Norwich and Norfolk Citizen Collective

17/08/2026

https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/trump_hands_off_greenland_loc/?copy&utm_source=copy&utm_medium=social_share&utm_campaign=58994&share_location=post_action&referer_id=01a00f6b92dc7089968b7e02d6bf6495

Solidarity and ecological health, community integrity and a future worth living for mean resisting the attempts of megalomaniacs to keep drilling for oil, especially when they don't have permission.

A Trump-linked oil company just sent heavy equipment to drill in Greenland. Join to help locals stop it!

11/08/2026

Hey! I just did this quick survey for Oxford Uni about what it's really like living in our area right now. They're looking at community and what divides the UK. It actually only takes about 10 mins and has an interactive map at the end. You should definitely put your views in!

I just took part in The National Conversation to share my views on what it's really like living in our area right now. It's a major UK-wide project by researchers at Oxford University, and it only takes a few minutes. You should have your say too!

09/07/2026

🚦 Cyclists may be right to run stop signs and red lights 🛑

The debate over whether cyclists should fully stop at intersections is often a source of frustration for motorists, who see current laws requiring strict equality for all road users.

However, many legal experts argue that uniform application of traffic rules creates a "deceptive equality". Cars are the main structural hazard and running a red light poses an incommensurate risk compared to a bicycle.

Furthermore, the efficiency of cycling - which offers benefits for health, environment, and traffic flow—depends entirely on maintaining momentum. Having to stop completely over and over again discourages cycling.

Rather than enforcing impractical equality, jurisdictions like Idaho, France, and Belgium have adopted the Idaho Stop rule. Since 1982, this law has allowed cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs and red lights as stop signs.

Crucially, the goal is not chaos: cyclists must always yield to cars and pedestrians and enter only when the intersection is clear.

Studies show that adopting the Idaho Stop does not lead to an increase in collisions, and some evidence suggests a modest decrease, as cyclists clear intersections more quickly.

This reform recognizes the fundamentally different dynamics of cycling, legitimizes the mode of transport, and regulates a practice already common among many road users.

09/07/2026

We are so happy with our new website! Beginning to peak out from under the soil, Buzzards and Worms CIC is growing! With huge thanks to Camilla for her website wizzardry, Rosie and Serena for being the most wonderfully supportive and encouraging Directors, and for all the amazing people that come along to our workshops and sessions in nature for connection. More exciting news coming soon. We'd love you to take a look around our website - maybe you will spot yourself! We're sure the website isn't perfect...just like nature...evolving and changing as we grow.💚🌸🌿 🪱 🦅

https://buzzardsandworms.co.uk

09/07/2026

News from the farm: Keeping your head above water

Happy voices can be heard across the valley over the tick of the slowly moving planter edging up the hill. Picking is in full swing and the w**ds are threatening to overwhelm those who succumbed to expansionist, seed-catalogue-inspired veg dreams formed in the calm of shorter days. The planting of autumn, winter, and early spring crops is at its peak – leeks, sprouts, hardy cabbages, and cauliflower are in the ground, establishing well with about two weeks left to plant purple sprouting broccoli, savoy and January cabbages, and the last of the later-cropping kales.

Most of the land used to grow winter crops is beyond the reach or capacity of our limited irrigation system – even in the damper west, most experienced growers spread their muck or compost, plough, and prepare a fine, firm “stale” seedbed 8 to 12 weeks ahead of planting to seal in moisture. Provided the surface is kept loose, any rain will soak in and accumulate. Most years, on all but the thinnest and lightest sandy soils this will provide enough moisture to carry the caulies, cabbages, and kale through to the autumn rains. After each rain, a shallow cultivation kills germinating w**ds so that for these later-planted crops, the need for w**d control is much reduced. Scuffling between the rows severs the w**ds while throwing up enough soil to smother the rest.

In many ways it has been an easy year with enough dry weather to keep on top of the work. But over the last three months, the combination of below-average rainfall and higher-than-average winds – increasing transpiration and ev***ration rates – has also reduced growth. After a cold start and wind damage followed by not enough rain, our early potatoes, grown near the coast, are producing half the usual yield. By contrast we have a bumper crop of plump and delicious raspberries – turns out they just needed more compost and irrigation.

Fatigue is setting in but the end is in sight; August tends to be more relaxed as planting ends, w**ding pressure subsides, and sales dip as many of you head off on your summer holidays. As a grower, a rest will have to wait, but if you get to early July with your head above water and marriage intact, you are probably going to make it to the refuge of winter – buoyed by thoughts of seed catalogues and laying plans for next year’s harvest.

- Guy Singh-Watson

📸 Summer picking at Baddaford by Emma Stoner

09/07/2026

From the Radical Realist:

Many years ago when I was an exchange student in Dakar, Senegal, my economics professor told my class a parable that revealed as much about Senegalese values as it did about Western ones. It went something like this:



A director from the World Bank sees a Senegalese fisherman sitting under a tree in the middle of the afternoon and asks him why he isn’t out at sea in his boat catching fish. The director tells the fisherman that if he spent more time fishing and less time under the tree, he’d earn more money and therefore be able to invest in a bigger boat with bigger nets. Bigger nets would mean more fish, which means more income. With that he could buy a bigger house and possibly even a car. This would be good not just for the fisherman, but also for the wider Senegalese economy that would benefit from his increased consumption.



The fisherman looked up at the World Bank director from his perch under the tree and explained that he was satisfied with his small, but comfortable house, and that his bicycle takes him everywhere he wants to go. He told him that the waters around Dakar are overfished, and if he spent more time on his boat, he would deplete the seas even further, thereby making it harder for his fellow fishermen to earn a living. The best thing for everyone, he explained to the director, would be for him to only take what he needs and spend the rest of his time under the tree drinking tea with friends.



For a classroom of Western students raised on the Protestant work ethic, the parable revealed to us how our brains had been culturally hardwired to see consumption not as a risk to the planet, but as the virtuous reward of hard work. This mindset has not only been disastrous for our work-life balance, but also for the climate. Like the fictitious World Bank director, we’ve been raised to measure our worth by our ability to consume ever bigger and flashier goods.



This parable came to mind last month when I read a report from the Global Justice Project, led by French economist Thomas Piketty, that lays out a sweeping vision for planetary survival. In it, Piketty and his coauthors illustrate how it is possible to raise living standards, lower inequality, and keep the planet from warming above 2°C. To achieve this goal, the authors argue that we need to work less.



Since 1800, the average person has gone from working 3,200 hours a year to around 2,100 hours. The decrease was achieved by phenomenal collective action from the working class that demanded such things as the eight-hour workday, weekends, and paid time off. To the surprise of Victorian industrial bosses who believed working less would mean fewer profits, the result of working less has been an increase in productivity.



The problem is that rather than transfer our increase in productivity towards more leisure time, we’ve instead decided to consume more goods. Like the Senegalese fisherman, Piketty and co. argue that cutting our work hours by half to 1,000 per year would mean we’d have more time to focus on the things in life that matter. Instead of blowing our salary on a fantastic two-week holiday on the other side of the planet that explodes our carbon footprint while we buy clothes and trinkets we don’t need, we could instead spend more time closer to home developing hobbies and spending time with friends. This in turn would improve our standard of living while protecting the planet from the harmful effects of overconsumption.



Piketty isn’t naïve in thinking that reducing our working hours is an easily achievable goal. Capitalism has drilled into our heads that growth is equal to progress, and only through the sacrifice of hard work can we improve the quality of our lives. But when we look back over our time on this earth, we are much more likely to remember the hours we spent under trees with friends than those labouring for an ever-bigger paycheque.



Yours,



Charlotte Kilpatrick

Editor, The Radical Realist

09/07/2026

This is Part 1 of a 4-part series about El Nino.

The goal is to explain in the simplest terms possible what El Nino is and why it has far-reaching implications.

Rippeology subscribers have agreed that these posts should be open to all and made shareable.

This first part explains the basics of El Nino.

Q: What is El Nino?

A: Translating to "the boy child" from Spanish, El Nino is characterized by warmer-than-normal water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean near the equator, just off the west coast of South America.

El Nino is part of the ENSO ecosystem. ENSO stands for El Nino Southern Oscillation.

El Nino occurs when those waters are 0.5 degrees Celsius (or more) warmer than the 30-year historical average (1991-2020).

It is the opposite of La Nina ("the girl child"), characterized by water 0.5 degrees Celsius (or more) colder than normal. In between the -0.5 and +0.5 is considered a "neutral state" for those water temperatures.

Q: What is a "Super" El Nino (also known as a "very strong" El Nino)?

A: "Super" means that water temperatures are +2.0 degrees Celsius or higher above the 30-year norm. It is a relatively rare occurrence that was last observed in fall and winter of the 2015-2016 season.

Q: How do we measure those temperatures?

A: Climate scientists and oceanographers divide the full ENSO region into 4 sections. Each of those sections lies between 5 degrees north and 5 degrees south latitude from the equator, and between 120 degrees and 170 west.

ENSO regions 1 and 2 are very close to the South American coast. ENSO region 3 is farther west, and region 4 is the farthest west, as you see in the image.

You'll also notice ENSO 3.4 -- a combination of parts of regions 3 and 4 that is closely watched for changes and trends.

Temperatures, both at the surface of the Pacific and deep beneath, are measured with a network of buoys and sensors.

Temperatures are recorded continuously and are reported by NOAA in three increments: weekly, monthly, and in 3-month rolling averages.

As of late June, temperatures in 3.4 region were 1.2 degrees Celsius above historical norms and rising rapidly. Temperatures in the 1+2 region were 2.5 degrees Celsius above normal.

A: What is unique about this year's El Nino?

There are 3 things that really stand out:

1. In April, there was a "triggering event" of twin cyclones in the equatorial Pacific that allowed an upwelling of warm water and bursts of westerly winds.

2. Shortly thereafter, coupling occurred. Coupling is when the oceans and the atmosphere sync up with each other. Imagine the ocean and the atmosphere on a phone call with each other, interacting and reacting with each other. Coupling completes a cycle where now, simple temperature changes in the water can begin to impact climate and weather globally. More on that later in this series.

As pointed out in an article by Ben Noll yesterday in The Washington Post, the Pacific occupies 13.5% of the entire Earth's surface, equaling 8 times the mass of the lower 48 US states.

3. A Pacific marine heat wave north of the ENSO region has been brewing for most of the year, and now, those warmer waters have mixed with the warmer waters in the ENSO regions, causing an acceleration of warming temperatures.

This is one big reason why each new forward-looking El Nino forecast keeps intensifying the event's "peak," which would be likely to occur in late fall and early winter of this year.

Part 2 tomorrow will look a bit more closely at those forecasts and the potential impacts on global climate and weather. In the meantime, please let me know what I can clarify for you. And as always, thanks for your curiosity and for your interest in these posts!

~Scott

09/07/2026

If you can make it all the way to the end of this post, please memorize the last few sentences at the end. I apologize if this feels a bit more ominous than Part 1.

This is Part 2 of a 4-part series about El Nino.

The goal is to explain in the simplest terms possible what El Nino is and why it has far-reaching implications.

Rippeology subscribers have agreed that these posts should be open to all and made shareable. Huge thanks to those of you who shared part 1 yesterday.

This second part explains the current Nino forecast and how it will impact climate and weather all the way around the globe. Later, we’ll zero in on impacts here in the Midwest.

Q: How intense do we expect this year’s El Nino to be?

A: If you read part 1 yesterday, you know that “Super” El Nino is a warming of surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific that’s 2.0 or more degrees Celsius above the 30-year norms from 1991-2020.

Our last Super El Nino, in 2015-2016, reached 2.4 degrees Celsius above normal.

Ensemble models this summer have been very consistent – and very persistent. Each monthly run of projections goes higher and higher. Based on early July data, this El Nino is projected to hit +3.0 minimum, and perhaps as high as +4.4 maximum. It could still go up in future forecasts.

NOAA has twice extended the “Y” axis on these charts – for the first time ever, entertaining the idea that +5.0 degrees Celsius is on the table.

Currently, the MEAN is +3.9 (Euro ensembles). Ben Noll modelled what that would look like in the attached image at November peak.

Q: How does that stack up to prior El Ninos?

A: It literally blows everything away.

The most intense El Nino occurred in 1877-1878, using data historically extrapolated. That event killed tens of millions of people around the world, completely reshaped agriculture, changed the definition of winter in many countries, and surprised scientists studying famine, flooding and drought.

It was devastating. And few understood what was happening and why. Remember that this was right at the very beginning of what the U.S. viewed as the industrial revolution. Other countries closer to the equator – Brazil, India, China – had little concept of what was happening and suffered the greatest loss of human life.

And food. The loss of food was immense. Starvation was rampant.

Q: So this year could be worse than that? How does ocean water impact the entire globe?

A: I want to say this straight out so there’s no confusion: there is NO precedent for what weather models, meteorologists, oceanographers and climate scientists believe is about to happen.

We are seriously only guessing right now.

150 years after the 1877-78 event, we are better prepared as a civilization. The problem is, we’re not quite sure what we’re preparing FOR. Or WHERE we should prepare for it.

You have a pot of water on the stove. You’re boiling it to make pasta. As the water heats, it ev***rates and steams upward. You turn on the hood fan to vent some of that steam.

But our atmosphere has no hood fan. It’s going to store all of that v***r. All of that heat. No exhaust. And so dominoes start to fall.

The downhill impacts of this kind of event are staggering. Warm Pacific waters heighten the Pacific hurricane season, but horizontal shear stifles the Atlantic hurricane season. Central America is very much caught in the middle of an atmospheric argument. Small, but potentially explosive storms form in the Gulf. A southern jet stream runs west to east from California to the Carolinas, bringing floods and cooler than normal temperatures. Farther north, temperatures are hot and conditions are dry all the way into southern Canada, exacerbating wildfires. Dominoes start to fall to the east as oscillation patterns in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean are upended completely, and flooding and drought could be just 100 miles away from each other. Ocean currents react and stop transporting water north and south, sort of going into self-preservation mode. Air quality degrades. The typical undulation of jet streams that creates seasons is no longer operational, and winter feels a whole lot like spring.

That last sentence IS the primary impact of what is about to happen. El Nino will, and always has, CHANGED JET STREAMS. Heat and water v***r navigate jet streams, and in the next 9 months, they’ll take turns we have not seen in at least 150 years.

Jet streams are everything. THEY SEPARATE AIR MASSES. They RULE everything. Temperatures, drought, flooding, famine, fire, erosion, air pressure, air quality, stress on tectonic plates, stress on volcanoes, extinction of marine life.

EVERYTHING.

You guys know me well enough to know that I’m not a particularly alarmist weather dude. So forgive me if I’m now sounding the alarm. This is serious s**t.

There’s more. Part 3 coming tomorrow.

09/07/2026

Last week’s heatwave rapidly ripened our strawberries, with pickers starting at 5am before being driven from the fields by the heat. By contrast, the first three weeks of June were damp and cool, with berries slow to ripen and picking repeatedly disrupted by the light rain. At least the wet days gave us time to w**d the trees we planted last winter – something I never expected in the midst of a manic summer. In addition to the two hectares planted with native oak, hornbeam, lime, and hazel – complete with tree guards, stakes, ties, and w**d mulches – we left one hectare to “rewild”, simply shutting the gate last autumn and waiting to see what would happen.

Previous generations (and a younger me) would have considered this neglect and a disgrace to our trade, but an evening walk revealed numerous young oak trees emerging from the grass with extraordinary vigour. A bit of scratching revealed an acorn amongst the grass roots, sending a root down and stem upwards. Nestled in
moss, it reminded me of the ultrasound scans of my children lying in a nourishing womb, and recalled a powerful urge to protect and nurture. The gate will stay shut and I have spent many happy hours on my hands and knees, pulling up grass to make a mulch nest around each tree and hopefully ensure enough grows to create a forest... perhaps for future grandchildren to one day wander through.

We got lucky too – last year was a “mast” year with oaks bearing extraordinary amounts of acorns. I’d expected to find a few trees under the hedgerows and overhanging oaks, but they were spread across the whole field. How did they get there? Many believe they are spread by the loudmouth, acorn-loving jays, who also feast on the emerging oak cotyledons. Did they just randomly drop them in flight, perhaps, as they let out their brutish squawk? Or maybe this is co-evolution, with jays relying on oaks for food, and oaks on jays for seed distribution? One might even say the jays were farming the oaks to feed future generations. For me, controlling less and observing more has been another spiritually enriching step in my 60-year evolution as a custodian of this land. Farming is about more than food, and finding locally appropriate compromises that balance our many demands on the land is as complex as it is controversial.

25/06/2026