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War's climate toll. Emissions from Gaza may be 3/4 of Scotland’s annual The carbon footprint, a report says, of the first 15 months of the war on Gaza will be greater than annual emissions from many individual countries.

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. An article in the Guardian, based on a recent report, caught my eye this week. The...

previous day 4

Vicky Allan

I lived through 15 years of the tramworks on my street - here's what I learned My children grew up with the Edinburgh tram works on our Leith street. A new line is proposed. Here's what I learned

Sometime towards the end of the tram works on my street, I came across a tweet, actually from a few years beforehand, sharing a short bit of...

previous day 5

Vicky Allan

Can the SNP solve its park problem - over both Flamingo Land and Galloway?

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. The Scottish Government is looking like a flamingo with its ostrichy head in the...

28.05.2025 10

Vicky Allan

Could grid charge reform save consumers £16 bn? An offshore wind report says so Three firms behind some of Scotland’s largest offshore wind farms have called for transmission charge reform that could save £16bn

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. Three firms behind some of Scotland’s largest offshore wind farms have warned...

21.05.2025 5

Vicky Allan

Why Scottish heat pump installers want a grants scheme more like England's Heat pump installers are losing payments and pulling out of taking on new jobs. And all because of the way Scotland's heat pump grants work

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. Matthew Henney, director of Eco Energy Ltd, says that he is down £88,000 in...

14.05.2025 30

Vicky Allan

David Attenborough's Ocean is a call for action. Is Swinney listening?

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. At close to a century old, Sir David Attenborough is taking us on another deep dive...

07.05.2025 10

Vicky Allan

What does Spain's blackout tell us about grid security and renewables? Speculation abounds about Spain's blackout. But what do we really know about its causes? And what do we learn for UK grid?

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter We know certain things about the power blackout that hit most the Iberian Peninsula...

30.04.2025 5

Vicky Allan

Sell off of our public buildings. And the urban area pioneering how to save them In Portobello, Edinburgh’s seaside town, a project is showing a route for many communities across Scotland to hold onto their spaces.

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter That police station that got sold off, the local church, the toilets, all...

23.04.2025 6

Vicky Allan

Nature crisis more 'urgent' than climate. Expert's devastating assessment If there’s one scientist in the world who has the big overview on the health of planet Earth, it has to be Professor Johan Rockström

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter If there’s one scientist in the world who has the big brain overview on the health...

16.04.2025 4

Vicky Allan

90 fire call outs. Galloway ablaze. But are wildfires increasing? And is it climate?

This article is delivered as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. It’s shocking to see the images of any wildfire, the landscape lit by flames...

09.04.2025 4

Vicky Allan

The real horror that Scotland's extreme beach cleaners are worried about Some of the plastic on Scotland's beaches is disintegrating and becoming part of the bigger global health worry - micro plastics

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter In Shaping Our Shores, the film I featured in last week's article on the shocking...

02.04.2025 20

Vicky Allan

Scotland's forests in need of a just transition. People want a 'stake and say' A report from Just Transition Commission says people want a say and stake in tree-planting. It echoes what we found in The Herald's Scotland's Forests series

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. “Over-planting of monocultures (eg Sitka),” says a new report by the Just...

26.03.2025 6

Vicky Allan

Brewdog, Stobo Hope. Is Scotland set to fail on both timber and net zero?

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. The UK Climate Change Committee’s seventh carbon budget report, published last...

19.03.2025 4

Vicky Allan

Scotland's Forests: targets, timber shortage, controversies. A new Herald series

Not since the 1980s, when a backlash began against the investor-led plantations of the era, has it seemed like there has been so much tension around...

19.03.2025 3

Vicky Allan

North Sea tanker crash. The story so far and how it could impact wildlife

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter The drama and terror is in the photographs and footage: the clouds of black,...

13.03.2025 4

Vicky Allan

Heating is confusing enough without Swinney giving hydrogen the thumbs up The First Minister's enthusiasm for hydrogen boilers is a distraction. Heating is confusing enough without giving this costly technology the thumbs up!

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter A few years ago, it seemed uncertain which way we were going in the effort to get...

05.03.2025 3

Vicky Allan

Carbon capture. Vital? Or expensive, high-risk 'false climate-tech'?

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) has come in for quite a bit of stick...

26.02.2025 10

Vicky Allan

Why homeowners are 'tearing their hair out' at heat pump grant scheme Only 14 heat pump grants were awarded per day under the Home Energy Scotland grant and loan scheme for households. Is it 'unfit for purpose'?

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter Is the heat pump revolution failing to even get off the starting blocks? Only 14 heat...

19.02.2025 10

Vicky Allan

Is science starting to show the flaws in Scotland's Net Zero tree strategy? A new paper from The James Hutton Institute suggests that tree rewilding projects may not lead to carbon capture in the timescale relevant to Net Zero

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter The question of trees and Net Zero is often a thorny one. Which trees, where? Is...

06.02.2025 3

Vicky Allan

‘Not enough’ of everything but wind. Answers to the offshore renewables challenge? Scotland has plenty wind. But at last week's Offshore Renewables conference, I heard the words 'not enough' enough times to worry. But also some answers...

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter Last week saw Scottish Renewables host its annual Offshore Wind Conference, and...

29.01.2025 2

Vicky Allan

Terrified by trump? Can I interest you in some nice vertically-farmed basil?

This article is part of the Winds of Change newsletter For those of us who are not fully-signed-up climate-change deniers or Net Zero sceptics,...

22.01.2025 50

Vicky Allan

Heartlessly dumped or guerilla rewilded? Why this lynx whodunnit matters Was it a heartless abandonment or guerilla rewilding? The answer matters when it comes to the future of lynx reintroduction

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter Was it a chilling tale of the callous abandonment of neglected exotic pets, or a...

15.01.2025 10

Vicky Allan

Hope for nature in 2025? Some glimmers from a whirlwind tour of Scotland The news on nature recovery is often bad. But a whirlwind tour of the Scottish Highlands gave me hope - and it mostly lay in community

This article is from the Winds of Change newsletter Looking for hope for the future of nature from 2024? Often it can be hard to find, but ...

08.01.2025 6

Vicky Allan

A region divided over Galloway National Park. But is referendum the answer? Division is building in the proposed Galloway National Park area. Outside Dumfries council, the call is for a referendum. Is that the solution?

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter Tweeds, rainbow-knits and waterproof jackets: the apparel on display outside...

18.12.2024 6

Vicky Allan

Let it snow? The chilling ocean current shift that could see Scotland freeze What if all our Christmases were white? How a weakening Atlantic current may soon be set to see Scotland's temperatures terrifyingly drop

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter Temperatures, I hear today on the radio, are ‘struggling to push above freezing’; a...

11.12.2024 30

Vicky Allan

Pylons and phone masts. The wild politics of weighing up what we really need The Ryvoan bothy has become the focus of an objection to a phone mast 400m away. What does the application's withdrawal say about wild politics?

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter How much do we care about preserving this thing we sometimes call ‘wildness’? The...

03.12.2024 4

Vicky Allan

That's COP done. What about this salmon activist ban and the global plastic crisis?

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter With Scottish parliamentary committee salmon farm inquiry coming to an end last week...

26.11.2024 3

Vicky Allan

Farmers are important. But Galloway National Park can't be all about them

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. You would think from the news coverage that the only people who have a strong...

19.11.2024 6

Vicky Allan

How big a disaster is Trump's win for COP29 and the climate?

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. The talk, of course, around COP29 is all about Donald Trump. This year’s global...

12.11.2024 10

Vicky Allan

We need to think beyond the cod and the prawn. The Clyde is a wider web of life

The Clyde Sea is just one small area of Scotland’s waters. Covering 3600 square kilometres, it amounts to less than 1% of Scotland’s seas. Yet, it...

05.11.2024 3

Vicky Allan

UK 'critically vulnerable' to another energy price crisis. Some answers

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter There can be few in the UK who haven’t felt the blow of the energy crisis, triggered...

15.10.2024 3

Vicky Allan

£250K from Trump would be a small win. But private jets are just the start

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. The Scottish Greens last week got personal in their push for the introduction of a...

08.10.2024 4

Vicky Allan

Highland battle of the pylons. Is it time to listen more to the locals?

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. Pylons, particularly 60-metre-high 'super pylons', have impacts. Many of these are...

01.10.2024 3

Vicky Allan

Parks and job creation: Lessons from Flamingo Land and Grangemouth The decision to reject Lomond Banks could be seen as a statement on the purpose of National Parks. But the lessons from Grangemouth are harder.

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. The dramatic decision, yesterday, to reject the Lomond Banks development,...

17.09.2024 3

Vicky Allan

Heat pump job losses and green fund raids. What happened to a just transition?

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. Over four hundred jobs, it was reported last week, are under threat at the...

10.09.2024 2

Vicky Allan

Wildfires, flooding, GDP loss. Can the Highlands adapt to this?

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter It may not sound all that much to begin with. A reduction of –1.5% on gross domestic...

03.09.2024 4

Vicky Allan

Yes we care about public sector pay and bins. But what if Nature went on strike? Our public sector needs fair pay. But are we valuing nature enough? Vicky Allan digs into why the urgency isn't there to protect biodiversity

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter Only, surely, in the surreal world of government accountancy would it ever be the...

27.08.2024 3

Vicky Allan

Overtourism on the North Coast 500 and elsewhere: 'It's not just the Balearics' A big question for Scotland, as for other countries, has to be how do we invite people to visit our beautiful lochs, mountains and islands, or our bustling and historic cities, without it all getting too much.

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. Back in 2018, the Oxford English Dictionary shortlisted “overtourism” for its...

20.08.2024 2

Vicky Allan

What we know so far about GB Energy – and why investment in Scotland is key While location, location, location matters, also what is key with Great British Energy is investment, investment, investment.

This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter. There are so many details still to be thrashed out, such as the much-discussed...

06.08.2024 1

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War's climate toll. Emissions from Gaza may be 3/4 of Scotland’s annual The carbon footprint, a report says, of the first 15 months of the war on Gaza will be greater than annual emissions from many individual countries.

Vicky Allan

I lived through 15 years of the tramworks on my street - here's what I learned My children grew up with the Edinburgh tram works on our Leith street. A new line is proposed. Here's what I learned

Vicky Allan

Can the SNP solve its park problem - over both Flamingo Land and Galloway?

Vicky Allan

Could grid charge reform save consumers £16 bn? An offshore wind report says so Three firms behind some of Scotland’s largest offshore wind farms have called for transmission charge reform that could save £16bn

Vicky Allan

Why Scottish heat pump installers want a grants scheme more like England's Heat pump installers are losing payments and pulling out of taking on new jobs. And all because of the way Scotland's heat pump grants work

Vicky Allan

David Attenborough's Ocean is a call for action. Is Swinney listening?

Vicky Allan

What does Spain's blackout tell us about grid security and renewables? Speculation abounds about Spain's blackout. But what do we really know about its causes? And what do we learn for UK grid?

Vicky Allan

Sell off of our public buildings. And the urban area pioneering how to save them In Portobello, Edinburgh’s seaside town, a project is showing a route for many communities across Scotland to hold onto their spaces.

Vicky Allan

Nature crisis more 'urgent' than climate. Expert's devastating assessment If there’s one scientist in the world who has the big overview on the health of planet Earth, it has to be Professor Johan Rockström

Vicky Allan

90 fire call outs. Galloway ablaze. But are wildfires increasing? And is it climate?

Vicky Allan

The real horror that Scotland's extreme beach cleaners are worried about Some of the plastic on Scotland's beaches is disintegrating and becoming part of the bigger global health worry - micro plastics

Vicky Allan

Scotland's forests in need of a just transition. People want a 'stake and say' A report from Just Transition Commission says people want a say and stake in tree-planting. It echoes what we found in The Herald's Scotland's Forests series

Vicky Allan

Brewdog, Stobo Hope. Is Scotland set to fail on both timber and net zero?

Vicky Allan

Scotland's Forests: targets, timber shortage, controversies. A new Herald series

Vicky Allan

North Sea tanker crash. The story so far and how it could impact wildlife

Vicky Allan

Heating is confusing enough without Swinney giving hydrogen the thumbs up The First Minister's enthusiasm for hydrogen boilers is a distraction. Heating is confusing enough without giving this costly technology the thumbs up!

Vicky Allan

Carbon capture. Vital? Or expensive, high-risk 'false climate-tech'?

Vicky Allan

Why homeowners are 'tearing their hair out' at heat pump grant scheme Only 14 heat pump grants were awarded per day under the Home Energy Scotland grant and loan scheme for households. Is it 'unfit for purpose'?

Vicky Allan

Is science starting to show the flaws in Scotland's Net Zero tree strategy? A new paper from The James Hutton Institute suggests that tree rewilding projects may not lead to carbon capture in the timescale relevant to Net Zero

Vicky Allan

‘Not enough’ of everything but wind. Answers to the offshore renewables challenge? Scotland has plenty wind. But at last week's Offshore Renewables conference, I heard the words 'not enough' enough times to worry. But also some answers...

Vicky Allan

Terrified by trump? Can I interest you in some nice vertically-farmed basil?

Vicky Allan

Heartlessly dumped or guerilla rewilded? Why this lynx whodunnit matters Was it a heartless abandonment or guerilla rewilding? The answer matters when it comes to the future of lynx reintroduction

Vicky Allan

Hope for nature in 2025? Some glimmers from a whirlwind tour of Scotland The news on nature recovery is often bad. But a whirlwind tour of the Scottish Highlands gave me hope - and it mostly lay in community

Vicky Allan

A region divided over Galloway National Park. But is referendum the answer? Division is building in the proposed Galloway National Park area. Outside Dumfries council, the call is for a referendum. Is that the solution?

Vicky Allan

Let it snow? The chilling ocean current shift that could see Scotland freeze What if all our Christmases were white? How a weakening Atlantic current may soon be set to see Scotland's temperatures terrifyingly drop

Vicky Allan

Pylons and phone masts. The wild politics of weighing up what we really need The Ryvoan bothy has become the focus of an objection to a phone mast 400m away. What does the application's withdrawal say about wild politics?

Vicky Allan

That's COP done. What about this salmon activist ban and the global plastic crisis?

Vicky Allan

Farmers are important. But Galloway National Park can't be all about them

Vicky Allan

How big a disaster is Trump's win for COP29 and the climate?

Vicky Allan

We need to think beyond the cod and the prawn. The Clyde is a wider web of life

Vicky Allan

UK 'critically vulnerable' to another energy price crisis. Some answers

Vicky Allan

£250K from Trump would be a small win. But private jets are just the start

Vicky Allan

Highland battle of the pylons. Is it time to listen more to the locals?

Vicky Allan

Parks and job creation: Lessons from Flamingo Land and Grangemouth The decision to reject Lomond Banks could be seen as a statement on the purpose of National Parks. But the lessons from Grangemouth are harder.

Vicky Allan

Heat pump job losses and green fund raids. What happened to a just transition?

Vicky Allan

Wildfires, flooding, GDP loss. Can the Highlands adapt to this?

Vicky Allan

Yes we care about public sector pay and bins. But what if Nature went on strike? Our public sector needs fair pay. But are we valuing nature enough? Vicky Allan digs into why the urgency isn't there to protect biodiversity

Vicky Allan

Overtourism on the North Coast 500 and elsewhere: 'It's not just the Balearics' A big question for Scotland, as for other countries, has to be how do we invite people to visit our beautiful lochs, mountains and islands, or our bustling and historic cities, without it all getting too much.

Vicky Allan

What we know so far about GB Energy – and why investment in Scotland is key While location, location, location matters, also what is key with Great British Energy is investment, investment, investment.