Going Green Podcast, Video blog and Daily News

  What Foods Should You Avoid Eating as You Get Older? Getting older doesn’t mean giving up good food — but it does mean being a little wiser about what you eat . As we age, our metabolism slows, our digestive system becomes more sensitive, and our risk of conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure increases. So which foods should we be a bit more cautious about? 1. Ultra-Processed Foods Ultra-processed foods include things like packaged snacks, sugary cereals, ready meals, and heavily processed meats. Why limit them? Often very high in salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats Low in fibre and nutrients Linked to heart disease, obesity, and type-2 diabetes These foods are designed to be convenient and addictive rather than nutritious. ✔ Better option: Home-cooked meals using fresh ingredients — even simple ones like soups, stews, and salads. 2. Sugary Drinks and Excess Sugar As we age, our bodies become less efficient at regulating blood sugar . S...

Gulf Problems: Is This the Time to Add Solar Panels?  The world’s energy markets often react sharply whenever tensions rise in the Gulf region. The Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz are among the most important energy transport routes on the planet. Around 20% of the world’s oil supply passes through this narrow shipping channel every day. When there are political disputes, military tensions, or threats to shipping in the region, markets quickly become nervous. Oil prices can rise, which in turn pushes up the price of petrol, diesel, electricity generation, and many manufactured goods. For households and businesses in countries like the UK, events thousands of miles away can quickly show up in higher energy bills . Energy Security Starts at Home One lesson from repeated global energy shocks is simple: local energy is more secure than imported energy . If your electricity comes from a solar panel on your own roof, it does not depend on tankers crossing the Strait of Horm...

  Planning a Greener Garden A garden can be far more than a patch of lawn and a few flowerbeds. With a little planning, it can become a miniature ecosystem—supporting wildlife, producing food, storing carbon, and reducing the environmental impact of your home. The good news is that creating a greener garden doesn’t require perfection or expensive equipment. It’s about making a series of small, thoughtful choices. For those of us interested in sustainability, a garden is one of the easiest places to make a positive environmental difference. 🌱 1. Plant for Wildlife One of the simplest ways to green your garden is to plant species that support wildlife. Pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hoverflies rely on nectar and pollen from flowers. Choosing a mix of native plants that flower from early spring through to late autumn ensures insects have food for most of the year. Good examples include: Lavender Foxglove Buddleia Wildflowers such as cornflowers and oxey...

Have We Been Underestimating Sea Levels? For many years scientists have been carefully tracking how the oceans are rising as the planet warms. Rising sea levels are one of the clearest long-term consequences of climate change, driven by two main processes: melting glaciers and ice sheets, and the thermal expansion of seawater as it warms. But new research suggests something rather unsettling. It appears that the true level of the oceans around the world may have been underestimated . What the New Research Found A recent study published in the scientific journal Nature analysed 385 peer-reviewed studies published between 2009 and 2025 . Researchers compared the sea levels assumed in many models with the actual measured coastal sea levels . Their conclusion: The baseline sea level used in many models may be too low . On average, the research suggests that global ocean levels are about 30 cm higher than previously assumed . In some regions — particularly parts of South-East Asia ...

 Australia’s Summer: The “Weather Whiplash” Edition (Wettest in Nearly a Decade… and Still the 8th-Hottest) If you ever needed proof that the climate system has developed the attention span of a toddler in a sweet shop, Australia’s just delivered it. This summer (2025–26) was Australia’s wettest in nearly a decade and the eighth-warmest on record . Yes, somehow it managed to be both soggy and sizzling — like sitting in a sauna while someone attacks the roof with a pressure washer. So what actually happened? According to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, the country’s average summer temperature was 1.10°C above the 1961–1990 baseline , placing it 8th warmest since national records began (1910) . At the same time, national rainfall was well above average , making it the wettest summer since 2016–17 . And then we get the real headline: “weather whiplash.” Some regions lurched from extreme heat to extreme rain in a matter of weeks. South Australia, for example, saw a dramatic...

  Why the Pentland Firth is basically a liquid motorway (and why that’s brilliant for clean power) If you’ve ever looked at a map of the very top of Scotland and thought, “That bit between the mainland and Orkney looks… narrow,” congratulations: you’ve just spotted the perfect recipe for tidal power. The Pentland Firth is a squeeze-point. Twice a day, enormous volumes of seawater rush through it like commuters late for the 08:17 to Thurso. Except this “traffic” doesn’t tailback — it accelerates . Marine Scotland notes that spring-tide current speeds in the Pentland Firth can exceed 5 m/s (that’s properly rapid). So yes: it’s a liquid motorway . And we’re finally starting to put some “toll booths” in it — turbines that turn predictable tidal flow into electricity. 1) What makes it a motorway? A. It’s a choke point Water moving between the Atlantic and the North Sea has limited options. The Pentland Firth is one of the main routes, and narrow routes force higher flow speeds ...