group, the mammals takes away the home of the chimps and much else. A local man who’s lived mammals, goes from the smallest here for years needs only sticks for a cooking fire in his home – a mud hut. shrews and bats to huge elephants could be on land and the great whales in the disappearing oceans. Who’s best? Man? Man is a mammal, but is that word “best” according to appropriate? At his rate of increase, and The State of Nature consumption, it may or may not prove Report 2019 to be true. Pandemics permitting, that is. He may become too successful for his own good and that of the planet and its wildlife. Some British mammals are winning, others losing. Take squirrels for example. You see, when the greys were introduced to Britain from North America they pretty much took over from the native reds. The greys are tougher, and carry a disease that kills the red, not the greys. To the rescue Tougher – – another mammal, the pine marten. grey squirrel Once rare, it’s now increasing and hunts grey squirrels, whereas the lighter reds can escape by climbing to the slender ends of branches where the heavier greys can’t follow. You win some, you lose some. The State of Nature Report At risk – native 2019 found that 26% of British mammals red squirrel could be disappearing, partly because of intensive agriculture and climate change. But people are helping to turn the tide, whether it’s bats, hedgehogs, Scientists study chimp behaviour, so like ours in many harvest mice, water voles, and the very ways, but will there be chimps to learn from in the rare Scottish wild cat. On the other future? We’ll see. hand, deer, both native and introduced, Bongo can be a problem overgrazing and then there are controversial foxes and badgers all jostling for space on Britain, a very crowded island. And getting more so. Worldwide, mammals have become a successful group, with humans probably too successful. We admire them in the confines of nature reserves, and, in one Arctic Fox particular case, well outside. A fantastic Arctic fox was tracked wearing a GPS collar right across the Arctic. Sea ice, now melting with Otter climate change. Such is the indirect impact of our species as our We win some, we lose some. Biodiversity Wimbledon, or a supermarket near numbers increase Arctic animals: is threatened as never before. Biologists you – or me. We’re all linked by a lynx. so much. are being affected in Turkey try to help the endangered And we do like cats, and they like eating by melting sea ice Monk Seal Mediterranean monk seal driven from rabbits. And people in other countries, the once empty beaches and remote and there are many millions of them, now – the indirect breeding caves by the ever-increasing enjoy all sorts of food, some of them very impact of our ever- tourism. But on Britain’s coasts and traditional, they claim, like “bush meat” – growing species. rivers from the far north to the far south, chimp – bongo – sort of “jungle venison”. otters have made a comeback with a lot Or elephant plus ivory or rhino horn as of help from their friends. The very rare “medicines”. And thereby hangs a sorry cat the Iberian lynx is slowly recovering story as the pressure on “Planet Crunch” in Spain despite its home being changed increases even more. A lot more in fact. to grow strawberries, perhaps for

16 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH BIODIVERSITY | 17 Snakes Wuhan Market Wildlife Trade

Wolf pups

Elephants: Threat to crops as they search for food

How to help elephants and rhinos? China Educate the next Bats generation about the deadly source Pangolin

The harmless vulnerable Virus pangolin in a market of dying and death. Did Covid-19 start in this way? Here?

Rhino horn: Worth its weight in gold

Welcome to Wuhan, China, January 2020. perhaps humbling to consider a tiny, tiny, global heating), and particularly pangolins, One of the biggest trades on the planet is Elephants can be a big problem – really It’s a very sad sequence of events and it Not exactly the place or time you’d like microscopic organism, a virus, a million a mammal, the most trafficked the wildlife trade, now being confronted big. An African farmer may have a few happens increasingly as man and wildlife to be welcomed, because it turned out to of them can fit on this full stop. And can on the planet for its meat and the very by Prince William, Tusk, and several other crops to feed his family in the future collide. Rhino horn, which is made of be the source of one of the most virulent, effectively bring humanity to its knees – its dubious medical value of its scales. contagious viruses ever to hit the human money markets, its tourism, its politics, its conservation organisations. They may be but when a herd of hungry elephants, keratin, like our fingernails, is believed to Because of the Covid-19 disaster out of race. Indeed, it was a race to control its future. Planet Earth is the only one like it winning. Just. But, as human numbers perhaps displaced from a nearby protected have medicinal and aphrodisiacal properties Wuhan, the Chinese have been forced to spread right across the planet. Previously, and, seemingly, so vulnerable. It turned grow and demand increases, it’s a race area, invade his only source of food he’s (perhaps because of its posture). They say close down many markets. But they will SARS had the same impact. And ebola, out that the coronavirus probably started against time, using education as a major obviously devastated, as is his corn. Then it’s now, literally, worth its weight in gold in always find loopholes if the demand and the black death, polio, leprosy, they’ve all in a bat (as did the SARS in the past) and weapon – especially to the young. Ivory some men turn up and offer to “remove” the markets of China, and Vietnam. the greed is there (see China chapter later). threatened the, apparently, so successful in Wuhan it could have been wolf pups, and rhino horn – many people in South the threat, i.e. kill them. We call those And it’s there, in those crowded and often Hopefully future generations (and that’s a homo sapiens. “Sapiens” means wise rats, badgers, snakes and even, would East Asia don’t know where the stuff men “poachers” because they’ll find the illegal surroundings, that you could say lot of people) will understand the real cost but do we have the wisdom to learn you believe, koalas? (As if they hadn’t comes from – not unlike the chicken/egg, elephants, kill them and send the tusks to suffering creatures and their products got to the planet – . cow/milk “gaps” in the UK. China, where a middle-man makes a lot of their revenge. from our mistakes, not decimate wildlife had enough problems in Australia from money from the ivory. and to try to reduce our numbers? It’s the fires, caused indirectly by us, through

18 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH BIODIVERSITY | 19 Chapter 4 Consumer of the future

Mural On its way to your supermarket

CONSUMED of the future?

Tourists

Greta’s mural watching A lonely Elephant over mass who’s natural home consumption has been felled

with a chain saw. You could say our hands are on it. In a few minutes a fine hardwood tree is sliced, revealing years of growth Greta in one of the oldest and most diverse rainforests anywhere. A huge diversity of plants and animals is reduced to this! Effectively sterilised. Except for a lonely elephant, who’s natural home has been felled, logged, and he will be forced to feed on oil palms and will then be considered a pest, a big one, so drastic action will be taken, all on our behalf the other side of the world in a supermarket. Mass deforestation: Some of the customers might come here Replaced with palm oil to Borneo as tourists. But they may not plantations be getting the full picture behind their shopping. Rivers are useful thoroughfares for boat traffic, some of the original Supermarkets rainforest and remains uncut. cream, toothpaste…and thereby hangs a amongst these really “big boys”, all But only as narrow strips, the remaining tale. There’s plastic and water too, which offering lower prices than the other one. Worldwide, people throng is the linear, original habitat of proboscis we’ll investigate in a later chapter. And, Globally, the demand for resources and monkeys, pygmy elephants and orangutans. to markets, whether it’s believe it or not Greta is here too, as a millions of items and products is ultimately Beyond these final sanctuaries stretch miles mural, watching, as she said she would. unsustainable on a finite planet. Much is a potential lethal one in upon miles of palm oil plantations, yielding Fortunately Trump’s not here as well, wasted often causing pollution. thousands of products consumed around the China, or one like this ex-president of the most consuming Many products include an apparently world. No wonder the previous inhabitants country on the planet – the USA. Here in typical Aldi supermarket essential ingredient called palm oil. And it of the incredibly diverse forest enter, and Britain Aldi has 874 stores, plans to have connects through to our relatives, another conflict with the palm oil monoculture, in Bristol, England. 1,200 open by 2025 for the consumers of primate, the orangutan. It turns out that basically a desert. But anyone travelling the future. It’s hiring more than 4,000 staff They come here not to buy koalas, wolf the real cost of many of our purchases is by boat along the river will only see what this year. And it’s only one of some eight pups or snakes, but familiar items for the not money, but a red ape, thousands of appears to be jungle, the pride of Borneo. huge supermarket chains. Consumption home – soap, chocolate, shampoo, ice miles away in South East Asia. It starts Well it’s not. And of course a view from the is massive, and competition is intense air will reveal that.

20 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH MURAL | 21 Chapter 5 A huge diversity of plants and animals Forests is reduced to this…

Truly a scar on the landscape. Which would take many years to heal and can’t, anyway, if poor people move in and inevitably increase. Many may earn a living from palm oil, so preventing forest clearance presents a tricky dilemma. And, don’t forget we, comparatively well-off, seem to really need the so-called “golden liquid” for our KitKats and Nutella. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is trying to solve the dilemma, but alternatives are more expensive and many need more land, so the problem doesn’t go away. Less consumption would help but big companies like Unilever don’t like those two words – nor do their shareholders. Now though, the global situation is changing. As climate change speeds up and sea levels rise, more and more people around the planet are having to adjust, especially in the tropics. In Indonesia, home of the orangutan and huge biodiversity, planners are going to move the whole capital city of Jakarta, home to what Indonesia is having to do. They more than 10 million people, to another created a new city, inland, called Brasilia island, East Kalimantan 800 miles away. to take the pressure off coastal Rio de More roads will bring more and more Janeiro and Sao Paolo. Again, another people to crowd the landscape. Is this large, ancient community of plants and “progress”? And to add extra pressure animals – and indigenous people were to that huge city of Jakarta is currently be affected. Later came the “Trump of sinking into the sea – and sea level rise the Tropics”, Jair Bolsonaro. His plans threatens too, as ice melts at the north and promises hit the Amazon, the world’s to live sustainably off the original jungle. and south poles. It’s beginning to look largest rainforest and the headlines all And of course so had the wildlife. All was like a global crunch. over the world. It was pointed out that about to change in August 2018. And then These changes affect the whole planet top the Amazon, “the lungs of the planet” came even more fires. It incensed the to bottom. Donald Trump (remember are vital to all, everywhere. Bolsonaro world. But Bolsonaro didn’t seem to care him?), in North America, may even didn’t see it that way. He wanted to about the headlines – rather like another notice when his US palace, and various “use” it, for agriculture – to grow soya for current president, up there in North For the low-lying golf courses start being flooded, pigs and chickens in China and Europe. America. Power of the few, damage to good news and Florida is overwhelmed with people, Mining with big corporations and their the many. Apparently some Amazon read on… looking for the sunshine, which is money. Timber for anyone who would native people have been killed trying to becoming hotter and longer. On south buy it legally or not, and he threatened to protect their land. to Brazil where, in the past, they did reduce, or weaken the forest reserves of indigenous people who had learned how

22 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH FORESTS | 23 Forests or fields?

Lone tree – the true cost of a tea plantation

A mighty grab

Under threat

Fires in Brazil Not only were the indigenous people Boris Johnson did say he would threaten the lives threatened by the chainsaw, fires and focus on natural solutions to mining, but by land grabs for almost climate, such as reforestation of indigenous anything. Hundreds of endangered and called for tougher targets people and 265 wildlife species were listed as the on protecting and restoring number of fires increased by almost natural habitats, conserving endangered 30 per cent, the fastest level of tree- wildlife, tackling pollution and wildlife species. felling recorded since 2008, equivalent environmental damage and to about two football fields a minute. dealing with invasive species. Britain pledged £10m to help protect “We cannot sit back as animals and restore – there have been nearly and plants are wiped off the 40,000 fires in Brazil in 2019. Back in face of the planet by man’s 2017 the world lost tree cover the size recklessness”. He also urged of Italy using fire according to Global countries to back Britain’s call to Forest Watch – from the Amazon to protect a third of the world’s oceans the Congo Basin, equivalent to 40 by 2030 and reverse the damage football fields a minute, that sadly inflicted by overfishing, plastic familiar unit. Forest destruction pollution and climate change. That Front Page News drives climate change. was back in August 2018. Despite, has invested about £2bn in the perhaps having a partner of similar But what difference can it make? past decade, more than any other intentions, maybe Brexit, HS2, rich nation. Norway’s massive Heathrow and other pressures will income from oil raises questions empty some of those words. They about burning fossil fuels which is are in fact some of the main topics increasingly criticised for adding to of this book “Planet Crunch”. emissions damaging the planet.

24 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH FORESTS | 25 A tiny tree sprouts in a fallen log

Trump blames forest fires on poor management Britain A green and pleasant land. Because of trees, planted and nurtured.

Trump’s Golden Age Planting Trees of American Energy: Upsetting ecology

From the “Trump of the Tropics” to the “Trump of the USA”. He blamed the fires of California in 2015, and also in 2020, for poor management, having apparently cut funding. $13½ billion was paid out in settlements. Then Trump wanted to lift a logging ban to unleash a “golden era of American energy”. That, in the caused by its fossil fuel products. Joining 25,000 square mile Tongass forest, would, in are individuals in the Punjab in India, if it is said, upset the ecology of trees, soil, you want a gun licence you must plant at streams, salmon and bears that catch them. least ten trees. (Not sure what he shoots Then ecology was never Trump’s strong with it?) An individual, Felix Dennis, who which officials claim is a world record. In suit. Whatever size it is. died in 2014 left money to pay for a 30,000 without trees, on which 1.2 trillion native other squillionnaires, and royalty, they climate emergency. Local school children Turkey, mass-planted 11 million trees at acre forest in central England. It’s already tree saplings would naturally grow. The discussed the climate emergency, probably held a strike, protesting at the lack of On the other hand (little ones) Trump 2,000 sites. But now, for the bad news. got fantastic wildlife. The front page of area equates to about 11% of all land, and is not helping with flocks of private jets. action. Greta said she was still not used was later to say one trillion trees would be Apparently up to 90% died there due to The Times announced Britains must plant equivalent to the size of the US and China Trump, plus daughter, boasted for half an to being a public figure. But she did get to planted. But was that to prove to be “fake lack of water. And “maybe” news. Robin billions of trees, consume less beef, lamb combined. Tropical areas could have 100% hour. Tremendous boasting. Phenomenal meet the Prince of Wales who had, rather news”? In fact there is, good, bad and How of Peterborough wrote in the Daily and dairy; 200,000 miles of hedgerows tree cover, while others would be more boasting. He was boasting like no other controversially flown in by private jet, “maybe” news about tree-planting around Telegraph (21.11.12): “Planting 30 million will need to be grown and flying is likely sparsely covered, with, on average half American president had ever boasted continuing in a greener Jaguar electric car. the world. Good – National Trust to plant trees shouldn’t be too much of a problem; to become more expensive. It all requires the area under tree canopy. Sustainable before. His boasts were some of the biggest And very green company Jane Goodall, millions of trees on its farms by 2030. The based on current British population figures, a huge effort, and the Woodland Trust cartons mean that European forests are boasts in the history of boasting. His famous for her studies of chimps in Daily Mirror newspaper were giving away that’s about half a tree each. Perhaps a provides it. And Danish TV, in a telethon, increasing in size by the equivalent of 1,500 boasts were truly incredible. You wouldn’t Tanzania. Their forest home is now much 20,000 trees praised by the Dalai Lama, national tree-planting day is required”. As enabled people to “plant trees” from the football pitches per day. That unit again! believe them. Very soon the US will hold reduced. Somehow I don’t think Trump’s who thanked Greta Thunberg for her above, that’s what took place in Ethiopia a presidential election. Everyone is saying trees would be appropriate. And, four days comfort of their sofa with a “green levy”. And of course, Donald had to Trump that. campaigns. Eurostar will “plant a tree for and Turkey with definitely mixed results. he’s going to win it. If he loses, it will be later it’s all over at Davos. He came to the World Economic Forum in every train”, saying the carbon emissions More good news – Ethiopia in Africa has But it seems planting billions of trees is a incredible. It will be tremendous. It was. plans to spend £230 million planting suffered droughts and deforestation. But very good way to save the planet, to tackle Davos, Switzerland in January 2020 and millions of trees around the world to help on the 29th July 2019, Ethiopians planted the climate crisis. An analysis shows that announced he would plant a trillion trees Greta delivered two speeches – she told absorb the greenhouse gas emissions more than 220 million trees in one day 1.7 billion hectares (4.2 bn acres) of land is – not personally one assumes. Along with leaders they need to “panic” about the

26 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH FORESTS | 27 Chapter 6

In Turkey a deadly mist is sprayed on basis of farming, but also in tap water, marketed by the US firm Monsanto under trees and fields. It costs money, big seas around the world, human stools, the Roundup brand. The World Health Farming income for big corporations who make in the air and a wide variety of other Organisation, in 2015, said it was “probably and sell it to farmers often struggling to environments. For the soil, phosphate carcinogenic to humans”. Those locally make a living. Bees may not be spared fertiliser use has quadrupled in the last 50 affected complained strongly, but the and they are crucial pollinators. The years as the world population needs more possible beneficiaries, the farmers and produce may look better, rid of insects, food. It could run out, like any limited, Monsanto, objected to any ban. So, more Bar, the shouting – which is what it was. plough it, plant it with soya, and sell the thunders”.Then, not any more – no smoke, but the consumer either in Turkey, or in unsustainable resource. But the thing is French strikes! All good stuff, no doubt. But what about crop on as animal feed to other countries. no thunder. The famous falls almost stopped the country of export, may pay a price that farmers have become dependent on the future of deforested land that doesn’t When Trump cut demand from China of due to a severe drought. Livestock died partly later in terms of human health. These “chemical farming”, such as wine growers get replanted, like this misleading “green” American soya, the Chinese switched to because cash-strapped farmers couldn’t afford are potions made to kill. And micro in France. They want, possibly need, area in famously green Costa Rica? Just a Brazil, thus increasing the pressure on to buy supplementary feed their animals plastics are now everywhere, and have to keep on spraying. The weed killer, few big trees left standing, grass grazed by the Amazon landscape – more logging, needed. A 50 kilo bag sold for a third more been shown to contaminate soil, that vital glyphosate, was originally developed and cattle and horses. It will never go back to fires, cattle. Some countries have tried than the year before. In one area 2,600 cattle what it was as a diverse home of a wealth to reduce their import of red meat by died. The real price of climate change. The of wildlife. Effectively, it’s now a dead changing to chicken, but the problem with rains returned but such is the price of climate zone and will get even dead-er (if that’s that is chickens are fed soya – so the food change, which affects everything. a word). A farmer can change it again chain from the Amazon to us continues or Nomadic Tribes So drought empties Zimbabwe’s “cattle bank”. using big tools and more fire. He, and increases, as do our numbers worldwide. Animals, crops, money, it all adds up for large corporations, recently encouraged From A to Z, the Amazon to Zimbabwe. farmers everywhere. by President Bolsonaro in Brazil, can Victoria Falls known as “the smoke that Increased size of herds put added pressure on the land

desert too, the effect of climate change is damaging their lives. And further north from there, in Ethiopia, sloping fields of barley and potatoes stretch far into the distance. It’s the home of Babel Tena who’s been cultivating low-yielding varieties of those crops for more than 40 years. Not drought so much as water. “Our soils and produce have been washed away by rain run-off because we farm on the side of the mountain” said the 58-year old, ploughing his field with an ox and a horse. It’s a classic example of a crop and animal connection. “I have nine children. I have no farmland to hand over” he said, blaming a scarcity of land and a growing population. Further south, in east Africa, in Kenya, the Those like Mr Tena have no other option nomadic Masai and Samburu tribes own for survival apart from trying to grow their wealth on the hoof. They consume crops and breeding animals. Ethiopia’s milk, blood and meat. They buy and sell ambitious plans to reforest the landscape these days on mobile phones. To add to may or not help solve the problem, but in their income they increase the size of the the meantime will those new trees survive Sheep – come in flocks and herds. That puts extra grazing climate change and being eaten by cattle Number 19, pressure on the land turning it dry and and goats? your time is up dusty. With the Masai increasing, and the

28 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH FARMING | 29 The loveable bumblebee

But no cleverness will beat that of bees. Much of our food depends on them and we harm them at our peril. Fortunately more and more people provide bee hotels and grow plants that bees use. The high level of pollination in towns is in stark contrast to intensively farmed land for crops outside. But then we do eat the crops don’t we – can Literally half a world away in the UK a we strike a balance with the loveable bumblebee? weed called black-weed costs the economy £400 million a year in lost crops. It has developed resistance to herbicides meaning it can destroy 800,000 tons of wheat crops in the UK a year, reports two billion pigs, 1½ billion cows and the Zoological Society of London. 20 billion chickens being farmed today According to The Guardian (16/9/2019), and it’s killing the planet” (BBC/Radio $1m a minute global farm subsidies Times 23-29 November 2019). There are “are destroying the world”. Much of it 7.7 billion humans on planet Earth in promotes high-emission cattle farming, 2020. And counting. As we mess with forest destruction and pollution from animals, nature and the climate, they will use of fertilisers. A report found certainly make a mess of us. The dreadful that avoiding meat and dairy was the coronavirus has changed and will change single biggest way to reduce a person’s everything, everywhere. Right up to environmental impact on the planet. A Christmas 2020 and into 2021 and beyond. vital message, bound to be opposed by Hell of a crunch. And, as we expand, (or the huge corporations and politicians Ancient maybe not as the disease kills), we will involved, and upsetting a vast industry become closer and closer to the threat which is probably bad for our health – and Modern and transmission may well occur. let alone the planet’s. A landscape Not long ago salmon was regarded Farming happens right around the of greenhouses as a special, rather upmarket, food. world, where people are and need Today, huge factory farms float in food. In the mountains of Crete, Scottish lochs, supported by the Greece shepherds still milk sheep. In powerful Norwegian salmon industry. Australia, with cattle, a helicopter is Wooden necklaces The fish are fed on other fish as fish an expensive herder. In England, with meal, and soya (where from?). These sheep, a cheaper version is a drone – coastal farms create pollution, the crowded which barks. But that trick soon wore McDonald’s – fish become infested with lice which eat off. Sheep are cleverer than you might hamburgers Man’s history of farming has moved on – million pigs have died in China and it can into their living host. Seals are attracted to think! So a plan was hatched to train of today, easy prey and may be shot – they’re hardly the ewes to associate the drone with some say in the wrong direction because spread to wild boars. China’s record for with leaf-cutter of the inexorable rise in human numbers. controlling viruses is not a happy one - it to blame: they’re only doing what comes food. The farmer set up a tube to the naturally and we provide the temptation. sheep’s trough and hid behind a hedge, ants passing by Way back on the open range “Marlboro can be spread with infected animals, and Man” was advertised as a classic cool via ticks. It can survive several months Those salmon that escape the crowded secretly dropping food down while cages may breed with the declining wild flying the drone overhead. The sheep cowboy amongst his cattle. Unfortunately in processed meat and years in frozen that publicity for cigarettes backfired carcasses. It’s turned up in Ireland, salmon and thus weaken that stock – so started coming to the trough when they those two really cheap salmon fillets, heard the drone overhead, even if there when it was proven that tobacco kills Poland, Russia and Belgium. Maybe worldwide, and so the scene on the range that’s the real cost of intensive breeding reduced from £2.97 to £2.80 for 240 grams, was no food. This then led to them at Asda, may look like a bargain. But is it? following the drone. Easy technology was shattered. and overcrowding of a highly intelligent animal. It would seem more intelligent Considering the story behind the offer? is changing the face of farming. We “Free range cattle” were being restricted – than the incarcerators involved. Then, now have lab-grown food and vertical wooden “necklaces” stopped them getting the most notorious inmates of all – battery farming. “If we want to save the planet through fences as farms became more chickens. The only electricity here is to we need to use less land. Vertical and more enclosed. Later enormous food stun them on their way to our fast food farming enables us to produce as lots would contain thousands of cattle snack. Conditions have been improved much food as we want” (The Week (“lots of lots”), pigs would be confined due to public pressure, but then there’s 29/6/2019). Multi-storey containers to the extent that swine fever spread and the threat of chlorinated chicken from the of food, growing under a synthetic sun threatened to kill a quarter of the world’s USA. And as we squeeze up on animals, were once a sci-fi fantasy but are now pigs. It’s been devastating in China which to juicy tomatoes for your lunch. A kind It’s hoped the robots will remove the use, and invade their homes and breed like – er a realistic solution to many problems has approved imports from abroad. US of manure, the human sort, a kind of spraying widely, that harms biodiversity. And – chickens, that killer-in-chief Covid-19 facing humanity. On a rooftop in Paris, pork sales to China have doubled while recycling! just imagine trying to invent a robot that can (and other pandemics to come?) will cast producing one tonne of food a day; in European pork prices reached a six year select and pick soft ripe raspberries? With its vast shadow on planet Earth. Is it a bunker in Cambridge, England. No Meanwhile other jobs are disappearing high (The Guardian 1/11/2019) “the some £300,000 Fieldwork Robotics are doing unbeatable? Everyone likes soil. No sun. 20 tonnes of tomatoes a thanks to robots, like Tom and Dick, on just that and they’re now worth £5m. The biggest threat to any commercial livestock salmon – as cheap day warmed in two huge greenhouses a National Trust estate, that can identify of our generation.” The disease doesn’t In some countries animal welfare as possible. But aim is dealing with the increasing shortage of what’s the real cost? and creating 360 jobs. And you could weeds specifically, and zap them with migrant labour. spread to humans but is virtually 100% standards are lower because cheaper be flushing away useful stuff connected an electrical charge, or plant precisely. fatal amongst pigs. As many as 100 is a driving force. Down. “There are

30 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH FARMING | 31 Chapter 7 Fishing

Salmon: Jacques Deval is quoted A declining resource “God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.”

One third of fish netted Valuable Tuna One’s got a rod, the other never make a beak it to the table according to the UN

Simple fishing – on stilts in Sri Lanka

Cod stocks An excellent meal halve in 2 years collected from the sea

Sustainable? Much of the planet is covered by sea water, And all around the world as that dependent Can we really make a difference? with a relatively small amount of non- human shoal increases, so the resource Our demand on saline H2O, like rivers and lakes. This is decreases. fish increases crucial to millions of people who depend From gleaning seaweed and shellfish, to as resources For the on them for food and drink. To get that rods, nets and bigger boats, the pressure on good news food may be by farming fish, prawns, decline the world’s waters has steadily increased read on… shellfish, and even kelp, seaweed that is the with hunger around the world. This basis of much life in the ocean. To collect potential food supply is potentially very the “easy” food, one of the earliest forms sustainable. Fish can be amazingly prolific of getting hold of it was, literally, that. given the chance. But mostly they’re not. It’s called “gleaning” and, then, humans However, there are some encouraging typically, using that built-in ingenuity, developments coming along, but whether moved on to all sorts of clever, but simple, they can work in time is uncertain. We’ll devices to catch prey, that was more mobile Depending on quotas, chemicals, even Times 18/11/2019). In Italy, crime flares political, corruption and financial scandal see. In the meantime, consider the state of than shellfish and seaweed. Fish, small climates the cod stocks have shifted like a up around the prized red prawn business with a big Icelandic fishing company. And, the cod, that traditional much-loved British ones would do to start with, and in France roller-coaster, or a very up-and-down rough with Libya involved. There’s tension with really crazy, the so-called protected areas in meal that usually comes along with chips, near La Rochelle, an excellent seafood meal sea, and it’s there that the real culprit or Spanish trawlers, and the French “scallop the UK are not. Foreign trawlers trash the salt and vinegar and wrapped in newspaper could be collected one way or another. But many of them can be found. Japanese, wars”. So Europe has become a fishing sea floor, wrecking it for now, and for ever (for example like these quotes I gleaned in this is just one family. Fishing boats with Spanish and Hawaiian cuisine is squeezing fight, allegedly “devastating – probably. Will Brexit make any difference my search through cuttings “Cod Crisis!” bigger nets pull in bigger catches to supply Gleaning the market for octopus. Chinese-owned with electric shock fishing”. Far away in at all? It’s supposed to. If we really do get “British Cod has had its Chips after stocks more and more customers. But there’s a – shellfish trawlers are costing Ghana in West Africa South Africa, penguins are starving from total control of fishing, later on, in our own halve in two years” (The Daily Telegraph snag which turns out to be a big one too. by hand millions in money – one official trying to their lack of fish food. And nearby there waters, then the bottom line should be about 25/9/2019)). stop it has been missing for months (The Namibia has been involved in a major sustainable stocks and not human greed.

32 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH FISHING | 33 In the old days, selective fishing with a fishing have been sunk. There’s a strong biologists got a massive shock – certainly China bans fishing in Giant leatherback turtle rod from a horse, or ploughing with one message there. Across its vast maritime massive, because on the sonar screen they parts of the Yangtze River

for shrimps was sufficient. But when territory, at 11 locations the sinkings were picked up the outline of a 4.3 metre sturgeon, Beijing you look at the fortunes of that famous carried out simultaneously. Indonesia says a fish famous for its eggs, caviar, in other MONGOLIA “King of Fish” the salmon, in the wild, it has sunk 488 illegal fishing vessels since places. The largest ever sturgeon was a you see what’s happening there. Here on October 2014. Thousands of desperate 7.2 metre beast. So people can really help. Nanjing CHINA the River Tweed between England and North Korean fishermen are risking their Lights are put on nets off Peru to warn turtles Scotland, netting and quotas affect the lives to poach off Russia’s Pacific coast and dolphins to avoid them. Underwater Yangtze River catch – and the price. These fish migrate amid food shortages at home. “It’s the sounds help corals grow and attract fish to Wuhan great distances and are caught elsewhere – only way to earn money. They are not damaged reefs in Australia. In the USA the Chongqing in Greenland, Norway, France and Ireland afraid of violence or gunfire, and, to them Whoosh Passage Portal is a kind of cannon

hungry for salmon and money. It’s an Russian prisons are comfortable”, said or “fish tube” that helps salmon on their 500 miles extraordinary fish, hatched from an egg, Andrei Lankov, a North Korean expert. struggles upstream past dams. And in way upstream in fresh water, then they And Russia detained five Japanese fishing California king salmon have leapt back after come downstream, change and grow, enter boats near some disputed islands, where a five year drought and three years of very the sea and travel to a range of countries they were trawling for octopus, probably low catches. Then the rain came with heavy where they may be caught by big boats. for sushi, that resource-hungry lifestyle. snow melting in the mountains. “Give nature Those that survive enter the same river In the past there were “cod wars” between a chance” is the lesson. And don’t mess up they came down, return as strong adults Britain and Iceland. Now there is pressure the climate. Please. to spawn in the same upstream gravel in to protect national stocks in the UK with There’s a fortune to be made from raiding the which they were hatched from an egg. naval protection vessels, a subject as Spy in the sky: oceans: from millions of creatures that swim Tiny food in the sea Albatrosses The salmon is an extremely valuable, but entangled with international politics as – for millions. Us? monitor illegal fishing from the sea to the rivers on a migration as declining resource and not easy to manage in any modern fishing net. One million astounding as the famous salmon’s. To the because of its extraordinary migrations. tonnes of mackerel is the recommended That’s if the eel Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic adult eels You could say the same about the bluefin total catch level to protect the stock in the doesn’t get shagged! make a nearly 4,000 mile trip to spawn. The tuna, mismanaged despite man’s attempt north-east Atlantic. Meanwhile, according larvae, later called elvers, then make the to save it. But as long as Japan and the to the UN, one third of fish netted never wild crashed. But marine fish are not the So what is it OK to eat? After all, some Least sustainable: UK cod; European eel; return trip in their millions. When adults, sushi trade will pay up to £1.3 million for make it to the table, dumped as “trash” easiest pets to keep – wasteful deaths were species are still plentiful, even benefitting wild Atlantic salmon; Whiting; wild Atlantic years later, they will return to the Sargasso a giant, human greed will defy any kind of – in fact perfectly edible to many people disappointing to the many movie fans – so from warmer seas. There’s been much halibut. The Marine Conservation Society Sea. Amazing. But what is not amazing, sustainable sense. around the world. Icelandic businesses the craze died too. Giant leatherback turtles publicity about the “right” and “wrong” produces an essential Good Fish Guide – good knowing human greed and ruthlessness, have ordered super trawlers costing £30m are having to travel almost twice as far to find species. Even Cressida Bonas, a former for customers, fishermen and fish, perhaps?! is the trade in those millions of baby eels, to £40m. Will the intended catch end up food, jellyfish, because their prey is moving girlfriend of Prince Harry, lent her bare intercepted after their epic journey across Illegal fishing is now being monitored by in the Iceland supermarket? Well, they say north with climate change warming the front to a smooth hound shark for The The Real price of fish the Atlantic to Europe. In fact eel smuggling albatrosses sending back signals, or pictures, they are the first British supermarket to ocean. Seas have now reached the highest Daily Telegraph (5/10/2018) “Seafood can pay as much as drug trafficking. Europol from transmitters temporarily placed on them. sell fish otherwise dumped (thus depriving temperatures since modern records began. for Thought: Fish upon a Star”, asking says there’s been a 50% increase in arrests, A real spy in the sky, spotting the boats that a lot of seabirds by the way!). This It’s attributed mainly to human activity, with celebrities to call on EU governments to (The Times 11/5/2020) Slave seizing 15 million of the endangered species. deprive them of their natural food. It turns “bycatch” sold for £8 per bag. Nick Fisher the heat absorbed by the oceans equivalent #EndOverfishing in Europe’s waters by fishermen made to work 18- Exporting them from Europe to Asia is said out that fish fingers are a good choice because (yes), a fisherman, said that such is the to “five Hiroshima bombs…every second, 2020… “For our children, the future of hour days. The government of to be worth £2.6 billion (3 bn Euros) each they are made mainly from sustainable demand for the likes of salmon, edible fish day and night, 365 days a year” (The Times food security, the coastal communities Indonesia has condemned what it year. For example, Gilbert Khoo, 66, hid species, and 1.5 million are eaten every day gets transported to Scottish salmon farms 14/1/2020). Most people now know the and jobs that depend on healthy oceans, called the inhuman treatment of them under chilled in Britain. Now you know. They were nearly for feed. Arctic and Antarctic ice is melting“…except cultural traditions, incredible marine its citizens by a Chinese fishing fish but Border Force launched as battered cod pieces until Birds Donald Trump? Who? Gone. And now for life, and amazing creatures, it’s upon company that allegedly, kept The Chinese, believe Elvers opened a package in Eye opted for a wiser title. Perhaps “Albatross some more good news. At last! us all to support Fishlove”. Five of the them as virtual slaves, leading it or not, (those great February 2017. Half of Eye” these days? And what about the bits of most sustainable seafood species include to the deaths of at least three. eel-eaters), have banned the 600,000 elvers had One person who’s trying to draw attention fish that don’t get eaten? Well, Lucy Hughes, oysters, mussels and king prawns (UK- Their bodies were then thrown fishing on parts of the died. What a waste. to the impact of climate change and 23, a graduate from the University of Sussex farmed), Atlantic halibut (UK-farmed), overboard…maybe to be eaten Yangtze River. Thousands overfishing is activist Lewis Pugh, risking wanted to find a substitute to all that plastic As human numbers (Irish Sea-North), plaice (UK- by sharks, ironically what the of fishermen are being his life swimming under the ice. In 2016 he we throw away all the time. rise, so does North Sea), European hake (UK-caught). Chinese catch in huge numbers for forcibly retired and their helped to persuade world leaders to approve a the challenge their fins, eaten as status symbols boats destroyed. That’s marine protected area of 1.5 million sq km of of dealing with at events. More recently many what happens with the Ross Sea off , home to millions climate change. Chinese vessels have been fishing overfishing. The stocks of sea birds, living on huge fish stocks. But Clownfish & anemone It now reaches close to the rich, protected waters can’t take it. Pen Yunha, humans increasingly want access to that every corner of the of the Galapagos Islands a world 73, who began fishing aged six said: “I resource. So it’s another “eco-collision” planet. Even the “picky” sex life of the star class national park. Their appetite used to make decent money from fishing, with Russia and China – really big boys – Bio-food packaging of Finding Nemo, the clown fish, may be is insatiable. There are not plenty but as the fisheries declined, so did my objecting for the eighth consecutive year to It’s a bio-plastic made from organic fish waste (half a about to vanish again because its peculiar of fish in the sea. Our seas. profits”. The authorities hope the ten year this enormous marine haven for vulnerable million tonnes produced every year in the UK). Skins and mating habits put it at risk. Given that both “rest” will replenish stocks. It can be that species like whales, seals and penguins. scales produce a biodegradable, compostable, eco-friendly anemones and their clown fish tenants simple. Give fish and other aquatic life They feed on shrimp-like krill, which occur – “Marina Tex”. Lucy won a £30,000 Dyson award for her ultimately rely for survival on coral which is All kinds of disputes and fights break out, a chance and it can bounce back. But it in massive swarms, that themselves feed on invention, that could replace plastic. Well done, her. under threats from warming seas, pollution which is what you’d expect with more must be enforced. Restore the ecosystem, tiny plankton. So this is a vital Antarctic food and human intrusion, they may need to and more mouths to feed everywhere and as on New York’s Hudson River, once web, possibly now threatened by a health- adapt quickly. Scientists say this can only increasing technology to catch the prey, partially dead from every kind of pollutant food outlet selling dietary supplements. So, next time you’re at the supermarket have a look at the fish section. be achieved with great difficulty. Another fast declining through what is now usually you could think of – for example, they Vessels from Norway, China and South Korea Fish - yes. Plastic – yes, plus mercury maybe? Next – food. problem was being too famous! Because of called “overfishing” (like “overtourism” said “fishermen could tell what colour are also on the hunt for krill. Greenpeace the movie lots of people around the world and “overpopulation”). In Indonesia 125 General Motors was painting cars upstream referred to this threat as “licence to krill”. wanted a pet Nemo, so numbers in the mostly foreign vessels involved in illegal that day by looking at their nets”. Then Even overkrill? No.

34 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH FISHING | 35 Chapter 8 show how our wild neighbours get their food and why it’s essential to succeed. Because High up in their lives depend on it. As do ours. Many the tree tops Food are herbivores – like vegetarians, vegans. So is the gerenuk a “giraffe – antelope” who adds to its height by standing Do you agree with me?! up on its back legs, and can thus outcompete other antelopes that can only operate a bit lower down. The But, first, let’s look at the natural world, of plant food supply grows at various which we are now an increasingly influential levels, from the canopy above to the part, and focus in on one beautiful corner grass below. And even below that of Kenya in East Africa, which turns out to if you’ve got the trick. That means be red in tooth and claw (literally) when it digging, like a zorilla, to crunch a comes to being a successful carnivore. As termite. well as the Masai who live on the blood, So it really is “A to Z”, antelope to Giraffe milk and meat of their main wealth, their zorilla. There are lots of herbivores livestock, there is a rich diversity of wildlife here, and carnivores, and around Lake Naivasha, rather a rare omnivores. Like us. freshwater lake in the Rift Valley. In terms Monkeys of food, which all the locals need, the area offers a fantastic menu – that’s if you can get it. Well, a giraffe can, in the treetops, where there’s not much competition, except for Trying to be some serious defensive thorns; bark can be a giraffe stripped, and, as a baby colobus monkey, The life cycle… also up there, tries out young acacia leaves, a nice salad, which in itself, hosts a wide range of insects, some only recently identified by There is food the lifetime pair scientists. We’ll go from top to bottom in our everywhere and food chain and, from antelope to zorilla, to Parrot build the nest, display, it comes in all and eggs are laid Gerenuk Down to earth shapes and sizes at all levels.

Hippo Termite

A zorilla, like a skunk Warthog Food. Yes, we all need it, some sadly Underground Stork margarine more desperately than others. Stork margarine is a spread primarily Is there a way we can share it out made from the controversial palm oil, more fairly? Treat the land better? and water. It’s been a strong traditional In the next few chapters we’ll symbol, and there’s even a road in discover who’s winning and who’s Staffordshire called Margarine Corner losing. And how our species may where a Stork margarine lorry once To lake be able to turn losers into winners. overturned to the delight of some locals Which will our iconic stork be? who tried to salvage its load. For the At lake good news Lake read on…

36 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH FOOD | 37 Then there’s the fish department – or, Food is all about food chains, links Going Fishing rather the fishing department. Piscivores. that connect soil to vegetation, to From browsing in the treetops, snacking in herbivores, to carnivores and, Egrets on sheep – the bushes, grazing below on grass, even very often to us, a dominant Food is all about On the Move under the ground, if you’ve got the kit it’s consumer making more and food chains: all possible. But fish are tricky – quick, more inroads on these vital Yellow-billed stork aware and slippery. No easy meal – except if connections, which , in the end, – links we are and pelican with different techniques you’re a black heron with a portable flexible could mean breaking links, and in danger of and equipment umbrella for shading, to see the prey. destroying our future. Whether it’s a sparrowhawk and a pigeon, breaking Herons and egrets are a successful and which eats seeds; a crowned eagle, versatile group exploiting all sorts of food “King of the forest” that snatches resources from rubbish tips to sheep and monkeys, or a little sunbird that sips cattle away from water. Cattle egrets have nectar; they’re all essential components spread around the world travelling, riding, in the web of nature’s life. And it’s a watching, and picking off insects disturbed struggle to survive. From the smallest to by their hosts. Oxpeckers or “tick” birds the biggest and, potentially, the worst – us. are there too searching for ticks, even blood To get its prey a huge takes Stork flushes fish from sores, whether it’s a giraffe, rhino, a breath to dive deep for fish and squid. out, uses raised elephant or cow. wing to shade prey. The prey, in turn, feeds on tiny plants and There’s food everywhere and it comes in all animals, the plankton. We also eat the fish shapes and sizes. That giraffe, which was directly, if we can catch them, and we do feeding in the treetops is now being “cleaned so, too much for our own – and perhaps up” by benefactors, skilled at refuse disposal. the whales’ good. In Norway you can Super-recyclers. Vultures and hyenas. Bone- watch whales, a very successful business merchants. Not only that, the vultures share worldwide, or eat a small part of one that out the meal, some with big beaks and long evening in a restaurant. So a customer necks for reaching inside, and other species, becomes the end of that food chain. A like the hooded vulture, which picks up whale steak for man. Or lunch for a lion – small bits with a small delicate bill. And the “king of the beasts”. Surely that’s us! Same trick for there’s more… The lammergeier, or bearded Without the “King”. black heron – makes vulture, flies off with a bone, at the end, Whale an umbrella when there’s nothing else left, and drops it on a favourite rock to break out the marrow, and eats it. No wonder he’s called the “bone- breaker”. Also said to do that with tortoises – to break them. A bit of a (sad) surprise to said tortoise. Also to any person passing Shrimps – Basis of below. Interesting insurance claim? the ocean’s food web

Tries to pick it up Looks at egg Gets stone Egyptian Vulture to throw Bearded vulture Whale steak

If you think that’s clever, meet the Egyptian vulture. When presented with an ostrich egg and a stone it automatically starts throwing the Broken egg Stone stone at the egg. This apparently thrown inborn behaviour does work, and Eating illustrates the well-known past egg advertising slogan “Go to work on an egg”. Good food from a flightless bird The bone-breaker, swallows its – the ostrich egg that was. prize. Nothing of the carcass is wasted – the last in a sequence of sorted! up to some six kinds of vultures.

38 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH FOOD | 39 Are there really plenty more fish in the sea?

We humans have Obesity crises found ways of eating just about Lionfish anything – some more controversial than others. As our diet changes, encouraged The future of sustainable food? by large food corporations in some cases, choice increases as do both the A healthy snack, not just for ducks! opportunities and risks. The sugar industry is everywhere where we consume – from fizzy drinks to chocolate to ice cream, which also contains the very problematic palm oil, killing orangutans Sushi is a rather vague term – sea yes, in its deforesting wake. In the USA about but beyond that almost anything from four in ten adults are obese, because of diet seaweed to the world’s most expensive fish, bluefin tuna, that can cost more than and lack of exercise. Type 2 Diabetes can other unlikely creatures get added to the £1 million pounds for a really big one follow, causing blindness and amputation list. Yes, we eat prawns, and farm them the size of a small car with the speed of of limbs. Are fizzy drinks worth that? And specially, but not insects much. Yet, a Porsche. That’s for the whole beautiful the USA is the home of burgers and colas they can easily be reared too, often on thing – much better swimming free in the – (Coca Cola notorious for the equivalent waste matter which we need to get rid of oceans than served up in some posh sushi of nine cubes of sugar per can – The Times anyway. They take up much less land bar. Probably not sustainable – there are 10/9/2019). than cattle, for example, and are very not “plenty more fish in the sea”. Man is nutritious, apparently “nutty” being the Of course there are many other healthy short-sighted and crude when he resorts usual response, and, of course, they can options and you may be able to help the to fishing. For sushi, seaweed harvesting be incredibly prolific. Mealworms maybe? planet by eating this kind of fish – a dragon is easier, and possibly sustainable (in Cow: the biggest meat Or what about locusts? An adult locust, or lion fish. This aggressive, venomous Scotland sheep graze on it.) It tastes wings and all, can make a useful snack species is invading the Mediterranean from different perhaps, and according to at least for big flocks of specially-adapted the . But it may be about to meet scientists the diet produces less methane, a ducks, or for many predators. To me, its match, as conservationists urge people greenhouse gas responsible for about 25% the question has been why don’t humans to starting eating them. It preys on native of global warming. In one end and out the catch and eat their way through some species and reproduces at an alarming other? Tastes vary. The so-called “penis- of the huge swarms which, in turn, are rate. A lack of natural predators has fish”, as The i reported on 13/12/2019 devouring crucial crops? A food chain been blamed on overfishing in the Med. “some things once witnessed are hard to right there. Poor people eat food, get rid However, environmental groups believe unsee.” And fat innkeeper worms probably of the pests and save their veg income fishermen should begin catching them – fall into that category – beachgoers in Cefn at the same time. It sounds too good to the wrong species in the wrong place, an Sidan, West Wales were treated to the be true. And it probably is. Spraying OK. So from A to Z, aardvark and antelope rather controversially – horses and dogs. a cow. We can make something in a lab, increasing problem around the world, as sight of thousands of the 10-inch worms, is usually unsuccessful because of the to and zorilla, we can see that, But by far the biggest “real meat” business from chemicals, which looks like, tastes we spread across it in increasing numbers which might be said, in polite company, scale of the problem, as in East Africa in whether it’s termites, grass or mole crickets, is the cow, a way of life globally, idolised like, but isn’t from an animal we’ve killed. – human overpopulation. With lionfish to resemble pink sausages, stranded on February 2020. And you wouldn’t want a great variety of animals depend on a where people like to eat beef, and it can be The whole process is changing fast and there’s a small difficulty – its elegant dorsal the shore after a storm. They usually live to eat a pesticide-flavoured locust. The huge spectrum of food. And they’re good a massive export trade. But that is now a it has huge repercussions for the meat fins are poisonous, certainly bound to in burrows under the sand but recent whole place will suffer too. But at night at getting it. So what about us? With our tricky problem, as we’ll see. industry, and the vegetarian and vegan spoil a romantic meal out. But the fins gales exposed the distinctively phallic they rest and at one stage, as happens, they ingenuity around the world we’ve found enthusiasts, whose numbers are growing can be carefully removed, and the rest of worms. They are food for otters, seagulls Humans have eaten meat ever since they can’t fly anyway and cover the ground in ways of eating just about anything that all the time. This affects the restaurant it sounds great: “It’s very tasty and it’s and humans. In South Korea, they’re a dragged it back under the cave arches – a a moving mass of potential “nutty” food. moves and a lot that doesn’t – like plants. trade worldwide, the animal welfare lobby, easy to cook” said Anni Mitropoulu, head delicacy, typically eaten raw, “a bit chewy”, “McMammoth” – a small one perhaps. A That’s possibly more nutritious than the We are omnivores in the widest sense; shops, supermarkets and the fast food of the Cyclades Preservation Fund. “I’ve and said to have aphrodisiac effects for long time later, as so-called “civilisation” crop the people are growing to eat. Or has whether it’s a kangaroo steak on the barbie; industry which, up to now has infiltrated had it in a soup, grilled, and as sushi and it men, is that a yes or a no?. continued, we’ve now arrived at an someone said that before? I haven’t seen it a seal hunted in the Arctic; a fruit bat from almost everywhere, bringing potentially is delicious. It’s a double pleasure as you extraordinary situation. We don’t need in any of the many news items/photos I’ve the jungle (plus fruit on the side); farmed ill-health and litter, but also cheap, easily know you’re doing something good for the As the global menu extends, partly due meat from an animal like a pig, chicken or looked at. deer as venison; bears for paws; ostrich or accessible “drive-in” food. environment. It’s a win-win.” to hunger in impoverished regions,

40 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH FOOD | 41 Why are we interested in it? It could be the saviour of Monkeyface prickleback the world. But it seems the really big players in the That’s called “ecocide”, and at the moment food industry decided not to confront or many of us are guilty. “Ecocide was going compete with the “new” kind of food. to be a crime but two nations objected: the It’s made from chemicals, and even, they and the United States. So say, “thin air”. So rather than try and when it was going to be the fifth crime beat the opposition, join them. Then it against humanity, security and peace, it became a race, with the main problem, was removed and hasn’t got back again.” getting customers to accept what looked The very latest meat substitute that avoids like a hamburger but wasn’t. Taste? the dilemma is air-based meat that can Crucial. Price? be raised in the dark. It takes just hours to produce the protein, they say, at Air So you got Katy Perry raising $300 Protein. The test will be in the taste. Vegan trainers million, amongst increasing demand for vegan protein products. Impossible Plant-based fish, chicken and meatballs, all Foods – which uses plant-based proteins being developed, particularly in the USA to make a “bleeding” hamburger – is with its huge appetite for many kinds of valued at about $2 billion. It’s hoped foods, especially the fast sort, eaten on the this will help rid the world of intensive move. In Britain more than 800,000 people animal farming. That, of course, won’t cut back on eating animal products for at go down too well with the cattle, chicken least a month in 2019. Sales of red meat As change took hold of the food industry and pig businesses. The replacement is fell by £185 million in the past 12 months, you might expect the major players – and derived from wheat and potato and the more than any other supermarket category they are seriously major – to try and stamp fat from coconut oil. Mind you, that too according to Nielsen. out any new competition. And they have has to come from somewhere. What vast advertising budgets to persuade And it’s not just food. You can get stuff is the ecological cost of an Impossible us. McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King are that isn’t just trainers, they’re M&S vegan Burger – or millions of them? Is it empires unto themselves. Organic has trainers, not so much for eating, as with possible to work that out? And make it been rather niche but more recently the “V” for vegan food, but are made using truly sustainable? Impossible backers vegan has really become a way of life for “sustainably sourced raw materials”. also include Serena Williams, the millions of people worldwide. Good for Derek Long of Sheffield wrote to The Daily tennis star, and Bill Gates, the founder health, good for the planet – what’s not to Telegraph 28/12/2019: “I received a pair of of . That may help. Part of like? A big problem with farmed beef and Marks and Spencer slippers for Christmas the meal could be milk that’s been soya exported from Brazil’s felled forests and luckily I spotted the warning label “bioengineered” – udderless you could is that the Amazon rainforest, “the lungs “suitable for vegans” just as I was about to say. The UK consumes 2.2 million of the planet”, is suffering. Not just the eat them. But there was no apology label chickens a day, so substitutes are a trees but a huge biodiversity, including, to eco-warriors for the fact they had been massive market. Burger King released almost certainly species we will never transported 10,000 miles or so by boat the plant-based Rebel Whopper. There’s know. And those could include plants with and road. They are very comfy though”. KFC (isn’t Colonel Sanders versatile!). fantastic potential for later generations. And Michael Johnson of Woolavington Greggs too – how could they usurp “that” The indigenous people, who depend on wrote: “My recently bought packet of sausage roll? But they did – and did the forest are under threat. Many others, crustaceans states “Argentine red shrimp very well. In January 2019 (a huge hit settlers, are poor and desperate so logging, caught using trawls in the south west as “Veguary”) Piers Morgan appeared, then farming the land briefly and mining Atlantic. Produced in Vietnam. Packed predictably, disgusted by the newly would seem to be a suicidal formula, partly in the UK.” They were purchased from There are 34,000 species of fish in the whitemargin stargazer, or the fangtooth. No, the mainly simple answer is that it’s launched Greggs vegan sausage roll. All caused by the demand for Brazil’s products Iceland (that well-known supermarket, world. That’s a lot of different fish, ranging Oh no, those guys are not in the same vegetarian, eating algae and seaweed. this is front-page news, with The Daily from around the world, especially China, not country). And thereby hangs lots from the biggest shark in the deepest league as MP. It’s certainly not a winner for It’s one of only 5% of all those 34,000 Star: “Pond Scum on Toast Anyone?” We USA and Europe. So we are really all in and lots of very very long connections, oceans in the Arctic to the tiniest guppy its looks, as its name suggests. It’s up to 30 fish species around the world. Breeding cannot keep the kind of meals we have this together. And if it’s not beef cattle between not only food, but many in your aquarium – and, boy, do they in (76 cm) long, weighs up to 6 lb (2.7 kg) plant-eating fish cuts pollution, costs known and also keep the planet we have on the deforested land, then the soya many other products which we get via breed! Fishes are highly versatile, flying, and favours rocky areas close to the shore less, and reduces the pressure on meat, known. We must either let some eating grown there will be fed to chickens and supermarkets – the retail battleground walking on land, angling with a rod on off the Pacific coast of North America. and, ultimately, the rainforest with its habits go or let the planet go. That’s it. pigs thousands of miles away via political of our greedy times. Going back to its head, migrating across the planet like And it lives up to 18 years (unless caught connections to the climate change crisis. Our health would be better too. Michael deals that seem to be unconcerned with the old normal, thanks to the vaccine eels and salmon. I could go on past a lot and cooked with garlic, spring onions So, to be a top winner, be a marine Mansfield, Q.C.: “ I think when we look their environmental impact. Such is the in 2021, could be going back to what more of this fishy list until I come to the and soy sauce.) Now that sounds to have herbivorous fish. Doesn’t matter about at the damage eating meat is doing to pressure and power of modern day with its was the problem in the first place – most unlikely top of the pops. So, there is, the ingredients of the familiar phrase your looks. On the other hand, if you taste the planet, it is not preposterous to think 7.7 billion humans - and counting. unsustainability, on a finite, unique, with its improbable name MONKEYFACE “food-chain”. There are reports of tasting good by eating seaweed, you just might that one day it will become illegal.” PRICKLEBACK. That’s not to confuse good “delicate and mild”, a speciality in become food yourself. fragile planet. it with the psychedelic , the upmarket restaurants in San Francisco. Is that why it’s at number one?

42 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH FOOD | 43 Chapter 9 The $31bn mega-sale that dwarfs UK’s little Black Friday Chinese Supermarkets consumers spent Massive Black Friday $1bn in just 1½ There is no question that minutes we can be a very aggressive The facts of the matter:- and greedy species. • Part brand, part mascot – it’s a giant neon cat. • It’s the face of Alibaba that represents one of the In fact, elephants greatest consumer machines on the planet. Big shops and supermarkets probably have more And our stork are like hungry organisms, sense than we do. But flies on… • So-called “Singles’ Day”, created for the single when it comes to where swallowing huge amounts and why we go in for consumer turns out to be more, hugely more, than mass shopping the big that…equivalent to a religious event where many of deliveries. supermarkets become prayers are answered. In exchange for cash. Lots For example, Brits spent £1 billion a year the biggest of the big. of it. on pizzas. Stuff comes in from all over the world – veg and fruit air miles. At the • You want it, you get it. Some 200,000 brands from other end of the process, at the check-out China and around the world. That’s a lot of “stuff”. thousands of items per minute are collected by customers, and much of it is contained in that • The shopping extravaganza’s theme song is simple: now-notorious material, plastic. Previously welcomed as tough, transparent, and really “Buy, buy, buy” So-called celebrities are very well- useful, it’s now become a global problem paid to turn up, and to apparently endorse this whose durability has turned it into a subject extraordinary spectacle in a world where millions where the fighting supermarkets are trying to of others have no “stuff” to speak of . Except bits of look better than their competitors. Talk about plastic, perhaps, as we’ll see. “survival of the fittest”, which Charles Darwin explained with wildlife in the Galapagos Islands and elsewhere. Recently perhaps we have a similar process in action. As the pandemic rips through our species, Covid-19 could be said to be weeding out the “unfittest” – the oldest, and with “underlying health Desperate conditions”. That could also be interpreted as strengthening the remaining stock. competition as Shop around Today supermarkets compete fiercely over new cheaper end products of forests, farming, fishing and food, the clock! the previous chapters in our story so far of shops take more “Planet Crunch”. So, next is the knock-on of of the market all that consumption. share …all through the night There are now newer names on the block – competition exposed supermarkets who And “products” include a lot more of their with Aldi and Lidl competing head-on removed plastic toys, but bad – Bad – “staff own. Then here comes Black Friday, when with more familiar ones, going from bonus shrinks to just 2% as profits fall much of the action will be online, with more the cheaper end with Asda, Tesco and by quarter” (The Times 6/3/2020). In and more fuel and more and more space on Morrisons up to Marks and Spencer 2018 British firms spent £6.4 billion on our already crowded, polluted roads. Or, if (queen of the undieworld) to fairly posh Christmas advertising on television and you’ve got £2,000 to spare, at Harrods, you John Lewis (which is “never knowingly social media alone. That’s hoping for a can spend a “minimum” of that to meet Father undersold” Really?) And as the crucial hell of a lot of consumption, a hell of a Christmas in the special “grotto”. Harrods is Where are we going by growing Christmas season starts hotting up, so lot of consumers, reaching as many of us now setting its sights on China, but did they does the competition, pushing prices down as possible, and they’re of every age and see that virus coming? endlessly? Do we know the and, hopefully, sales up. But for mighty everywhere. And many more to come – to price of everything but the value John Lewis there was to be a shock in the be “educated” to buy new “products” all cracker – good news and bad news. Good the time. The Chinese are famous for this. of nothing?

44 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH SUPERMARKETS / CONSUMERS | 45 Chapter 10 Take it Waste, Plastics home Then there is the wet wipes saga… Health food chain becomes and Recycling first big retailer to ban wet wipes Holland & Barrett is to become the first UK they do not biodegrade Our pair high street retailer to quickly when they enter Meanwhile, cities are stop selling wet wipes the sewers and can lead becoming used to the bring plastic in a drive to reduce the to blockages. scourge of subterranean and paper to environmental damage fatbergs – caused mainly Joanne Cooke, head caused by them blocking by a buildup of wet the nest. Chuck much of beauty at Holland & sewers and waterways. wipes, sanitary products of it away Barrett, said: “There is and cooking fats into – to the The health food chain is growing awareness of a solid mass. These rubbish tip removing all 34 branded how much our current include a 250-metre and own-label wet wipes throwaway culture is fatberg in Whitechapel from its 800 UK and damaging our oceans, in London in 2017, which Ireland shops and, from beaches and rivers. weighed as much as 19 July, replacing them with We want to encourage elephants. eco-friendly alternatives our customers to such as cotton cloths, think about what they Since January, unbleached cotton currently throw away manufacturers have muslin cloths, cotton and encourage them to been able to use the pads and exfoliating swap to more sustainable “fine to flush” symbol Even the gloves. Its shops in other alternatives. The on packaging only if trolley countries will follow suit quickest way for us all to the wipe passes Water by October. make a positive impact UK’s stringent tests. The on the world we live in symbol aims to reassure The Earth Watch Institute is to choose to spend consumers that they do estimates 9.3m wipes, our money on more not contain plastic and often used for makeup sustainable products.” will break down in the removal or as hand sewers. sanitisers, are still flushed The Marine Conservation down UK toilets every Society’s annual beach But Holland & Barrett day. clean last year found an said this was not effective average of 12 wet wipes as it was not mandatory Standard wipes contain in 100 metres of beach and called on other plastic or wood pulp, cleaned – a rise of more retailers to follow its lead. which means that despite than 300% compared (The Guardian 9/5/2015) being labelled “flushable” with a decade before. At least someone’s Showing, later, what damaging press publicity can do, and if you change for the using it – and the better, you can beat your competitors. As has now happened (2020). vultures too (though plastic can kill)

absorbed as part of the ecosystem. These substances, especially plastics, may be Andrex told to stop claiming that wet wipes arethe most ‘flushable’ useful measure poisonous and kill. And that can include the flushability of Andrex of whether a wipe was “Look for this label!” lavatory wipes, but had us at the end of the food chain with filter Andrex has been told to flushable. banned the ad for failing to feeders like shellfish which concentrate stop claiming its wet wipes However, the ASA banned make clear that the product (The Daily Telegraph are “flushable” after the the ad after Andrex owner Some could be useful to other people poisons in their bodies. Similarly, with did not conform the relevant 16/10/2019) Advertising Standards Kimberly-Clark admitted elsewhere but the “throwaway” lifestyle dolphins and whales; they gradually die UK standards. has now been encouraged and adopted from chemicals in the oceans, sometimes Authority say they do not that the product did not As an ingenious, meet Water UK’s “Fine to worldwide. That might seem to be good also trapped in fishing gear, or the young meet tests for UK sewers. Kimberly-Clark said they Flush” standards and relied recognised their product widespread and news, the spread of so-called “progress” killed by what’s in the mother’s milk. In A website for the Andrex on international industry did not meet Water UK’s Washlets wipes, seen increasingly abundant but the bad news is that there’s now no the English Channel, PCB’s and mercury, guidelines instead. Fine to Flush specification in April, featured a logo “away” to throw it to. Because from the banned 40 years ago, have been found at but disagreed that this was species we excrete a sky to the deepest sea, this stuff is being high levels. In humans they have been headed “flushable” with The ASA stressed that it had made no judgement on huge variety of stuff. broken up, and is dispersing and is being linked to cancer. the text underneath stating:

46 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH WASTE, PLASTICS AND RECYCLING | 47 E-waste is the fastest- The E-Waste Race growing element of the world’s domestic Plastic – free plastic wrap? waste stream old – not that old – one is chucked It’s called E-waste. That could stand for according to a 2017 report From Richard Malin, Leamington Spa i 25/11/2019: out. Where to? The heavy metals by the United Nations’ Extremely nasty, dangerous waste. Not such as mercury, lead and cadmium “Plastic – free plastic wrap. Today in Morrisons your common or garden rubbish, which – commonly found in LCD screens, Global E-waste Monitor I stood beneath a sign that said: “Plastic Free”. is comparatively harmless, though it’s refrigerators and air conditioning units I looked around and at least 90 per cent of the fruit definitely unsightly and untidy. No this – as well as chemicals such as CFC’s and and veg was wrapped in plastic. Maybe the stuff can be deadly and it lives with us all flame retardants found in plastics can the time. Until it doesn’t. When we throw it sign is telling us that they are not charging us for the contaminate soil, pollute water and enter plastic wrapping.” away. A small proportion may be separated food chains. The European Environment out and recycled, indeed sifting through Agency estimates that Europe still illegally What about those little stickers on fruit it, and all its hazards, may be a life-line (or exports 1.3 million tonnes of e-waste and veg? Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, death-line?) to e-waste scavengers. They’re each year. The UK is the worst offender Morrisons and Asda are amongst 85 According to critics, Amazon is part of the looking for your old microwave, hairdryer, in Europe for electronic waste exports to problem. An undercover investigation by TV, phone, computer, many of which are companies set to ditch them by the end developing countries, with most going to of 2020 as part of a plastic pledge by the the Capital programme on the French TV quickly replaced when the new ”improved” Africa. (The i 27/2/2020) model comes on sale. Which means the Waste and Resources Action Programme channel M6 found that staff were loading The fact Amazon is getting away with this (Wrap). The charity said that the materials unsold toys, kitchen equipment and shows the right laws aren’t in place, so it’s the stickers are made from can be difficult televisions into skips to be moved to landfill time that government steps in to stop this to recycle and often account for 25 per and incinerators. The programme traced kind of disgraceful behaviour and keep unused consumer goods from an Amazon the worst excesses in check. Until then, On television there are relatively few moments cent of consumer plastic packaging, of warehouse to a waste disposal centre and perhaps it’s up to consumers to vote with which hit the audience, indeed the country, which only 4 per cent is recycled. Since on to a landfill site, and obtained internal their wallet.” really hard. But it did happen – on BBC 1 2018, Wrap says that supermarkets have figures which indicated that more than on Planet Earth II. With some trepidation removed 19,000 tonnes of non-recyclable The Labour MP Mary Creagh, who is three million new items were destroyed by the BBC decided to reveal the terrifying black plastic and 3,400 tonnes of plastic chairwoman of the environmental audit Amazon in France last year. implications of plastics in the sea. Many packing from fresh produce. At the end committee, told The Mail on Sunday: “This of 2019 Tesco said it would remove one If The National biologists already knew about the current Experts say that the dumping of goods is both shocking and heartbreaking to see. and frightening fast-approaching crisis, not billion pieces of plastic from products by in landfill has negative environmental At a time when millions are struggling Trust were to switch only in the oceans but everywhere on the the end of 2020, and Dave Lewis, chief effects, including producing greenhouse to make ends meet and afford everyday planet. Revealing this to a mass audience, executive of UK’s biggest supermarket gases and contaminating soil and essentials, it is scandalous that unused it’s membership cards retailer said: “Our work to remove, reduce, to paper, they would risking ratings, had a huge impact which has groundwater. Such dumping is more products are simply being destroyed when reverberated globally ever since. And it’s reuse and recycle is already transforming controversial when items are new and they could be given to people in need. avoid using 12½ tonnes not only plastic. As we increase so does our our packaging.”… “if packaging can’t be could still be used. Destruction of unsold On top of that, this kind of policy output of all sorts of waste. Trying to look recycled it will have no place at Tesco”. In goods appears to take place in the UK too, of plastic. That's has disastrous consequences for the better in the increasing public awareness, and August, Tesco told suppliers that packaging although Amazon says that some unsold equivalent to two environment. Amazon was one of the a competitive commercial world, changes are would influence its decisions as to which items are given to charity. worst-performing retailers in the audit African elephants! being urged and thus pushed through. The products it would sell. A Mail on Sunday reporter posing as a committee’s recent inquiry.” National Trust is changing its plastic annual Then comes the competition to reduce food worker at an Amazon warehouse in the membership cards to strong durable paper. It is not clear which products were being waste; energy waste from open fridges, Midlands was told by a manager that With its almost six million members this destroyed, though it appeared that many online and food delivery, and the sheer some unsold goods were returned and will avoid the use of 12½ tonnes of plastic, may belong to “third-party” sellers who scale of it all. And they don’t come much others destroyed. equivalent to two African elephants. This sort bigger than Amazon. cannot afford long-term storage fees. A of thing may not sound that much but if these Craig Bennett, chief executive of Friends Chinese company that sells stationery told kinds of changes are applied everywhere, The American Jeff Bezos, the founder of of the Earth, said: “There’s clearly little Capital that if goods were not sold within the scourge of plastic may be overcome. Of Amazon, has been accused of hypocrisy relationship between what Mr Bezos six months to a year, Amazon charged course the powerful plastics (= oil) industry and “planet wrecking” behaviour over says and what he does. This kind of storage fees and it was more cost-effective will fight back, but hopefully produce his calls to “protect the Earth” while the planet-wrecking behaviour from one of to pay the retailer to destroy the items. something as useful but less damaging to retailer destroys unsold goods. the largest companies in the world is the environment. And shareholders should Reports of the destruction of millions of an appalling example of real and active push them to do that for the good of the items from Amazon warehouses came days environmental damage. planet. Other ways to go…clear the bathroom after Mr Bezos, the world’s richest man of plastic clutter. Use soap. In the “burger (Autumn 2020), called for the colonisation Huge plastic wars” McDonald’s is recycling Happy Meal of space to preserve the Earth and its Where do Amazon’s business. Toys and Burger King responded similarly. environment. Deadly product That’s fierce competition for you. One farmer unsold products end up? and killing suggested: “The technology to put the car Speaking at the unveiling of a lunar lander puffins in registration number on litter as you queue up for his Blue Origin space company, Mr Bezos, 55, said: “Please make no mistake the sea to get your drive-through takeaway is there” he said. “It could be printed in UV which about this, Earth is the best planet. We do would stop people seeing where it is printed need to protect it, its’s essential, it’s our job. We’re now big enough to hurt this planet.” In albatross food and destroying it.” The wrappers look untidy, Paper delivery? farmers have to pick them up, and they can harm livestock and wildlife.

48 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH WASTE, PLASTICS AND RECYCLING | 49 How do we Vegas casino praised change a throw for feeding pigs away culture? Has this become The US chucks Plastic Planet?

away 18.2 million Las Vegas, a city known for excess, has mattresses a year been praised for developing innovative ways to deal with thousands of tons of leftover and uneaten food. The Bellagio casino has been commended for sending food waste to pig farms and oyster shells to Chesapeake Bay, where they help to restore wildlife habitats.

Last month 7,164 Amazon employees wrote to Mr Bezos asking him to release a company-wide climate plan, saying that the existing proposals were inadequate and citing its work for oil and gas companies. Landfill can be positive if we manage our waste Amazon said that its commitment to with a bit of thought environmental issues was “unwavering”. It was unavailable for comment on the landfill claims. The Mail on Sunday reported that an Amazon spokesman would not comment on the claims of product destruction but had said: “For Amazon was unsold products we partner one of the worst- with a number of charities performing including In Kind Direct, which works with non-profit retailers in the organisations to distribute audit committee’s goods to charities across the UK.” recent report There is talk of “peak stuff”. All those clothes unused in the Plastics wardrobe, those Christmas presents everywhere that turned out to be surplus over here, but would not be in many other parts of an unfair world. Millions of people don’t have a bed. The UK threw away more than 7 million mattresses in 2017. Most went straight to landfill. The US chucks away 18.2 million mattresses a year. But even landfill can be positive if we manage our waste with a bit of thought. One of the biggest landfills in Europe was on the Thames estuary at Thurrock in Essex. Now it’s a flourishing nature reserve including avocets, nightingales and the very rare shrill carder bee. This is a glimpse of good news but the monster Can we stop it? challenge is how to reduce our impact across the whole planet. But up to now such is the momentum of people pressure and commercial greed that the outcome Nightingale Kenya beach clean is far from certain, and that now includes disease. How that affects the outcome in full song on remains to be seen. an ex-rubbish tip

50 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH WASTE, PLASTICS AND RECYCLING | 51 “Planet Crunch” in 2020 reveals these huge, fast-changing contrasts. The UK’s major supermarkets sold more than one billion plastic water bottles in 2018 according to Greenpeace and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). That’s water! Britons threw away or wasted almost ten billion paper receipts in 2018. Wasted: food Matty Cusden-Ross of the Beat the Receipt Campaign said: “Every year we print billions of paper receipts It’s time to change that gets binned at the cost of millions of trees, millions of barrels of oil and billions of litres of water. This is completely the word on waste the most unnecessary wastage.” Rough sleepers are sheltering in bins all year round, with surging homelessness Research reveals Brits are having to cook two Despite population growth and blamed for a rising number of crushing deaths and dishes on average each mealtime to cater for increasing famine, 1.6 billion tonnes near misses when bins are emptied. At least seven household dietary requirements, contributing of food is lost or wasted worldwide, people are known to have died in five years, according to more than £one billion a month on food every year. With an estimated carbon to the Health and Safety executive. that ends up in the bin. And UK households footprint of 3.3 billion tonnes, this are throwing away seven million tonnes of wastage eats up 28 per cent of the food every year – enough to fill 40 million world’s agricultural area and drinks wheelie bins. enough water to fill Lake Geneva three Cut food waste and eat more veg The IPCC warned that food security would times. be affected by climate change through “If food waste were a country, it 1. Bread to save the planet, say scientists reduced nutrient quality and low yields, would be the third biggest emitter especially in the tropics. of greenhouse gases after China and 2. Cheese The top 10 Priyadarshi Shukla, who co-chaired the the United States,” says David Green, 3. Potatoes most wasted Cutting food waste and eating less meat up to 8 billion tonnes a year and health director of the US Sustainability will reduce climate change by saving would improve, the report says. It adds IPCC working group, said: “There will food items be more drastic impacts on low-income Alliance. “One third of food produced 4. Celery millions of square miles of land from being that food from animals should come from on the world’s farmland goes uneaten. degraded by farming, according to a United “resilient, sustainable and low greenhouse countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America 5. Lemon and the Caribbean.” That is too compelling for food growers, Nations report. gas emission systems”. producers and farmers to ignore.” Corinne Le Quéré, a member of the 6. Bananas The Intergovernmental Panel Jim Skea, professor of sustainable (The Times 12/12/2008) on Climate Change (IPCC) energy at Imperial College Committee on Climate Change, which 7. Lettuce advises the government, said: “The UK said that a quarter of the The UK London and co-chairman world’s ice-free land of the working group needs to reduce food waste, promote 8. Apples had been damaged by needs to reduce that produced the healthy diets and use land sustainably, human activity, with food waste, report, said: “A move including planting more trees.” 9. Bagged salad Well, there’s waste, and waste. Bamboo top marks in soil eroding from to more balanced diets promote healthy (The Times 9/8/2019) in the loos, on a roll of success apparently, nearly every 10. Mince agricultural fields up could help us adapt diets and use though it may be mainly the Chinese category. With to 100 times faster than to and limit climate Turn the world land sustainably who feel it that way. Three billion (who’s changing attitudes, (i 9/10/2019) it forms. change. Some diets upside down counting?) nappies are thrown annually and trying to avoid Corinne Le Quéré require more land The body, which advises into landfill and each baby uses about “green washing” from the Committee on and water and lead to governments on the 4,000 disposables before the Everest of (false claims). Climate Change higher emissions than science of climate change, potty training is achieved. There’s possible Ethical shoppers brings a unique depth of experience and others. Diets that are high It’s important called for more sustainable future business there for the highly spent record levels, including food, drink, expertise that will be directly relevant in grains, nuts and vegetables to note that use of land, such as tackling over- successful Greta Thunberg merchandising clothing, energy and eco-travel – a total of to Nestlé.” Now they know. Sort of. have a lower carbon footprint than that report consumption, which it says has resulted in machine which includes T-shirts, mugs, £41 billion. Customers now pick up 90% Corporate-speak. Plastics are becoming a those that are high in meat and they lead has been two billion adults, more than a quarter of gnomes, badges and bags. Made in China, fewer plastic bags than in 2015. Because big challenge because of media exposure. to better health outcomes. But of course superseded the world’s population, being overweight. they are mostly not very eco-friendly and of the “Blue Planet II/Attenborough In September 2020 in the firing line, were dietary choices are influenced by local by later global wouldn’t be endorsed by the Thunberg effect.” Such is the influence of television, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Mars – the The panel said that about 25-30 per cent production practices and cultural habits.” assessments family. But it does help to strengthen her other media, and customer choice and biggest of the big boys. Coca-Cola said it of food produced was wasted and that this from the UN, The report, written by 107 experts from uncompromising campaign, going green. purchasing power. had learnt from the 1990 target and was accounted for 8-10 per cent of manmade and The Living 52 countries and based on a review of And, going brown, cow manure will be “committed to do more”. Nestlé said greenhouse gas emissions. Planet Index – all Nestlé is the world’s biggest food company, more than 7,000 studies, says that soil powering hundreds of John Lewis delivery two thirds of its plastic was recyclable in the autumn of it has more than 2,000 brands sold in 191 Governments were urged to tackle on degraded land is less able to absorb trucks from 2021. Almost 300 John Lewis or reusable. Cynics say that recycling 2020. So we know what’s countries, and expanding. More people, food waste by encouraging “improved carbon. Vast areas are also turning into and Waitrose trucks will be fuelled by is a kind of cover-up and people think gone on before, what’s still going on, more product. In a rather opaque report harvesting techniques”, educating desert, with 500 million people now biomethane made from manure slurry, they’re doing a good thing, whilst those and will probably, go on into the future. Paul Bulcke said “As Nestlé advances its shoppers and improving packaging, living in places that have experienced which is carbon neutral. Asda, Argos and big corporations only really want to make We know what to do, yes, we can do nutrition, health and wellness strategy for transport and storage on farms. desertification since the 1980s, the report Hermes will follow. So, who has got ahead more new plastic, hiding behind the it, but will we? In time? That really is accelerated growth in targeted consumer says. The frequency and intensity of dust in the greening of the big supermarket “recycling myth”. They need to be checked If the world’s population moved to a more the crunch for the Earth, the only one products categories and for sustainable storms have increased over the past few boys? Well, Waitrose wins the in-store relentlessly all the time. plant-based diet, emissions could fall by value creation, each of these nominees decades. we’ve got.” supermarket survey by “Which?” scoring

52 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH WASTE, PLASTICS AND RECYCLING | 53 Chapter 11 Energy and Oil 2017 Ocean acidification and drilling in the Amazon

The Rise and Fall of Big Oil Let’s go back, not nearly at all as far as when “fossil fuels” were formed from very ancient Coral reefs support an amazing diversity plants and animals. of wildlife worldwide We have been exploiting these non- Plans to drill renewable resources as if there was no for oil in the tomorrow – or coronavirus for that matter. mouth of the In this part of “Planet Crunch” we’ll look Amazon basin at three-plus years from 2017 to 2020 and, The plans have faced fierce opposition after with that perspective, assess how well, face fierce it was confirmed last year that there was a and badly the fossil fuel industry has opposition vast and unique system close to behaved. There’s no doubt that oil has the proposed drilling area. enabled humans to dominate the Earth… to explore, colonise and to improve the Ibama, Brazil’s environmental regulator, standard of living of millions of people, has repeatedly refused to accept the but also to pollute everywhere, whether environmental assessments put forward by it’s the air we breathe and the land and Total, which operates the blocks, BP has a 30 per cent interest in the licences. water we depend on. Plastics (made The latest climate research Little wonder that Crown Prince from oil) are ubiquitous and deadly to Mohammed bin Salman is so determined Ibama has warned Total that it will suspend people and wildlife. Those threats have suggests that ocean to sell off the crown jewels of Saudi its environmental licence application unless increased with the human population acidification is worse than Aramco and reinvest the proceeds in the company provides more information, globally. Unless those numbers are feared and that the world’s an industrial and economic reinvention which it said it had failed to do despite three controlled, ideally reduced, it is difficult designed for life after oil. The window is previous requests. to see a solution…except if non-renewable safe carbon budget is less suddenly closing very fast. The agency wants Total to address how fossil fuels can be replaced by renewable than supposed in the Paris green energy. Of course that is a massive The British and French announcement that to limit the impact of drilling on marine challenge. The sun, tides, wind and Accord. they will not require a single drop of crude mammals and turtles and to clarify how hydro have been tried in the past, but up must have sent shivers through a lot of oil would disperse in the event of a spill, It is a near certainty that some form of against the massive lobby of the oil and mid-East spines. according to Reuters. carbon tax or pricing will become a global petrochemical industries, and certain fact of life. Which begs a question: why would Total and its partners spent almost £200 politicians, the renewable businesses anybody purchase shares in a company million acquiring the exploration rights in stood little chance. Billions of people For Opec and the petro-powers it has like Aramco that was valued at $2 trillion 2013 and have spent at least a further $60 have cars, airlines are powerful and want turned into a running three-year disaster. in an old energy order that no longer million since developing drilling plans. more planes, more airports, and tourism Not only do they face slow death by exists? appears to be unstoppable. But all that A spokesman for the French group said electrification, they face a nimble US shale changed with Covid-19. Up to then Big Oil A month later Emily Gosden in The Times that the environmental licensing process industry in the short run that seems able to was already beginning to look a lot less revealed how the big boys of Big Oil had remained under way. turn on production almost at the flick of a big…you could say “Big Oil down to Little been opposed to save a coral reef in Brazil. switch whenever crude pushes back above Greenpeace, the environmental group, has Oil”. It’s a fascinating story. These are serious numbers, though oil is $50 a barrel. been protesting against the drilling plans. rich, but is this a clue to the way things are Helena Spiritus, a campaigner at the group, Recoveries are quickly capped at half going? said: “The only right decision by Total For the previous price levels, and at levels far Total and BP suffered a fresh setback now is to give up their plans to drill at the good news 2017–2020 below the fiscal break-even cost needed in their efforts to drill for oil near Amazon mouth, instead of trying to find read on… by Saudi Arabia and most Opec states the mouth of the Amazon river after ways to convince authorities to approve this Up to the current situation to maintain their cradle-to-grave welfare Brazilian regulators rejected their latest risky project.” systems and patronage machines. environmental assessment.

54 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH ENERGY AND OIL | 55 2018

Oil firms face global warming lawsuit Palm oil dumped in UK waters World’s most powerful wind turbine is installed in Scotland The city claims that the oil industry was BP Deepwater bill Also in The i of 4/2/2018 Mark Bridge filed a aware for decades that burning fuel was story about another kind of oil, not a fossil fuel increases by $1.7bn in this case, but a biofuel. In April 2018 in The i contributing to climate change, but took Chris Green wrote: no action. Foreign tankers are A week later also in The The world’s most Mr de Blasio made the announcement routinely dumping as he unveiled plans for the city’s five Times, from Energy Editor powerful wind turbine huge quantities of pension funds to end their investments Emily Gosden. has been installed in in fossil fuel companies. About $5 noxious palm oil off Scottish waters despite billion of the funds’ $189 billion of The bill facing BP for the Deepwater the British coast. assets are invested in nearly 200 fossil Horizon disaster will top $65 billion after being opposed by fuel companies. higher compensation settlements than had In the past two years been expected forced it to book a fresh $1.7 Donald Trump, who It was hardly a Happy New “New York City is standing up for future satellites operated by the billion charge. complained that it Year for the world’s biggest generations by becoming the first major European Maritime Safety oil companies with Shell US city to divest our pension funds from The oil major said that the average value Agency identified seven large would ruin the views fossil fuels,” he said. of compensation payments being awarded spills in British waters, two with from his golf course. and BP very much under to businesses affected by the disaster had trails extending for more than 44 miles. Scott Stringer, the New York City scrutiny. soared sevenfold in the fourth quarter. All were classified as “permitted discharge” by The 191-metre-high device off the comptroller, said: “Safeguarding the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), Aberdeenshire coast has three Were they on retreat because of climate the retirement of our city’s police The explosion at BP’s Macondo well in according to documents obtained by The 80m-long blades, which in a single change? Robin Pagnamenta seemed to officers, teachers and firefighters is April 2010 killed 11 men and spewed Sunday Telegraph. rotation can generate enough think so in The Times of 11/1/2018. our top priority and we believe that millions of barrels of crude into the Gulf electricity to power the average their financial future is linked to the of Mexico in the worst offshore oil spoil Palm oil is used in products including foods, Five of the world’s biggest oil companies, soap and biofuels. Ships often clean their tanks UK home for an entire day. Wind sustainability of the planet.” in American history. BP, which is based turbines may be good news for including BP and Royal Dutch Shell, in London and operates in more than 70 after delivering the substance and are allowed The city said that it would submit us but bad news for passing birds are set to face legal action from New countries worldwide, was nearly brought to to dump a limited amount of the contaminated a “joint resolution to pension fund which may get the chop. York City, which claims that they have its knees as a result. residue at sea, provided they do so more than contributed to global warming. trustees to begin analysing ways to 12 miles from the shore. Large spills of the The turbine is the first of 11 divest from fossil fuel owners The company suspended its dividend as waxy substance have an environmental impact Bill de Blasio, the city’s mayor, which will make up the European in a responsible way that it faced huge costs, including $14 billion similar to those of fossil fuels, killing birds and Offshore Wind Deployment Centre said that New York would be is fully consistent with for the initial clean-up and $18.7 billion in marine life. A number of dogs have died after seeking damages worth (EOWDC), where next generation fiduciary obligations”. fines and damages payments to the United eating palm oil “fatbergs” on British beaches. technology will be trialled. It was billions of dollars from States and state governments. The oil is contaminated by chemicals and the companies. New York City Other American installed by Swedish state-owned seeks damages cities including San In corporate-speak Brian Gilvary, BP’s chief covered by a layer of poisonous bacteria when energy firm Vattenfall, despite The lawsuit is linked Francisco, Oakland financial officer said: “With the claims it reaches the shore. It also lodges in animals’ the project being hit by a series of with a $20 billion worth $ billions and Santa Cruz, facility’s work nearly done, we have better throats. delays, including a legal challenge spending programme From oil companies it all in California, visibility into the remaining liability. The Palm oil. Huge plantations of this monoculture from the US President. on schemes designed believes have contributed have filed similar charge we are taking as a result is fully crop are grown across the tropics, removing to boost the resilience Mr Trump claimed that the “ugly” to global warming lawsuits against oil manageable within our existing financial the original natural biodiverse rainforest. wind farm would be visible of the city of 8.5 million producers. framework.” And as a biofuel it’s burnt as energy. What people to flooding and from his multimillion-pound Hurricane Sandy a waste of a unique ecosystem golf development at Balmedie, other effects of climate that has taken millions of change. Other defendants wrought havoc on New north of Aberdeen, and should York City in 2012, causing years to evolve. And be scrapped. But the Scottish include Chevron, Conoco Phillips the more of us, the and Exxon Mobil. an estimated $71 billion of damage. Government approved the plans A study published last October said more palm oil we in a decision upheld by the UK “We’re bringing the fight against that New York faced the prospect of will consume in Supreme Court. climate change straight to the fossil fuel catastrophic flooding as often as once its many various companies that knew about its effects and every five years by 2030 to 2045. forms. India and intentionally misled the public to protect China are big BP declined to comment yesterday. their profits,” the Democrat mayor said customers, with And at the other end of the world a wiser Shell said that climate change was a in a statement released last night. “As Cambodia’s palm less greedy head-of-state was looking “complex challenge” that should not be climate change continues to worsen, it’s oil exports rising by forward to a renewable energy future for addressed through the courts. up to the fossil fuel companies whose 143 per cent in 2017. her country. greed put us in this position to shoulder But you lose some, the cost of making New York safer and The real cost of oil/plastic/nets: you win some. more resilient.” millions of seabirds globally

56 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH ENERGY AND OIL | 57 2018 2019

New Zealand cuts off quest for Ardern bans sea oil exploration Criticism mounts fossil fuels and activism against New Zealand’s government is to climate damaging New Zealand has banned new ban all new offshore oil and gas offshore oil and gas drilling as exploration in a historic climate policy grows part of an effort to cut its net win that has come after seven Up to now Big Oil appeared greenhouse gas emissions to zero years of public protests. to be impregnable, the whole by 2050. By ending new oil and gas exploration, Jacinda world needs it, shareholders The centre-left Labour government led by Jacinda Ardern’s coalition government has effectively love it and it has enabled Ardern also plans to plant 100 million trees each put the fourth-largest exclusive economic zone year and ensure the electricity grid runs entirely (EEZ) on the planet – covering more than four humanity to push on, almost on renewable energy. million sq km – off limits for any new fossil fuel regardless. But now there exploitation. (The i 13/4/2018) The decision to end new offshore exploration was are a few snags. hailed by conservation and environmental groups Pollution, sustainability and in the case as a victory in the battle against climate change. of the biggest companies a growing Ms Ardern, 37, who campaigned on the issue distrust, increased by reputations of in last year’s election, told cheering university green-washing enmeshing some of the students in Wellington: “We have been a world world’s (up to now) respected politicians leader on critical issues to humanity by being and businessmen earning vast salaries. nuclear free and now we could be world leading Such a scenario attracts criticism, and in becoming carbon neutral.” action, from the activists who seem to stop at nothing to expose the world of The ban will not affect the country’s Big Oil. For example in The Guardian 22 existing exploration permits. of 22/3/2019: “The largest five stock Ms Ardern said her government was market–listed oil and gas companies looking to a carbon-neutral future. spend nearly $200m (£150m) a year “Transitions have to start somewhere lobbying to delay, control or block policies and unless we make decisions to tackle climate change. BP, Chevron today that will essentially take and Exxon Mobil (the biggest of the “Big effect in 30 or more years’ time, Boys”), lead the field in direct lobbying we run the risk of acting too late to push against climate policies to tackle and causing abrupt shocks to global warming.” In his questionable communities and our country.” wisdom Donald Trump said we do need What will happen in 2019? more warmth in New York in a cold Interest in oil exploration Increased winter. That’s weather, Donald, not in New Zealand has waned climate. More fake. Activists got angry action by climate in recent years as a result of and that was building. Greenpeace lower global oil prices, with change activists: stormed a drilling rig in protest against only one permit issued in 2017, Trump is for coal – and that’s going oil and gas drilling in the Norwegian compared with ten in 2014. backwards. He’s up against The Big impact Church which is to use its huge Arctic. Norway’s government has given Neil Holdom, mayor of New wealth to help tackle climate change the go-ahead for its $1trn (that’s trillion!) on Big Oil? Plymouth, in the Taranaki region, by ending its investment in fossil fuel (£774bn) oil fund to invest in renewable said the ban was “a kick in the companies. So what will happen in projects not listed in the stock markets. guts”. (The Times, 13/4/2018). 2019? Trump doesn’t like to lose. With this sort of money sloshing about, Nor does the virus. you can see big reputations and huge changes are on the line. That’s banks too – big hitters like Barclays, Goldman Sachs, becomes a clear and present danger to financial stability, it could be too late.” JP Morgan, who topped the Banking on sort compounded by human greed in the Climate Change ranking of fossil fuel And that was before COVID-19 brought fossil fuel industry and what could be financiers, compiled by the Rainforest banks, oil, and humanity to its knees. said to have been the “revenge” of captive, Alliance. All this is connected and subject That all took a long time to reach this tortured, exploited innocent creatures, in a to activist and shareholders’ protest. In stage of “progress”, but only a few short market in Wuhan, China. Wolf pups, bats, March 2019 Bank of England Governor months to shatter it. It’s turned out to be a snakes, even koalas, according to The Daily Mark Carney said: “Once climate change double whammy of the worst imaginable Mirror front page (4/12/2018).

58 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH ENERGY AND OIL | 59 2020

Can Big Oil still exist COVID-19 Oil pipeline turmoil if it doesn’t adjust? Into 2020…With an In the recently troubled ups and downs of Big Oil, there Big Oil’s bid to go green has approaching serious is an interesting trend behind the dreaded Covid-19. never been more literal. climate change crisis Fighting continues. overshadowed by On one hand more oil pipelines are increased shipping (remember the huge In the coming years, major oil companies being built. Political dynamite, with Exxon Valdez spill?) in similar terrain. are expected to invest billions of dollars a global pandemic Trump, still apparently unaware of Canada is the fifth largest oil-producing planting forests, rolling out grasslands warned about but not the threat of burning coal, either country. The pipeline scheme would and establishing natural wetlands. Italian massively in the US, China, India, and triple the capacity of the present Trans giant Eni will create millions of hectares prepared for. controversially in Australia, where Mountain conduit to nearly one million of forests across Africa, BP is investing in Some might say this is some sort Prime Minister Morrison seemed barrels a day cutting reliance on the trees across the US and China, and Royal of natural response from the surprised when his country caught US market. Work began on another Dutch Shell is eyeing Europe, where they planet. Despite all of human fire, then became flooded. Pipelines controversial Canada-US pipeline, the might just spot the Energy Observer, “progress” Covid-19 has proved challenged by Canadian tribes damaged Keystone XL after 12 years of wrangling. an oceans and environmental research to be a great leveller, ignoring Prime Minister Trudeau’s green (The Times 9/4/2020). vessel that aims to circumnavigate the national boundaries, rich and poor credentials. Judges had halted the world with zero carbon emissions. The More to come. Yes indeed!… The project people, race, colour and creed. project, taking oil from heavily polluting trimaran, developed by engineers at was stopped when Joe Biden took over and habitat-destroying tar sands in France’s CEA Liten project set off from from Trump (Jan 2021). It will be an Alberta (enter Shell), citing inadequate Amsterdam after being fitted with a new Many interesting relic of the decline of fossil consultation of indigenous groups, and device which allows it to produce fuel fuels and the power of personal politics. a threat to endangered killer whales/ from wind, in addition to using recycled miles of orcas from inevitable oil leaks and hydrogen. But a lot will depend on what sort of world it will find out there as oil climate change and disease take their toll on a unique planet Earth. Two crunches the group Extinction Rebellion had at once. It’s a massive challenge. And some points to make about the threat there’s not much time. Shell plans to of burning fossil fuels like oil. And invest up to $2 billion a year on new of course those images went around energy, but that is less than a tenth of its Hardisty the world, which is, and has been, Threatened: capital budget. Too little, too late? “If CANADA so dependent on the stuff. That’s a killer whales some companies and industries fail to fact. And does getting naked make a adjust, they will fail to exist” Mark Carney protest more visible – or more risible? again (The Times 29/4/2019). With these There are many dilemmas in this a major blow to efforts to slow climate sorts of words from such a key financial slippery business. BP have funded change. Of 302 pipelines currently in figure, protests grew, the press picked Existing arts and supported students. But development globally, 51% are in North up on it and it seemed everywhere you Keystone they are criticised for “greenwash”. America, according to Global Energy Baker looked there was embarrassment. pipeline Environmentalist Jonathon Porritt: Monitor, which tracks fossil fuel activity. And it appeared, prominently, in various “Together with other oil majors, BP has If built, these projects would increase the forms. Greenpeace, an increasingly been accused of fully understanding the worldwide number of pipelines by nearly New XL Patoka powerful force, that now frightens science of climate change as far back a third, and mark out a path of several pipeline decades of substantial oil and gas use. Canada is misdemeanours. At Mansion House the as the early 1980’s, and downplaying Steele th great and good were surprised to find a and obscuring that science…ever Towards the end of 2019 George Monbiot City Wood the 5 largest oil red-gowned lady right there. The hijack since… Regrettably, its current (2019) of The Guardian wrote: “Oil companies UNITED River went viral – a visual sort. Job done. leadership is stuck in the same pattern argued that they are not responsible for STATES producing country Though it has to be said the Government – all the time using philanthropy to hide our decisions to use their products. But Cushing New pipeline scheme has committed to a zero-carbon economy its past and present culpability.” (Yes, we are embedded in a system of their would reduce reliance by 2050, and that’s good news. But with that’s greenwash - RB) BP or not BP?... creation – a political, economic and LOUISIANA so-called “wankers and bankers” running investing £24m in turning natural gas physical infrastructure which creates an on the US the economy, it’s not clear where we’ll all into animal food. And North America illusion of choice while, in reality, closing be that much later on. dominates the list of new pipelines. it down. We are guided by an ideology so Houston Just over half of the world’s new oil Port Arthur Not so dressed-up were the protesters at familiar and pervasive that we do not even and gas pipelines are in North America, the heart of Government, the House of recognise it as an ideology. It is called 200 miles with a boom in US drilling set to deliver Pipeline scheme challenged Commons. Six men and six women from consumerism.” by Canadian tribes

60 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH ENERGY AND OIL | 61 In “Planet Crunch” there’s the opportunity “to fight the pandemic coronavirus Covid-19 and the climate crisis/global warming/sea level rise simultaneously. Industries that contribute most to climate – airlines, oil and gas companies – are in a position of vulnerability. We can demand that the assistance they receive requires them to decarbonise businesses.”

(The Independent 7/4/2020, Eli Mitchell-Larson, Kaya Axelsson)

“Scientists have long warned that climate change will impact not just our environment but our health by increasing rates of infectious diseases.”

(from the Business Insider, Ibrahim Alttusseini)

62 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CLIMATE CHANGE | 63 Chapter 12 Sweltering, gasping, incubating too Climate Change

Back in 2018 Sir David Attenborough warned about the near future, including the fate of the extraordinary diversity of plants and animals that share the fragile planet Earth with us. Save our kelp to fight climate change, says Attenborough Kelp forests are vital, not Britain’s “underwater forests” could be the key to just for sea life, beating climate change, Sir David Attenborough has said as he joins a campaign to save them. but in climate change Launching the Help Our Kelp Sarah Ward, the living seas campaign today, Sir David said that officer at Sussex Wildlife Trust, the algae seaweed was “vital” for said the pioneering rewilding tackling climate change. project would help to “fight climate change”. She added: The campaign hopes to restore a “Kelp forests can absorb and lock large underwater kelp forest off the up carbon just as effectively as Sussex coast in the first marine kelp woodland, if not more so, and rewilding initiative. we’re able to create this habitat Kelp forests previously stretched along on a scale that simply couldn’t be 25 miles (40 km) of the West Sussex replicated on land. This will be a coastline, extending at least 2½ miles huge step forward in addressing seaward. But storm damage, changing the escalating climate crisis.” fishing practices and the dumping of Globally, kelp forests absorb 600 sediment by dredging boats cut them Sir David Attenborough has warned that million tons of carbon – roughly to “almost nothing”. our planet is on the brink of destruction. twice the amount the UK emits He told a UN climate change summit Sir David said: “The loss of the Sussex per year - said Dr Ian Hendy, the civilisation faced collapse and much of kelp forests over the past 40 years is Blue Marine Foundation head the natural world risked becoming extinct a tragedy. We’ve lost critical habitat of science, in a film made in because of global warming. He said: that is key for nursery grounds, for conjunction with the campaign. “Time is running out.” (The Daily Mirror water quality and for storing carbon. 4/12/2018) Kelp forests, which range along 25 “This marine rewilding project, if per cent of the world’s coastlines, As one of the most trusted, most travelled, approved, will ensure the Sussex provide habitats in the UK for most skilled and versatile broadcasters, seas remain healthy for generations seahorses, cuttlefish, lobsters, sea his pleas should be heeded. And action to come, and could have far-reaching bream and bass. should be taken. The biodiversity ranges impact for other parts of the UK coast.” from mountain gorillas in Africa’s forests of trees to the underwater kelp forests of Sussex in England.

64 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CLIMATE CHANGE | 65 A pregnant male short-snouted seahorse at Babbacombe Bay in Devon, he is about 4 to 5 years old

Narrating a film by Big Wave Seahorses Productions, Sir David said the “magical” underwater forests are “one of the most biodiverse environments on the planet”. He added: “The forests are vital nursery grounds, giving sanctuary to the young of many commercial fish, as they feed and hide among its fronds. We’re discovering these underwater forests are vital, not just for sea life, but in climate change.” Checking climate clues The Help Our Kelp campaign supports a new bye-law Sea grass proposed by the Sussex – a rich habitat Inshore Fisheries The media Paris-style UN and Conservation One of the first seahorses Authority (IFCA) to plays a vital part proposal sets to be spotted after stop trawling within lockdown in 2020 at in awareness 2030 target on Studland Bay after an 4km of the coast. about climate biodiversity to save absence of 2 years. A long It is led by Sussex change winter and lack of humans Wildlife Trust, Blue humanity meant the seahorses Marine Foundation recolonised very quickly. and the Marine Almost a third of the world’s Sadly, the recovery was Conservation Society, oceans and land needs to be very short-lived. which urged the public to respond to the consultations by Oct 10. protected by the end of the efforts from the BBC Natural decade to stop and reverse Once the trawling management is in History Unit, such as “Seven place, the partnership will be able to Worlds, One Planet” draw attention biodiversity decline that risks take forward plans to restore the forest. to the impact of climate change. the survival of humanity, Dr Sean Ashworth, the Sussex IFCA Attenborough said at the premiere: according to a draft Paris-style deputy chief officer, said: “If we want “The series celebrates biodiversity UN agreement on nature. healthy seas that are sustainable for and the variety of life on our planet wildlife and fishing for generations to whilst also shining a spotlight on To combat what scientists have come, we urgently need to give our the challenges.” He also narrated described as the sixth mass kelp forests a chance to regenerate.” He the series “Our Planet” for Netflix extinction event in Earth’s history, added that the bylaw was “critical” and which looked at various habitats of the proposal sets a 2030 deadline for they needed “support from the local the world and how climate change the conservation and restoration of community to make sure this happens”. is affecting them and the people ecosystems and wildlife that perform who live there. These big expensive crucial services for humans. A pair of spiny seahorses at Alice Tebb, the project coordinator at series take some four years to make Studland Bay in Dorset, the male is the Marine Conservation Society, said and are shown all around the world. The text, drafted by the UN Convention on the left and is heavily pregnant the restoration of the kelp forests would Put it another way. There’s no of Biological Diversity was expected to benefit the fishing industry. She said: reason why millions (billions?) of be adopted by governments in October “Local fishermen used to row their people shouldn’t know about what at a crucial UN summit in the Chinese boats off the beach before starting their is going on with climate change. city of Kunming. It was to have come engines to get clear of the kelp. Now, The media provides a perspective to after countries largely failed to meet the kelp is gone and fishermen are what is, increasingly, affecting them targets for the previous decade agreed reporting fewer fish.” personally, whether it be floods, in Aichi, Japan, in 2010. Like so many With head tucked into other events worldwide Covid-19 caused The campaign follows the droughts and conditions that her chest this spiny it to be delayed, probably to the ultimate announcement of the biggest destroy their crops and livestock. seahorse blends into detriment of many threatened species. restoration scheme in the UK last Attenborough was quoted in the seagrass But it doesn’t have to be that way. Help month, with one million seeds being Radio Times of April 2019 about is increasingly at hand, though it’s a planted off the west coast of Wales to his programme “Climate Change: race against time to make a difference. help tackle climate change. (The Daily The Facts” on BBC 1, saying that This stunning image was Telegraph 1/10/2019). the time had come for the BBC to The 20-point draft plan, which has been caught by underwater photographer John Newman “make firm statements about what, likened to the 2015 Paris agreement The media in all its forms, particularly as the pair of short-snouted until five or ten years ago, were on the climate crisis, aims to introduce these days with social media, can play seahorses, started their matters of opinion…it’s about what controls on invasive species and reduce a vital part in awareness about climate morning courtship dance. Head of a spiny seahorse the facts are. And the facts are the pollution from plastic waste and excess change. Short films like “Help the John spent 3 months going showing the distinct spots facts are the facts.” nutrients by 50%. down every single day to Kelp” to “epic, landmark, milestone” that act like fingerprints study this pair. when identifying individual seahorses

66 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CLIMATE CHANGE | 67 World weather watch Nature always Stark headlines wins

Yes. Sea level rise. Climate change. Stark headlines in January 2020. Along with the virus, the biggest story of our time. Floods. Ocean heating. Hurricanes. We’re certainly not winning. But we’re also probably losing in terms of “disaster fatigue”. With flooding part of increasing climate change there is a different, less familiar perspective. Of course it is a traumatic experience and, I have personally endured it. It will probably recur, but the very traumatized people who are affected may have taken flights, used a car and generally added to the cause of climate change. Clearly if we Devastating storms with personally stopped flying, driving and consuming so many natural embedded tornados swept resources, it would solve that across parts of the US overnight massive increasing problem. All on Friday, stretching over 600 miles The crisis is not imminent. sorts of flood protection schemes from south-east Texas to Missouri and big money may help, but, in It is here. the end, the basic cause, climate at one point. change, must be tackled and that Heavy rain, strong winds and violent tornados resulted On 20/1/2020 in the Guardian, the respected will involve a huge international in widespread destruction and loss of life, with 11 effort, and sacrifices, particularly deaths reported and more than 350,000 homes left environmental journalist George Monbiot from those who can least afford it. without power. An estimated 5 million people were wrote: In the perspective of the Universe, placed on a flood watch as the storms ripped through planet Earth is a tiny fragile, unique metropolitan areas. “The crisis is not imminent. blue dot. The coronavirus and It is here. The infernos in climate change have brought it to its knees, revealing how our so-called Torrential rainfall in Dubai brought Australia; the storms and advanced society can crumble so the city to a standstill on Saturday. floods inBrazil . Madagascar, fast. People, money, aviation/travel, Spain and the US; and the are being shattered faster than During the three-hour deluge, peak rainfall anyone ever imagined. Humans rates of more than 150mm (5.9in) an hour were economic collapse in Somalia, (homo “sapiens” – meaning wise) reported. Thunderstorms over the city resulted caused in part by a devastating are facing the test of time. And in flooding, requiring 3,100 workers to clear the there’s not much of that left, it roads. Usually, Dubai would see only around cycle of droughts and floods, would seem. We are an incredibly 10mm for the month, making this an exceptional are not, or not only, a vision of resourceful and successful (so far) rainfall event. species. “Planet Crunch” will reveal the future.” how all this may pan out. Climate change is the strongest indication The Taal volcano in the Philippines yet. It’s got to be the biggest test for our species so far. Talk about erupted on Sunday, creating its very “Survival of the Fittest”. Here’s what own lightning display as ash and needs to be done – to save ourselves smoke filled the air. and planet Earth. It’s the only one we’ve got. But at least one of us Pyrocumulonimbus formed above the volcano, Then came the coronavirus, considered both a health and economic is Greta Thunberg plus her family resulting in spectacular lightning, heavy rainfall crisis. The two challenges of the virus and climate changes will test and many supporters in Extinction and ash deposits over a 40 mile area. More than us to the brink. The first has clearly overtaken the latter in terms of Rebellion. 8,000 people were immediately evacuated from global public concern. So can high profile efforts make a difference? their homes. (The Guardian 16/1/2020).

68 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CLIMATE CHANGE | 69 More emissions, more global warming, more ice melting on mountains, into rivers, “No one Sea level rise and glaciers pouring millions Prince Harry’s can deny of gallons into the sea. ecocrusade. science” says Prince Harry And then there’s Prince Harry calls out the sea level rise. climate crisis deniers These widespread changes, drowning islands, destroying The Duke of Sussex has beaches and cliffs are very strongly criticised climate visible warning signs. One solution is to reduce the change deniers just days And his father was also on the case burning of fossil fuels – those after schoolgirl activist Greta that have enabled us to progress Thunberg lambasted world so far, so fast. But perhaps leaders for failing to act. their time is up and that of the huge corporations behind them. On a visit to Botswana during his tour Charles tours turtle islands on path to extinction That does seem to be the way of Africa, Prince Harry signalled he it’s going. had no time for those who sought to undermine the overwhelming scientific As night fell on the southwestern edge of Malaita, in the Solomon evidence that climate change was caused Islands, rangers set out in search of leatherback turtles, patrolling a by humankind and posed a major threat to society. strip of sand between the surf and the tree line. Crabs scuttled across the rangers’ torch sea levels on a low-lying country. Several “I genuinely don’t understand how beams but they kept their eyes fixed ahead communities have had to move inland anyone in this world – whoever we are, in the hope of spotting a female leatherback as their traditional stilted houses are Charles sets climate you, us, children, leaders, whoever it crawling ashore to lay her eggs. washed away when the tide reaches their is – no one can deny science, otherwise deadline doorsteps, ruining agricultural we live in a very, very troubling world,” For these critically endangered animals this land and polluting the drinking water. he said. is one of the few remaining nesting sites in The Prince of Wales has Villagers point out grey, skeletal tree trunks the south Pacific. But each year rising sea warned global leaders they The Duke also paid tribute to Greta to show where the coast once lay. levels swamp more and more of the beach; Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish have 18 critical months to soon there may be no place for them to Many of the rangers live within 200 yards campaigner who led a global climate solve climate change and come ashore. of the beach and worry that they, like the march on Friday. turtles they tend, may lose their homes. restore the balance of nature, It is this kind of threat that brings the Wind farms supply record levels of power “Led by Greta, the world’s children are “Each year we see the sea coming closer ensuring the survival of the Prince of Wales to these islands, more striking,” he said from the Chobe Tree and closer to the village,” said Nicho than 9,000 miles from Britain. human race. Greenhouse gas emissions fell by their largest amount in Reserve as he stressed that saving the Raroi, 25, who works for the Wai-Hau three years as coal-fired power stations shut and output environment was a race against time. After a six-day tour of New Zealand Conservation Foundation. The Prince, addressing foreign ministers – with the Duchess of Cornwall, who from around the Commonwealth, said from wind farms rose to a record high. On Monday, Greta warned a United As well as the advancing ocean, the islands then flew home – the Prince carried on they were “uniquely positioned” to lead Nations meeting of world leaders that also face cyclones growing in ferocity, to Tuvalu and will today make his first the world by example, urging them The 3.6 per cent fall was the seventh share of low-carbon electricity, which her generation “will be watching you” – while foreign-owned logging businesses visit to the islands, where he will discuss to match ambition with ”the practical successive year of declining emissions, includes nuclear, rose to 54.2 per cent, adding: “If you choose to fail us we will plunder forests. “Sometimes the sea climate change and lend his support to action that is required”. aided by record levels of power from up from 52.6 per cent in 2018. Wind never forgive you.” makes it hard to work now,” said Raymond sustainable fishing schemes. onshore and offshore wind including provided a fifth of UK power. Hoahania, 58, one of the senior rangers. Speaking as the future head of the Harry added: “There’s an emergency… Hornsea wind farm in the North Sea, the Charles gave a speech in Christchurch on “The waves will come all the way up the Commonwealth, a position which Last year’s decline in emissions was it’s a race against time and one which we biggest development in the world. Friday, in which he warned that humanity beach so the leatherbacks can’t land.” was confirmed during a convention in greater than the 2.1 per cent in 2018 and are losing.” was running out of time to tackle climate London last year, he emphasised the The provisional figures, published by the 2.4 per cent in 2017, but below the 5.1 per Locals in the former British protectorate Harry’s climate change stance has change. “We face an urgent global crisis, next 18 months would bring “critical Department for Business, Energy and cent recorded in 2016. with a population of just over 600,000 been criticised after he reportedly took in fact a climate and biodiversity meetings that would collectively Industrial Strategy, show that renewable hope the Prince’s interest will encourage Kwasi Kwarteng, the energy minister said four private jet journeys in 11 days emergency,” he said at Lincoln University. determine the global agenda for the sources generated a record 36.9 per cent the world to take action. The Pacific that the figures showed the “extraordinary during the summer with Meghan, a coming decade”. The leaders of of electricity. Coal fell to 2.1 per cent and Charles and Camilla visited several leatherbacks are vulnerable, with only progress the UK has made”. decision apparently at odds with his Commonwealth countries will gather last May, Britain went two weeks without environmental groups in New Zealand, 2,300 adult females left. environmental views. next year in Rwanda for a week-long using electricity from coal-fired stations, The figures also show a 2.8 per cent drop including a project in Auckland where Deforestation brings more problems. summit, at which they will discuss the the longest spell since the Victorian era. in transport emissions last year, now the In response he said earlier this month volunteers help to clear plastic from “When the young people grow up, they “unparalleled challenges caused by biggest source of pollution. (The Times that he spent “99 per cent of my life” coastal waters. Gas-fired power stations contributed won’t even have trees to make their rapid climate change and biodiversity 27/3/2020). Remember – there is no using commercial flights but occasionally 40.9 per cent of electricity last year and In the Solomon Islands, Charles will see houses,” Raroi said. (The Sunday Times loss”. (The Daily Telegraph 12/7/2019) vaccine for climate change. needed to ensure “my family are safe”. nuclear plants 17.4 per cent. The overall first-hand the devastating effects of rising 24/11/2019). (The i 27/9/2019).

70 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CLIMATE CHANGE | 71 Chapter 13 Water delivery service Quite early in my career Water at the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol I had the wonderful, literally, job as Executive Nearby is a river. The parents have Producer on “The Living a vital job to do Planet” with David Attenborough. Making the series took over three years and we filmed in an amazing (literally) variety of places. At that time, in the 1980s, it was less of a changing planet than It’s hot, and the it is today. But the programme subjects now large chicks still apply. Amongst them were the sky, are very thirsty mountains, snow and ice, fresh water and salt water – the ocean. In this chapter of my book “Planet Crunch”, about the water, we follow some of those sections, starting with the sky, and ending in the sea. In fact most of our planet is covered by water, without which, we, and just about every Water is other living thing would cease to exist. poured out Today we seem to get too much of it when rivers flood, or none, when life dries up and dies off. These changes affect humans and it would seem that it’s humans that cause them – increasingly. As we’ll see.

And everyone Sky: gets a drink It’s raining plastic!

Inevitably these days, plastics are the surfaces of ships and offshore oil part of the problem so, if they’re in rigs. 14,400 particles is the number the water they’re in us too. Starting counted in a litre of meltwater found in that “The Living Planet” book in snow in Svalbard in the Arctic. It’s chapter on the sky above, we now raining plastic! Glaciers are melting and know , from all sorts of that water flows on down thousands of human products, are up there in their streams and rivers around the world. For the billions. From the Arctic southwards, According to current trends, all glaciers good news scientists have found them, blown in in Iceland will disappear in the next 200 read on… by the wind in snow, mostly derived years, and it is losing approximately 11 from rubber and paints, used to coat billion tons of ice per year.

72 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH WATER | 73 A perfect English pond

Snow & Ice: Scientists in Glaciers are Kenya carefully melting check a lake

Greenland – more white than green, because of that vast sheet of snow and ice that stretches north for some 1,500 miles covering an area three times the Fresh water: size of France. (You may remember Donald Trump apparently considered buying that country – for Essential to oil? – but was firmly refused). The huge ice sheet holds 10% of the world’s fresh water frozen solid life for millions of years. In the glacier calving season the adjacent channel is full of thunderous roars and cracks of icebergs breaking apart. Each time the water level changes, if only by a tiny amount. In the research lab, scientists from Germany and Denmark watch melting ice drip into beakers and they peer down microscopes looking for clues to the planet’s future. These are samples of glacial past and present, retrieved from under the Mittivakkat glacier, which is in mortal retreat on the plateau above. Local ship’s captain: “That noise you hear out there. The fizzing and cracking,” he says, “that noise is the end of the world”. The supply of water is crucial. These England makes a change and there’s days, we are getting too much or plenty to do. He can cover 2 ½ miles on too little. The chalk streams (rare a good day (any more and he risks “nose on a world scale) are threatened by fatigue”). Thames Water has 20,000 Salt water: increasing human demand as more miles of pipes, so it could take Snipe 30 Rising sea houses are built, and also there’s a lot years to sniff the lot (with weekends off). of wastage. For example, Thames Water Shifting lots of fresh water around has has a plumbing problem. In 2018 the levels its ecological problems. There is talk of UK’s largest water company mislaid quenching England’s thirst by sending 150m gallons of the stuff every day. For water from Scotland. Loch Ness this they were heavily fined - £120m. contains more water than They turned to a dog for help. Snipe all of England and Wales to the rescue! He’s a sprocker (that’s a combined – and that’s cross between a springer and a cocker just one loch. Scotland spaniel) and can detect chlorine which has more than 31,000 would be in the water from a leaking freshwater lochs and Andrew Shepherd from the University Shanghai, Stockholm. Los Angeles, pipe. It’s added to kill bacteria at about most are unused. of Leeds: “It’s a rule of thumb for Vancouver, Cape Town, Vladivostok, one part per million. Dogs, which Birmingham would every centimetre rise in global sea Sydney, Miami, Mumbai, London. In have up to 300m olfactory (smelling) go dry in a day if it level, another six million people are fact any coastal large town or city will receptors can detect concentrations wasn’t for the Elan exposed to coastal flooding around the be at risk. London has the Thames as low as one part per million. Snipe Valley Reservoirs planet. These are not unlikely events Barrier, though increasing pollution is no stranger to tricky conditions: 10 in mid-Wales, or small impacts, they are happening from roads is a threat to people and years serving with the Royal Veterinary completed in and will be devastating for coastal wildlife, but urban wetlands can Corps he worked with other dogs 1904 at a cost communities.” That sounds like a capture run-off before it gets into our detecting mines and drugs, from Bosnia of £8m. crunch in Jakarta, Rio, New York, rivers and can provide an amenity too. to Afghanistan and Iraq. This job in

74 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH WATER | 75 If we start to run out of “sweet” fresh water to include 220,000 sq km (18,500 sq permitting. In the meantime, there are we’ll be in big trouble. Both floods – too miles) of Scotland, Wales and Northern seals of approval, proved indeed by aircraft much – and droughts – too little – are Ireland, a total of 91 MCZ’s. But they must counts in the harbour seal pupping season Zimbabwe: increasing worldwide because of climate be respected and enforced. Otherwise by scientists from the Zoological Society change. Nowhere is the importance of they’re useless and may even be more of London (ZSL). They were “thrilled Victoria Falls almost dry! fresh water more obvious than in Africa, exploited than before. On the other hand, to discover 138 pups on the sandbanks where there has been a huge row between if they work, they could lead to increased and creeks of the river in the first Egypt and Ethiopia; big countries, big stocks and better catches for the fishing comprehensive pup count”. Anna Cucknell On planet Earth fresh water is a relatively military powers, big river – the Nile and industry, away from the MCZ’s. Can who leads ZSL’s Thames conservation said: rare commodity, at least compared with a very big dam. Back in 2011, Ethiopia this “blue growth” be a win-win, with “Incredibly harbour seal pups can swim the salty oceans which cover much of the announced it would build the upstream the development of sustainable ocean within hours of birth, well-adapted to tidal surface. Both kinds support a beautiful Grand Renaissance Dam, which infuriated economies that benefit whole communities estuaries like the Thames, where they can variety of plants and animals; plus downstream Egypt, of whom 95%’s – of people and nature? That can include swim away. Grey seals breed elsewhere brackish waters, such as estuaries and population live in the Nile Valley. The basking sharks off Scotland, and Ireland and come to the estuary late to feed on mangroves, adding to the list. Humans Nile, the world’s longest river is the source (where they were once hunted for their some of those over 100 species of fish (but, depend on all these communities, but of nine-tenths of Egypt’s fresh water oil); to puffins and grey seals on the Farne please, not the rare eels!). The most recent as people pressure builds, so is their on its long journey from the source, as Islands off Northumberland, where there’s results from 2017 recorded 1,104 harbour own livelihood threatened. When the the Blue Nile, to join the White Nile in both a fishery out of Seahouses, and a seals and 2,406 grey seals. Londoners may mighty Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe almost Khartoum, the Sudanese capital which is thriving tourist business to see the wildlife. regard those numbers as good news, but dried up, it had a drastic damaging also involved. Eventually, much depleted, With protection by the National Trust it’s not every fisherman loves seals as much. knock-on effect. This was the worst and dissipated in the delta, the Nile flows all increasing, especially the grey seals, like They’re competition and protected. The drought in years in the South African into the Mediterranean Sea, which had those that visit the Thames estuary much question is, as always, can we share place nation, which suffers from a collapsing been formed, would you believe, when further south, according to the Zoological (plaice?) and space in the sea? economy, resulting in massive food and a huge empty trough was filled with sea Society of London census. And yet more help is at hand seriously. water shortages. With the coronavirus water pouring in for millions of years from More help is hitting eco-tourism the biggest national the ! Man’s impact on Ben Webster in Times (30/5/2020) reports: at hand. It park receives a lot less income. Animals water and its wildlife has often been had to be, “The world’s largest superyacht has been stray, looking for food and water, so drastic with polluting and overfishing otherwise equipped to satisfy the whim of any they destroy crops and sometimes kill increasing all the time as humanity we would billionaire with three swimming pools and people who are trying to defend their expands into every river, lake, or seas of have been two helipads, just in case. only livelihood. Hwange Park can handle the world. It’s a race against time, but inundated in 15,000 elephants but it went up to some winnable. The River Thames in England, Close inspection reveals, however, that the centre 53,000. The drought is drying up water in the past functioned as a giant open this is no ordinary vessel for those with of London, sources and the underfunded wildlife sewer. During the Great Stink of 1858 extraordinary wealth. The 600ft REV as in June agency has been drilling wells as deep as Parliament was inoperable (? a previous Ocean, being fitted out in Brattvaag, 2011, 400 metres to find water for the animals. version of Covid-19). By the fifties the Norway, is about to earn its keep. when half a million tonnes But at least elephant poaching has been Thames had been declared biologically of raw household and industrial sewage Kjell Inge Rokke, made his fortune reduced – for now. dead, a victim of millions of tonnes of Elephants search for overflowed into the Thames, killing tens exploiting the oceans, building a fishing waste, including human excrement, water in drought conditions of thousands of fish and depositing faeces and oil exploration business. Now he tampons, sanitary towels and anything and condoms and other pollution along wants to give something back. else that our society flushes, washes and Rhinos too miles of riverbank (at least the condoms drains away. Huge “fatbergs” build up He plans to invite up to 400 marine suggest there were attempts to control yet from so-called “flushable” wet wipes, and scientists a year to spend three to four more human expansion and its resulting other plastic rubbish, we dispose without weeks each on board studying how to consumerism). A solution is quite literally thinking of the effect down the pipe, protect the ocean from climate change, in the pipeline; construction on the “super- downstream towards the river and the sea. overfishing and plastic waste. sewer” began in 2016, a huge project to Well, it does seem we can do better, not build a tunnel more than 7m diameter at Scientists will be given free use of the just down the Thames but all around the its widest, running 25 km at a cost of £4.2 Ocean, a research and expedition vessel, Australia: long and lovely British coastline it meets. billion and rising, like the waters. The for a third of the year. It will be used Environmental campaigners hope that the bill is to be picked up by Thames Water for expeditions for another third and for Covid-19 pandemic will change the way customers who will pay an estimated private charter for the rest of the year to Fire then flood we view our world (is it really “our” world/ extra £20 to £25, with questions being help fund the science. planet?) The recent rush to affluence has asked about value for money. But some The £280 million vessel has eight seen much of nature junked in favour of would argue the sights of seals, even a laboratories and scientific equipment In Australia bush fires swept development. And the seas have suffered whale or two! and the always hoped-for worth more than £20 million, including the country destroying people, everywhere we go; even now talking about resurgence of salmon will be well worth it. a submarine for three people that can homes and wildlife. Three billion mining the for minerals, as well They may seldom see the seahorses, rare descend one and a half miles. It also has a animals was the estimate. Then as the Moon. Why not repair, instead of endangered eels, even two shark species robot to survey and gather samples on the came the floods. yet more rape? In some selected places and some of the over 100 species of other sea bed at a depth of almost four miles. more than some 40 marine conservation fish in the murky water but many people zones (MCZ’s) are being set up with some will be pleased to know it’s being cleaned The ship has a unique trawl system to 12,000 sq km (4,600 sq miles) of England’s up and numbers should increase when gather samples of fish and suck them seas forming a so-called “blue belt”; also the huge project is completed. Covid-19 into a laboratory without crushing them,

76 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH WATER | 77 Mexico: allowing them to be released unharmed. breeding pairs (pairs – and how to count?). bleaching caused by warming seas and It uses up to 25 litres of diesel per nautical The population seems to be stable. Dr Tom climate change, due partly to burning coal, ColoradoColorado river battles mile at ten knots and can stay for 120 days Hart of Oxford University, who was on the have damaged great areas of the Reef. But Utah Nevada at sea without needing refuelling, allowing trip said it was: “incredible in this day and with coral “farming” working, and the reef California it to reach the most remote parts of the age that something so big can go unseen.” starting to fight back, it could be, for once, Colorado ocean. But the statistics can change, as the climate that wildlife is winning. We can definitely river does, affecting the food and location of the help that happen. Everyone that is! Mr Rokke, 61, began as a deckhand on a colony. It’s just the sort of things that REV Serious blockage fishing vessel after dropping out of school Hopefully that huge investment in a global Glen Canyon dam may check up on, using those impressive in Norway. He plans to spend about two survey of will lead to its Hoover dam tools for the job. months a year on board and hopes to join improvement not only for its wonderful, Pacific Arizona some of the science trips. With both REV and Mr Rokke, and, in unique nature but for humans too, if only Ocean All American canal Argentina with the purchase of a huge for selfish reasons – our own survival. We He amassed his £1.4 billion fortune Morelos dam chunk of ocean, big money has come to therefore come to the crunch in “Planet initially by running a fleet of fishing vessels Imperial Valley the aid of the natural world, especially Crunch” in 2020 and beyond. Dealing before moving into offshore drilling. His the sea. The same is true elsewhere: in firmly with both Covid-19 and climate Mexico company, Aker Energy, has a range of the Seychelles where Leonardo DiCaprio change are, and will be, essential to all Sea of Cortez subsidiaries focusing on oil and gas. He (he of Titanic) helped an enormous part life itself. No more dithering hither and has no plans to stop drilling and admits of the around the island thither at international conferences where that he is “part of the problem” that he is nation of the Seychelles. The president, the US, Russia, China and Australia try inviting scientists to investigate”. no less, Danny Fauré, 56, made a plea to postpone anything that gets in the The ambitious 250-day maiden voyage for the planet. Live. Underwater from way of so-called “progress”, endless, from Norway, via London, where a submersible. “The scientists have impossible, unsustainable growth. It Only there’ll be a display visit, can be seen spoken. We are running out of excuses to would take at least two more equivalent And over in Mexico, water became 1/3 of the as a link between some very promising not take action, and running out of time planet to keep the (only) one we another international issue. The Colorado developments in ocean conservation. For too.” About 5% of oceans are protected. have alive and well. The Moon and Mars river originates in the Rockies and flows world’s example, the recovery of Jamaica’s coral Countries have agreed to increase that to are basically sterile. Some say Mars looks through seven US states before reaching great rivers reefs in the Caribbean…On southwards, 10% by 2019. But experts and campaigners like how Earth will look like when we’re Mexico. It is supposed to flow into the Sea past Belize in Central America, where say between 30% and 50% outside done with it. So what’s left? As far as of Cortez but, instead, the river is stopped are free- the huge barrier reef there has been nations’ territorial waters should get we know, nothing at all. So, shouldn’t at the Hoover Dam US- Mexico border, flowing removed from the United Nations list of protected status to ensure marine diversity. we make the very best of what we’ve and on the other side the river channel is endangered world heritage sites. The That’s happened in New Caledonia, a got right here? That means protecting, nearly empty. Locals are now battling Belize government then implemented French overseas territory in the Pacific. nurturing, explaining the importance of to bring it back to life – so-called protection for the coastal “Underseas” is more accurate perhaps. the many life support systems on which “environmental injustice”. The forests and imposed a moratorium on oil 9,300 marine species inhabit near-pristine we depend – soils, aquifers, rainfall, huge lake behind the dam irrigates exploration around the reef. (That’s an coral reefs and now 11,000 sq miles of ice, winds and currents, pollinators, much of America’s food crops in interesting one for Mr Rokke, owner of water are safeguarded. As that legendary, biological abundance and diversity. The the Imperial Valley. Man-made REV, who made his enormous money out pioneering, diving Frenchman Jacques oligarchic control of wealth politics lakes can Only a third of the world’s great attract wildlife of oil and fish). Then on to the famous Cousteau said many years ago: “For most media and public discourse explains the rivers remain free-flowing, due Galapagos Islands, mostly protected, at of history man has had to fight nature to comprehensive institutional failure now to the impact of dams that are least in theory, but shark-stealing for their survive; in this century he is beginning pushing us hard. Think of Donald Trump severely reducing the benefits that fins for the Chinese is always a threat. to realise that, in order to survive he and his cabinet of millionaire cronies; the healthy rivers provide for people and Further south again there’s Argentina, in must protect it.” So, today, in his happy influence of the Koch brothers in funding nature. From the Danube to the Yangtze South America, creating its first marine diving grounds of French New Caledonia, rightwing organisations; the Murdoch most large rivers are fragmented and parks that will provide 101,000 sq km the French navy checks up from sea, air empire and its massive climate science degraded. Untouched rivers are largely of protected ocean for sharks, sea lions, and space. Now, even in some places, denial; or the oil and motor companies confined to remote places such as the Venice: penguins and other species. The measure albatrosses carry temporary cameras, and whose lobbying presents a faster shift Arctic and Amazonia. China, the builder increases the country’s conserved oceans, transmitters to monitor illegal overfishing. to new technologies. (George Monbiot. of the world’s biggest hydroelectric power City underwater to nearly 10% of its total territory, which Chinese, watch out for the avian “spy in the Guardian 14/11/2018). BP, for example, project, the Three Gorges has announced of Swansea’s Centre for Sustainable is close to its commitment to the 2020 sky” “sentinel of the seas”! The Philippines continue to promote green energy, but the start of 25 new energy projects with a Aquatic Research. “These dams and goal agreed by the UN’s Convention on and Thailand allow their beautiful beaches the commitments are comparatively total investment of 58bn yuan (£6.4bn). weirs pepper Europe’s rivers and Biological Diversity. All the way from to “rest” banning mass tourism (though vague, and are serious contenders for With a total capacity reaching 3.92m prevent migratory fish, like salmon, Norway and the Arctic to the Antarctic, Covid-19 probably achieved that. Thanks.) the champions of greenwashing – Shell kilowatts, the projects are scattered from swimming upstream to reach their taking back possession of the city”. Sky to one of the most sensitive and revealing Australia pledged $500m (£275m) to rescue is not far behind. Fossil fuels are, in fact, over 14 provinces and regions, and are spawning grounds in river headquarters. to sea… the end of this journey and this ecosystems on Earth. A previous unknown the ailing Great Barrier Reef from pollution probably on the way out and that may, expected to create 17,000 jobs. Some of They also stop vital nutrients flowing chapter too. colony of 1½ million Adélie penguins had and to fighting the spread of crown-of- just may, alleviate the real and urgent downstream, to the detriment of marine these new lakes behind the dams may or What with the virus, and “overtourism” been discovered on the Danger Islands thorns – a poisonous coral-eating threat of climate change. The question: ecosystems. may not prove to be a benefit to wildlife from cruise ships, can there be any good at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. predator. A generous gesture from an how can the people of the planet adjust to and local people. Certainly any migrating news? Well, Venice’s murky waters have Scientists launched an expedition to the environmentally insensitive government cope with all this, including products we And then there are the floods, fish could be affected. turned transparent and fish and dolphins islands in 2015 after satellite images picked that ignores climate change, the burning have come to depend on so much? At least disrupting life as we know it. And sea “In Europe we have detected 400,000 have been seen as the virus empties the up patches of penguin guano (=poo). and shipping of coal, through a channel Trump’s gone. Now that all too familiar level rise. Venice, in Italy, where fresh barriers and by the end of 2019 we city of boats, which stir up sediment. (The Now, with drones to estimate the size of carved through the reef itself, defiling a word: “unprecedented”, or should it be and sea water meet. Hotelier Gloria estimate that we’ll have 600,000”, said Beggiato: “Nature has returned and is Guardian 21/3/2020). the colony, they found it holds 751,000 wonder visible from space. Widespread “depresidented”? Professor Carlos Garcia de Leaniz, director

78 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH WATER | 79 Chapter 14 The Media In this mosaic of life, how many can you identify?

A stork on television – so many channels, cable, satellite – a multi media world on a planet of huge biodiversity. But for how long? And can we turn losers into winners?

For the good news read on…

80 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH THE MEDIA | 81

He’s washing not just his hands! Ever since early 2020, almost everything, everywhere has been disrupted by the really scary Covid-19 Costa Rica rainforest

And, don’t forget it all started in a cruel “wet” animal market in Wuhan, China, a disgrace to all humanity, which, some say, got what it deserved. A pandemic. Climate Change. Biodiversity loss. No wonder 2020/2021 turns out to be the crunch for the planet. If ever humans reach the brink it is/was then. Thank you Greta and David for warning us, and let’s hope the next chapters in “Planet Crunch” will offer some encouragement via the media and money. But is it too late? Is David Attenborough there good news? Yes, later. Saved by the vaccine? Maybe. Richard Brock, David on the way up a giant Who’s winning the war? Attenborough, Keith rainforest tree, filmed Rodgerson and Martin by a BBC crew for The Living Planet. He also Saunders having BIG rose through the ranks a gourmet meal in a tent of the BBC to the very in the Canadian Arctic in top. He then returned to 1981 whilst looking for a very different jungle, narwhals, unicorns of which he preferred, and the seas, for The Living became one of the most Planet series respected and trusted broadcasters on the planet. And later, about it and its problems, and how they might, just might, be solved. and small

A drone – a stork’s eye view Down amongst the blues

Wildlife and environmental film making The result, time after time, were viewers have come a long way, but the question going to bed depressed (again). We has to be how much difference can it make decided to try a different approach. In a when it’s so sorely needed? Long ago a film about the Costa Rica rain forest, we German Heinz Sielmann made a film right started with a giant tree being felled (bad Attenborough turns his inside a woodpecker’s nest. Back then, news), but reversed the shot with the in the days of ancient water-coolers (if idea of reforesting, repairing the jungle. emphasis to conservation there were any?) that was the talk of the Of course we still needed excellent nature On many moment. Not unlike the recent plastic photography, to show the intricacy of that locations revelation in Planet Earth II. In the past beautiful ecosystem. Also, films like that, Now Sir David Attenborough, the greatest for the eight-part series. Also a book to people were amazed to see the wonders of translated into Spanish, can be shown in of wildlife broadcasters, has turned his go with it. There were also local narration the natural world on TV. And as Sir David Costa Rica itself, and also right around the emphasis to conservation. His reach is in 10 languages, with Spanish (a huge Attenborough says viewers won’t care world too. And today we have all kinds global, his message is emphatic. Save the global audience) by film stars Penelope about the subjects unless they know about of social media to spread the word, and planet. Now! Too late is never. Beautiful Cruz for Spain and Salma Hayek for Latin them. That’s what the wildlife media can pictures to young and old, rich and poor. pictures are a powerful weapon as his America. Such celebrities and the money do. On the other hand, to show pristine Up amongst our storks many epic series have shown. But how that can come with them is a vital asset places, and wildlife with no problems is a much actual action has resulted? Will the to the natural world, as we’ll see. Netflix lie, because, mostly, it’s not true today. On a gyro Covid-19 and climate change be averted? are careful about revealing statistics, From those jungles to both As well as the ever-improving You might think making these wonderful but they claim (The Times 22/1/2020) poles, and much much more photography, stories, films was a lot of fun. Well, filming in the “they attracted more new subscribers structures and messages Arctic for The Living Planet back in 1981 than expected at the end of 2019, but need to be clever. A simple was not always so, as the crew shows. still disappointed investors last night by actually viewed? And for how long? Who device we tried was to avoid Even David seems less than sparkling! missing its target for the USA and offering were they? What ages? Streaming coming the “bulldozer/chainsaw More “life” series followed by David’s main a pessimistic forecast for the coming round the corner from serious very moments”. That’s when the output, plus BBC and many skilled film quarter.” It said that it had 167 million rich contenders, such as Apple, Disney, wonderful place you’ve been teams around the world. In 2019, a four paying subscribers at the end of 2019 up Amazon…yes it’s a jungle out there, enjoying is brought crashing year project, filmed in 50 countries, called from 158 million at the end of September equivalent to anything in Costa Rica… down at the end of the film. Or underwater on Our Planet was shown on Netflix with and above its forecast of 166 million. The or even the BBC! – with its 20,000 or so Ross’s tiny screen David providing the English commentary big question is how many subscribers species as I remember it!

82 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH THE MEDIA | 83 the oceans to heat up, which destroys coral reefs and then causes widespread bleaching. They often say the Great Barrier Reef is one of the few features that can be well seen from space, as well as the Rift Valley in Africa and the Great Wall of China. From that viewpoint it would seem the greed for coal is pretty stupid, and Australia looks like a sad story. There is an ever-increasing But the media may not be telling us how it King of the really is. There’s that (in)famous Australian diversity of wildlife shows and jungle of family, the Murdoch empire, of whom places all around the world wildlife TV Rupert could be said to have influenced the world’s public, as have other media Sir David’s habitats are as contrasting Series stand-in for regular presenters Ant barons and their dynasties, with reference, as a freezing beach in Iceland for Seven and Dec, Holly Willoughby later found or especially not, to climate change. The Sex & Worlds, One Planet (which went on to win herself the official two metres apart in younger James Murdoch declared that a narration Emmy for David), to a pop star the studio, as the virus spread on. But he felt frustrated by News Corp and Fox Violence appearance at Glastonbury, in 2019 ahead also spreading, perhaps during lockdown coverage of climate change. There had been suggestions that James would join Nature programmes of top of the bill Kylie Minogue. Thousands at home, were press items about climate Open mouth threat cheered as he said “That is more than a change still inexorably changing whilst the combined behemoth of 21st Century – cameraman gets cover even the more Fox and Disney. In fact, he walked away Hippo stares the message million bottles of water that have not been people, and the media, are understandably intimate details of with billions of dollars. In the process Unlikely pair drunk by you”, a reference to cutting back pre-occupied by the oncoming disease. – small hippo, on plastic use, the crisis highlighted in Politicians are going to have to make he left his brother Lachlan, in charge of Nervous life in the wild giant tortoise a new, much smaller Fox Corporation cameraman Blue Planet II”. “There hasn’t been a series some really tough decisions in the near in the last 30 or 40 years where I haven’t future if we’re to stave off terrible things which controls a group of TV channels made an appeal at the end about caring for happening to hundreds of millions of our including Donald Trump’s favourite outlet, the natural world. At the time, I dare say fellow human beings. If we are completely Fox News. It’s that sort of channel. So “the Jaws bit the cinema, sharks have Ever since people thought we were cranks”, Sir David unprepared for that discussion it will make media” has become a massive animal, been destroyed – not only their reputation, said. And in more sedate surroundings, the chances of change virtually impossible. reaching out devouring and copulating, like but by humans, hooking them on fishing in January 2020, at the Royal Gallery of That may well have been the case since those “ruthless predators” in a National lines, like this harmless blue shark killed in the House of Lords he continued then as a result of not telling Geographic series. Or the BBC for that Majorca with predictably inflammatory with the “moment of crisis the truth. See the attempts matter. Its future, and the licence fee, headlines. Blame National Geographic has come”. Down the road of Malcolm Turnbull to have been in the balance for a long time. for this, apparently a conservation outfit, Carrie Symonds was trying achieve meaningful Now there are more and more ways to get but consistently using misleading vicious, to help the oceans and change on carbon your wildlife and environment pleasure exaggerated adjectives that are only badgers, supported by Climate change: emissions, when and information, and this may be affected there, apparently, to get ratings. Sad. And a photogenic little dog that prime by Covid-19, because of having to be at Monster Croc Still happening really bad for sharks. Typical: called Dilyn. Her fiancé minister of home in lockdown. You can learn with which was relentless animal torture on In a dribbling Wrangler at the time had not yet despite the Australia, who the (OU) which is the Nat Geo Wild (18/10/20). Please stop it. mood? Ask your dad been hit by Covid-19, media’s focus on was ejected twice UK’s largest academic community with incubating fiercely in the Coronavirus by colleagues over 170,000 students, many aiming for a Wuhan in China. who couldn’t degree: “Learning about the environment face unpopular is crucial if we are to conserve it in the Chris Packham (an One wonders what the demographics and they are, effectively being demonised. So-called blue-chip, that classic style, decisions – or, worse face of ever-increasing threats. But it’s Attenborough in-waiting?) are for the ever-increasing diversity of It is us that are the deadly predators. The may or may not be helpful in saving the didn’t believe they also a life-enhancing experience. As new tried to use his influence with wildlife shows, now including better audience attention span is limited in these planet. Hawaii: Earth’s Tropical Islands. were necessary. Worse technologies allow more and more of us the media to make a difference at stories, more truth, and a much wider days of a small screen at the bus stop, or on BBC 2. 9pm. “Tonight we visit blue Hawaii was to come when his to observe the wildlife around us, we have a BAFTA Television Lecture: “Wildlife spectrum of content. The range is from the train, or in the lunch hour. How much and are instantly plunged into the warm successor Scott Morrison had to a fantastic opportunity to gain a richer programmes have failed wholeheartedly… so-called, modestly, “milestone”, “epic”, useful information can be conveyed then – tropical shallows, where humpback whales return from holiday in Hawaii to defend understanding of the world we live in.” some film-makers have made parts of the “landmark” or even “mega-landmark”, on the move? spend an idyllic winter. Then it’s on to digging out, exporting and burning tons (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall) (Hugh’s with massive budgets, years in the making, lava-spewing volcanoes, somersaulting world look like an absolute utopia…has Violence – and then there’s the sex of and tons of coal in which, allegedly he Wild West BBC Two/OU). Then Sir Ridley and the formidable “most trusted man in manta rays and beak-clattering albatrosses. it made any difference?...has the love of course. In 2015 the TV vet Mark Evans had serious commercial interests, along Scott, director of films such asAlien and the country” right down to exploitative There are no depressing climate warnings the audience for these places transferred presented a nature programme which with his mates. Climate change, huge fires, Gladiator is planning a giant outdoor National Geographic Wild who consistently here. Instead the series is all ultra-scenic into any real change?...well, no it hasn’t… dared to look at sex, pregnancy and birth in then floods were, of course, nothing to do screen in London, the Outernet. Festivals feature shows that seem obsessed with vistas – the photography helped by gliding we’ve lost between 40-50 per cent of wildlife the animal world for a joint PBS/Channel with burning all that coal! And much of it and touring films in cinemas may also violence, conflict and death, “Fang TV” – a drones – and the overall feeling of a blissful across the world – the only one like it 4 production. Perhaps a useful education was sent to India to pollute the sky there, appear as and when. Even a huge Live Aid- truly bloodthirsty channel from the US transportation. Dive in”. It sounds it would anywhere.” When the pandemic arrived he show? – entitled “Born in the Wild” in discolour and damage the Taj Mahal. A like (rebooted) event is in the works with where perhaps there is an appetite for this almost be worth being locked down for. formed the “Self Isolating Bird Club”. Being the US, but retitled “Sex in the Wild” in dispute in Australia blew up about a huge the biggest stars trying to raise the biggest kind of thing, especially amongst young Not so, perhaps, for Meghan Markel’s a bit of a rebel with a cause, he challenged the UK. One episode showed elephants proposed coal mine in Queensland which money. The question is can enough money males? Example – TV quote: “Africa’s Duchess of Sussex’s narrated, Elephant the hit ITV series to stop “animal abuse” on heat. “To attract the ladies, he dribbles would have meant dredging a channel save the planet? It’s a financial crunch and deadliest. Fangs that kill. The deadly (Disney). “Maybe people are sick of experts on I’m a Celebrity, exploiting “unattractive pungent urine almost constantly”, went in the Great Barrier Reef for ships taking a fantastic opportunity…if we change our teeth of some of Africa’s most ferocious narrating nature documentaries. To anyone creatures” eg insects not the celebrities, the narration. Not perhaps the best form the fossil fuel to be burnt far away, thus ways? The Perfect Planet BBC1 January predators.” Especially younger viewers of raised on Attenborough though, it all feels “the whole thing utterly appals me and goes of education for a young viewer, who then creating more emissions and adding to 2021. Yes, all very well until the last in the these series may well get the impression shallow.” (The Times, Ed Potton 1/4/2020 against everything I seek to achieve as a looks at both parents. global warming, which, in turn, causes series. Can it make any difference? that wild animals are vicious, to be feared, April Fool’s Day?) broadcaster” (The Daily Star 10/11/2019). It must.

84 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH THE MEDIA | 85 Chapter 15 Money goes in many directions… 15 So money goes in many directions – some good, World cities with the most skyscrapers some bad, depending on your attitude, and your own Money Number of buildings completed in 2019 personal position. Some are rich and unhappy with it, that are 200m in height or greater others less so, but striving hard, led on by commercial 9 encouragement and pressure. And, sadly, the many 8 8 millions of poor and very poor and destitute are 7 A Question. increasing all the time, whilst making, inevitably, and 6 often unknowingly, demands on the planet that can A Very Big Question. never be met. 4 3 3 The answer could be a vital one for us But can they? Surely, if we can put a man on the Moon, 3 3 3 Shenzhen 3 all, including the nature of the world. we can put our planet where it should be. Thriving, with Dubai New York Chongqing Kuala It’s a financial crunch. Could money a promising future, and not a diseased, destroyed and Lumpur Mumbai Bangkok Busan save the planet? That probably seems a derelict one. Nanjing Xiamen Taiyuan Miami naïve question to high-powered bankers Toronto or low-powered politicians around the world. But these days, as Covid-19 and climate change threaten all life on Indian Mostly up! Earth, it seems to me at least useful to Ocean “Green celebrities” go through the motions. TANZANIA SEYCHELLES can set a valuable example to their fans Aldabra

MOZAMBIQUE But it could be that certain individuals connection between Hollywood and can make a real difference. So-called British royalty. MADAGASCAR “green celebrities” can set a valuable Mauritius The funding for the Seychelles project example to their fans, often a huge 300 miles was made possible after $22 million of following, on social media, whether national debt owed to the UK, France, the stars are royalty, play football, are Belgium and Italy was bought up by in movies, fashion or music. Sir David the Nature Conservancy, an American Attenborough must surely be amongst charity. It also raised $5 million from “a model for them, and has immense influence. For a start where, and in what form, The result is having to move the capital, recycling of raw materials has fallen – we donors including $1 million each These people have international reach are the apparently vast amounts of Jakarta. As you do. Tony Blair, a possibly are, in fact, consuming the planet. from DiCaprio and Robert Grantham, new and appeal (sometimes for donations) money quoted by the mega-money wise ex-British prime minister is to Eco-activists like Extinction a British asset manager. DiCaprio and may feel proud to have done their operators? From the Wall Street Journal join the Crown Prince of Abu Rebellion want central banks conservation said “the deal was a model for new bit to save part of the natural world. of 15/1/2020 via The i newspaper: ”JP Dhabi and a Japanese billionaire to help the booming conservation projects”. And he Take Leonardo DiCaprio, 45, who you Morgan Chase and Co’s fourth-quarter in a colossal project to move The US market (as was) for projects” certainly knows about models, lucky might imagine can well afford it, as he profit soared, closing out the bank’s the waterlogged city to the economy remains green bonds- chap! But one has to wonder how Leonardo DiCaprio uses private jets to various abodes and best year on record and producing more jungles of Borneo, an area debt issued to all this will pan out after Covid-19, strong with the yachts around the world. He’s already evidence that the US economy remains that will surely be wrecked fund climate and including searching for oil, and the spent a fortune in central Africa to save strong. The nation’s largest bank report completely. The deal nation’s largest environmental income from tourism and fishing, for rainforests and employ local staff in a a profit of $8.52bn (£6.55bn) or $2.57 a agreed was $23 billion bank reporting projects so as Seychelles the population of 98,000. As the world protected area, effectively a war zone. share.” Just think how many hospitals, during a visit to thrive, and, becomes more aware of ecological a profit of Off the East African coast in the Indian homes for poor people, or wildernesses to Abu Dhabi by President also clampdown Project: change, and the real cost to the planet, Ocean are the beautiful Seychelles and their wildlife you could buy for that Widodo of Indonesia. That $8.52bn on the investment the seriously “big boys” are getting islands, with Aldabra, and DiCaprio sort of cash. In the meantime UK aid is the cost of too many people, mammoths standing in the Safeguard an area increasingly sensitive. “Greenwashing” made a Titanic effort there too. The money is invested in oil and gas projects too much traffic, sea level rise, way of change. Blackrock, twice the size of Britain may not help, or spending big money scheme will help to safeguard an area in Africa and South East Asia, despite and extreme weather. And that the world’s largest investor has on PR or lobbying politicians, using Fishing and over twice the size of Britain. Fishing and the government’s insistence it wants to deadly combination will be repeated in the joined an influential pressure questionable deals. One of the richest over-exploitation will be banned in the lead the world in the race to hit net zero near future everywhere else. Construction group calling for the biggest polluters to exploration will men in the UK is Sir Jim Ratcliffe, of new reserves, while tourism will be emissions. According to Greenpeace, the of the new Jakarta is due to begin in reduce their emissions after criticisms that be banned Ineos, who uses sport to look good – restricted. Overfishing and the killing bane of fossil fuel companies, CDC Group, 2021 and 1½ million civil servants will it was undermining action to address the even green. Cycling, football, sailing, Tourism will be of dolphins, sharks and turtles as the UK’s development finance agency has begin to relocate there in 2024 at a cost of climate crisis. Blackrock manages assets athletics, motor racing – even building bycatch has taken its toll. The islands invested $785m (£627m), saying that only $34 billion (The Times 15/1/2020). But worth $6.9 trillion, including the major oil restricted a Land Rover type, the 4x4 Grenadier, and waters of that tropical nation are a tiny fraction of its funds go into oil and Covid-19 will surely have delayed that producers such as Shell, Exxon Mobil and which is a £1 billion project. Some of Famous donors include: home to spinner dolphins, lemon gas. They say. And BP drills on to massive plan. Meanwhile Indonesians keep on the always-controversial BP. Extinction this is eco-friendly. Some less so. Like and tiger sharks, the dugong or sea profits, depleting the planet, but also increasing, driving and causing increased Rebellion said: “Blackrock remains waist- Leonardo DiCaprio petrochemicals for plastic now seen to cow, and 100,000 rare giant tortoises. fuelling our lifestyles and those aspiring climate change and sea level rise. As all deep in fossil fuels, and is the world’s and Robert Grantham be the scourge of the planet from pole One of the reserves includes lovely to copy them around the world. That this continues everywhere, the world is top backer of companies that destroy the to pole, mountain-top to deep-sea, in Desroches Island, close to where the will include Indonesia with its huge and using up a fortune of natural resources Amazon rainforest and ignore the rights of rivers, the sky, and in us too – long term Duke and Duchess of Cambridge spent rapidly-increasing population. per year for the first time, while global indigenous people.” effects unknown. their honeymoon. A (not so) common

86 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH MONEY | 87 Dubai Excess

$ Billions of products were sold Shop ‘til you drop in 2018 Otters and “ It costs a lot to penguins in with pesticides toxic the aquarium look this cheap” to humans in the mall in famous quip from the desert and bees legendary country singer, Dolly Parton

Looking to the future – if any?

Ratcliffe and his huge fortune has a lot with tobacco leaf by more Fashion is teetering on its high heels. asked to pay 1p on every item they to answer for, though plastic is crucial than 350,000 farmers in 37 At one, the top end, are its huge produce to fund recycling. The material, and anyway, can’t be uninvented. countries where, perhaps, Tall bird, profits and extravagant travelling government rejected the proposed The PPE (personal protection equipment) pesticides protect the tallest tower circuses to New York, London, Milan levy, a decision that was baffling, saga against Covid-19 was proof of that. world-addicted crop, but and Paris. There, at the Balenciaga foolish and short-sighted in the But where did all that disposable plastic create a double whammy of Show, water and the climate crisis extreme. There’s a global cost – end up? All around the world where death. That’s a high price was the theme including designs and that includes the voracious the coronavirus spread. Other “bad big for smokers to pay. BAT’s no one would ever wear in the consumption by Dubai – and the boys” include some of the world’s richest revenue is some $26 billion. real world. And in Milan the virus lower the price tags the more companies which make pesticides, and So there really does seem to be an awful In charge wiped most every other story off expensive to the planet it becomes. millions of dollars a year. They pose lot of money sloshing around the planet, fashion’s own front page. A London “Slave labour” to build Dubai’s severe hazards to human health or the for good and bad. What are the chances label’s £120 million turnover came fragile opulence earn a pittance, in environment, analysts have found – in of it being used more for good than Skiing, from Japan in 2019. That was then, the same sad league as perhaps one other words, they can kill people as well as bad? Later chapters in “Planet Crunch”, with the desert. Almost everything has to be but now uncertain Dubai must be of their relatives back in Bangladesh the pests that they are aimed at. Residues in the light of Covid-19, will update that food on imported, costs more, not only money, worried – “Malls of Death”, some sweatshops…But without those jobs may reach watercourses, and eventually question. Read on? In case you thought the side but pollution by shipping, aircraft and say. At the bottom end, fast fashion they have nothing. Back in UK you the sea, damaging all that lives there. being super-rich made you super-happy, thousands of cars, many of them luxury is a killer too, costing the Earth and can buy a bra for £2, a bikini for £1 Poisoned fish kill too – the people who well that’s not always the case. The 230ft models. Others, the human sort, are needing to slow down fast. But are (from Missguided – yes), trainers for depend on them. Remember DDT? Today superyacht Nourah of Riyadh, worth £65 tempted to the glamorous shops – for them the customers listening? They’re £700; cheaper ones with the hashtag the pesticides market is dominated by million, had a spot of bother in dry dock in this is retail heaven, where “spend, spend, teens and twenty somethings adding #WashEmYouPlonkers. The amount Bayer, BASF, Syngenta, FMC and Corteva Greece, when it collapsed there and then. spend” is the message (also adopted by up to a surge in sales of £473.7 the fashion industry contributed (formerly Dow and DuPont). These five Hopefully the hot tub and cinema weren’t Boris Johnson at the lockdown unlocking million for the four months to the in the UK GDP was £32.3 billion companies sold $4.8 bn of products in damaged, and they will soon be able to in June 2020). “Build it and they will end of 2019. Most of Boohoo’s in 2017. Luxury giant Burberry 2018. The Unearthed and Public Eye enjoy the Titanic movie, and even join come”. And that amount of concrete, dresses cost less than £5 – in a burned unsold goods to protect its analysis calculated that almost a quarter Leonardo DiCaprio in helping the oceans now increasing around the world is a frequent sale, £3. Many will be brand; later PPE production for the of sales by these five firms were of we all depend on. Back in Saudi Arabia a huge use of resources and the production worn once, photographed, shared NHS would do a better job. And products containing pesticides linked to $500 bn futuristic coastal city at Neom was Man-made island on social media, then returned the planet? The fashion industry is of CO2. Glass and tarmac too. But the human health effects, including known in “crisis”, a rather bigger problem than tallest “vanity” tower, air-conditioned properties or chucked out on their way to as harmful to the environment as or presumed carcinogens. And 10% of the yacht. Crown Prince Mohammed bin whole islands (of course) dredged from the landfill. The clothing and footwear aviation and shipping combined, sales concerned were pesticides that are Salman, 34, must have been gutted. It’s to once-fertile sea have been sold, with mixed industries produce more than 8 per as you get in Dubai. What you toxic to bees. Another 4% of sales were be a “green city”. An expensive step in the success. As the climate heats up, they talk cent of global greenhouse gases with could get there at a Fashion Week of chemicals acutely toxic to humans, right direction. of cooling the sand on the beaches – even nearly three fifths of clothing ending are some very high heeled Moon the analysis found. About 200,000 The good news is that there’s already the bus shelters are air-conditioned! Being burned up in incinerators, or landfill. Star Shoes worth $20 million (£16 human suicides each year are attributable something to compare it with. The Dubai, it has to have snow and a ski-run. That’s rubbish – what a con – million) featuring 30 carats of to pesticide poisoning almost all in bad news is that it’s called Dubai. Not And an impressive aquarium, including people talk about: “Sustainability.” diamonds and pieces of meteorite developing countries. By killing those ace everyone will agree with that. And it’s penguins – nice and cool, and nice for the Yes, “sustainability” – do they know discovered in 1576. Which is where pollinators, bees, and other vital insects, now trying to be greener, if only to attract a consuming masses to see. They shop as what it means? They should. we came in… we run the risk of mass human suicides larger range of visitors than those addicted if there’s no tomorrow and one wonders Clothing companies have been anyway. That’s if tobacco doesn’t get there to “bling-on-sea”, an extraordinary what tomorrow will turn out to be like, Will they sell? first. British American Tobacco is supplied concoction on the coast, a creek and with this, apparently, endless flow of stuff. Or go under?

88 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH MONEY | 89 Sunset on Dubai – Sign of Flamingo City the times? End of the day or even Dubai itself? Expo 2020. No go. Covid-19

It’s no secret that the cheeky lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret has failed to hold up, and that smog, air pollution and sea level rise are growing problems as is the case The weight of risk now worldwide. In Dubai they Flamingos. too high? always seem to believe everything Tall towers. But the is possible. Until it probably won’t be. Will it become another race is on Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, or even elsewhere to build Detroit, USA; abandoned places, ever higher. where archaeologists of the future will wonder, “What happened What for? here? What went wrong?” Status? Famously, when the financial crisis hit Dubai, there was mass panic. Many residents weren’t. They had How high/vain to get out. Quick. They simply can you get? drove to the airport left the car – a Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Mercedes Hormuz or some such, jumped on an Emirates plane leaving the car Strategic waterway behind – not expecting to return? Dubai’s that ephemeral. Is Dubai Doomed? Who can say: Is that weird invention sustainable? But at least the local flamingos have a future. And they can fly away too. And not want to come back?

From Dubai, the pink flocks fly over hardly the best place to be when the oil, land or sea. That’s the Straits of the Straits of Hormuz, one of the most dreaded virus hits. Nearby Dubai wants Hormuz for you, the lifeline of the strategic waterways on the planet. tourists but not deadly ones. It wants now-strongly criticized fossil fuels like Another is claimed off a belligerent China big spenders though thousands of poorly petroleum and natural gas. Massive as we’ll see. Below the flamingos there’s paid Asians are acceptable to build that money is to be made there, as well as an extraordinary contrast. Passing Dubai monstrosity in the desert. As ever, with on military hardware such as aircraft is a cruise ship where the girls romp in humans, money counts. It’s what drives carriers that patrol the Straits. The cost hot tubs and just over there the boys are the world (or rather insects do, as has of these ships is unbelievable. The in their uniforms on a warship. These been pointed out). Priorities are strange. Royal Navy’s £ billions carriers lack are ships that pass in the day. In the In an age when we compete, at great sufficient support ships, with funding meantime, the bruised cruising business cost, to build the tallest “vanity” tower, for its Lightning II fighter jets unclear. has sank almost without trace, along which is not much use to anyone except For unclear read-nuclear expensive with the grounded frustrating airlines, property developers, we also continue kit whether underwater submarines like Bloody (expensive) Airways, Uneasy to throw a fortune at so-called ‘defence’, or rockets with warheads that can Jet and Lyingair (no refunds) and other with arms races around the world. We obliterate much of our delicate planet Pollution leading to travel. Such has been the impact of seem to be a fundamentally aggressive caught in the crossfire. Will it happen? climate change and sea Covid-19. An infected cruise ship is and territorial species, whether it’s Or will Covid-19 do the job? level rise

90 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH MONEY | 91 Captain Sir Tom Moore brought the world together…

What happens if we Sky high funding cannot save our planet? to explore a future in space

Idea: perhaps from an enthusiastic (as ever) estate agent or property developer… ”Now we’ve trashed the Earth, can I sell you plots on the Moon (back or front?) Nice view. Or for a bargain price, bits of Mars (not the chocolate sort).” “Are there any potential amenities?” Answer Is it a right now – zero. Cost? Getting there, waste of Amazing war veteran living there. A good idea? Probably space? not. Both the Moon and Mars are very Over £30 million raised for NHS expensive to get to, very difficult to adjust to. But hold the front page! They’ve found dried mud on Mars (but that’s all really). Really. And, amazing, they’ve got a whiff of gas on Venus (September Cheaper to stay in California? That’s where arms race. A good time to be in bombs 2020. Nothing else though.) Where can Tesla car tycoon Elon Musk tweeted his and bullets – with US and Britain leading I get tickets? Try Bezos, Branson and ambitions recently for Space X to build a sales.” Well done. Starting at the cheaper Musk (does better). Perhaps that money city of one million people on Mars by 2050. end of the bonanza of death, there’s Is that goodbye to all those green And Trump promised to “totally destroy” “In that light, one has to question whether would be better spent on repairing the The sort of money being spent on these Babcock in the UK who said that operating initiatives, promises, and commitments to North Korea, encourages police officers to spending between £2 bn and £3 bn (actual Earth whilst it’s still possible and there are projects is sky high. Billions, upon billions, profits, in a trading update for the first nine tackle climate change, which is arguably bump suspects’ heads and muses publicly government figures are hard to come by) many of its inhabitants who want it to be dollars, pounds, Yen – where, in Japan, in months of this financial year, which runs a bigger threat than the scary pandemic about murdering 10 million Afghans and on maintaining a Trident submarine on done. Surely, that’s where the millions 2023, Yusaku Maezawa, 44, a lonely online until the end of March, would probably itself. Some say Covid-19 is a rehearsal for tweets that 52 Iranian cultural sites, and constant nuclear deterrent patrol at sea of dollars should go? But it doesn’t. How retailing tycoon aimed to be the first paying be only about £540 million (The Times global warming and sea level rise. But now Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND – when the missiles are not targeted, and short-sighted can we be? Look no further passenger on the Space X flight advertised 13/2/2020). (Note the words: “only” and for some good news from the military with VERY HARD. “He enjoyed describing have been at “several days notice to fire” than the disappointed men of the Middle by American entrepreneur Elon Musk. “about” = always useful). Next up the the amazing story of the late Captain Sir graphic violence perhaps because in his for over 20 years for lack of any perceived East whose “green city” Neom is still just He’s looking for a girlfriend to go with money scale, “BAE Britain’s leading arms Tom Moore who raised some £38 million mind it evokes shows and films rather nuclear threat – is now a proper use of an idea – albeit a very expensive one. him (not your average date – RB). “I want manufacturer sold £15 bn worth of arms from all around the world for the NHS, than reality”. (TV guide 21/2/2020). (And our rapidly vanishing national financial Nearby the United Arab Emirates, not to shout our love and world peace from and services to the Saudi military in the the National Health Service in the UK. He the sort of wildlife rubbish that degrades resources. This is on top of some £60 famous for thinking small, believe they’re outer space…where I can see the beauty last five years during which Riyadh was achieved that by walking round and round animals in “fang TV”. RB) Apparently, bn – plus to replace the submarines, their heading for Mars. And maybe building and uniqueness of the planet Earth” and heavily involved in a deadly bombing his garden 100 times leading up to his what we really need, instead of a much missiles and other assorted costs associated some very nice, very tall hotels there? therefore, with that privileged view, spare a campaign in Yemen.” (The Guardian 100th birthday on 30th April 2020. That better NHS, a much healthier planet with Trident.” bit of extra cash say £1 bn, from his £1.4 bn 15/4/2020). It was probably once a extraordinary military man brought the and global peace, is a superfast missile, That’s Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Emirates Cmdr Robert Forsyth RN (Ret’d) as Japan’s 17th richest person. When you beautiful part of the planet. Lockheed world together, uniquely. Which is more the sort that can so usefully travel at up as astronauts in Russian rockets. Maybe Former executive officer of a Polaris think of the many billionaires and mere Martin, the American conglomerate which than you could say for a certain Donald to 21,000 mph, avoiding all defences. the property developer persuaded them. submarine and nuclear submarine millionaires and the then comparatively is by far the world’s largest arms producer Trump, who seemed to have done exactly There’s apparently a hypersonic boom The late astronomer, Carl Sagan said, commanding officer “That’s home. That’s us.” of this pale poor super-rich, just very rich, and the at one point increasing by $4.2 bn to $116 the opposite in the USA – hardly United. on its way as Russia and China compete blue dot. “Our posturing, our imagined mere rich you see that, in theory, they bn in a single day. A single day. Think His country has been presided thus: from with America’s “war room”, setting aside Cmdr Robert Green RN (Ret’d) self-importance, the delusion that we have could buy up nature and save it for future how much and how many desperate his luxury golfing resort he boasted that more than $3 billion in the latest global Former Fleet Air Arm nuclear-armed some privileged position in the universe, generations! Increasingly young people fishermen around the world you could pay the US had… “just spent Two Trillion arms race with the sort of toys that aircraft bombardier-navigator today will urge that to happen. Hopefully with that sort of money, to stop overfishing Dollars on Military Equipment. We are the Donald Trump liked to play with. From are challenged by this point of pale light. (They should know – RB) Our planet is a lonely speck in the great Mr Maezawa will find a girlfriend. It the oceans and allow them to recover to a biggest and by far the BEST in the World! the sky above to the deepest sea, all once enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, may help that he has a large collection sustainable future. Or how many women If Iran attacks an American Base, or any unpolluted and supporting mankind that in all this vastness, there is no hint that of bespoke suits and Bugattis and Aston could be helped not to over-populate the American, we will be sending some of the cared for those vital assets, we now want help will come from elsewhere to save us Martins, which he rarely drives. One snag planet, make their lives easier, and better brand new beautiful equipment their way… to fly everywhere, even mining the deep from ourselves”. Covid-19 throws this into might be his famous eccentricity. At the for fewer children. Sustainable resources and without hesitation.” His colleague, ocean, without knowing what we’re doing, perspective. A microscopic virus could presentation of the company’s financial are crucial to a living planet. And onwards Alan Shaffer said “It’s wonderful that the greedy for its potential riches. They say. eliminate the human species, leaving other results one year he dressed up as a and upwards…in Britain the National Audit UK is working on a warhead.” The cost is “On land, the UK dismissed early warnings species to recover to an original state. mushroom. As you do. It takes all sorts… Office said the Ministry of Defence planned “estimated” at £31 billion. Delayed Trident about coronavirus, spending billions on the as in the Irish joke about how to land on to spend £183 bn in the next decade nuclear submarines cost the taxpayer an arms industry while ignoring real threats Meanwhile back on Earth, customers the Sun? Answer: at night. “about” £2.9 bn “over” budget. Warning. extra £1.35 billion described by an official (why spend billions on fears instead of the are queuing up to get some of that real Boris Johnson tries a review of these “Cheap at the price. Bargain! Making a as a “farce”. Indeed. Back in the US the real dangers?) This Covid-19 crisis focuses estate that’s on offer. But just how real is escalating costs. But what will happen to killing! Just £14 billion” (Headline: The Pentagon found $6.5 billion (£5billion) of our minds on where priorities really lie; the the experience up there on Mars or the them as the coronavirus takes its toll and i 11/1/2020) “Weapons manufacturers efficiencysavings in 2019 (i 11/2/2020). NHS will undoubtedly emerge as a front Moon? It turns out earthquakes could lots of money is diverted? runner” (The Guardian 11/4/2020). be a problem. And there’s nothing there. are set to benefit from a new Middle East

92 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH MONEY | 93 The descent of a nation The disastrous world of Donald Trump and its wildlife Chapter 16 Like Trump!

Always tweeting Trump and shouting And self-preening and self conscious

Many hoped a petulant Donald Trump wouldn’t throw all his toys out of his pram, especially the nuclear ones.

And did he know where the button is – perhaps behind the TV, always set on Fox TV? And it’s marked PRESS. That’s P.R.E.S.S., Donald. Or not, we prayed. When he’s not doing deals, he’s playing golf at one of his several opulent golf courses, which his family help run. But he got into a bit of a hole when the what’s behind them, whether they’re very Turnberry one, in Ayrshire, Scotland, immediate gratification. Maybe his family poor Indians or desperate immigrants from lost £18.8 million. Over in Balmedie, can help, especially with his behaviour What virus? Central America and Mexico. Aberdeenshire Trump International had about the environment. On energy-saving a tax loss of £1.1 million on sales of £2.8 Since his (fatal, some say) election, Trump lightbulbs… “the new light bulb costs five million. He promised the links course has continuously sought to undermine, times as much, and it makes you look Planet would be the “world’s greatest” (of course) confront and cancel his predecessor’s, orange” (really?). To the environmentalists’ in the when it opened in 2012. It has lost £9.5 President Obama’s, achievements… For dismay they had previously won the light million since then. He doesn’t like to the future of planet Earth this has bulb battle, this time he rolled back, again, balance lose does our Donald, either money or been, and may prove to be Obama-era legislation – decreeing at golf. In fact it seems well-known that disastrous. As well as their use. But much worse was he often cheats at golf. He managed to pushing hard for fossil to come as executive orders push through permission to change and fuels like coal, oil Donald Trump were being signed left, right, build on a protected nature reserve, but and gas, he’s most has made more and centre, most of which then really ending up in the rough. He’d seriously tried than 15,000 false or would damage the planet, tried to stop 11 wind turbines being built to get out of the and nature itself, and in offshore “spoiling the view”. His family Paris agreement misleading claims some cases the citizens business then paid a £225,000 legal bill to limit climate since he became of his own country. So to the Scottish government. According to change around the President “Make America Great the Washington Post newspaper Donald world. When other Again” had a very hollow Trump has made more than 15,000 false countries/signatories The Independent ring to it. Despite the threats or misleading claims in less than three see this happening, what 18/12/2019 to their own country, and Pollution years since he became President (The i is the effect on the overall countryside, Trump still had 18/12/2019). The truth is US taxpayers success of the crucial talks in a strong, wild mass of supporters and greed spent some of the $1 ¼ millions (nearly the future? If climate change, sea and battle was joined with Covid-19, and £1 million) on VIP accommodation etc, level rise, and biodiversity loss take their the next election was looming involving visiting London, meeting the Queen. toll the Earth’s finger will point at Donald a chap called Bloomberg, 78, former New Along with his third wife Melania, Trump Trump. And that’s true of humans too, as York mayor putting up $1.2 billion, as a brought along all four of his adult children his handling of Covid-19 in the US has been Democrat. Climate change didn’t seem – Donald Jr, Eric, Ivanka and Tiffany. On considered a disaster, a case of economy to be an issue, although the “Green New his trip to India, which lasted all of less before human health and ecology. With Deal” did occasionally surface. Bloomberg than three hours his hosts had built a Trump’s upbringing, and attitude, there’s later dropped out. It seems money can’t wall to hide the view of the slums along only one choice, money. He is “guided” by buy you everything. Trump probably Trump’s motorcade route. The visit cost his gut and his vanity, admires power and doesn’t agree. Emissions $14 million. And he does like walls, and not profit, celebrities, headlines, and he needs Sea level rise

94 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH TRUMP | 95 Sunset for aviation? But less pollution and CO2

Meanwhile, Republican Trump was doing real damage. Again, overturning Obama’s best efforts, he diluted rules on mercury emissions that can harm pregnant women January 2020 and put infants and children at risk of development problems. He announced Trump takes he would strip back environmental regulations so as to speed up pipelines, two (not one) motorways and other big infrastructure projects, plus, again, anti-Obama, a go- jumbo jets to ahead for the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the US, defying the rights of Davos… indigenous people along the proposed and helicopters… route. Climate change was off the agenda Tear it up in international meetings, despite US and limousines… Congress saying it has an “ironclad commitment on climate” – Nancy Pelosi (Democrat) “We’re still in.” Trump’s “If you’re a understanding of climate is not great, Trump at least not as great as his judgement, star you can pledges to for example, in December 2019 he used grab them a map on TV showing the forecast of plant Hurricane Dorian which had apparently by the pussy” been altered with a marker pen to support a trillion his disputed claim about which US state was threatened by the storm (The Times trees! Greta, her look could 26/12/2019). Sounds like fake news – or marking? His knowledge of animals is also refreeze a glacier thin, famously “grabbing a pussy” is not catching a cat; alligators and snakes may not prevent illegal migrants from crossing the Mexican border (or, he suggests, shooting them in the leg). The Trump administration was scaling back the US government’s ability to protect species that are nearing extinction, despite warnings Trump’s record of by scientists that a worldwide biodiversity damaging policies crisis will soon put humanity itself at risk. • As could be possible with the coronavirus Dilutes rules on mercury emissions Trump had come from the US with two To compensate, Trump announced to being a public figure. But she did get disease everywhere. The Endangered • Plans to strip back environmental regulations (not one) presidential jumbo jets, plus he would plant a trillion trees – not to meet the Prince of Wales who had, Species Act, signed by Richard Nixon in favour of big infrastructure projects helicopters and several bullet-proof personally one assumes. Along with rather controversially flown in by private (wonder why?) limousines. Schoolgirl other squillionnaires, and royalty, they jet, continuing in a greener Jaguar in 1973, is credited with helping to save • Defies rights of indigenous people with go- bald eagles (the US symbol), California Greta Thunberg had come by train from discussed the climate emergency, probably electric car. And very green company, ahead for US /Canada oil pipeline condors, and scores of other animals and Sweden with a lot of attitude, backed not helping with flocks of private jets. Jane Goodall, famous for her studies plants from extinction. The UN report in • Refuses to sign Arctic protection agreement by young followers all over the world. Trump, plus daughter, boasted for half an of chimps in Tanzania. Their forest 2019 found humans are disrupting the He’d come with a very different attitude, hour. Tremendous boasting. Phenomenal home is now much reduced. Somehow natural world, and putting one million but he does like a big event where he’s boasting. He was boasting like no other I don’t think Trump’s trees would be species at risk of extinction worldwide. At the main attraction. She doesn’t care American president had ever boasted appropriate. And four days later, it’s least 680 vertebrate species have become about that sort of thing at all. She’s a before. His boasts were some of the all over. More than 200 billionaires extinct in the last 400 years. Nature and the national emblem – campaigner, a crusader. He’s considered biggest boasts in the history of boasting. went home in flocks of private jets, and bald eagle threatened? by some of his opponents to be a His boasts were truly incredible. You thereby hangs a problem…a very big Just 24 hours after that UN announcement bullshitter of the most obscene order. wouldn’t believe them. Soon the US would problem…which was to connect climate the US had refused to sign an agreement Fake news? Who would win in 2020 hold a presidential election. Everyone is change and the coronavirus pandemic In January 2020, Trump briefly attended that cause climate change, fire and floods. on protecting the Arctic. Diplomats at Davos, as squillionnaires appear to saying he’s going to win it. If he loses, it in a double whammy… And Donald the World Economic Forum in Davos, Davos was to become another battleground said that was because of the wording discuss the future of the planet? There, will be incredible. It will be tremendous. Trump turned out to be a loser, which Switzerland. Certainly not sub-tropical for Trump. But he seemed to like a fight, in the deals that stated climate change when Donald met Greta, he didn’t want And his fans will drink to that (with bleach he hates, a proven loser, and, worst of Florida, but lots of snow and lots of and certainly doesn’t like to lose. This time was a serious threat there. The Trump what she was getting. Fame, the face of or disinfectant perhaps?). all, a really bad loser. So can planet criticism (what he calls “fake news”). the stakes were high - simply the fate of administration had consistently the future meets a dinosaur, the media Earth breathe again? It’s up in the air. Previously former Australian prime the planet, and that was before Covid-19 Greta delivered two speeches – she told downplayed or even denied climate says. Fake news? That’s why he hates minister Malcolm Turnbull has claimed really hit. And then his young adversary, leaders they need to “panic” about the change. Perhaps when there are no her and her agenda so much, plus all Trump to be “the leading climate denier”. 16, turned up to confront him, 73. The climate emergency. Local school children glaciers left, and Miami and Florida are that attention, so globally seen, and that His successor, Scott Morrison, has resisted world was watching. held a strike, protesting at the lack of flooded, so Trump can’t play golf there millions of young people respond to. pressure to reduce his country’s emissions action. Greta said she was still not used any more, they will change their minds. Not him.

96 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH TRUMP | 97 What goes up must An uncertain future for the airline industry? come down. Must it? With the airline business that’s particularly true these days. The industry often finds itself on the corporate frontline No, a disaster. when global disaster strikes. The 9/11 attacks, the SARS outbreak, and the credit crunch (now Covid-19 and planet Flying to Galapagos? No. crunch), all have posed a serious threat to Can this very special place a sector that has always struggled to make consistent profits. Fares have dropped to and its wildlife survive Chapter 17 absurd levels with some budget airlines, without tourism? whereas first class and private jets are A great way to strictly for the wealthy for whom time and fly – follow the comfort are essentials. Modern aircraft not only deliver a great dollop of filthy control (The i 6/3/2019). On one hand storks! are very costly, airports astronomical to air on West London, it would make a the public welcomed flight bargains that Aviation, build, with climate change becoming mockery of policy and regional planning.” were almost unbelievably cheap, such as an increasingly important factor. Those (The Guardian) British Airways to Palma, Majorca from trends, to an observer, were fascinating £29 (each way, based on a return fare) In 2015 Boris Johnson famously pledged to follow, and we’ll do that across a time …“Incredible is Within Reach”…full page that he would “lie down in front of those which was to become a mega-crunch advert. Ryanair: “More Choice. Low bulldozers and stop the construction of Tourism & affecting not only aviation, but the massive Fares. Great Care”. Some may dispute that third runway.” More delays, more tourism industry, connecting cars and part of that, but Ryanair’s chief executive, protests against, more commercial pressure roads, railways, shipping and cruises. Michael O’Leary, he of fearsome blarney, for…yet more growth on a planet with In our growing millions we have reached has suggested shooting environmentalists, limited resources. It was a shaky time, every corner of the planet in every way and has repeatedly denied that the climate not just for airports, Bristol’s included, Travel that one can think of. That spread is like crisis is driven by carbon emissions. but also for airlines that use them and pay a pandemic, something that we are now (The Guardian 5/2/2020). The pressure accordingly. Up to then climate change only too aware of. It is, in fact, a dramatic increasing all the time, as was the CO2, was not high on the agenda but it turned story of the ups and downs that affect not only in Europe, but around the world. out that all of the world’s top 20 airlines nearly everyone, especially in 2021/2022. American Airlines was rated worst in were risking falling short of the demands And beyond. long haul where Singapore Airlines came of the Paris Climate Agreement signed top. Local “frivolous flights” for stag and First, some encouragement from the press: in 2015. They were not planning for the hen parties have been criticized, and “Heathrow is ready to fly high in our new long haul on climate. In other words, some kind of ban on air miles schemes Shipwreck bountiful Britain” (John Holland-Kaye, little change on climate change. Aviation was recommended as they encouraged beach, Zante, the chief executive of Heathrow Airport). contributes 2 per cent to global greenhouse excessive flying. You could say the (He would say that wouldn’t he! RB). But emissions and is growing fast, meaning Greece – sky’s the limit, or could well be. It “Heathrow’s pledge-busting third runway that it is crucial for airlines to limit CO2 if A classic was beginning to look like the aviation is out of control…a bigger Heathrow would climate change is to be kept under tourist spot industry was about to enter some serious turbulence. So, fasten your seat belts!

Conflict ahead!

When the determination of campaigners Even if Europeans flew less, the predicted bigger. 17 months later aviation was heading like Extinction Rebellion meet the might growth of air travel alone would mean an for the biggest crash of its up-and-down life. of the aviation business and associated additional 1½ billion to 2 billion passengers With no seat belts to save it. Before that interests, the media picks up on it, as do flying each year by 2040. Solving the business seemed to be booming – with talk the public whose flying future may be climate issue really depends on China, of supersonic; electric; record longest direct threatened. But actually, any threat was India and Asia (The Guardian 18/10/2019). flight from New York to Sydney in 20 hours; nothing like the one to come. Very visible (- that was then - the truth was to be very flying cars; Harry and Meghan in the private protests drew attention to a new word for different). Football was in the spotlight jets row. Airlines were competing to look the business “flight-shaming”. That tireless too. Greta Thunberg’s pigtails would greener than the others… “Delta to invest train traveller, famous climate activist, surely flap in righteous indignation at the $1bn into environmental impact”… London Greta Thunberg from Sweden, was named giant carbon footprint of often arrogant City airport – carbon neutral… EasyJet For the by Shai Weiss, chief executive of Virgin footballers flying around the world in – world’s first major airline offsetting by good news Atlantic: “Neither she, nor this issue is private jets, followed by millions of fans in planting trees costing £25m. BA pledged to read on… going away. Nor should it.” That was still more modest commercial aircraft. Back in remove more than 250 million plastic items up in the air, plus increasing CO2. 2018 the numbers were looking bigger and of all sorts.

98 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH AVIATION, TOURISM AND TRAVEL | 99 Worldwide crash! Air New Zealand went a lot further (it is) testing edible coffee cups to cut back on landfill waste. Plant-based, Welcome to the sunset There can be a huge knock-on, for Nick Brandt, the co-founder of Big Life Foundation: “With no source of income, they can also be used as dessert of the aviation industry. example both BA and Kenya Airways Worldwide. The crash caused by flew direct daily to and from London. some people will likely feel forced to kill bowls. Then, if you’re still hungry Covid-19, grounding the planet’s planes, Passengers were often going on a much animals in order to eat, and some may try you might be able to eat the latest tray stuck in flocks like flightless birds. Like anticipated safari, staying at lodges and and poach to make money” he says. So as well, made of used coffee-grounds. ostriches, airlines and airports already had guided around the wonderful game what can we do to help? How can we save (No news yet of an edible plane. RB). their heads in the sand, ignoring warnings parks, that were protected partly for their ecotourism when bookings are drying up and planes aren’t flying?. “Don’t cancel Waste can be turned into jet fuel to about noise, pollution, emissions, and, tourist income, which can be difficult Is this the most important, climate change. Now to justify to the poor local people living your safari” implores Chris McIntyre, reduce CO2 from local landfill sites could the dreaded coronavirus pandemic nearby, who want more land, have bigger the managing director of Expert Africa. and may be able to produce enough end of a lot come to the rescue? The noise is less, the families and may not appreciate the “Postpone it until next year. That’s what power for a long haul flight for at of travel pollution is less and it’s just possible the protected elephants, who can raid a year’s most clients are doing and it’s happening least five hours, while producing challenge of reducing CO2 may be met. crops in a single night. Such “raiders right across the industry.” But will that away from Put it another way, if aviation returns from a threatened ark” may be killed by be enough to prevent Africa’s vulnerable zero CO2 emissions. The idea won home? to the original “normal”, which was an “helpful” locals, and the ivory sold on to wildlife from taking a massive hit? Big British Airways BA 2119 future of ongoing problem anyway, climate change China. So it’s income for the poachers, Life (biglife.org) is asking wildlife lovers fuels challenge. EasyJet brought will take its toll on travel and tourism, and and the farmer can grow his next crop in to donate to its cause, helping to fund forward its Easter 2021 booking disease will turn out to be just a rehearsal, safety. According to the Sheldrick Wildlife an increase in vigilance over the 1.6 period, putting journeys on sale as of of this crunch coming towards us. So, can Trust, a living elephant is now worth million acres that its rangers patrol and the animals that live there. For now the 22/4/2020. Over 39,000 flights are it be avoided? What will happen to travel more than $1.6 million (£1.2 million) and tourism, which have been the biggest over its lifetime, because of its value to priceless parks and game reserves are due starting from as little as £14.99 growth industries to change the planet? that special word – ecotourism. Beyond still intact, the very best of the natural (that’s very cheap!). Not just the top end with those that Benidorm, more and world. (Brian Jackman, use aircraft, but the service more people want The Daily Telegraph sectors, whether they work(ed) to go and 18/4/2020). Of as guides, in restaurants, on photograph course there are many railways, on cruise ships real lions in needs for our money, with crews trapped in their the wild (no including especially the thousands and, so sadly, offence to brilliant NHS. Saving victims of Covid-19. The Longleat! lives is as vital as it can Airlines crash! RB). In be, but Africa’s wild Kenya, lions, life and wild places competing Headline (The Daily Telegraph an endangered are irreplaceable… 29/4/2020): “BA to axe 12,000 jobs to look species, whose mere Is this “How unforgiveable as air travel collapses”. Once upon a time greener presence is worth at it would be to lose British Airways claimed to be “the world’s the least $1 billion, are it all on our watch”. favourite airline”. Not any more or any the top attraction, beginning Heathrow’s plans for other airline, anywhere. BA’s parent IAG working around the an extra runway are announced losses of £1.8 billion for the of the end clock to boost the collapsing. So did first quarter of the year, admitting air travel country’s vital tourist for big Bristol’s bid to expand Air New Zealand: will take years to recover from a global industry. It depends its regional airport. Was Edible coffee cups collapse and it doesn’t help reputations aviation? on ecotourists flying in this the beginning of the when airlines refuse to refund actual London City airport: from all over the world, and end for big aviation globally? money almost immediately. Not doing this Carbon neutral they help to spread the word Or was it the beginning of the is against the law. Vouchers for later is not about wild animals, plants and places beginning for other forms of travel, more EasyJet: the answer, as the future is a mess. Flybe that others may visit and enjoy. Now those environmentally friendly and more likely Offsetting by planting airline was also broken. trees costing £25m opportunities have gone. In 2019 wildlife to ensure reducing the effects of climate tourism in Africa employed 3.6 million change, which, in turn affects all on planet British Airways: people and was worth $29.3 billion. So Earth in the major Crunch. For the record, Removing more than what about the future? The infrastructure Spain had intended to spend £1½ billion 250 million plastic is smashed, jobs will be lost, and wildlife on re-organising Madrid’s airport, while items will be killed off as protection stalls. raising passenger capacity from 70 million Delta: to 80 million (i 14/1/2020 – before you know-what? So, forget it). OR later…how $1bn investment into Please don’t cancel your safari much later?...take a train, a bus, go by car environmental impact What could possibly go wrong? This… or bike, or on the water, river or sea. Is Wildlife tourism in Africa employed 3.6 million that an answer? Let’s see. people and was worth $29.3 billion in 2019 There’s no business like when there’s no travel business

100 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH AVIATION, TOURISM AND TRAVEL | 101 Happy Holidays!

Popular destinations suffering from overtourism

Where is everyone? Dead hotel From massed brown beaches to empty resorts, derelict hotels, where the phone stopped ringing and goats are the only ones staying there Facing the future challenges of travel In danger

Before Covid-19 there was a word No one increasingly in use in the travel industry answers – “overtourism”. Destinations like Venice and Barcelona were suffering from it, It’s been difficult to estimate the various me we’d use more carbon in five days than The Chinese will compete with the rest of though some of the residents didn’t mind are still visible. But, just in time, the costs of travel, and that should include we had a right to burn all year. He said the planet for supplies, use them up, and the tourists’ income. Others wanted their government stepped in and stopped the cost to the planet. Will the price of oil it was incredibly irresponsible of me and that could get nasty. They’re certainly a city back. Then they got it as overtourism it. So La Albufera is now teeming change a lot again? Will airline fares rise there was no way he was going. Devon force to be reckoned with as we’ll see in became undertourism. Several of the with nature, and very popular with from the unreal to being too expensive for instead? – the so-called “staycation”. the next chapter. On the water, they have most popular countries in Europe for visitors, with an education centre and many, as the companies try to recoup their spread around the globe. Cruise ships, The net result is not seeing the world summer holidays, really suffered, because more plans for a fruitful future. It’s losses, when thousands of staff and aircraft that were being built as if there were no as young people have always tried to of the virus. The mass human migration certainly a wild place where you can were grounded. Mind you, that might have tomorrow, were becoming a huge industry. do. And, by the way, the airline, and the in July and August each year used to maintain social distancing, except for Deadly had to happen anyway, due to restrictions Now with Covid-19 turning some of them staff in the Maldives are out of business. bring millions of people to the beautiful a frog, a duck or a heron! Speedboats because of oncoming climate change. into floating coffins, with the crew, and beaches of the Mediterranean Sea. Some It seems Greta is still winning with her A very different type of tourism cripple turtles Young people would push for that, but the the vulnerable elderly passengers in have been ruined in the past by bad “effect”. She’s accused world leaders of was seriously affected – by climate parents may not agree. “My 14-year old mortal danger, these massive ships were and overdevelopment, though, in some failing her generation and ignoring the change. The other half of the daughter has asked that we do not fly,” says being refused to dock by unwelcoming places, repairs have been achieved. In the start of “mass extinction” in favour of “Double Whammy”. Skiing. Not the mother. “Both children are very very ports. Even aircraft carriers were Balearic Islands of Spain an environment Dead “fairy tales of eternal economic growth” enough snow. Not enough income. concerned about the impact air travel is carrying infected personnel. Whether the tax was brought in, and it would seem (Ben Clatworthy, The Sunday Times Bust. Winter 2019/2020 mildest for having on the environment” – a lesson that burgeoning cruise ship industry will sink, visitors will not object too much if they see 23/2/2020). Again, greed before green. more than a century. So, machines is being drummed into them at school, as seriously, without trace remains to be seen. where their money may be going – to help When (yes when?) those grounded aircraft to make fake snow. White, yes, but has taken place around the world as Greta “Tomorrow” has come and it’s a huge support those lovely islands, still wild in are back in business, there are warnings of not green, the eco-sort. Go there by Thunberg’s Friday’s strikes, and strikes challenge. As is the biggest of them all… many corners, despite their mass-tourism “pilot rustiness”, equipment maintenance green means. And that can involve again, and again. “We had the chance to the human population, out there on the reputation. In fact, many years ago, when errors and, would you believe, insect nests rail or road, depending on the latest take five days in the Maldives at Easter,“ blue dot. Can it survive the threat, conservation was a fairly new concept, blocking sensors. Insects win again! local social distancing regulations. says another parent of two teenagers ”It the elephant, not in the room, but on there was a grand project at a large That applies to those popular was an amazing deal, and some time Hopefully, the electric car era will solve planet Earth. That’s China. And it’s scary. wetland, rich in wildlife. It was to be “The Only Mediterranean beaches as well. de-stressing on the beach was just was some problems, though the energy has Very scary. City of Lakes” on Majorca. There had inflatables Greece and Spain made plans. In fact the whole family needed. I suggested it at to be obtained somehow, somewhere… been plans to drain it, but they couldn’t, so everywhere had to. Could we beat left dinner and my son who is 15, looked as if Rare metals for batteries may be mined “another Venice” was proposed and canals the virus? I’d just suggested we kill the cat. He told by children in the Congo jungle. were dug and hotels started. Some of those

102 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH AVIATION, TOURISM AND TRAVEL | 103 Chapter 18 The Chinese are Coming!

There they were then. all sorts of grand plans for grand deals, the that US solders may have brought the sort of thing Trump loved and may make virus into China. But back to the Wuhan China / They migrate in Two heavyweights, on him look good. If they don’t work out, he lab and Trump’s latest diversion…Fake large flocks from the ropes, and on the could be in trouble with his committed news? His answer to a reporter asking for Europe to Africa (up to now) support crowd. What was a evidence about the lab being the origin of each year world stage. huge political punch-up was de-railed by the virus: “Yes, I have. Yes, I have.” When The inscrutably inscrutable , something so tiny, so deadly, most of the pushed later about what he’d seen: “I can’t Population President of China and, predictably world wouldn’t have believed it possible. tell you. I’m not allowed to tell you that”. unpredictable Donald Trump, President of Until it hit. And hard. Covid-19 had (By whom? Fake news?) Meanwhile the the United States = POTUS as he’s known already made fools of both contestants, the Trump administration had abruptly cut off to his friends and enemies of which there world’s two most powerful men. Xi Jinping funding for a project on how coronaviruses are many out there in the voting crowds. has faced unprecedented criticism over spread from bats to people. his handling of the first recorded outbreak The fight is about the future of the planet, China denies Trump’s allegations, repeated in Wuhan. Was the news ruthlessly no less, and it’s basically about the number by his side-kick Mike Pompeo, US secretary suppressed? The death from the disease of of consuming human beings, and the of state, who claimed “enormous evidence” Li Wenliang, a young doctor, who sounded demands they are making and will make (Trump-type spiel), but with nothing to the alarm in Wuhan in December 2019, but into the future. Those demands are not back it up. With nothing more to go on, was gagged by party officials. It sparked sustainable. Too many of us. Are there the spotlight switched back to the original an online revolt. Xi Jinping tried to remain any more inhabitable planets out there? theory that the virus came from animals inscrutable but Covid-19 was out, and very Not really. It would seem there will be in the so-called “wet” market in Wuhan soon, very much about, initially striking some big changes - Covid-19 is one of in December 2019. Pompeo urged China northern Italy and then right across them; climate change is another. The first to close, permanently, such markets that Europe. And then the whole world. major round, and one of contention, was sell freshly slaughtered wildlife close how the disaster started? Was it hushed In the USA Donald Trump more or less to live animals. Much of it is illegal, up? Looking back to a similar pandemic… ignored the approaching threat. In this endangered and terrified, kept in horrific “originally the Sars-Cov-2 virus almost case the typically unpredictable Trump conditions until killed for whatever reason. In Spain certainly started in bats, which have was predictable – the reaction was about Apparently, it tastes better when freshly they may evolved fierce responses to viruses. These him. But his usual trick of diverting killed and in total panic. That’s what the occupy every defences drive viruses to replicate faster, attention to something else didn’t work. Chinese customers want. One should telegraph pole so that they can get past bats’ immune His country and much of Europe, including accept, perhaps, the behaviour of a very defences. In turn, that transforms the bat the UK was fatally unprepared. Amongst different culture, but, as China’s population into a reservoir of rapidly reproducing Trump’s other tactics, he suggested the grows inexorably, the toll on wildlife is and highly transmissible viruses. Then pandemic was a fake Democrat plot bound to increase. These animals are when these bat viruses move into other to harm his re-election chances. “It’s brought in from all over the world, often in mammals, creatures that lack a fast- embarrassingly obvious Trump is not dire straits. They are of the planet, not for response immune system, the viruses up to the job” (Simon Tisdall, The millions of Chinese to dispose of as they quickly spread into their new hosts. Most Guardian Weekly 20/3/2020). He claimed wish. For Traditional Chinese Medicine evidence suggests that Sars-Cov-2 started “China is desperate to remove me from (TCM) doctors dole out procedures – infecting humans via an intermediary power”. That’s fighting talk, so the battle including acupuncture and moxibustion species, such as pangolins, maybe in continued… – plus pills and powers, plus goat horn a market”. (Professor Edward Holmes and bear bile. On so-called “bear farms” Enter another combatant, the British of Sydney University – The Observer where bears are kept in cramped cages and government. It refused to knock down 12/4/2020). It’s ironic that the pangolin, or subject to a method approved by China, Trump’s suggestion (another distraction?) scaly anteater is the most trafficked animal and in which they puncture the bear’s that the coronavirus may have first for its meat, and scales for unproven abdomen to allow bile to drip freely out emerged from a Chinese laboratory in Chinese medicine. Sold in markets, closed from the gallbladder. They don’t live very Wuhan. It was an unproven (typical for a while, but always a victim to rampant long like that. But we must remember how of Trump) theory that it had escaped/ senseless, unsustainable greed, this little we use animals in some farms in Europe. was released (?) from the Wuhan creature, now highly endangered, can be And it’s potentially much more serious. Institute of Virology, a lab that studies So their compared with the destruction it happened Poultry and pigs, for example, are factory- bat coronaviruses. Trump latched on to production to pass on, with drastic impact, to infect an farmed and pandemics can originate that. In the UK and many other countries potential is apparently wise (?) species (homo sapiens there. Even wild species can be involved there are similar highly secret, highly really great (?)) right across the planet. Was that the as expanding human populations (see lethal establishments working on killer “revenge” of such persecuted creatures? later), pushing into previously undisturbed diseases. If only those huge costs could be Was it our fault? Yes, it was. ecosystems, has led to increasing numbers used to help nature instead of destroying And many chicks of human infections of animal origins. Is a mask a gag too? What little we know our own species in stupid wars involving may be raised Ebola and HIV are examples where small- about the internal workings of the Chinese death and destruction…hardly signs of each summer They’re scale farmers have been squeezed out by state, and the state of its economy, is civilised societies. The USA must certainly humanity spreading, and then coming winners! carefully manipulated by this particular have such labs and armaments to deliver closer to the edge of the forest where bats man Xi Jinping, who was seen by the world them. Another twist to the story was when and the viruses that infect them survive. as Trump’s main enemy. This was despite China’s foreign ministry spokesman hinted

104 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CHINA/POPULATION | 105 Selected from the wonder-full Nature Picture Library (NPL) ascending up the plant and animal kingdoms – to man. to explore the South China Sea in what Gallery of Gatherings the United States has called an appalling attempt to exploit the confusion caused Up Nature’s Kingdom – from plants to us by the coronavirus pandemic. The ship, the Haiyang Dizhi 8 spent months quietly Insects and Plants mapping the seabed off Borneo; a perfect example of early global domination of the planet; in this case for potential minerals. No one knows what impact that would have on this mysterious zone, except that it would probably prove disastrous to the oceanic ecosystem, on which all life ultimately depends, not just that of the Chinese. By chance, two tourists on a trip to Antarctica in 2020 reported: “On March 19 the horizon lit up like a football stadium: a Chinese pirate fleet of hundreds of boats fishing illegally for squid, lighting and luring the prey to the surface. It took three days to sail past.” Hong Kong: The people may not, such is the virulence traumatised in a market, their immune Customs seized 26 tonnes of smuggled of the “Chinese disease” as Donald Trump systems are suppressed, allowing viruses shark fins from about 38,500 endangered clumsily called it. Beijing was not happy to replicate and mutate so they can infect animals in two containers from Ecuador. with that taunt, and it didn’t help the big new hosts such as people. Perhaps, The record haul highlights the demand for trade deal much. Other countries are understandably, in a vast country with the “delicacy” served at wedding banquets. heavily connected with the wildlife trade, 1.4 billion people all aspiring to better Most of the fins, cut off the living animals William Hague, (The Daily Telegraph themselves, there is a massive cumulative and dumped back in the sea to die, came 14.4.2020): “a consignment of six tons need, indeed demand, for more stuff. That from thresher and silky sharks, both of pangolin scales, hidden beneath bags stuff can range from anything to anything. endangered species (The Times 8/5/2020). of cashew nuts, the largest ever such And it must come from anywhere, and the But marine life can be very prolific and seizure, probably equating to around demand will inevitably go on increasing, sustainable for humans. That requires 15,000 animals, poached from the wild driving the wildlife trade, not only in living quotas and protected areas for breeding. and killed. That was in Malaysia. Add animals but parts of dead ones. Ivory Whether China will be able to conserve on Vietnam, Laos, Burma (Myanmar), from elephants is used in ornaments stocks remains to be seen. Unless they can Indonesia and Thailand where Chatuch’ak and jewellery, hardly what in pandemic- recover from overfishing, both the Chinese Market in Bangkok is still selling wildcats speak is considered “essential”. Except and their prey are doomed. But they don’t from Africa, and foxes from the Sahara to an elephant. An extreme example seem to care. But can they afford to?“ plus snakes, monkeys and lizards. Parts was that of the notorious Ivory Queen, such as bear paws and tiger skins are convicted by a court in Tanzania, which Whether it is ripping off technology trafficked too in the huge gruesome trade.” dealt a significant blow to the Asian crime from Western countries, driving other Loopholes remain and those involved networks behind much of the slaughter businesses out of the marketplace by will wriggle around them – fashion, TCM, of Africa’s elephants. Yang Fenlan Glan, aggressive and state-backed bidding, or entertainment. 69, pretending to be a respected member even economically colonising countries And the diminished countries have lost out of the community was jailed for 15 years, around the world, China believes, rightly as It will take huge pressure to slow down and to a strategy repeated worldwide, driven, sending a powerful message to other it turns out, that the West has become too control the wildlife trade, now worth many and depleted, because of Chinese greed. But Chinese smugglers. Secretive and under weak for it to fear. Nothing demonstrates millions globally. Shaming, and losing what can they do about it? Is this progress? cover, this grandmother had stolen two Chinese arrogance or disregard of us better face may work in those Asian countries, No, it’s too many people, wanting too much, tonnes of ivory from elephants, worth than its handling of coronavirus” (Sir but, if it doesn’t, the world’s wildlife will be due to unsustainable lifestyles. Having built £1.7 million over 14 years. Yang from Iain Duncan Smith, The Daily Telegraph shattered. If there are any of some species that strategic harbour, airport or road, China Beijing was among China’s first students to 25/4/2020). Increasingly China’s strategy left they may just recover because there is already getting a grip where it wants to, a graduate as a translator during the Chinese- is to infiltrate a country, probably bribe a are no humans to trap, trade and torment global network that can straddle the Earth. funded construction of a 1,100 mile railway corrupt politician, providing a generous them. Covid-19 will have killed us off. So Look no further for their ambitions than between Tanzania and Zambia. She’d loan. Chinese teams will build the railway, is the answer to kill off the bats that seem the “Silk Railway” route between the city of been watched for months before police airport, port, dam, road/motorway, to be the source of Covid-19? Or pangolins, Xi’an in central China and Izmit, 70 miles arrested her after a car chase. The game stadium. When the politician(s) move another link? Mark Jones, a vet and head from Istanbul in Turkey. The journey takes was up for this Ivory Queen, but this on, they proudly point to their country’s of policy at the Born Free Foundation said 12 days, about half of what if took before. game for big game is not over. It’s deadly new asset. Then comes that kind of that wild animals may be the source, but It leaves Xi’an every Tuesday and is 4,000 serious and Chinese crime and influence crunch: the Chinese want their loan they are not to blame for the transmission miles long – the rather strangely named “Belt reaches far and wide, a wide spectrum of money back. Instead, they demand it in of the virus to people, “we all carry viruses Millions of monarch butterflies and Road Initiative” (what is the belt bit?). territory – from your local takeaway to a resources. So they’ve effectively bought all the time and normally animals are not Nothing is beyond Chinese determination or global takeaway of the planet’s riches and out Zambia’s copper, Ecuador’s timber, the hibernate in pine trees in made sick by viruses they carry”, he said. scheming, or skills even. Going upwards, they resources – maybe offering Covid-19 in rich fishing grounds of parts of the Pacific Mexico, migrating to and from “But viruses can replicate very rapidly in plan to clean up Mount Everest, the world’s exchange? This “rape” reaches the deep Ocean. And that goes back to feed the the right circumstances.” When animals North America. highest mountain – and rubbish dump. sea where China is using a scientific ship insatiable appetite of the lender – China. are stressed, ie, when trapped, traded or

106 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CHINA/POPULATION | 107 Making an indelible mark, not only in Kenya, but all across the planet

Fish

Sockeye salmon cover the river bed where they’ve come to breed – and then die.

CHINA Hanoi TAIWAN

Hainan Scarborough Shoal Paracel Islands THAILAND To add diplomatic insult to injury the If you were once someone Manila Chinese sunk a Vietnamese fishing boat who was fortunate enough VIETNAM

– hardly a defensive act. Beijing has to visit the Spratly Islands Spratly been steadily, and as secretly as possible, in the South China Sea Islands Survey teams will help rescue what were of several recent weapons, including PHILIPPINES strengthening its claim to virtually all of you would have enjoyed once pristine slopes, enjoyed, but littered a 40,000 tonne amphibious assault the hundreds of reefs and islands scattered a paradise underwater by decades of commercial climbers. warship and a new line of nuclear- South across this part of the South China Sea. with coral reefs and China Sea Certainly income for the business, but powered submarines, each with 12 It has blasted immaculate coral reefs, an unpolluted natural much of it dumped, like tents, oxygen missiles, and a range of 7,000km. It’s covered them in concrete, polluted the tropical world of great Kuala bottles and piles of frozen excrement. also preparing to unveil its first stealth Lumpur sea, all for military airports equipped with biodiversity. Forget it. Lovely job! China is also believed to bomber, which is a scary idea (the MALAYSIA radar, missiles and aircraft. New so-called It’s now a complex of BRUNEI have removed the bodies of several dead whole lot costing a fortune. RB). These “research stations” on Fiery Cross Reef military Chinese might. climbers over recent years. And on up weapons of war (so-called “defensive”) and Subi Reed have been transformed into In a powerful strategic and further up. Much further. To the can be built very quickly, as have the stationary aircraft carriers from which bid to control, what was Moon, Mars, Space. China has announced facilities at which to base them. This it can deploy offensive weapons. Goods an albeit controversial area, it has been the launch of an advanced rocket in whole area is disputed by no less than worth $5 trillion are shipped through the transformed into an obvious, deliberate, conflicting with several other countries. the space race with the United States. five countries, not including China, South China Sea every year including military offensive in one of the most This is clear aggression where once there (What a waste of space is that? RB). The which is the main dominant one. The the oil that fuels the economies of China, important shipping routes in the world. was none. So how can it be restrained, if successful launch comes as China flexes its others are the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea. That’s a lot of oil, This is not some Chinese whim; it is at all? The odds are enormous, the results new military prowess with the unveiling Brunei, Taiwan and Vietnam. worth a lot of money. effectively a version of Chinese war, scary, and no one can sort it out. So far.

108 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CHINA/POPULATION | 109 Amphibians China’s grabbing of this piece of the aviation business everywhere. In China its from coal.” If it’s not the air and climate planet’s ocean is another reminder of its three largest airlines recorded their steepest change, it’s water, which is also connected. global greed and intentions. It is driven quarterly losses, £1.6 billion up to March A US study revealed that China hoarded by the demands of a burgeoning and 2020. Tourism will be knocked back. The water in drought conditions on the mighty massive huge population. Of course, in Chinese made 143 million trips abroad in Mekong River. Dams on China’s stretch the past countries invaded and took over 2017. That’s a lot of selfies! And they spent held back large volumes of water, thus others, and those legacies still remain, more than a quarter of a trillion dollars – depriving countries downstream of crucial sometimes comfortably, sometimes not… more than any other country. That’s a lot supplies. China disputed the findings of the British Commonwealth, the French in of dollars! the American study, which complicate West Africa, the Germans in Namibia in discussions between China and other But never underestimate the ingenuity South Africa, the Portuguese in Brazil, the Mekong countries on how to manage (cunning?) of this so-successful vast Spanish in Central America, the Dutch in the river, a vital lifeline that supports country, China. In the city of Wuhan, the Caribbean, and the Americans often 60 million people in Laos, Myanmar, coincidentally, where Covid-19 originated where they can build important strategic Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. And – exactly how has been discussed a bases, for example the island of Guam in that’s a lot of people!… China not included, lot – there is another plot afoot. At the the Pacific. Can that be compared with whose total population crept past 1.4 university there a team have designed a what China is up to in the South China billion in 2019. Chinese couples wishing to new kind of jet engine that may be able Sea? Despite efforts to reduce friction and have more than the two children permitted to fly planes halfway round the world conflict, and negotiate a peaceful future, it by law can now do so without the threat without using fossil fuels. The prototype, does seem mankind is steadily going in the of losing their jobs as Beijing, grappling dreamed up by Chinese engineers, relies opposite direction. Millions of refugees are with a growing demographic crisis moves on thrusters powered by compressed air the result – from Africa to Europe, Central away from its “zero tolerance” stance. And and electricity to create a zero-carbon America and Mexico into the USA, with threatened by increasing criticism of its flight. Microwave air plasmas are part of huge camps in Myanmar, Kenya, wars in record of human rights and “genocide”. the formula now being worked on. (The i Libya, Syria, Yemen, Congo, Ethiopia… 7/5/2020, Madeleine Cuff, Environment Kenya in East Africa has one of the biggest Frogs crowd is it human nature? The United Nations Reporter). Perhaps this will enhance and fastest birth rates in the world. When together jostling for does its best, but the nations of the planet China’s reputation about the environment. Covid-19 arrived it moved quickly through are not united and probably never will females amongst According to Boris Johnson (The Daily the huge slums of Nairobi where “social be, such is the behaviour of the species masses of spawn. Telegraph)… “may I respectfully suggest distancing” is not an option, and where you homo sapiens = wise, which seems to be to the Extinction Rebellion crew that next may need your children to help in your old becoming increasingly unwise. And that is Earth Day they look at China, where CO2 age. That’s if they survive for long, and despite repeated warnings from the wild, output has not been falling, but rising you do too. That depends on food, clean the ecology of planet Earth. Ecology and vertiginously. The Chinese now produce water and sanitation – and space (not the economy are inextricably intertwined, and more CO2 than the EU and US combined – sort that rich countries spend a fortune on if we get that combination wrong… as they and more than 60% of their power comes to the doubtful benefit to anyone). say, cockroaches will inherit the Earth!... the only survivors perhaps? And don’t forget Covid-19. What nuclear submarine, missile, rocket, stealth bomber can cope with the dreaded, invisible, unstoppable (?) disease? It brought down the airlines and

110 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CHINA/POPULATION | 111 People and the Planet Reptiles

Brazil’s leaders must take immediate action Salgado warned that the 300,000 destruction to the planet. Arguably it is the to save the country’s indigenous peoples indigenous people in the Brazilian Amazon main threat. Or is it? Much of the damage from a Covid-19 “genocide”, a global faced annihilation. we see, often via the media is blamed on coalition of artists, celebrities, scientists an excess of people – everywhere. There “When you endorse or encourage an act and intellectuals has said. are very few places left unscathed. But that you know will eliminate a population can they be repaired? Can wildlife be In an open letter to the Brazilian president, or part of a population, this is the brought back from the brink? (see next Jair Bolsonaro, figures including Madonna, definition of genocide,” he said. “(It will chapter – 19). Chris Packham, known Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt, David Hockney be) genocide because we know this is mainly as a nature-lover, rather than a and Paul McCartney warned the pandemic going to happen, we are facilitating…the people-lover, graced the front of Radio meant indigenous communities in the entry of coronavirus. It would mean the Times, an honour indeed, and featuring Amazon faced “an extreme threat to their extinction of Brazil’s indigenous peoples.” his Horizon special “7.7 Billion People and very survival”. Fears Covid-19 could devastate indigenous Counting”… which revealed…slow increase “Five centuries ago, these ethnic groups communities grew last month when the up to 5 million…year 1800 – 1 billion…1960 were decimated by diseases brought by death of a Yanomami teenager revived – 3 billion…today – 7.7 billion…2050 – European colonisers,” they wrote. “Now… horrific memories of epidemics caused by 10 billion? The last 6 generations saw (they) may disappear completely since they roadbuilders and gold prospectors in the the biggest population growth of our have no means of combating Covid-19.” 1970s and 80s. species. In 1960 Sao Paulo in Brazil had roughly 4 million people. Now it’s 22 The organiser of the petition, the Brazilian The Brazilian city so far worst hit by million plus. Jair Bolsonaro, president photojournalist Sebastião Salgado, said coronavirus is Manaus, the capital (“a tropical Trump” – help!) is keen to trespassers including wildcat gold miners of Amazonas state, where part of the expand into the Amazon savanna, and and illegal loggers must be expelled Yanomami reserve is located. rainforest for its timber, minerals, cattle immediately from indigenous lands to Salgado admitted Bolsonaro would not and soya, which will displace or infect stop them importing an illness that has act of his own volition but he believed indigenous people, who have adapted now killed many hundreds of thousands international pressure could force the to life in the “lungs of the planet”. The of people all around the world. And may government to do so. taking of their own resources for not only never go away. Brazil, but, for example, timber, cattle and “Just in the Brazilian Amazon we have 103 “We are on the eve of a genocide,” soya, for export, to hungry, greedy China indigenous groups which have never been Salgado, who has spent nearly four and Europe, shows the connection that, contacted – they represent humanity’s decades documenting the Amazon and its combined with the human population prehistory,” Salgado said. “We cannot inhabitants, told The Guardian. explosion is the other big challenge for the Small person, allow all of this to disappear.” human race. Indeed, “Planet Crunch” is Even before Covid-19, Brazil’s indigenous very big carpet RB: In terms of my surveys of the media everywhere, and the pressure is increasing peoples were locked in what activists call of marine iguanas of all sorts, nothing, but nothing comes all the time. So the basic problem is not a historic struggle for survival. Critics close to the coverage of Covid-19. All TV sheer human numbers in what appears to in the Galapagos. accuse Bolsonaro, a far-right populist in channels, radio, social media, and the press be the most crowded places like Lagos in power since January 2019, of stimulating in its many forms have flooded the UK, Nigeria – 1.4 million in 1970; estimated 20 the invasion of indigenous reserves and and indeed the whole world. The news million today, (who knows?), average birth dismantling the government agencies varies hugely, from dire in the UK and rate of five per woman. It’s something else, supposed to protect them. USA, to encouraging in South Korea, New as The Guardian’s far-sighted, sometimes “Indigenous communities have never been Zealand and Austria. Watch this space. controversial George Monbiot writes: so under attack,” Salgado said pointing In the meantime, it’s worth looking at the (5/5/2020) “Yes, population growth does to crippling budget cuts and the recent opinions of respected reporters with a look- contribute to the pressures on the world. sacking of several top environmental forward to the future. Such pandemics as But while the global population is rising officials who had targeted illegal Covid-19 have been predicted, and have by 1% a year, consumption, until the prospectors and loggers. happened before, and really tested the pandemic was rising at a steady 3%. High human race to its limits. But what are consumption is concentrated in countries But the letter said the pandemic had made by the biggest of companies. They can by the richest 10%, while it’s the poorest Many, including activists like Greta those limits today? Surely the main central where population growth is low. Where an already bleak outlook under Bolsonaro well afford to help in Africa and some 50% who will be most harmed by climate Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion, question is about the human population? population is highest, consumption even worse by paralysing what protection do. But many don’t. James Dyke in change. If we were really serious about protested at airports, even on top of the tends to be extremely low. For example, efforts remained. Population is about copulation. “Birds The i 13/2/2020: “The perennial problem getting a handle on our climate impacts, aircraft parked there. Now the whole an African child may receive nothing do it, bees do it… human beings do it.” A with population solutions to sustainability then it’s the 10% we should focus on”. aviation industry has crashed, due to “As a result, there is nothing to protect at all, except perhaps a bowl of rice, for lot. It’s (usually) enjoyable, and a primary challenges is that they assume the problem Up until now the richer sections of society Covid-19 and, at least for a while (how indigenous peoples from the risk of Christmas, whereas an English child may instinct whether you’re a tiny amoeba in a is humanity. But when it comes to climate were those that were flying most, and, as it long?), the skies will be cleaner. So genocide caused by an infection introduced get another new bicycle, or a socialising toy pond or a mountain gorilla in the jungle. change, the problem is largely caused happens, contributing to emissions which the pandemic helped achieve what the by outsiders who enter their land illegally,” – that’s until the latest version comes out, There are many types of reproduction, by only a fraction of it. Half of all global were leading to yet more climate change. activists were so active for. argued the signatories, who also include the then the friends have one, so the parents but the result for man-and-women kind is emissions, of carbon dioxide are produced artist Ai Weiwei and the actor . buy that “new improved” version, pushed overproduction, which threatens to bring

112 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CHINA/POPULATION | 113 Birds Letter to Time magazine (14/10/19): “If and a social security our climate collapses, no other problem is system already under important. If voters continue to elect men strain. In 1970 only 7% like Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, of the population was in there is no hope. Not only because those that age bracket. men refuse to see the problem, but because “People might think voters apparently don’t see it either. And this is an issue of the chance that all the nations on Earth national pride but it’s will get together to solve climate problems actually one of national is an illusion. I won’t live to see 2050, but preservation,” said I’m not sure I would want to. The painful Domna Michailidou, and costly changes that should be made are the deputy minister not attractive. It’s like the Titanic: we see of labour and social the iceberg, but it’s too late to change the affairs, who has direction”, William Schaefer, Denzligen, pushed for the bonus Germany. (In the meantime, are we just and other benefits re-arranging the deckchairs on a fated including child-linked tax relief. “Given journey, at international conferences? RB). that high productivity rates are associated Across the planet, the trends and decisions on islands and in remote mountain areas, with young populations and not actively on climate change, and population, are created a lot of insecurity in women,” said ageing ones, it’s also an economic growth confusing, not unlike the UK’s handling Dr Stefanos Chandakas, a gynaecologist priority.” of Covid-19. Overcrowding, and over whose charity, Hope Genesis, focuses here – thousands of displaced, desperate Greece is far from alone in facing such on providing free healthcare to pregnant and starving migrants, who swarmed, demographics – although, at 1.35 births women. “Stillbirths increased because swam and died trying to reach Europe, per woman, its fertility rate is among many women missed out on crucial prenatal embarrassing almost every unwelcoming the lowest in Europe. Across the tests and a lot decided to postpone having country… “Yes” – needed financially to pick Mediterranean, Spain, Italy and Cyprus children at all.” fruit and veg, become NHS staff, or “No” face similar issues. Chandakas said visiting more than 30 – to wave upon wave of others. These are The declining birth rates, and inevitable islands at the height of the crisis, he and his not necessarily more people on the planet, diminished productivity, have increased team had been shocked at the visible lack of rather than, clearly, in the wrong place. fears of Europe’s north-south economic pregnant women. Schools, similarly, were That could be the beautiful Mediterranean divide deepening. But for Greece, which is bereft of children. In some, school parades Greek islands on Lesbos, Chios, Kos, Leros slowly emerging from a near decade-long took place with a single child. and Samos. There will be five “detention debt crisis, the desperate demographics centres” that were already inundated with “In the case of Fourni, which has a could also undermine the country’s fragile 50,000 migrants and refugees. Nowhere population of 1,000 people, there were economic recovery. to go. No hope. Locals don’t want them. zero births in 2014 and 2015,” he recalled. White storks in many But they do want European tourists from More than its EU partners, Greece has been “Now that we are offering medical services thousands soar from Britain and Germany – their main income. hit by the punishing effects of austerity and have this safety network in place, we But who wants to share what was an idyllic and a young population in flight. Close are convincing more to have children. Africa to Europe and back island with fighting police, sick children to 500,000 people emigrated between Today there are 11 ongoing pregnancies on each year. Just starting and filthy plastic slums? There’s a backlog 2010 and 2015, when unemployment rates Fourni.” to nest in England again of 90,000 asylum applications, fleeing from nudged a record 28%. Now settled in more Michailidou, who at 34 is the cabinet’s after 600 years. war-torn Middle East, Asia and Africa, prosperous areas of the continent and youngest member, has also championed already hit by drought, floods, famine, America, Canada and Australia, most were opening more nurseries and crèches so that and recently worsened by locusts. They young professionals of child-bearing age, mothers can return to work. “To increase breed a lot as well, but are edible! That’s likely to consider having families. and ameliorate the country’s human capital not much consolation to the thousands, “Having 5% of our population, people potential, we have to ensure that women hoping desperately to travel on to able to earn high incomes and of re-enter the labour force,” she said. “I feel somewhere, somehow…away from the reproductive age, leave the country has very strongly about this. We have seen how “people asylum”. But seeking asylum is further compounded everything,” said it works in countries like France.” what they crave. Michailidou. The policies are the most serious step that Is this a licence to mate? For Greeks Even before Greece’s depression – in Greece has taken to address its demographic in their own country their country has which it lost a quarter of its economic problem. The baby bonus alone is expected introduced a “baby bonus”, offering output – fertility rates had fallen well below to cost 180m a year, the equivalent of 0.1% £1,700 as an incentive to new parents, € replacement level. When the crisis hit and of GDP. following projections that the country’s stringent cuts were imposed in return for For the good news population of 10.7 million will shrink by Billed as the first electronic benefit in Greece international rescue funds to keep the EU see page 142 a third in the next three decades unless – applied for by text or online – it will also be member afloat – and in the eurozone – the declining birth rates are reversed. available to some non-EU citizens, a decision country’s health budget was slashed by that has raised eyebrows among more By the end of that time, according to more than 40%. conservative supporters of the centre-right Eurostat, 36% of Greeks will be over 65, “The big drop in funding and the effect prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. with severe implications for the workforce it had on medical services, especially

114 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CHINA/POPULATION | 115 of trees too. Let’s hope they don’t get Family planning is better for the planet, And talking of maths, do we really know chopped down for timber, firewood, or the and in less fortunate countries it’s better how many children Boris Johnson has? land that they’ve grown up on, because for the parents, especially the mother, That may not be relevant in the light of his there are too many people! who in some cases is hardly ever never not very public dilemmas about locking down pregnant. There are various ways to avoid Not far away in Russia Orbán’s equivalent, the country. As we’ve seen, population this of course. Covid-19, apparently, has president Putin has got the same “problem” pressure and consumerism are fatally slowed the British birthrate – dropping for his huge country, but not for the planet connected. And so is climate change and anyway. “Sexual distancing probably as a whole. The prediction was that biodiversity. As David Attenborough told helps, but maybe, also, variations on Russia’s population could fall by up to 12 Radio Times in 2013, “Either we limit our themes: million people in the next 20 years. The population growth, or the natural world United Nations said that, in the worst case “My wife just agreed to a threesome, will do it for us.” Because we entirely scenario, the country’s population could Now there’s no one as happy as me, depend on it. Everyone of us. So how can almost halve to 83 million people by 2100. I’ve just got to work out how to tell her, we get back from the brink? Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, She’s not going to be one of the three” It can be very tricky. If you like lemurs described the demographic hole as “very “Intimate occasions”, so delicately referred very much, as David Attenborough does, unpleasant” (not talking about Putin). to by Durex, may or may not be included having filmed with them in Madagascar, So Russia is aiming to allow ten million in a problem page…”this guy wrote in it’s pretty clear what the problems are. An foreigners to obtain citizenship after its to say he thought lockdown was a great impoverished woman there may have up to relaxed its laws in an attempt to reverse opportunity to explore a nascent interest ten children. To feed them, she must clear that long-term population decline (Marc in BDSM (Fifty Shades stuff), while his the land to plant rice. Many, much richer, Bennetts, Moscow, The Times 20/4/2020). girlfriend…well she didn’t think that.” people elsewhere want to help lemurs, There’s no doubt every single birth is unique to Madagascar. Money may be “Happy news at last amid the gloom and Mammals a very big moment for the parents, and donated but, in the end, human birth . Experts predict a baby boom obviously for the mother. On television, control is probably the answer in 2021 as couples seek “solace and Call the Midwife is a hit TV series on BBC- distraction” during the virus lockdown… China. It’s the planet’s biggest mouth 1, plus One Born Every Minute. (Who’s or as we call it in our plain-speaking with an insatiable appetite which counting, how many? Where? Who knows?) household, (“partaking of horizontal requires feeding – on the world’s natural Harry and Meghan want to stick at two, refreshment”). The theory is strengthened resources. To achieve this it has reached so does Alex Jones a familiar presenter on by the fact that there is a global condom out everywhere it can. Its ambitions The One Show on BBC-1. She’s actually a shortage after the coronavirus halted are awesome, its impacts sometimes “two show” girl with no more “for her and production at the world’s biggest devastating. husband Charlie”…adamant that for the manufacturer…back to work but with a sake of the planet, two children is enough. shortfall of 100 million condoms – so do That’s good publicity for the planet, though the maths, people. You do the maths.” president Maduro of Venezuela also has a large following, and urged women to have (Carol Midgely, The Times more children. On TV he told one woman 1/4/2020) “May God bless you for having given life to six little girls and boys.” He added: Gelada baboons pack in “Every woman should have six children around another primate, for the good of the country.” Venezuela’s a wildlife cameraman economic crisis has led to food and medical shortages, rising malnutrition and child with an easy subject mortality. (The Times 5/3/2020). Not for a change. exactly the best world to be born into. Nigeria is hardly a family-happy homeland, but the intense wish to have children sometimes cannot be denied. Meet Margaret Adenuga, aged all of 68, who became a mother for the first time after giving birth through IVF. She’d been trying Question: will the “baby bonuses” be said Hungary would offer mothers now been built over much of Europe. One for a child since 1974 and is thought to be increased because of deaths due to who have at least four children lifetime result is the separation of certain wildlife the oldest first-time mother in Africa. And Covid-19? Playing God is always risky exemption from income tax in a bid to species that are “trapped” such as foxes, then two came along at once. Twins! Her and some others seem to be doing just boost birth rates (how does that work with wolves, deer and bears. In other words, husband, Noah, 77, a retired auditor, said that. In Hungary, prime minister Victor Covid-19?). He said the measures were Europe has been turned into a group of they had spent their savings and travelled Orbán said fertility was of “strategic being introduced to reverse population enclosures, segregating both people and between West Africa, Britain and elsewhere importance,” following taking over decline without relying on migrants nature. Perhaps to compensate, Victor to conceive. The successful delivery of Hungary’s fertility clinics. Orbán, an anti- coming into the country – for example via Orbán, he of the “baby bonus” idea, has their son and daughter followed a fourth immigrant nationalist, has long advocated Greece. Ruthless fences and walls, like vowed to plant 10 trees for every newborn IVF attempt. “I am a dreamer. I was a “procreation over immigration” approach Trump’s promise (part of the prototype child, which he says “will increase the convinced this dream of ours will come to to deal with demographic decline. The blew over) to stop immigrants fleeing from country’s forest area by 27 per cent by pass.” Noah told CNN TV, “a single course country’s population has been falling starvation, oppression, and the effects of 2030.” So it looks as if there’ll be lots of of IVF at a private clinic in Nigeria costs steadily for 40 years. In 2019 Mr Orbán climate change on farming and food, have Hungarian children growing up, and lots about £2,000 – a miracle…or rather two.”

116 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CHINA/POPULATION | 117 Wishes it could change its spots Jaws in reverse. Grotesque greed

Humans It’s certainly better for the big cats which up the money to replace the animal (still David Attenborough in Borneo’s famous are in jeopardy worldwide, where they at risk), but her daughter had to spend an caves, where the tiny swiftlets make their are in conflict with man (in fact, “leopard entire term out of school. “My whole life saliva cup nests reached by (almost) jeopardy”). The fast-growing Chinese I have relied on the donkey; it feeds me impossibly high, fragile bamboo ladders, middle class is the main threat. For and my family and educates my family and apparently suicidal “harvesters” we example their demand for donkey skins too” said Kasima. Other countries such as we went for a (well earned?) meal. So, of to make traditional medicine could wipe Pakistan, Senegal, Botswana and Uganda course, not fish and chips, but bird saliva. out more than half of the animals’ global have all banned exports. If you have a With chicken. And what, David, did it taste population in the next five years. In fancy wedding, you’ll be wanting shark-fin of? Answer: chicken, actually. As with the Kenya more than a thousand are being soup won’t you?...to prove your status. shark fin concoction, it seems that it was slaughtered daily in Kenya for their hides The status of that banquet ingredient is to only the glutinous ingredient that added and meat. Nearly five million skins are be deplored. 73 million of these crucial anything at all. So, what a waste of a shark, used every year to make ejiao, a gel sold in apex predators in the ecosystem are killed that most ancient of creatures. Fortunately China as a remedy for everything for colds a year, fuelling a practice labelled the the swiftlet harvest is controlled. I can’t and ageing (not presumably, Covid-19). marine “gold rush”. More than a quarter remember what the cost of our film of the world’s shark species are threatened crew’s outing was, but it made a nice As Chinese investments, a major strategy with extinction. After finning, sharks are little sequence. And I’m sure that the The Chinese. No social distancing at this time. (so-called “debt traps”) increases in Central often alive as they are discarded overboard ever-vigilant expenses office in the BBC and South America another fine big cat, And their buildings grow up and ever upwards. and they die of suffocation, bleeding or understood the claim. A new one, perhaps, the jaguar, is threatened by illegal poaching by being eaten by other predators. The though probably not as intriguing as when and deforestation. Money chains across soup can cost up to £180 a bowl. I hope we claimed for a new tyre when a rhino the world, from Beijing to Zimbabwe, 32 you enjoy it! What did it taste like? (charged £10) at our travelling vehicle. The China’s a perfect example of a short-sighted true freshwater seal, the nerpa. More Though travel may be restricted because baby elephants were taken (“snatched”) Probably like chicken - with a glutinous rhino didn’t remember the incident, except attitude for political and natural resources than one million people signed an online of what Donald Trump jokingly (?) called from their mothers for zoos – for a price, texture. RB writes: “After filming with the headache.” reasons again. You can see similar petition which said: “let us stop this “Klung Flu”, was born there. Wealthy angering animal rights supporters: Joanna examples around the world as humans travesty regarding our sacred lake”. The Chinese middle classes like trophy-hunting. Lumley, Brigitte Bardot, Judi Dench, Ricky increase and resources dwindle. Can we plant was expected to process 530,000 There’s been an increasing flow in tiger Gervais, Pamela Anderson, Bryan Adams Donkey fix it? China, as a country of 1.4 billion, litres of water per day by completion in bodies, skins and trophies from South and Virginia McKenna. wash! is hardly restricting itself to the region. 2021 with 80 per cent of production being Africa to China for both commercial trade Its reach is remarkable, an exceedingly exported, mainly to China, South Korea and “personal” consumption. South Donkey “medicine”may (probably not) ambitious plan which combines sea, and Mongolia. It was ruled illegal but yet Africa’s big cat “factory farms” are breeding make a person feel better, but it certainly Valued rail, road, including a pipeline to Siberia another greedy grab for resources that tigers as well as lions for Chinese “hunters” doesn’t help the previous owners of the beasts of ($400 billion), the so-called Belt (?) and belong to the planet, don’t they? to shoot in fenced enclosures. In China family’s helpful companion. The loss of a Road scheme ($1.3 trillion), a claim of bone wine is very popular, produced after donkey often pushes families into poverty Not that long ago China’s image was of a burden. £40 billion to mine gold and silver in the a bone is steeped in alcohol and blended and leaves the arduous task of fetching huge distant, rather strange, very crowded Himalayas (look out for pandas?), to the with herbs and spices, an example of water to women and children, putting country, with the few only outlets being But by Antarctic for, as ever, mysterious perhaps “traditional” medicine, curing arthritis and them at risk of attack or forcing them to Chinese takeaways in our towns. Now sinister reasons. They also tried to do a it can be used as an aphrodisiac (unlikely). drop out of school. Kasima, a widowed whom? China is taking away the planet, and its deal to take drinking water from Russia’s We may have our own strange tastes like mother of nine children (compare China) millions appearing everywhere, mostly on Lake Baikal, the world’s largest freshwater snails, tripe, liver and octopus, but most lost one of her donkeys to smugglers in selfies, whilst consuming more and more, lake by volume, known as the Pearl of people would settle for a blue pill called Kenya. She was eventually able to save and wanting more and more beyond that. Siberia. It’s home to some 1,500 endemic Viagra for sex, not needing to kill a tiger, a The cost, not just to the Chinese customer, (local) species including the world’s only lion or a jaguar in the process. but to the planet is unsustainable.

118 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CHINA/POPULATION | 119 Assuaging the appetite of China, as a grotesque human rights abuses in Tibet, to capitalise on the fiscal distress of Pacific whole, is probably impossible. Such is Xinjiang and Hong Kong with no more Island countries”. And many other places the increasing demand (needs?) of an than faint hand-wringing from the West. too…like the Moon for example. Not just increasing population, it’s doubtful if the Its carbon emissions are greater than the any old part of the Moon, but the dark planet, that’s all of us, can cope. But we USA, EU and India combined. Beijing side of the Moon – also known as the can try. One problem is, as with China, the and Xi Jinping has learnt that the planet far side. It’s all part of a very expensive “second hand” connections. Have you got is its for the taking” (letter; Robert Frazer, race for space between China, Russia and a nice new smart phone, tablet or electric The Daily Telegraph 9/4/2020). What America. Of course money, big money, is car? If so, you’ve also got something that exactly does “our” planet mean? Is it for behind it and, inevitably behind that was you’ve wanted (needed?) that is driving everyone to take what they want? Even if Trump, that (ace?) property dealer. He a child down a mine in DRC in Africa it’s unsustainable? China has long been a signed up for starting mining in space with (Democratic Republic of Congo); or in major importer of wood and that just keeps no internationally agreed treaty. There’s Canada and Australia. That’s the true cost, increasing, including illegally sourced always talk about living on the Moon, via Glencore, the world’s biggest producer wood products from the world’s forests, and Mars too, but when you compare the of cobalt in your wanted (needed?) items, potentially sustainable, but only if treated Earth’s biodiversity, and potential, and for batteries, Tesla cars, and our favourite with care, replanted and protected. Mostly threats to it all, you wonder why anyone social media novelties. There’ll be a new they’re not, but more people everywhere would ever want to live on those lifeless model any day soon, so keep the kids now understand this, and also now know specks in space. Or could money be spent down the mine, whilst Glencore makes who the greedy villains are. As the climate repairing the one we’ve got? And which we its millions. Maybe they could spend that warms, due to those immense emissions, seem to be overwhelming. money on helping the planet, rather than shipping routes in the Arctic open up more, Famous for its birth control laws – keeping exploiting it. Increasingly, shareholders, and for longer. New ports handle bigger to two, China is now easing that policy, and the public seem to agree. Just ask ships, move more wood as the forests fall which will mean, maybe later, less Shell and BP. But the take goes on, around on their way to China. Or, as the tundra consumption, less aspirations to buy bigger the world. Chinese demand for the very dries out, methane is released, fires spread and, possibly, better. From nappies, and stinky durian fruit is turning into the next in record heat and more trees go. At the everything else in, or made of plastic (=oil) big threat to Malaysia’s depleted rainforest, Equator, in Malaysia, the tropical forest to the grave, it’s difficult to predict China’s, already ransacked for oil palm for our there is being re-arranged to accommodate that’s the Earth’s future. We’ve seen how lipstick, ice cream, shampoo and other Forest City, where a rich ecosystem once an invisible virus can shatter us. Some say essentials (alternatives are available). thrived. It’s a Chinese dream, an ecology, it’s revenge because of the way we mistreat As the forests of Malaysia and Borneo go, for rich Chinese people, hopefully not a animals in markets, and produce our food, the human-like orangutans, with a new nightmare if a pandemic arrives, started in and mismanage whole ecosystems. More species recently discovered in Sumatra, an animal market back home. All the signs pandemics may be coming, as they have with only 800 probably left, will also go. are in Mandarin. Wealthy Chinese are before. In the meantime, as the human China’s state-owned Sinhydro will (?) build looking for a safe haven for their cash, and birth rate in China continues to fall, which a dam in the latest project of the grandiose air they can breathe without the help of a sounds like good news, it turns out more “Belt and Road” plan to extend China’s mask (unless Covid-19 shows up). Then humans are having cats and dogs instead economic and political influence. Money come the enablers who provide health (as it were). They make good company talks, orangs don’t, at least to us. If they and education, also Chinese. The British and don’t need those nappies. Last year could what would they say? “Go away may be hired to run a posh prep school. China overtook the US to become home to please, leave us alone. It’s our place. We Security guards are Nepalese mainly. And the world’s largest population of cats and like it like this. In any case, we were here finally, the Bangladeshis and Indians who dogs at 188 million (who counted?) with first”. But, probably, no one’s listening in build, repair and clean – the invisibles. numbers projected to grow to 2024 (keep Beijing or Sumatra. Such “progress” is not Is there any limit to these global tentacles? on counting). For a change, how about necessarily bad, but there’s usually a way Apparently not. Beyond Forest City are 16 a giant panda – not just for Christmas, of compromising, but big money and bad countries in China’s sights, vulnerable to mind. Of course, it’s the Chinese symbol, politics are a deadly combination, or, you “debt book diplomacy”, including Vanuatu, an icon for world wildlife conservation. So could say, the fatal weakness we all face. the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, for another piece of good news, more big Particularly China. A solution, everywhere, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, even as far away as numbers. The Bank of China has pledged is less people, less growth – in fact Tonga and Micronesia. The total sum of at least 10 billion yuan ($1.6 bn) to create sustainability. Is that reality though? With their potential, already raided somewhat, a vast panda park in south-west Sichuan a population of some 1.4 billion, including is vast. Timber, fish, tourism, minerals, province by 2023, the Chinese forestry 400 million middle-income earners it’s a oil and gas – you name it, they’ve got ministry has said, measuring 2 million source of tremendous spending power. it. But risk losing it, according to the US hectares, making it more than twice the Until Covid-19. State Department, who warn that Chinese size of Yellowstone Park in the US. Great It’s ironic that China’s growth increased investment and “support”, like useful park for the local people, great place for towards the end of 2020, partly because of ports (for military and fisheries to use the pandas – now up to 2,000 in the wild. sales of masks and protective equipment later?) roads and other infrastructure to And a great boost for China. Because, in its – against Covid-19, which they started in move, and ship timber out, and airports way, nature can save the planet – and us. China. A neat circle! to fly (Chinese) tourists in – Covid-19 plus vaccines permitting. These tricks are Meanwhile China charges on. “For years familiar and many countries are now being it’s been able to grab what it wants, effectively blackmailed – Chinese style – to whenever it wants. It has perpetrated get their “loans” back, “prioritising itself

120 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH CHINA/POPULATION | 121 Chapter 19 A busy road for Allanimals the rhino are being tranquillized and Those who have lost their jobs in ecotourism, dehorned by vets in order to make them like local guides, rangers, staff in safari lodges unattractive to poachers. and all sorts of other services affected by the pandemic may be forced to turn to poaching Damian Aspinall, the casino and zoo heir from their previous livelihood. And, of and chairman of the foundation, said it Nature and Us course, some of them know which animals was the biggest rhino dehorning operation are where, and those animals have come to ever undertaken and he was supporting it trust those people and their vehicles. This Stork reflecting with “a very heavy heart”. Truly, horns of But a bush meat provides an income, depletes competition? a dilemma. ladder the nature reserve which then suffers helps… He said: “We should be able to leave these from questions about its value as a tourist animals alone in peace to live their lives attraction, and is at risk from losing legal naturally. I find it depressing that humans protection, which is unlikely to be restored. behave so barbarically that we have to do For rhinos, worryingly, already under this. It’s also stupid because it’s keratin pressure, its horn is being touted in parts and there’s no medical value. But if it of Asia as a cure for the coronavirus. And means their survival, I think (dehorning) who’s doing that touting? Well, our friends is a necessary evil.” in China, no doubt, they who brought us the wonderful surprise (a global pandemic as Mr Aspinall said the process was painless actually predicted) in the animal market in and the horns would regrow at a rate Wuhan. The positive outcome from a near of four to six inches a year, but the cessation of aviation, and a fall in shipping dehorning had potential psychological …get to is that the skies have become cleaner and consequences for rhino. They use the figs illegal wildlife and ivory traders have fewer their horns to defend themselves so the routes out, with greater scrutiny of outbound Owner checking foundation is dehorning them all on the cargo. There was also more good news – Damage? reserve so none is left vulnerable to another We often forget that the best protectors antique ivory dealers lost a challenge to Insurance? rhino with an intact horn. of places are local communities, who often Britain’s strict ban on sales. This antiquated live on the frontlines of poaching wars. The foundation said tourists helped business had been rumbling on for years but Samburu warriors had never seen a rhino to deter poachers because there were was eventually killed off, like the thousands before; some had never even seen a photo normally thousands watching the animals of elephants in the past, to earn money and of one (imagine their surprise, finding but there had been a sudden drop in the prestige to a sad and sorry market. Poaching out it lives where you live – a dinosaur past few weeks. It said many local people was part of that supply, but eventually the on your doorstep!) And why might they had lost their jobs because of the lack of threat was reduced in some surprising ways. get involved in learning how to cut its tourists and this may also have contributed President Putin of Russia, for example, not horn off? to the rise in poaching as an alternative your most obvious supporter of friendly fire. For the Actually not one rhino, but 400 of them. source of income. good news That’s the scale of the problem because read on… of the now-familiar greed of the notorious Chinese animal-lovers – to eat as powder or similar. Truly, horns of a dilemma! Ben Webster in The i 15/5/2020 “Four hundred rhino are having their horns Man’s best friend removed in the biggest such operation to protect the animals from a surge in poaching on a South African Could anything be as game reserve. cute as a giant panda? Poachers were taking Do they deserve it? Do we deserve it when between animals, plants and us, and planet Perhaps a little baby one. advantage of the absence of they respond? It’s a can of worms – how Earth, in the year of “Planet Crunch”, tourists during the coronavirus If you list its best bits: rounded; furry; do they feel?...never made it to Hollywood. work out? Take that classic dilemma, the pandemic to shoot rhino cuddly; harmless; sits upright; uses its Don’t give up! wolf, that dog. Wolves have had a bad and cut off their horns with paws; vegetarian – eats bamboo; has press ever since the Little Red Riding Hood In this last chapter we’ll examine the chainsaws while they are still big eyes – actually it doesn’t, they’re eye story broke. “Man’s best friends” come wide-ranging relationships between us alive to sell for use in Chinese patches – real eyes are small; high forehead; in all shapes and sizes, but the original and them. But, remember we are part medicine. Fifteen rhino have reluctantly sexy; rare; endangered; lives in wolf has problems living next to man, of nature – in fact, without it, we are as been killed in the past few weeks, remote parts of China. The perfect toy, the but who’s invading who’s territory? And nothing – from microbes in the soil to our including one on Wednesday perfect mascot. Walt Disney got it, hence wolves killing humans is almost, truly, nearest relatives the great apes, we collide night near an empty game lodge, Mickey Mouse, Bambi and Co., money- non-existent. Dogs kill and injure many with them all the time, and everywhere. according to the Aspinall Foundation, spinners born in Hollywood. We all love more. So do viruses, which you can’t even We raise money to save orangutans, whilst the British conservation charity that all animals, don’t we? Or do we? And do see. That’s called a pandemic and it’s not destroying their forest home in Indonesia is underwriting the £100,000 cost they love us? Why?...when we hunt them, friendly to us at all. to grow palm oil for our shampoo, lipstick, of the operation. torture them, imprison them, kill them? and ice cream. How will this relationship

122 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH NATURE AND US | 123 Good friends Her, him and a turtle

(Marc Bennetts, Moscow. The Times 30/11/2019). Russia has provided small arms to Gabon to help it fight against elephant poachers in a move that comes as Not that far from Gabon in west Africa, is to working in service of the Kremlin steps up its bid for influence the huge protected area in central Africa, their communities,” Emmanuel de and resources in Africa. the Virunga National Park, a world heritage Merode, the park’s chief warden, said. site. Protected, yes, but safe? No. Not if The delivery is thought to be the first Last May a gang attacked a vehicle you’re a mountain gorilla, who made David time in either Soviet or Russian history carrying tourists to their park Attenborough famous in ‘Life on Earth’ that Moscow has supplied weapons to accommodation. A female ranger aged on TV 30 years ago, …or even people the central African country. Russian state 25 was shot dead, a Congolese driver desperately keen to help them. media described the firearms as a “gift” to wounded and two British visitors, Robert Gabon. The Russian defence ministry did Five rangers and a driver guarding critically Jesty and Bethan Davies, were kidnapped. not specify the exact number or type of endangered mountain gorillas have been They were freed the next day. firearms involved. ambushed and killed by bandits at Africa’s they can hear four times further. Ready to But friend? Really? A happy cat is a fed cat really need them, but they seem to want to Home to hundreds of rare birds and go at 18 months old they’re a force to be – and often on its own terms, some would need us – if only for food. Perhaps its better Gabon is home to Africa’s largest oldest national park. animals as well as its famous gorillas, reckoned with, teamed up with handlers say. But when you go from small domestic they eat supermarket (+ “tuna”, “chicken”, population of forest elephants, the smaller, The Virunga National Park, a world Virunga has recorded some conservation and helicopters. This is the challenge – (or ex-domestic = feral) the trouble “lamb” flavours) than your favourite robin. much rarer relations of the savanna heritage site in the Democratic Republic of successes, including boosting the the team is a solution, which costs £11 starts. The same vibes and signals sent by Next? “Robin, blackbird, field mouse” elephant, but poaching has devastated Congo (DRC), had only recently reopened mountain gorilla population to more million a year to run. The right breed your adorable (one or two way?) pet are flavours. At the other end of the feline scale their numbers. In the past 15 years, 25,000 to visitors after a closure forced by the than 1,000 from the 300 recorded in the for the job. “Foxhounds and beagles are replaced by a killer instinct inherited from is the “King of the Beasts”. Buffalo, antelope, elephants have been killed by heavily kidnapping of British tourists and the late 1990s. The population of rare forest naturally equipped to track poachers, skilful ancestors in the distant past. Skills zebra flavour is his preferred taste. Lacking armed poachers, who hunt them for their murders of several staff. elephant is also rising. detect weapons and find poached horns. now utilised for attention, being stroked in any sort of taste (not because of Covid-19) ivory tusks. Attacks by bandits at the 3,000 sq m park So the big sexy species get lots of attention Belgian Matinois, agile dogs, similar to and, mainly, getting fed. And a massive was a Netflix movie calledTiger King, a Julien Nkoghe Bekale, the prime minister have claimed the lives of more than 180 and media coverage, but it’s those unseen German Shepherds, are also adept at “bite industry has grown up around pleasing smash hit. of Gabon, was among more than 40 African work” (sounds painful – RB), and detaining cats – and, in turn, it seems they please park rangers. A sixth ranger was shot in little workers that run the planet, and, Such “lion exploitation” movies are hugely leaders to attend a two-day summit and intruders” (Jane Flanagan. The Times us. But, despite enough different cat foods the head in the latest incident, on April if we lose them, we will lose ourselves popular and hugely ridiculed, indeed hated. economic forum hosted by President Putin 16/5/2020). In Europe special dogs protect to justify (=earn) a whole big aisle in an 9, but survived. Virunga’s authorities too. How can our “best friend” help? If you care about cats (and probably have in Sochi last month. sheep from wolves, a rather different rôle American mega-supermarket, you still have attributed the killings to the Mai- With the big photogenic animals like a little one at home) you will sympathise from your average “sheepdog” (see later). end up with a bird-killer. Yes, a natural Moscow has $14 billion of arms on order Mai, an umbrella term for the disparate rhinos and elephants, dogs have come to with that pleading look, plus purr. Also, Yes, we owe it to the dogs. Their mood hunter, equipped with sharp senses and from Africa and the event included armed militia in the DRC’s lawless eastern the rescue. In Africa, the trade in illegal in South Africa, when you find out about varies hugely, from one end to the other, claws to destroy or maim your garden displays of Russian weaponry. Dmitry provinces near its border with Rwanda. horns and tusks is estimated to be worth some 70 emaciated big cats, mainly lions from wagging tail (happy?) to snarling teeth birds, that you also love. No wonder “SOS Kurakov, Russia’s ambassador to Gabon, More than 2,000 bandits are thought to approximately £16 million a year, with with some tigers – bones for the Asian (angry?). Same animal, different messages. Save Our Songbirds” has many supporters, said Moscow hope that the delivery would have over-run the area, fighting for control the demand driven mostly by Asia, where trade – you will despair. Also, there’s sort-of Give the wolf a chance. Now increasing but not nearly as many as the RSPB, the “enhance co-operation” in environmental of natural resources, poaching rights and, imported animal products are prized as “hunting” – shooting in enclosures for so- in many countries, it turns out Little Red Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, protection between the two countries. recently, oil-prospecting concessions. status symbols and as supposed remedies. called “trophies”. How sad is that. There are Riding Hood read it wrong perhaps! with over a million members. We know More than 1,000 rangers have been killed about 200 farms with a total of 12,000 lions Parts of Africa are, effectively, war zones The park, established in 1925 by the the Queen likes her Corgi dogs, but what around the world in the effort to protect, From dogs to cats. They’re all lovely – and in captivity. “King of the Beasts” should read not about territory, resources, politics, Belgian colonial authorities, is patrolled by about cats? Can one love both pet cats and helped by vital dogs, of course. Trained cuddly – aren’t they? 13.5 million of them “Beasts” when applied to humans involved in religion – the usual ones – but nature. Is 800 rangers recruited from impoverished wild birds? That’s a tricky question, but from puppies, with a sense of smell in Europe. And they love us too – in fact, this vile business. this shooting in the right direction? It local communities. because of the decline of many small bird estimated to be between 1,000 and 10 for many people, they’re a vital part can be fatal, not just for the wildlife, but species, the vote should be for them, the “Virunga has lost some extraordinarily million times better than humans, and of their lives, as their only companion. people too. brave rangers who were deeply committed birds, and against the killer cats. We don’t

124 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH NATURE AND US | 125 Chase the ball…

Dogs and cats come in all shapes and sizes.

Wolf pups – a snack for the Chinese …or a poacher

Small cats kill small robins. Big lions kill big buffalo, and we kill lions. Spot the dogs For fun?” amongst the action

Dog’s eye-view …or talk to the Moon

Much kinder business in Los Angeles, You could also be asking about deaths of closer to their squeezed home. Quickly Cats can be adaptable, though cat-owners dying along the way. A tragic waste of an more to India, also home of the tiger and California, where, like many urban singles people because of mountain lions. Always, labelled as “man-eaters” in northern India, will tell you which their favourite chair endangered species, traded to be posed leopard, truly a potential hub for big cats. the mountain lion, or puma, romantically anywhere, in a shrinking wild world, villagers crushed a tiger with a tractor after always is. For bigger wild versions this blatantly by sheikhs, pathetically thinking Cheetahs will be released back into India’s called P-22 lives a solitary life in a too-small predators are up against humans – literally. it was accused of mauling a farmer. Two adaptability can lead to problems – as ever they look good. Only the sad cheetah forests 70 years after they were hunted to habitat. And he has a hard time finding a There are many examples of this – some days earlier, the hunt for a tigress ended for both sides. Take leopards, for example. looks good and the man, or woman, looks extinction there. African cheetahs will be mate in the big city. (Perhaps he should solvable, others probably not. We’ll see. in outcry after she was shot dead. You A very versatile species, can climb, swim, stupid. 3,000 of the beautiful cats are kept transported, which is controversial, but at change his name to be more Hollywood – Many people love nature but only on might think your cuddly cat at home is run and grab - in many countries. And, domestically in the UAE. In Kuwait City least it’s better than nothing, ie no cheetahs Walt, Brad, Leonardo? – not so much P-22 their terms. Animals usually naughty, killing nice little birds as ever, again, it’s not always welcome. they are kept most of the day in cages in an at all. There are only 7,100 wild cheetahs – although he’s probably not too aware lose. And you can see why. and mice. But when it’s that For example, in a remote Indian village, apartment. That’s a far cry (maybe?) from left in the world, and only 50 of these are of the disadvantage.) His main problem Further north, in much much bigger and can eat not a tiger this time, but a leopard, which the open plans of the Serengeti, or Masai Asiatic cheetahs, which are found in Iran. is crossing two fatal freeways, stuck in wilder Vancouver Island, you, it’s a very different attacked five people before occupying a Mara in Kenya. Other friends own lions, That’s pandemic-prone, unstable, and an LA park with no chance of spreading Canada, a mountain perspective. Tigers, if house, after a 12-hour stand-off. It had left and gave the stupid woman tips on caring cheetah scientists have been arrested there, his genes, which is what is usually what lion was fought off by only commercially, its forest home, perhaps hungry for a dog for a big cat. She said: “I had cats and dogs accused of spying (they were – on the rare happens around there (they say). So Chelsea Bromley’s are one of the biggest (a favourite), or a cat? It was tranquillized, before, but I wanted something taller and cheetahs), and imprisoned. Cheetahs are being the city of big spenders, transport bare hands, as it tourist attractions on taken to the zoo, checked out, and released bigger.” (Tip from RB: Send her a hungry mild, cool cats. Leopards and tigers are a officials and conservationists will build attacked her son, Zack the planet. They’re back into its forest after a couple of days. man/woman-eating tiger.) lot less so. But what happens when the a $87m (£71.5m) wildlife crossing giving (7), grabbing him probably one of the But it might just come back for a dog, less lovely animals (to some) turn up? And now for two happy cheetahs. They the big cats and other creatures a safe by his arm. Minor largest land predators especially if there’s human pressure on its We’re talking crocodiles, alligators, snakes, were born in captivity, but will be the route to open space and better access to injuries. It seems we must try to learn home. Can we share? lizards and all sorts of predatory cold- first to be “rewilded” in South Africa. food and potential mates (so P-22 won’t two mountain lions to live with. Rich, blooded characters. Our relationship with Possibly the worst thing that can happen Saba, and Nairo were hand-reared by need to change his name). “For those were possibly starving, selective tourists helped them is often put to the test, though some to that beautiful speedster, the cheetah, is Damian and Victoria Aspinall at Howletts of us in LA having a romance prospect because they’d lost their the economy but, as India, the people do love them! They’ve survived to become a pet. Your domestic moggy is, Wild Animal Park, near Canterbury. A quashed by traffic is something we can all mother for some time. And a tiger’s last main refuge expands, for millions of years, since the age of the literally, at home and, mostly, happy there. glimmer of hope in a world of excess and relate to” said Beth Pratt of the National human mother could have lost her son. not only its human numbers, aspiring long-dead dinosaurs, in fact. They are still But cheetahs are particularly fashionable stupidity. There is still time, particularly Wildlife Federation. Leonardo DiCaprio Result: conservation officers found both maybe to those tourists’ life-styles, people around. It’s impossible to predict whether as exotic pets, for selfies, bought by rich if we don’t try to revert everything to the chipped in: “We’re doing this in LA, a animals in the area, their home, and killed of the planet must try to find room for they’ll continue to survive in our changing people in the Middle East, who have much original “normal”. Because that kind of city of four million people. If LA can do both. Humans: 2 Mountain Lions: 0. the most photogenic, charismatic, iconic, world. But some would say it is humans more money than sense. Any sense. More normal was the problem, and it’s taken a it, it can work anywhere”. (The Guardian Whose home was it? The mountain lions magnificent creatures ever to have graced that will disappear. than 300 cubs, at up to £15,000 each, are microscopic, invisible, deadly organism to 22/8/2019 – four months before Covid-19.) were there first. Tigers, too, are tough planet Earth. (You can tell I like tigers a shipped from Africa each year to feed an give us a chance to do better. Let’s take it How much of a luxury is this bridge for a customers, especially if they’re next- bit – RB). And the great news that their “insatiable demand”. Three in four cubs, – to repair and rescue our damaged planet. few mountain lions, compared with dying door, or, rather next to you, as part of an numbers are increasing under protection. stolen from their mother, never reach the Not just two cheetahs to South Africa, but Americans? A crunch. expanding human population, moving homes of the wealthy prospective buyers,

126 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH NATURE AND US | 127 Those new words for many people: “pandemic”, “furlough”, “testing”, “tracking” and “tracing” can involve dogs too. Dogs with, or without, jobs that is. An out-of-work bloodhound is an unhappy bloodhound, but he’ll be back in the tracking and tracing business soon. Maybe. There are dog-jobs elsewhere, as in Essex, England where they can help find water voles, for a study into this the least of your problems. Goats will Dogs were once wolves, but crocodiles endangered mammal. Much further afield, eat that scary invasive species, Japanese have, pretty much always, been and much more risky is saving koalas in knotweed. They do that on the polite cliffs crocodiles – very ancient reptiles, cold- the terrible Australian bushfires. Rather of Bournemouth, Dorset. But when they blooded, and probably difficult to live oddly named “Bear”, a five-year-old border hit towns, they can munch up gardens, with, like snakes. But are they? collie cross, is trained to sniff out animals’ floral tributes in cemeteries, adding their fur (another good reason for stupid people We are really mixed up and confused own particular scent to the proceedings. not to wear fur – see “fashion” later). Bear in our attitude to the bigger carnivores. started reaching the capital, Stockholm, That applies to wolves, bears, and foxes swim – a surprise guest. Or on to the In Wales, Llandudno, empty because of himself wears some cool bootees to protect “Carnivore” means “meat-eater” and people were rather less tolerant. “Culls” (see hunting later “the unspeakable in many golf courses where they could be Covid-19, it was just like Christmas, as they his paws. When he detects a koala he many people think that it could also (polite word for “kills”) were allowed. In pursuit of the inedible”). more of a hazard than a bunker. They’re strolled past the shops, snacking hither promptly sits below the tree and waits for mean eating them. That’s not a great the meantime wolves are winning right formidable reptiles and it’s just possible, and thither as only goats can. They’re both Well, we may be mixed-up about wolves, his human friends. Three billion animals thought if they live near you. But don’t across Europe from Portugal to Russia. as it’s Donald Trump’s favourite golfing good and bad news – in some countries bears, even foxes, but surely (“don’t call are estimated to have died, including at forget they were probably there first, territory, a hungry alligator might do the they have eaten every single thing and Now, how would you feel with a cuddly, me Shirley”– Airplane) but would you call least 6,300 koalas in New South Wales and it’s you that’s encroached on their world a favour. turned landscapes into desert, ruining the furry friend in bed with you? No, not a crocodile cuddly or even lovable? Well, alone. Those rescued are plumped up territory, and the conflict’s happen, not livelihoods of nomadic tribes who once a glamorous film star, but a bear – a even the cereal killer in the supermarket A wheel of ill-fortune. I’m a crocodile, get and released where there is still food to so much because of the wolf, bear or fox depended on them. Ecosuicide. Both teddy bear. How is it one of the most battle, Lidl, made an executive decision me out of this! For three years (MOT not eat. Bear is hardly a perfect pet due to his attacking us, but rather our impact on human and goat family planning would widespread, potentially dangerous animals to use a crocodile in its rice snaps (get checked – for obvious reasons) a car tyre “obsessive compulsive nature” (whatever them. In some countries farmers shoot help a lot. But some people love them – as (not just to us – but to their wild prey) has it?), which provides the competition has been a kind of potentially suffocating that is, but probably not a good look). or poison the competition, in others they pets. Trouble and Mabel (the goats not become such a favourite children’s toy? Is with “snap, crackle and pop” for other’s collar around the neck of this 13-foot But those qualities make him a perfect receive compensation for sheep killed, the owners) often escape and even tried to teddy so terrible? How dangerous is the rice krispies. Indeed, a nasty way to crocodile in Indonesia. It’s a country not detection dog, passing the interview with or support for fencing, or special guard get on a bus (a number 72 by the way, to real thing? That depends on who you talk go. Cynically, the croc is being used to known for its kindness to wild animals, ease. “He’s gone from zero to hero” was dogs, as in Portugal, where dozens of Rhondda in Wales). “They’re so naughty… to, and how they behave. The trick seems sell stuff via cartoons aimed at children. though not as bad as China, where the the verdict. But he’s not quite in the class Sierra da Estrela mountain dog puppies the things they get up to, you wouldn’t to be: “I knew I had to avoid scaring the Lions, pandas, monkeys and penguins Wuhan market was believed to have started of another collie sheepdog across the are being trained as sheepdogs to help believe”, said possibly amused owner Fay bear, and I just had to move away from it. are to be expected predictable classics in the coronavirus pandemic Covid-19. world in Wales. Not just any old sheepdog farmers ward off attacks from wolves Wilson-Yeates. Then they went up on a You know what the secret was? I didn’t the cereal hall of fame. By the way, do But in Indonesia the word went out: “A but a “Megan” sheepdog, 2 ½ years old as the species makes a comeback. The neighbour’s roof, before being taken back look it in the eye, so it understood I was they get a commission? But crocodiles? reward will be given to anyone who can and worth £18,900. Emma Gray, 34, sold puppies grow up as friends of the sheep, to their pen – return bus ticket? not his enemy. It was the best day of my For kids, “awesome”, “gross”, apply. release the hapless reptile. The presence her to an American beef cattle owner and therefore will protect them. We have life, a dream come true.” Such was the “Deadly” would do as well to a fisherman of other crocodiles make any attempt to Brian Stamps who’s into serious trading. Yes, we see our pets from a single goldfish caused the problem in the first place by extraordinary experience of 12-year-old in northern Australia in May 2020. Back capture it with a rope very dangerous. But He bought a Wagyu heifer for a record or budgie, to flocks of sheep or herds of introducing the domestic, semi-tame Allessandro Franzoi in the Italian alps. It in 1970 there were 3,000 salt water crocs we will rescue it somehow”, said Panji £216,000, producing steak up to £150 a lb. horses. We give them names, we pay sheep into the original carnivores’ natural went viral, he was famous and it was good in Northern Territory. They are now a the Adventurer, he of the great name. Meanwhile Emma back in Wales, winning fortunes to vets and can be inconsolable home. Now there’s an ambitious project PR for bears, proving that they’re (mostly) protected (yes, protected?) species with Adventurous, yes, but successful so far? sheepdog trials, writing a book “One Girl when they die or have to be put to sleep, (100 dogs) for rewilding Portugal and not “terrible”. Credit for the “It’s behind some 100,000 up there. That’s a lot of No. A trap failed. Tranquiliser darts were and Her Dogs” about the difficulty of with cremation as emotional as the human Europe, including boosting the number you” incident must go to the cameraman. crocs, and a lot of teeth, all the better to ruled out because of the danger that the finding a husband but gaining the label equivalent. That’s partly because they of roe deer in the wolves’ area. If they Back in 2017 a bear clawed chunks out grab you with. But toasters kill more croc would swim away before the drug of Britain’s loneliest shepherdess. Well don’t argue, and we simply like them and have a choice, they always go for wild of a man’s arm, and another attacked a people than those living dinosaurs, the took effect causing it to fall unconscious she got the husband, Ewan Irvine (41), a thank them for their companionship. Even animals rather than the domestic flavour. mushroom hunter in 2014…don’t go down world’s largest living reptile, growing to in the water and drown. “We could attract sheepdog fan and a fireman (as you do). a goldfish for a lonely person! And they That’s venison, rather than lamb. But in the woods today, just might turn out to 7 metres and weighing a tonne. A cull is it with meat as bait,” he said “But…we are make friends with each other. A little dog old attitudes die, like lamb, hard. In Now they’re all together, with Megan, the be no picnic, like Allessandro’s. It seems called for before the killing continues. But afraid that we will injure the croc’s mouth (no name) joins a 25-year-old horse called super-civilised Norway, where they’re star. And don’t forget, dogs are descended the bear was just inquisitive, stood up (to it’s humans into the crocodiles primeval if we use a hook. We don’t want to end up Jenny on their daily walk in Fechenheim, rich enough to know better, some still from wolves, often seen as man’s worst 3 metres), got a bit bored, and wandered home that’s the reason. Our fault, you in a situation where people have to save me near Frankfurt. Jenny has done this for harbour an almost genetic hatred of that enemy, ironically leading to, famously, off… Back to bed perhaps? Also up in those could say. They can be a tourist attraction, instead,” the Adventurer added. They tried the past 14 years, leaving her stable each dog-ancestor. In fact they use domestic “man’s best friend”. mountains of Europe a nudist was with partly because of their notorious snatching their counterparts in Australia, who tried, morning to stroll through the streets. dogs to hunt them. Thousands of sheep his laptop. Until he wasn’t. A female wild reputation, either selling rice snaps to kids but failed. The reward remained on offer Cattle, sheep and goats are now part of our Locals know her and the dog certainly die every winter in the wilds of Norway, boar, with piglets, snatched it and ran off, or leaping to grab meat in a show next to but “We will never give up”. Hopefully the culture worldwide, though our enthusiasm does, but what’s the connection? Will but if one wolf kills one sheep, that wolf pursued by unclad person – famous there a boat. By the way, if you are unfortunate croc won’t either, before it gets strangled for meat and dairy has diminished greatly, we ever know? Backpackers in Australia is doomed, and its corpse laid out on the and then, such is the reach of the media. enough to end up in a crocodile’s jaws, use by its own growth. It was later released. if only because of the food chain impact of are familiar with the famous “fridge dog”, steps of parliament to show the success your fingers to block its nose – a handy tip. What this story does show is unexpected Adele Brand: “We have built our world burning the Amazon rainforest for cattle called Oi – a call to attention “we couldn’t of the brave hunter. An official film was Using her fingers, Maurina Musisinyana, sympathy for a big crocodile in trouble, over the wildwood, and yet seem and soya. Veganism, plant burgers are agree on a name, so we had to call him made showing children running from 30, in Zimbabwe did just that to save her an ancient creature demeaned by National perpetually surprised that wild animals are now the order of the day. Goats can turn something”, said owner Anne Steinbach. the school bus, as if being pursued by 3-year-old, Gideon’s, life. The boy was Geographic, an allegedly conservation in it. It’s a whimsy of the human race that rubbish into human food, and in some Because of the 40-degree heat, Oi, likes a terrifying wolf. The whole thing was injured but survived. The rather similar outfit, who wreck its own, plus the we love wild animals that collapse towards places live permanently on waste dumps. to nuzzle up to very cold “stubby” beers staged apparently. A lie. Next door, in alligator, has also greatly increased under predators’ reputations by inflammatory, extinction in our presence and resent those Not sure about the flavour but if you’re in the fridge. He also barks for ice tubes, equally civilised and accessible Sweden protection, in the USA, especially Florida. incorrect references. In a word – crap. The that survive us. Wildlife that endures desperately hungry, in say Indonesia, that’s good for business. wolves are tolerated, though when they They come into people’s pools for a cooling truth is much fairer than fiction. civilisation is seldom loved for it.”

128 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH NATURE AND US | 129 The bad old days Trying to stop it Despite being relentlessly, and inaccurately, cobra. It had been living under a fridge panda logo announced, “If we can’t save labelled by the National Geographic Wild (as you do). Not there anymore, and thus the whale we can’t save anything.” Just TV channel as “fearsome predators” and not happy, to be caught up by Mr Van Zyl, in time the world came to its senses and “merciless, ruthless assassins, deadly 36, and released somewhere safer – for the slaughter slowed and finally stopped killers”, the alligators’ increase in Florida is both people and reptile. The reason for by global agreement. Except in the Faröe a success story, as is the protection of their this collision, possibly fatal to humans, Islands in the north Atlantic where pilot home, the Everglades National Park. But, is the rapid urbanisation of this area of whales are driven ashore and killed for Shoot to sadly, that’s not true for another mega- Cape Town. As always, sheer numbers their meat which the local people have harpoon reptile, ie snake, the python. In the past of people are at the bottom of it, invading always enjoyed, though they could equally thousands they’ve been killed for their skins for vain and displacing wildlife, but, in this case, eat other, domestic, produce. However, of whales customers who don’t know what they’re the human cost can be high. Mr Van Zyl they regard the hunt, known as the “grind” wearing. Python-lovers (there are some) operates from a van, discreetly warning as being similar to fishing the seas bounty Paul Watson released them in the Everglades, where “DANGER: VENOMOUS SNAKES”. “It’s on their islands’ doorstep. Pilot whales are top activist they then ate what’s always been there, really quite handy”, he says. “If we go not endangered in the scientific sense of Sea and bred like hell. And can they breed! somewhere that’s a bit dodgy (Garden of the word, rather the Faeroese consider the Shepherd Nat Geo should refer to them as the world’s Eden?), my wife just puts her handbag in stopping of the “harvesting” as a threat to sexiest snakes. Being able to feed easily in one of the snake buckets. I’ve never had their own traditions. Over in Norway, they that aquatic paradise they just got bigger my van broken into” (Graeme Barker, The also continue to harpoon small whales. and bigger, producing more and more Times, 20/1/2020). Now for the even These are minkes, part of a food chain “pythonettes”/mini pythons. A clever trick better news. Rats. Snakes eat them and from fish to whale to people. There are led to a record female. Instead of tracking can be skilful vermin exterminators (like fixed quotas and, in the Lofoten islands females to lead them to males, Big Cypress the sign “Night, Night, Termite”). As with there, you can eat a whale steak (and get Swamp scientists put transmitters on randy the wolf, the bear, the fox, the crocodile, a certificate for it), the same day as going males hoping that they’d lead them to the snake, they all have their supporters whale-watching as a tourist, part of what is Food chains from females – a kind of reverse “honey-trap” and detractors. No side is right or wrong. now a huge business worldwide wherever tactic. And it worked! Spectacularly. But what is consistently correct is we there are whales and dolphins of all shapes shrimps to whales Nearby was the honey, python-style. Vital must all share an increasingly crowded and sizes. Show them and the tourists will Unlikely statistics: over 17ft (5.2m) long, weight planet as best we can. And to do that we come - in their hundreds of thousands. But Eventually… inland 140lb (64kg) and carrying 173 developing have to breed less and consume less… the virus has hit the trade hard. the International Whaling Commission (IWC) delegate eggs. Enough for a giant snake omelette. not necessarily back to the Garden of …helps protect whales Iceland stopped whaling quite recently, but Not to everyone’s taste perhaps. Sadly Eden! There’s a place for rats – in Banksy’s the Japanese re-started having ceased for this invasive pest must be controlled for bathroom, and its excruciating detail. a while. Activists had used the media to the sake of the unique ecosystem. Wrong Disney made a mouse a star forever, and But food reveal the Japanese whaling fleet operating snake in the wrong place, so even if you TV in the UK even made Roland Rat, a chain may be in a supposed sanctuary in the Antarctic, like reptiles and even keep them as pets, symbol of a channel. In Tanzania Peter poisoned the place where the British fleet were your job is a sad one. But essential. A Parker is an African giant pouched rat killing so many great whales in the past. A beagle puppy, Python Pete, was trained to (not related to Python Pete over there in harpoon is fired from the catcher ship and sniff out the snakes but had to abandon the over-heated Florida). He and his mates are On the menu… a grenade explodes in the highly intelligent a whale steak plan because he couldn’t take the heat of trained to detect landmines, and diagnose animal which can take up to 20 minutes the Florida summer, and he wilted on the tuberculosis (Covid-19 next?), saving to die. These days there’s really almost no job. You simply can’t get the staff these thousands of lives a year with their sense market for whale meat – it’s given away to days – probably due to global warming? of smell. Faster workers than man, too schools which may prove equally deadly to However, regular public python hunts, in light to get blown up, they’re a life changer, the Japanese children because of poisons 2018 recorded their 1,000th kill. That’s a and saver. One snag: they’re night workers, ingested by the whale in its food of krill very long lot of Burmese pythons, capable and in the day they get sunburnt, so need shrimps and fish. Previously, in Iceland, of squeezing bobcats, deer and alligators sunscreen. Tell Peter the Python in sunny a huge backlog of similarly toxic whale – and, no doubt, Python Pete, if he hadn’t Florida. Who’d have thought rats could meat from fin whales, the world’s second been beaten already by the heat. Back in help us! largest after the blue, had built up and had colder England, no doubt in a comfortable, Whales and dolphins grouped together to be frozen and kept there for sale to, say, centrally-heated house, the world’s biggest Scientists prove it as cetaceans, this group of sea mammals Japan. There was no market there. Japan Burmese python, Hexxie’s fed a diet of Ken Balcomb is right at the top of the loveable stakes has had some disastrous experiences with rabbits, calves, goats and pigs by owner for most people. But, sadly, for certain chemicals in the past, and their reputation Marcus Hobbs. Hexxie is more than With that attitude to nature, perhaps “traditional” reasons they are still has been harpooned, like the unfortunate 18ft long, weighs 110kg (The Guardian his country’s people will become butchered or caught for zoos and animal great creatures they prey on. That still 13/11/2019). Marcus bought her 8 years “cockroaches of the land” when only real parks. In the past a large whaling fleet continues, claimed to be an important ago when she was just 8in long. cockroaches will be left and only exist on Captivity and from Britain went to the distant Antarctic, way of life for certain small communities. planet Earth. Meanwhile public opinion stunts are bad You may or may not like snakes. But since harpooning thousands of blue whales, the It would seem that that will eventually is, increasingly, pro-whale, almost to an the Garden of Eden, (two) people have largest animals that have ever lived. Other dwindle to nothing. Seafood (think sushi) evangelical extent. Their intelligence, shared their place with them. Today, that’s species of great whales were killed too is basic to the Japanese but sometimes they their sensitivity, their size… What other particularly true in South Africa, home of and, at one time, it seemed they might be don’t seem to appreciate it. At one of the animal would you be so moved by when the Garden Route and millions of people. rendered extinct by being rendered down annual International Whaling Commission But are you only see its spout, (and hear it), whales winning? That’s not always an easy combination, for their huge bodies. So much so that Sir meetings, a Japanese delegate apparently nose and fins? As a tourist you wouldn’t and you may need a “rescuer” to help out. Peter Scott, who helped start the World referred to the little minke whales as “the be turned on by just glimpses of a lion, Yes. Just. A problem is the highly venomous Cape Wildlife Fund and created the famous cockroaches of the sea”. elephant or rhino.

130 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH NATURE AND US | 131 The Japanese don’t hate whales. They especially a 20-year-old humpback common or dusky dolphins off South The value of its fur to… Nature is not a commodity, the world is just hate losing face. But they’re up (dolphin not whale!) called “Mystique” Island in New Zealand. What we really not a zoo. A zoo is what it is, sometimes against powerful forces these days. The tried to attract people with gifts. In fact should not, repeat not, do is attend/support more explicitly called “zoological and whales themselves are facing tough times, the dolphins have trained people, not the captive dolphin shows, as in Dubai. The a wolf botanical gardens”, not forgetting the not from whaling fleets, but pollution, usual, much criticized, other way round. animals may look as if they’re smiling, but plants on which all the animals and, us, including poisons in their prey, excreted Presents include timber, shells, rope and only the human really is. Not the way to ultimately depend. But do visitors on a originally by us; noise pollution too, bottles – not full of Fosters by the way. treat such a sensitive creature. It simply relaxed day out, with the family, learn from ships which can damage their They also bring sponges, always useful, shows how insensitive we can be. much, except for a small child who will “language”; and collisions with those same and that for Mystique is be amazed to see how tall a giraffe is? Don’t get born cute. Like a baby otter. ships, travelling faster than speed limits kind of And, by the way, if it has a calf how did Because of the craze for Instagram, established to protect them. The wider that happen? Plus a chance to talk about and the selfish social media greed for perspective is the commercial world and how many giraffes there are left in the selfies, your fate, at least whilst you’re our needs for more stuff as quickly as world, and why – because of humans still small, is to be kept in a Japanese possible. The result: more ships, faster, killing them, and invading their home. (that country with a highly criticized less care, with entrapments in fishing gear A sign with a map can help, and TV whaling reputation) café where the increasing all the time as man hunts the a reindeer at home, can reinforce that education. owners hope to attract customers oceans to feed himself. Thus are species You could also argue that taking selfies, to have selfies taken. And lots of interconnected, and to recognize that is to whilst playing with, and feeding great them. How vain and stupid is that! help others, who may be struggling in a apes, bears, crocodiles, killer whales/ The tourists may never know that world we are changing almost everywhere orcas, and sloths also helps. Walking the cute furry otter cub was taken from pole to pole and all around the with a lion, or riding an elephant is from its den of birth, smuggled Equator, and now we seem to want to an everlasting memory for some, and to Japan, where they are shown off as do that on the Moon and Mars. What romantic probably helps the conservation of that “fun and cool pets”, said World Animal a waste in space when we could, first, because scientists species in the future. But not everyone Protection, who are trying to reduce the try and repair our only home. It’s have recorded adult thinks like that and now elephant-riding threat of extinction of the smooth-coated 70% ocean, much of it unexplored male humpback has been banned by some major tour otters. “Poachers have been caught with and overfished, as we nearly did dolphins giving operators. There have been reports baskets full of dozens of pups, while the with whaling to zero. Those Japanese marine sponges to of baby elephants being “snatched” parents, which are fiercely protective, not only kill whales, and become most females. “He brings in from the family herd in Africa, and so are often shot after being smoked out unpopular as a result, but terrify dolphins objects on his rostrum, or prominent animal rights supporters have of their dens. For every pet baby otter, driven into nets by the demand for zoos beak, and then he carefully attacked the EU for not taking action. there’s likely to be a dead adult”, added a wolverine and the big theme park entertainment presents them. Here we have some of the When celebrities including Joanna Cassandra Koenen. Investigators found business. But in the USA, SeaWorld got it most socially complex animals on the Lumley, Brigitte Bardot, Judi Dench, otters whimpering, shrieking and making badly wrong, cutting 350 jobs after visitor planet using sponges not as a foraging tool, Ricky Gervais, Pamela Anderson, Bryan distress calls as café customers played with a wild cat numbers dropped by 350,000 in the first which they do, but as a gift.” You wonder Adams, Jenny Seagrove and Virginia them, taking selfies all the time. They were half of 2017. If you buy wild dolphins or what happens at Christmas. Feeding McKenna sign up maybe the situation obviously oblivious to the otters’ messages, orcas (killer whales), and imprison them, wild dolphins is a big tourist attraction will change. It already has, for other just interested in self-interest. The pups force them to do tricks, for an insensitive down the coast at the Tangalooma Island reasons. Because of the pandemic’s grow up to become highly unsuitable as mass public you will suffer, though only Resort, ironically sharing the beautiful impact on travel, and a fall in tourist pets and will be “disposed of,” possibly financially, not nearly as much as Shamu beach with the grisly remains of a whaling numbers, elephant sanctuaries have run eaten, a rotten reward for entertaining the or the other “stars” whose light in the wild station. It opened in 1952, but was closed out of money for their upkeep. Some of unfeeling, ruthless audiences day after ocean dimmed long ago. Such cruelty a decade later, largely due to the lack of these elephants were previously working day. Some had been kept with no natural still continues where the paying public humpbacks (whales not dolphins) left. in the forests of Thailand (sadly, shifting light or even without water – torture for don’t seem to connect the degrading show, Dolphin feeding is carefully regulated, deforested timber) and were enjoying the very aquatic otter. Such examples of with the magnificent creatures so often and the great whales are back again. But a well-earned rest – sort of, if carrying animal exploitation exist around the world shown in their vast natural habitat on for the dolphins elsewhere it was bad around fat Germans and Americans for whether it’s dancing bears, performing television. Hopefully change is coming, news. Not because they suddenly became selfies, is restful. Then the jumbos had dolphins, or “funny” chimps. Don’t with Blackfish a captive unpopular (impossible in this day and age) an Arctic fox, to move on, back home. More than 100 forget the message “A dog is not just for story killing off SeaWorld’s and other’s but they became too popular! Tourists of them walked north, up to 95 miles Christmas”. Nor is an otter, or even a bred for the reputations, bringing them crashing down, massed to swim with them from boats to their original homelands, where reindeer, whose busy time arrives with with British Airways Holidays and Virgin “loving them into extinction”, deflecting purpose in tiny they were welcomed by the local Karen Santa Claus in grottos across the land. cutting ties. The good news for some them from domestic duties like feeding, villagers, who traditionally Insensitive big stores use them to attract cages Russian whales was the release, some nursing their young and sleeping (human cared for their customers, despite the stress of being kept say “the dumping” of a captive group, parallels here). Boat tours to swim with elephants. Some inside, in said grotto. Says Elisa Allen back into the ocean, which is where they the distracted dolphins have been banned, of them had of People for the Ethical Treatment of belong. But is there any point in captive so that business has been hit, hard. Calf stayed back at Animals: “Reindeers are intelligent gentle animals at all when wild dolphins will numbers had been dropping by 75% the tourist park animals, meant to roam free over vast arctic come to visit you for free? mortality, an alarming decrease. And with funding ranges – not to be carted up and down the the local population of those bottlenose from the Save Welcome to Queensland’s Cooloola Coast country as if they were props to be paraded dolphins fell from 270 to about 30 – almost Elephant in Australia. It’s certainly a cool place about and gawped at under bright lights 90% in just 20 years. However, with a Looks better on the real owner than on a stupid vain Foundation. for dolphins, though perhaps not for the in busy shopping centres, filled with noise 95% success rate of finding them, or human or at a profligate, grotesque, fashion show in temperature. Less human visitors visit and strangers. And those “strangers” could rather them finding you, you can meet than usual, when the tourist feeding be you and I. New York, London, Paris, Milan, Dubai, etc… them elsewhere, for example swim with centre was closed. So the lonely dolphins,

132 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH NATURE AND US | 133 A great history of conservation White House wall. Approval for import of Carrie?), and do something more useful could say a beetle beat the Royal Family Slowly, but slowly, the situation is expose some very controversial truths. was approved, as Obama-era restrictions like fix Brexit, a virus, even really help in 2019! And in 2020 too. Despite his changing. France, perhaps surprisingly, Rich American shoots big game for were rolled back, as well as on hunting our wildlife and countryside. At present, conservation commitments Prince Charles has banned the use of non-domestic trophies to impress (who?), a whole bear and wolf cubs and swimming caribou “southern Britain is the pamperlands for likes to shoot and fish, and Boris may animals in circuses, an entertainment pheasant rearing and killing industry is in Alaska’s national preserves. The first pheasants, little more there than free-range join in, probably not with Carrie and her tradition whose time seems to be over. fraught with arguments mainly based on interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, was an avid livestock. The weight of pheasants raised dog. Wrong sort of dog. Reportedly, last It all started with a performing bear class – the backbone of Britain. That’s not hunter who had benefitted from generous and released in the UK is greater than the year the Queen and Duke and Duchess called Mischa who could hardly breathe unlike some of the fishing fraternity whose campaign contributions from the hunting total of all wild bird species put together of Cambridge took Prince George to his because of a chain around his neck (not traditional prey of salmon has become big lobby (The Times 10/9/2019 Ben Hoyle, (interesting arithmetic! RB). Numbers first grouse shoot. (Harry Yorke, The Any more Dodos? the Elvis song) forced to wear a frilly money, with inevitable disease and dangers Los Angeles). Say no more…only to add set free locally last year were more Daily Telegraph 13/8/2019) Is that called Hope not collar to hide the marks. He froze in the of overcrowding in farms, that now the response in poor African countries is than double the humans of the nearby “education”? Ecologically connected winter and sweltered in the summer. No produce cheap food, with the main price that the large licence fees, plus payments town” (Derek Niemann, The Guardian on the large landowners’ grouse moors one seemed to care until all of France being the adulteration of a fine species – for guides and services can benefit the local 27/11/2019). But the fact is that the is a big, beautiful, flying threat. Or, in did…It just goes to show what one and that’s not the salmon. Plenty of food people, and create business. Therefore, in “nearby town” may derive some income fact, several of them – birds of prey – all Mauritius Kestrel “martyr” can do. This kind of exposure for thought there around a subject that theory, the potential value of the wildlife from the pheasant rearing/killing industry. protected by law. Because they live there, Back from is beyond price, and all of us can help, goes back to the age of the mammoth, and will be recognized not just the prime It’s a single-minded process of birth and have to feed there, sometimes on the very brink especially with the social media available then brings us up-to-date with the ways trophy individuals, but also, the whole to death. As with any factory-farming grouse chicks, the fate of hen harriers, to everyone, everywhere. Feelings run humans now hunt, shoot and fish. Some habitat which may be protected. Taking the “product” may suffer; trampling, buzzards and merlins is on the line; in high…murder threats show these issues of it is not a pretty story, revealing the out the big individuals as trophies can in-fighting, getting stuck in machinery. fact any raptor is in the sights, or trap, or starkly. Human-like chimps made a mint least attractive aspects of mankind. First, weaken the stock. On the other hand Newly hatched chicks may be thrown into poisoned, all in the name of the grouse for PG (=pretty grim) Tips tea and were hunting – from trapping mammoths in an alternative argument is that those a meat grinder, treated like “inanimate game. It’s powerful pressure, because Dedicated staff rearing chicks from a zoo, dressed up as humans and ancient Mexico to chasing foxes today with individuals may be past good breeding age, objects” says Animal Aid, who filmed older rich guests expect results, so it’s some, also appeared on “cruel” pictures of a hounds – “the unmentionable in pursuit of effectively sterile (not unlike the dentists, chicks with protective coverings to their only some, gamekeepers playing a game greeting card company. All that stopped. the inedible”. The subject has simmered businessmen and others who are attracted beaks and backs because of aggression that ruthlessly, secretly, eliminates the Since then public opinion has changed, on in British politics, a confusing to this expensive addiction). Britain is in the crowded conditions. Those that competition, indirectly urging them and you could say those chimps were out combination of pest control, animal rights, among the top 12 countries, the so-called survive the process i.e. the “product” will towards illegal persecution, which could be of “work”. That might be the sequence cruelty, landowners, and farmers, all this “deadly dozen”. According to The Times be “released” – sort of. linked back to people of power, including in Europe, but in many other countries, with underlying class differences between of 9/4/2019 “one of the most prolific royalty. They are semi-tame, and not yet strong In good people still see wild animals as “funny”, red-coated gentlemen on hunters is Malcolm King, 74, a wealthy fliers, so, driven by a line of beaters, they From hunting and shooting to the hands “cute” which, if they could speak, they fine horses, plus a pack British businessman who has slaughtered end up in front of the line of guns and third popular predatory pastime, not, would surely (“I told you don’t call me of well-bred, well-cared- hundreds of animals on five continents. Parrot dogs. Little chance. Some may “escape”, as in the nature of hen harriers and Shirley” – Airplane) not be using those for foxhounds. The He’s a director of a property managing chicks injured, and the rest sometimes massacred buzzards, but rather more like the osprey, words about us, as we have confined, opposition is just the company based in the British Virgin Islands grow up to reach a surplus, from the beater to Boris the famous “fish hawk” which is so exploited and often destroyed our wild opposite. It so happens in the Caribbean, and is considered to be and upwards this process is claimed to successfully colonising Scotland, home neighbours on the planet. Carrie Symonds, Boris among the world’s hunting elite with many Johnson’s partner is anti- be importantly traditional. As it can earn of the beleaguered grouse, which get shot What are zoos really for? Is it time to awards from Safari Club International hunting and the nearest she fortunes for many concerned, it seems a whenever allowed. Perhaps young George shut them down? Bad zoos, stealing (SCI)”. To some his house must look more gets to a foxhound is her dear sad reflection on human behaviour, so it could try a little family fishing on the River wildlife from the wild, often illegally, is like a morgue. But for Malcolm King, dog Dilyn, the terrier – hardly terrifying to may eventually die off, like the exploited Spey at Balmoral. one-way traffic, and can hardly justify killing each one may bring back happy the local fox around Number 10. Hunting creatures that suffer from this so-called that depletion of the habitat, often under memories. It takes all sorts…But his big also takes on a very different dimension sport(?) Life, and death, is important threat already. But, more and more, zoos game may be over. in very different Africa. Instead of a for shooting at Sandringham, one publicize their conservation credentials. green and pleasant land of fields, woods As The People paper put it powerfully of the Queen’s several castles. On It’s an important message and they can and hedgerows, (and now, increasingly, (26/1/2020) “public outrage” has led to Boxing Day (December 26th) Her refer to successful projects where animals towns which foxes really like), now to the the UK banning the imports of trophies. Majesty acts as a picker-upper of have been returned to the wild – that’s if classic big game country of bush and wide Apparently 86% of the British public pheasants with her gun dog. As one there is any “wild” left, and the natives Out savannas. Trophy hunting attracts big support the ban. More than 70,000 guest said, “It slightly concentrates don’t eat it on arrival as “bush meat”. there money to big animals…as tall as a giraffe, animals are killed by hunters every year, your mind when you’re shooting and That aspect is probably traditional, but, fierce as a lion and as bulky as a buffalo. including thousands bred in captivity for you know Her Majesty is standing as human numbers increase, appetites This kind of hunting is highly controversial that purpose. “Blood sports” are hardly behind you seeing how good, or bad, Saved in captivity increase too, so the gorilla bred in a and the newspapers have often published that. As Carrie Symonds has said, no a shot you are”, (Harry Mount’s zoo and later released in the wild could “hate” stories showing, for example, the doubt, following a wide discussion with book: “How England Made the become some impoverished family’s proud construction boss from Michigan, Boris, “A trophy is meant to be a prize, English”.) supper. Hopefully not, if the project something you’re awarded if you’ve Chris Peyerk, 53, who paid $400,000 Seven months later, on traditional is well planned. Yes, many people are achieved something of merit that requires to kill a rare black rhino in Namibia in August 12th (in 2020? Virus?) Carl Jones trying to help rare species, and zoos great skill and talent. Trophy hunting is… 2018. He needed to get approval from might be the so-called “Glorious “Mastermind” are doing their best in difficult times, the opposite of that”. But, no doubt, the the Trump administration to import the Twelfth”, hardly so if you’re a red grouse, needing to feed the animals, but with no killers would claim to have lots of skill skin, skull and horns. No laws would a subspecies unique to the UK. Even visitors’ income. A UK government fund and talent to be proud of. And money be broken. Donald Trump himself once before the beating and blasting began of £14m could make all the difference. too. Which brings us to another kind of called trophy hunting a “horror show”, but the numbers of grouse was so low that Many thanks. hunting, from breeding, to beating, to his sons Donald Jr and Eric Trump have the Glorious 12th wasn’t – cancelled due blasting…pheasants and grouse out of Hunting, Shooting or Fishing? Equals made numerous trips to Africa to hunt big to a shortage of birds, the weather and the sky. Again, big money from those killing, whether the victim is a lion, a game and have posed for photos including an outbreak of heather beetle which had Who’s a happy pheasant or a salmon. It can be a huge a leopard, a buffalo and the tail of an who can afford it. Boris could, but now, boy then! decimated grouse food supplies. You business. Globally, these activities elephant, which must look nice on the perhaps, he’ll put his gun away (because

134 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH NATURE AND US | 135 A floral carpet The fact is that if we allow the economy Save Our Species, for example, helping the Let’s start with seagrass, not your average to be put before the environment and Indian government to increase tigers by lawn obviously. Actually it’s a vital ecology, then the economy will fail anyway. a third in just four years, to almost 3,000 basis for a multitude of marine species. Consumerism, human populations, China individuals. This has meant protecting Endangered seahorses have returned to one are all bound up in all three – money, the habitat plus a source of prey. That’s a of their most important breeding grounds climate, nature. During the coronavirus big challenge in a very human-populated because of the absence of boats, anchors pandemic it turned out that the natural country. Tigers are a tremendous asset and noise during lockdown, according to a world was proving a great benefit, to tourism, though the pandemic may marine conservation charity. especially with the lockdown. Wildlife affect that raising difficult questions about The Seahorse Trust found 16 spiny emerged to join us – to peer in through the priorities. The very special fauna and flora seahorses, including pregnant males, (yes!) window? Simple pleasures, green spaces, of Madagascar, the large Indian Ocean during a dive in mid-May at Studland Bay, birdsong, wild flowers helped alleviate island, off East Africa, had lost 40% of its Dorset. It was the most since it began mental problems, a welcome release from original forest cover between the 1950s and monitoring the site in 2008 and the first having to be incarcerated, because of a 2000, thus depriving the unique species spotted in annual surveys since one deadly organism we can’t see, all started in of lemurs a home. Since 2017 more than seahorse, nicknamed Hope, was seen in a market in China where wild animals were 2.7 million native trees have been planted 2018. being cruelly mistreated…their “revenge” across the island. Tigers and lemurs are perhaps? As Covid-19 diminishes famous on TV, but equally notable, and Studland Bay was designated as a marine Bees amongst us (maybe?) around the world, there’s a great less photogenic, are the many other special conservation zone partly because the opportunity to not go back to the original creatures and plants that IUCN S.O.S. seagrass which grows there is a valuable normal, which was actually the problem. tries to help. (see #SpeciesActionNow). habitat for seahorses. The so-called “new normal”, still to be But it’s a race against time. Is it possible In amongst Up to 350 leisure boats moor in the bay identified, provides the chance to learn to turn losers into winners? If so, how, them daily in the summer and their anchors and from the pandemic what’s now best for us, in this age of pandemics and climate A classic. chains drag across the seagrass, destroying nature and the planet. To help that work, change? Back in 2015 scientists from Can we save the it and preventing seahorses from breeding. climate change must be fixed, otherwise Stanford University in the US declared that monk seal in The Seahorse Trust has been lobbying for Covid-19 will simply look like a rehearsal. a sixth mass extinction was under way the introduction of fixed moorings with the Mediterranean? causing irreversible damage to ecosystems This is a story of winners and losers, buoys on elasticated tethers which would around the world. And now, for one of We can try. up and down, with the ultimate mega- protect the seagrass. It said that the recent our updates – June 2020, five years later… question: Can we, and planet Earth, absence of visitors had shown what could the same scientists have now warned survive in 2021 onwards? Today the future be achieved. this extinction is happening faster than looks even more uncertain than ever, they first predicted. The Earth is set to Food webs in the seas include us, as major with disease and climate change crucial lose more than 500 species of vertebrates predators, alongside gannets, puffins and factors. By studying the trends it’s possible (backboned animals) in the next 20 years, whales. Some species are winning, some to make some not-so-wild guesses about they warned, the same number that was are losing. And what about the human wildlife and wild places to assess which lost in the entire 20th century. Paul Ehrlich ingredient? The oceans cover a vast area way it’s all going. Science is vital here, from Stanford University, and one author of and we’ve looked at most of the other main Trying to not just working out what’s happening the study published in Proceedings of the habitats on planet Earth, as to how we keep cool now but advising on action that should be National Academy of Sciences said: “When affect, and connect with a huge variety of taken, and that’s becoming increasingly humanity exterminates populations, it species – wildlife, and wild places. With urgent. One species, the humble canary is like sawing off the limb on which it most examples, there is an impact one What a has become a global figure-of-speech, as Avocet is sitting, destroying parts of our own way or another, adjustments or not, as it used to be valued as an indicator of the comeback! life-support system. The conservation of that dominating species, man continues conditions in a coalmine – a tough job for a species should be elevated to a national to increase everywhere. To compensate, little canary with the human lives of miners and global emergency, equal to climate some individuals, either separately, or In the depending on its survival – or not. Today disruption to which it is linked. Twice as as part of organisations, try to help with the canary-in-the-coalmine rôle can be garden many plants have become extinct over the conservation. And action – a “little less applied to thousands of species of wildlife past 250 years than all the birds, mammals conversation”, some say (as Elvis once The nearly 60 species of butterfly show that indicate what is happening to them, and amphibians combined, a 30-year sang “A little more action please”). And their great diversity in Britain, dependent often because of us. That can be vital if research project has found. Though that’s exactly what happened to the avocet, on the location, and the vegetation growing we read the signs provided by some of the experts from the Royal Botanic Gardens moving about from marine to fresh water, there. Many nature reserves help them, so-called “keystone species”. Not only at Kew, London, also found that more and estuaries. It was brought back from from the south coast of England with important, practically and scientifically too, By the species were alive than had been reported near extinction in Britain by the Royal the Glanville fritillary to the cold-loving but also, from the ethical point of view, we roadside extinct.” Some good news. Originally, Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). mountain ringlet in the cool mountains of have no right to extinguish species, which more than 1,000 plants were believed to It’s their symbol, and now has more than a Scotland, where it’s being pushed higher share the planet with us, and have done so have perished forever, but when scientists million members – a force to be reckoned and higher as the climate warms down for thousands of years. In fact, if we make looked for them, they found they were still with. Other groups include The National below. Swallowtails in the fens, blues on that irreversible mistake, extinction may present. Plants underpin all life on Earth, Trust (5 ½ million members), Friends of downland, purple emperors in the treetops, come back to haunt us. In a global attempt they provide the oxygen we breathe and the Earth, the Wildlife and Wetland Trust, browns in meadows, whites in your garden, Flying to avert extinctions the International the food we eat, as well as making up the and Butterfly Conservation for whom Sir alongside the brilliant peacocks, red jewels Union for the Conservation of Nature backbone of the world’s ecosystems, so David Attenborough is a great supporter… admirals, small tortoiseshells, and painted (IUCN) was set up, based near Geneva in plant extinction is bad news for all species. another force to reckon with. ladies. What a line-up! Switzerland. It does what it says: S.O.S.

136 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH NATURE AND US | 137 Hatched from the river Not forgetting the Tony Whitehead, of the The RSPB, said: hummingbird-like, “We are in an ecological emergency and A risky spot? hummingbird hawk it’s vital that developers do whatever they A kestrel hovers moth, a day-flyer can to provide equally good homes for our over a shooting hide. sharing the flowers buntings and other wildlife.” (The Daily in your garden. It’s Telegraph 30/4/2020) Anyone at home? now been found that Hope not. Only some other wildlife is generally moths are important doing pretty well in the UK – or, at least, pollinators under All sorts concern and interest in it is increasing. But the cover of darkness, the “night shift” there’s a lot of pressure caused, by human compared with other famous, vital of visitors expansion and development, though pollinators the busy bees and bumblebees. reduced somewhat by the pandemic. Without these, mankind would really be “Return to normal” is what many people struggling with his crops, and food. More aspire to, but others point out that the good news – the weather has helped many A tough previous “normal” was the problem in insects, and in recent years the aquatic woodpecker the first place. It’s just possible that the species have done very well – perhaps an Red kite reduction of pressure can be maintained indication of cleaner fresh water in rivers, and any gains be maintained into the streams and ponds. Perhaps a pond in future. But people can be fickle. There your garden if you have one – dragonflies, are encouraging signs. Numbers of most damselflies and mayflies. These days birds of prey, despite some persecution there’s a growing interest in how to make Saved sea on grouse shooting moors, are soaring, your garden grow well, with plants that eagle and spreading, like red kites, ospreys and attract insects, which in turn attract sea eagles into England and peregrine birds, hedgehogs, maybe badgers, foxes, falcons (live on TV/webcams!). There are bats, squirrels (greys not preferred? – red A huge success story. restoration projects for corncrakes, they Back from the brink instead, increasing in some places). Bird An unlikely couple of the harsh “crek, crek”, and cranes, into in Wales to being (and squirrel?) feeders are all the rage, marshlands. seen almost everywhere with more and more sophisticated menus in the UK on offer. The BTO, the British Trust for When you consider the traditional, deep- Ornithology estimates there are 4.7 million Everyone’s friend seated dislike of birds of prey that some nest boxes in gardens across the British gamekeepers inherited, it is remarkable Isles. There’s even an annual National that they’ve come back so strongly. Their Nestbox Week! hooked beaks and sharp talons didn’t help Tit and field and they were considered “vermin”, to be mouse too trapped, shot or poisoned on behalf of the shooting fraternity. Now they’re protected Our homes by law, and the RSPB keeps a close eye giraffes to safer locations, protecting are their homes on them, though some people regret their them better. Parrots around the world impact on small birds that are their natural suffer from habitat destruction, and Swallows and house prey, their necessary food. “S.O.S.” is the chicks being taken from nests for the pet martins come back “Save Our Songbirds” group. trade. Captive breeding and release helps compensate for these losses, but only in Swallow every spring from As we make a trip downwards through some places. Jane Goodall’s studies of Africa for 6 months layers of life to reveal the diversity of chimps has publicized their problems, species adapted to each one. Such so has television worldwide. Hopefully, biodiversity is wonderful, uniquely, on knowledge will lead to action to ensure planet Earth. But it’s increasingly facing the future for our nearest relative. Do we changes, usually man-made. Here are have the foresight and the will to make a Nutters some solutions, down from the sky over difference – to save chimps? And much Africa, a giraffe tackles the tree top of a else? Like their bigger relatives, some of thorny acacia, lower down a parrot feasts whom became TV stars across the world on the fruits of a forest giant. Chimps are – gorillas. there too. Some bits of food may fall into the dense, green world of the mountain Food of various birds of prey can include bongo antelope. Out on the great open insects, birds, frogs, snakes, fish, mice, And talking of homes, a housing developer Barratt Homes will pay to provide an grasslands is the home of the big game, rabbits, up to deer and foxes. Carrion is House has pledged almost half a million pounds to alternative breeding ground for five pairs of both herbivores like rhinos and elephants, the speciality of the vultures, especially Martin and re-home a colony of rare cirl buntings. cirl buntings, now found almost exclusively with their predators, carnivores, such in Africa, thus completing the sequence self built in south Devon. as cheetahs, leopards and lions. All of finishing off the weakest individuals Torbay council planners approved a the species in our African descent are – “the unsurvival of the unfittest”. Such nest of proposed 187-home estate on the edge A 2½-hectare area of open land to the south mud subjects of conservation action. But links are crucial in the web of life, which of Paignton, Devon, which requires the of the housing site will provide habitat for will it be enough – in time? The Giraffe can also be seen if we descend through Proud? developer to pay £437,500 to create a another breeding pair, it is anticipated. The Conservation Foundation is translocating an African forest. habitat for the little birds. developer will need to contribute towards monitoring the land for 25 years.

138 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH NATURE AND US | 139 Meet the Harvest Mouse Whatever happened about those nice guys A Gorilla Conversation who paid us a visit? From a super-sized mammal to a tiny-sized one, And that bloke who showing the huge diversity of the group. joined in?

…And the appearance fee? …Plus repeats?

It would be nice if they paid us something else too. Let’s check with our agent.

Joking apart, the story about the gorillas in Africa is both good and bad news. Tourism has been a great success, bringing money from tourism and jobs for local guides. The population of mountain gorillas has increased, and in another part of Africa, a new group there has been discovered, a subspecies thought to be extinct. On the other hand wildlife tourism has been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. There’s been talk of the gorillas getting it. A gorilla or spokesman said: Human Population “It’s been a good time for gorillas – in fact because of Meet the harvest mouse, Britain’s smallest the lack of tourists and even rodent. They like to build their round all those film crews, there tennis-ball-shaped nests in tall vegetation. That stork again, doing what have been more babies born. The species is considered “Vulnerable” storks do best (they say). But how The star attractions have been in the UK, mainly because of changing many more babies does the planet busier than usual, well, just being farming practices. To help in the other need? And the consumption that gorillas, undisturbed at home, (with direction I (RB) have bred many of these goes with it? That’s the crunch in similar results with us to lockdown?). charming and prolific, very little mice with 2020/2021. But for just our pair So, ultimately, there may be more a view of releasing them in suitable places this is really good news. tourists meeting more gorillas and where they can nest, and climb about, therefore helping business in the future. using their unique prehensile tails and Question: “Where does a big silverback balancing on blades of grass. sit?” Answer: “Anywhere he wants.”

140 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH NATURE AND US | 141 Knepp Storks

So, where has our splendid very versatile white stork brought us?

600 years ago white storks nested on St Giles cathedral in Edinburgh Scotland. But now they’re back much further south in West Sussex England and have made headline news by nesting at the Knepp Wildland Project. Here the plan is to allow, But are we, and nature, indeed encourage what was a failing winning or losing? farm to be “rewilded”. Exciting species have also arrived, increased and spread – a kind of reservoir for Well, both. But there’s no what used to be. It’s become a classic question that it’s the young example of what can be done to bring amongst us that will/can make nature back. And what species could Hopefully scenes like this will the difference. And it’s happening be better than our iconic white stork. decorate, and grace, the British all over the planet. Crunch! Take Nature’s come-back. Yes it has. Here countryside for many years to come – Kenya for example, in East Africa. and there. There and here. So let’s with no 600 years gap this time. keep it coming back! Watch it on “Kneppflix”!

142 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH NATURE AND US | 143 Spotted a big bird Greta She keeps on watching. And so do millions of others.

How does it fly? Riding a camel

A film show in the bush

Up close to an orca (model) What’s Touching a snake in a Swiss zoo around? Any School in Kenya butterflies? “Education”

Sharks are Kids awesome!

Pointing out Spanish cart horses Save the Bongo. Kids can! Bongo Woodley Bongo team

Close up to young bearded vulture in Dancing and singing… Touching a a conservation project in the Swiss alps at a party for trees in Kenya lovely rhino… And listen out about the bongo at school. A mere 16, like her equivalent from easy Covid-19, will there be a better, greener so friendly Local children and teachers run projects Sweden, Greta Thunberg, who took on future for people, for wildlife, and wild in the forest and it seems this very elusive Trump and beat him, Howey Ou travels 12 places? There seems to be a great We’re not antelope may be surviving OK, even miles from her home each morning, rain opportunity to achieve a “better new underwater, increasing, encouraged as well by Bongo or shine, to sit outside the building with normal”. Up to now, human DNA does not but in an Woodley (his real name!). Is it a come- placards: “We are faced with the greatest look a promising ingredient. We’ve had aquarium in back? Or did the shy creatures merely survival crisis in the history of mankind, wars, pandemics, and extinguished much hide and slip away? Elusivity. In Gabon, we need to act globally.” Howey is of the natural world for our own selfish France west Africa, with its huge rainforests, prepared for anything, always armed with gain. Now is the time to assess what really determined efforts and big funding go a copy of National Geographic magazine needs to be done in a concerted effort by, towards wildlife conservation to tackle and an anthology of interviews from female especially, politicians and corporations. poaching and logging. The trade to the campaigners from around the world in case And, urgently, beyond that, determination Donkey wash! Far East is a serious threat, especially she is arrested and needs something to read by the planet’s consuming and increasing with elephant tusks and rhino horn. This in prison. Obviously she doesn’t want that people. So it really is “Planet Crunch” now, fight has been going on for many years, to happen, but it would add to the global and into the next few years. Can we do it? but progress has been made recently, force that Greta Thunberg and Extinction There’s still time. Maybe. and hopefully, Japanese and Vietnamese Rebellion have started and drive forward What’s that? children will come to understand how with such surprising success. Greenpeace Flowers for A lamprey “weird” everyone, everywhere is connected. Even and other powerful voices take full pages my mother “Amazing” Why? in stubborn, secret China there’s a Greta in the prominent press. Politically this version, striking against climate change. is green dynamite. After (what? when?)

144 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH NATURE AND US | 145 Acknowledgements

In particular I would like to thank the small team As author and publisher, I gratefully Images courtesy of: acknowledge the permission granted that made this project possible: Ellen, Gareth, Adobe Stock at stock.adobe.com to reproduce the copyright material in Jason, Karen, Moira, Penny. You can see what can Front cover, pages 4, 5, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 97. be achieved with the right skills, determination and this book. enthusiasm. That’s very different to the big budget David Poore at davidpoore.com I have made every effort to obtain the shows. Let’s hope that both ends of the spectrum, Page 8. necessary permissions for the use of and between, will reach enough people to save planet copyright material, both images and Dreamstime at dreamstime.com Earth in these crucial years of crunch. quoted. I take full responsibility and Page 56. I would also like to thank Mark and Cherry Aitken, apologise for any errors or omissions in Ellen Bradley at ellenbradleyart.com Sir David Attenborough, Geoff and Anne Bell, Tony the above list and would be grateful if Front cover, pages 13, 18, 42, 101, 125, back cover. Bevir and Marilyn du Mars, Ross Birnie, Gillie Brock, notified of any corrections that should Fran Brookes, John Burton, Suzanne Chapman, Mark be incorporated in future reprints or Font Awesome at fontawesome.com and Lucy Davies, Peter Garson, Louise Heren, Mish editions of this book. Front cover, pages 81, 83, 94, 97, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 123, 124, Kennaway, Miranda Krestovnikoff, Al Lethbridge, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130 – 145. Richard Brock Mike Linley, Rosemary Low, Hugh and Cathy Gareth Trezise at wildlifeinmotion.com 2021 Maynard, Andrew and Rojeanne Molyneux, Keith Front cover, pages 11, 16, 39, 41, 65, 82, 83, 131, 137, 140, 141. and James Montgomery, Alice Owen, Elizabeth iStock Parker, Sophie Pierce, Michael Pitts, Mike and Penny Page 16. Richards, Daphne and Alexander Saunders, Tony and Hilary Soper, John and Sally Sparks, Kimberly Stewart, Jason Peters David and Kath Wall, Piers Warren, Lily Vinizelos. Pages 142 – 143. Keith Rodgerson Page 82 John Newman at theseahorsetrust.org Picture Credits Accompanying Films Page 67. Nearly all the pictures in the book are from my footage If you have found this book interesting and Nature Picture Library at www.naturepl.com taken over several years (see also in the 3 x 25-minute relevant to the world we are trying to live in, Pages 10, 12, 13, 21, 23, 39, 41, 51, 52, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 70, 92, films on YouTube and Vimeo which accompany the alongside nature, there are three accompanying 96, 107, 109, 110, 113, 114, 115, 116, 118, 121, 126, 133. book, also entitled “Planet Crunch”). I am also very 25-minute films you can watch for free, on Neil Garrick-Maidment FBNA at theseahorsetrust.org grateful for extra images from Gareth Trezise – David YouTube and Vimeo. They’re also called Pages 67, 137. Attenborough = front cover, plus pages 11, 65, 83, 137 “Planet Crunch”. I hope they will be useful to and mountain ringlet, green-veined white. Harvest yourself, and anyone else you know, concerned Pete Smith at petesmithillustration.co.uk mice: pages 16, 141. Shrimps: pages 39, 131. Richard (or not?) about the future of planet Earth, now Pages 95, 96, 97. Brock, large blue page 82. Mountain gorillas: page in our hands. It could just make a difference. Prime Impact at primeimpact.co.uk 140. David Poore – Greta rally page 8. Sue Parker – That’s my hope. Pages 6, 24. orchids page 11. Jason Peters – white stork project Ross Birnie at beeflystudios.co.uk pages 142 – 143. Moira Sage – Richard with Living Pages 27, 68, 75, 76. Planet Book page 73. The Seahorse Trust – pages 66, 67, 137. Drawings: Ellen Bradley – back and front Shutterstock at shutterstock.com covers; elephant and lion, frog page 13, monkey-faced Front cover, pages 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, prickleback page 42. Cartoon: Pete Smith Illustration 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 50, 53, 54, 64, – pages 95 – 97. 69, 72, 76, 80, 86, 87, 92, 93, 94, 96, 98, 100, 101, 104, 108, 115, 122, 124, 131, 134, 137, 139, 142, 144, 146, back cover. I apologise for any omissions in the picture credits and would like to thank everyone who has contributed Sue Parker/First Nature at www.first-nature.com time and donations to charities on behalf of “Planet Page 11. Crunch” and “Wildlife Winners and Losers – How to Vectorstate at vectorstate.com Scan this turn losers into Winners”. Front cover, pages 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 37, 38, 39, 40, code to 42, 43, 74, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 141. watch the films!

146 | PLANET CRUNCH THE LIFE (OR DEATH?) OF PLANET EARTH ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 147 The backside

Is there any more room for another book on climate change and the future of the planet beyond Covid-19? Tick birds Yes, there is, and this is it. Refreshing, original, positive and amusing here and there. This book is particularly about nature and biodiversity, in fact it's a unique combination! Give it a go!

More food chains Unique Political Challenging Cheeky “A bigger job than usual, Dave.” Up-to-date Provocative Two dung Down-to-earth beetles Significant Into your library? Educational Rude!