Prodding the system: UK electricity resilience

It's probably a good thing that there's going to be an investigation into the power supply incident and failure a few days ago which led to Heathrow Airport suddenly shuttering for most of a day. Especially as it's concerning that a Single Point of Failure resulted in the closure of a critical national and international transport hub.

The news article mentions that the National Energy System Operator (Neso) will 'investigate the incident and assess the UK’s energy resilience'. It also mentions that:

Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden is separately already leading a review of national resilience, which is due to report shortly. A National Risk Register published in January outlined the risk of attacks on the power network or critical failures.

The National Risk Register could be a few hours of 'fun' reading one wet Sunday afternoon. As well as being catnip for anyone either into collapsology as a sober science, or lost in the maze of conspiracy theories and disinformation a la the mid-2020s.

Todolí Citrus Fundació, and fruit of many shapes

Today there's an article on the BBC website about Vicente Todolí and Todolí Citrus Fundació, an initiative to not just catalogue and preserve but to actively use many varieties of citrus fruit.

And there are, indeed, many varieties, with a greater range of shapes and sizes and colours than are found in the (known) apple universe:

There's one shaped like an octopus with fat tentacles, a wart-covered citron the size of a newborn baby and a colourful pear-shaped fruit splattered in a tie-dye of green and yellow. 

If or when I return to the Valencia coast of Spain (it's been a very long time), it feels like an almost obligatory visit. And not just because of a lifelong love of quality marmalade.

Food supply resilience (or lack of) in the UK

There's some interesting fact, links, and national comparisons in this Guardian opinion piece (by one of the authors of "Just in Case: 7 steps to narrow the UK civil food resilience gap") on ensuring some kind of food storage, supply or access in a time of crisis or shock. Including a mention of changes in Sweden:

Last year Sweden produced a major reorientation of its food policy and intends to build more diversity into its food system, including creating dispersed national food stores. Sweden is also passing new legislation making it a responsibility of mayors to ensure that all are fed in a crisis.

...and also of information for people in Switzerland (where the national food reserves are proposed to increase from 4 months to 12):

The Swiss Federal Office for Civil Protection reminds its citizens that they can go without food for 30 days but without water for only three. The truth is that we UK citizens live in a fantasy world – a legacy of the British empire – that someone far away will always feed us.

On a micro-supply scale, that's made me figure out how long my food and water supplies would last (with, and without, electricity and/or gas and/or water supply).

Understanding the Biodiversity Crisis

Earlier today, I signed up for an online course at (with?) Oxford University. The full title is "Understanding the Biodiversity Crisis: Introduction to Ecology and Conservation", and it runs between late April and late June. It shouldn't be too onerous, being but a few hours a week; assuming all goes well, I "attend" the mandatory weekly lecture and do a good 1,500 word assignment, it'll be 10 CATS points, equivalent to 5 ECTS, on the academic portfolio.

However, while it's useful to bank more ECTS to the already large collection I have, my main reason for undertaking the course is to learn. 

Traditional (English) orchards and biodiversity

There's an article in today's Guardian about traditional orchards (a whole thesis could be written on what is exactly meant by 'traditional' and their decline). There's several nods within to the biodiversity within these environments, including:

David Lindgren of cider producer Bushel+Peck, who is chair of trustees at the Gloucestershire Orchard Trust, says traditional orchards are among “the most biodiverse agricultural environments”. Lindgren said tree preservation orders - legal orders protecting trees - did not go far enough, and called for “more support for the conservation and creation of traditional orchards, and greater preservation and protection for orchards within the planning system”.

... and ...

Nash said that, while traditional orchards are a priority habitat under the UK biodiversity action plan, “to change the agricultural land use, the owner must conduct an environmental impact assessment - however, this does not normally apply to a commercial decision to replace a traditional orchard under two hectares with an intensive bush orchard”.

Thornbury Orchard Group

On the Avon Wildlife Trust website, there's detail of the biodiversity initiatives being tried by the Thornbury Orchard Group. For example:

Oxeye daisy’s are a short lived perennial which establish quickly and are known as a pioneer plant.  The species readily takes to bare ground and flowers from the second year onwards before other perennial wildflowers are able to establish and grow. Oxeye daisy’s need disturbed, open soil in order for the seeds to successfully establish, preferring well-drained soils in full sunlight. The site of the wildflower meadow is quite wet and includes other wildflowers and grasses.

The community orchard itself has been replanted since the 1990s, especially in 2022 when 70 trees and shrubs were introduced. It has a longer history:

...the orchard dates back over 200 years, evidenced with maps when the site was home to a Mill, powered by the Pickedmoor Lane stream. The site was owned by the local miller when Queen Victoria came to the throne. His mill pond was just over the road, where the stream still flows under and the mill, a little further down stream. Two old cider apple trees are still present from the earlier orchard.

There's mention of 'tree DNA' geneaology work, and a few of the apple varieties:

New trees planted include Gloucester Royal, Berkeley Pippin, Lemon Roy, Rhead's Reinetter, Arlingham Schoolboys and many more.

Across the Avon Wildlife Trust there's information including recommendations of plants for bees and pollinators.

‘We need dramatic social and technological changes’

There's an interview in today's Guardian with Danilo Brozović, the author of the controversial article Societal collapse: A literature review. It's an interesting (albeit unchallenged) interview, with links to other pertinent materials, and contains this section:

Having extensively surveyed the study of societal collapses, does Brozović think the way humanity currently lives looks sustainable? “No, no – definitely not,” he says. “We have to do something – that’s the conclusion that arises from reading all this research.”

“At the end of the day, we have to radically transform society, and we have to do it fast,” he says. That means overhauling politics, policies and institutions, safeguarding food production and the natural world that supports life on Earth.

“That’s the recipe to mitigate collapse,” he says. “But nothing is really happening substantially. We are shifting the discussion of what is acceptable and what is not, and a lot of good, positive things are happening. But the question is, will it happen fast enough?”