An encounter with a Colombian shaman led Peter Bunyard on a spiritual journey into and beyond the living, breathing, transpiring Amazon rainforest, providing key insights into the essential role of the great tropical forests in the workings of Gaia. He emerged re-energised from his visions - and inspired to redouble his efforts to save our wondrous planet.
Mainstream climatologists predict a 15% fall in rainfall over the Amazon if it is stripped of its rainforest. But the 'biotic pump' theory, rooted in conventional physics and recently confirmed by experiment, shows that the interior of a forest-free Amazon will be as dry as the Negev desert. We must save the Amazon before it enters a permanent and irreversible dessication.
Two founding members of the Ecologist pay tribute to a talented and thoughtful man whose wildly seditious cartoons in the magazine called into question accepted dogma on everything from economic growth to science
Running a magazine on a shoestring budget; printing unpopular but groundbreaking analyses; fighting off lawsuits: the <em>Ecologist</em> has evolved over its 40 year history, but the passion present in 1970 is still here today...
A man of extraordinary humanity - as comfortable discussing farming with labourers as he was holding forth on the very nature of life itself. Peter Bunyard pays tribute to the rich life of Edward Goldsmith
As US climatologists and scientists are urging the world that greenhouse gas emissions be curbed rapidly to prevent runaway global warming, the UK Met Office appears to be back pedalling on human induced climate change. Peter Bunyard reports on some mixed messages
The Severn Estuary, earmarked as a potentially huge source of energy, has been met with increasing concerns over serious environmental damage. A report from 2008 by Frontier Economics found that justification for the Severn Barrage is slim - both economically speaking and on environmental grounds. Peter Bunyard takes a look at an innovative solution that has similarities with a tidal reef.
Carving a shipping channel through the underwater shelf that links India to Sri Lanka will destroy cherished beliefs and a delicate ecosystem, say Peter Bunyard and Kusum Vyas
Well, now we have it; nuclear power is once again going to save the day. In the past it helped save us from coal, now it is going to save us, if the rest of the world follows our example, from global warming.
Peter Bunyard on the battle against malaria, a fallen hero of the Colombian medical establishment and the mysterious fate of thousands of unique primates
Peter Bunyard on the battle against malaria, a fallen hero of the Colombian medical establishment and the mysterious fate of thousands of unique primates.
Scientists mapping the effects of deforestation in the Amazon are increasingly concerned that we are reaching a tipping point – when the forest will start to die back of its own accord and rain, currently generated by the Amazon forests, will stop falling, not just in neighbouring countries but as far afield as the United States and South Africa.
We are all aware that the weather is never quite the same from one year to the next. That is all part of the natural variability of climate. It is the task of climatologists to tease out any change to climate, such as global warming, from all that variability.
It takes no more than a gentle nudge to push a man over the edge of a cliff, but it is almost impossible to haul him back before he hits the ground. Given that we show no sign of putting a stop to global warming, Peter Bunyard takes a look at what the future might hold
