by pennyurquhart | Oct 27, 2022 | climate change and health, COP27, Uncategorized
An old song earworms its way through my mind, the lyrics ‘it’s getting hot, hot, hot’ tripping over a punchy soca rhythm. I can’t place it but recognise it as an intermittent visitor for some months. It’s as though the zeitgeist is bubbling up into my...
by pennyurquhart | Apr 22, 2020 | climate change, climate change and health, environment, Uncategorized
Wednesday, April 22nd, 1970, was a cloudy day in New York City, with a high of 64 degrees Fahrenheit. On that day in South Africa, the Nationalist Party led by B. J. Vorster had just trounced the far-right Verkrampte Herstigte Nasionale Party– the HNP – in a...
by pennyurquhart | Apr 3, 2020 | climate change, climate change and health, Featured, green economy, Uncategorized
Dominant and rampant, the coronavirus has conquered the fickle news cycle and is now whipping it up to ever-greater speeds. I have doubled my normal screen time but can barely keep up with shifting live feeds. How many cases now? Who is locked down, how, and where?...
by pennyurquhart | Mar 26, 2019 | climate change, climate change and health, Uncategorized
Late in the night on 14th March 2019, Cyclone Idai surged off the warm Indian Ocean and over the coastline of central Mozambique. Whipping up winds of 175 km/h, the cyclone, possibly the biggest in the region since 2000, roared across the coastal plain, picking up...
by pennyurquhart | Apr 6, 2016 | climate change and health, climate justice, Uncategorized
Image: Earth Hour 2016 Was it any coincidence that Human Rights Day in South Africa fell on the same day as World Poetry Day – 21st March? Not if you consider how a number of South African poets shone a light on the injustices of the apartheid era – think of Ingrid...
by pennyurquhart | Mar 27, 2014 | 5 questions on climate change series, adaptation, Africa, climate change, climate change and health, climate change policy, climate justice, culture, food security and climate change
This is the second in a series of “5 questions” blogs in which I explore the same five key questions with climate change thought leaders. In the interviews, we take a look at recent significant developments in the climate change arena, focus on what global leaders as...
