Natural Pun 3

Conked out

Seeing the Changes 535

Frosty start to the day but the Ivy-leaved toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) remained in flower in Loughor.

Nit Picker's Corner 1

There has been a lot of news this week about the Duchess of Cambridge suffering from hyperemesis gravidum. This was described by the BBC and elsewhere (http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/duchess-of-cambridge-leaves-king-edward-1475838) as 'acute morning sickness'. Medically, however, acute means 'short lasting' (it's the opposite of chronic or 'long lasting'). They obviously mean't 'severe' and did correct it in later bulletins.

Natural Pun 2

Heart of oak.

DIY Pollution?

It is claimed that the popularity of Do It Yourself programmes (and tightness of money?) has encouraged people to do their own house plumbing with sometimes awful consequences to nearby rivers (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/02/diy-plumbing-fouls-rivers). A failure to understand the pipework apparently sometimes leads to thousands of houses (said to be 3000+ in a specified period in the Thames Valley area) discharging raw sewage and the soapy contents from washing machines into rivers (such as the Chess). This can result in eutrophication, death of a range of invertebrates (often important prey species for other animals), exposure of aquatic organisms to sex-change associated chemicals (e.g. contraceptive pill metabolites) and losses of fish species (to the horror of anglers). It is, of course, not impossible that some 'cowboy builders' might achieve precisely the same outcome. Perhaps we need more regular checking of these discharges? One thing is certain namely that buildings can challenge the health of nearby waterways.

Gross National Happiness?

The tiny, Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan is advocating a happiness measure based on issues such as care of the environment (http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/). I can see the approach being useful in a small, relatively homogeneous community that largely makes its way by carefully controlled ecotourism but suspect that the approach would be more difficult in much larger, diverse countries where there likely to be much more variation in what people want (or think they want) to engender happiness. Some of Bhutan's thinking (albeit less defined) does seem to 'spill across' its border into neighbouring Sikkim.

Housey Housey

Quite a fuss seems to be developing about the UK Government claim that more building on undeveloped countryside is needed to satisfy demands for new housing by our increasing (but fragmented) population (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/nov/27/housebuilding-needs-more-open-land?INTCMP=SRCH). There is no doubt that provision of affordable housing in pleasant surroundings is likely to be a vote winner but it might be worth considering whether this would really help the situation. How many people would have the flexibility to take up residence in semi-rural locations (recognising that home working is only an option for certain types of employment)? Some people would argue that the UK actually has too few greenish areas as it stands. The UK obsession with detached houses with gardens is not even replicated in our near neighbours in Europe! It is also pretty evident that we don't always use our existing housing stock very efficiently (some is unoccupied and some under occupied). If it is true that city centre shops are largely doomed to be replaced by out of town shopping malls, there may be more scope for creating new housing on these brown field sites. Perhaps some further thought on the topic is required?