Going Green Podcast, Video blog and Daily News

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 ...

 Climate change is driving up the cost of house and home insurance (and it’s not subtle) Once upon a time, “home insurance” was the boring direct debit you paid so you could sleep at night while the wind tried to rearrange your roof tiles into modern art. Now it’s becoming a live commentary on the climate: more floods, more storms, more subsidence, bigger claims, and—inevitably—bigger premiums. In the UK, insurers are already paying out eye-watering sums for weather damage. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) reports £6.1bn in property insurance payouts in 2025 , with storm and flood claims both jumping, and the average payouts rising sharply (storms and floods aren’t just more frequent; they’re more expensive when they hit). That money comes from somewhere, and a chunk of it lands back on our doormats as higher premiums and excesses. Why climate change pushes premiums up 1) More claims, more often Warmer air holds more moisture, which helps supercharge heavy rainfall...