by pennyurquhart | Mar 11, 2026 | Africa, climate change, extreme events, Uncategorized
It feels like I am sitting in a marble cake of swirling temperatures. As the wind swings from landward to seaward and back again, I have the curious experience of having a front that is cooled while my back warms up – like a lizard swaying through moist grass on a...
by pennyurquhart | Nov 13, 2020 | Africa, climate change, climate conversations, food security and climate change
Chef Pierre Thiam. Photograph provided by Pierre Thiam. “Fonio never embarrasses the cook.” Pierre Thiam, world-renowned Senegalese chef and culinary ambassador, is cooking this ancient African grain from his “Covid kitchen” in Berkeley, while I and some 30-odd...
by pennyurquhart | Feb 27, 2017 | Africa, climate change, climate conversations
Photo: Penny Urquhart Dr. Balgis Osman Elasha is Climate Change Specialist in the Compliance and Safeguard Division of the African Development Bank (AfDB). As well as her considerable international exposure, which includes authoring chapters of several IPCC...
by pennyurquhart | Apr 29, 2016 | Africa, environment, Uncategorized
Imagine a world without birdsong. It’s unthinkable, isn’t it? But song birds all over the world are in trouble – this is the motivation behind The Messenger, Su Rynard’s 2015 documentary that aims to raise awareness and, hopefully, galvanise...
by pennyurquhart | Nov 23, 2015 | Africa, environment
Nola, a 41-year old northern white rhino, died yesterday in a zoo in San Diego. Why should we care, in this time of terror and violence, and just a week away from COP21 in Paris – the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework...
by pennyurquhart | Jul 16, 2014 | Africa, climate governance, environment
Headlines on deforestation, particularly those that link the problem with climate change, usually focus on changes in the Amazon forest system. Sometimes we read about the ravages on Indonesia’s forests from expansion of oil palm plantations. But we almost never...
