Isla Hutchinson

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) President Biden, the US's first supposed ‘climate president’, promised ‘no more drilling on federal lands, period’ during his Presidential campaign and his administration set a goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. However, on 13 th   March the Biden administration undermined this climate agenda by approving the $8 billion ConocoPhillips Willow Project in Alaska, the largest oil and gas project currently proposed in the US as a way to boost the state’s economy.     At its peak, it is estimated to produce up to 180,000 barrels of crude oil a day across three different sites and 200 oil wells within the 23 million-acre Nation Petroleum Reserve.     The Willow Project will create one of the biggest ‘carbon bombs’ in the United States, where it is expected to create around 260 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over its 30-year lifespan, long past the point where climate scientists have warned...

Fire Danger Forecast, 15th July 2022. Copernicus EMS Waking up to ash covering the ground and the smell of smoke from wildfires in rural Italy, it was difficult to ignore the detrimental impacts we are having on the earth’s climate and wonder how travel is contributing to it – I fought with this issue as I sat watching smoke plumes… whilst being over 900 miles from home. Europe saw its hottest summer on record in 2022 with soaring temperatures contributing to wildfires in many countries including Spain, France, and Italy. On the hottest day of the year in the UK, where temperatures rose above 40C for the first time since records began, over 800 wildfires were recorded across the country. CO2 emissions, vapour trails and nitrogen oxide emissions from aviation all can be linked to rising global temperatures, and with the number of airline passengers worldwide having doubled since 2004, the concern regarding how flying is affecting global temperatures is rising. Currently, aviation emi...

  The Big Sea Dir. Lewis Arnold Neoprene, or “wetsuit material” as you might know it, is synonymous with surfing, especially in the cold waters of the UK. Developed in 1931 as an alternative to natural rubber, it has been used in wetsuits since the 1950s and has revolutionised the surf industry. Wetsuits have made previously inaccessible freezing waters accessible, opening up a vast number of surf breaks to explore around the world, and helping a greater number of people develop a connection with the ocean environment. However, the $2820 million wetsuit industry has a very dark secret.  Denka is the sole producer of a substance called chloroprene in the US, which is a key component of neoprene. The Denka Pontchartrain Works facility sits on a former site of a slave plantation in St Johns Parish, Louisiana, in a region commonly known as “Cancer Alley” due to the incredibly high cancer rates caused by petrochemical air pollution. In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency rele...

Running towards the 'wee white house', Glencoe A day before we set off on our impromptu wild camping trip, I was running between every ship in Edinburgh in hopes of finding a tent. Nothing about this trip was planned or organised, seemingly least of all our ‘accommodation’, but that did not deter us from committing to exploring the Scottish Highlands. The frantic search somehow paid off so the next morning with a £17 Halfords tent carefully stowed away and The Proclaimers blasting from the car speakers, we began the adventure out of the city with only one hopeful destination in sight – the Isle of Skye.   The first stop on our journey was Loch Lomond, a freshwater loch that’s only a 2-hour drive from Edinburgh. After feeling accomplished that we had even made it this far and greatly enjoying our newfound freedom, we managed to persuade each other to plunge ourselves into the freezing waters for a very short-lived ‘loony dook’ in the shadow of Ben Lomond. Giddy, numb, and refre...