Ebb and Flow: Great Britain's ever-changing coasts

The interactive Wipe the Water Away! photo gallery offered by Spiegel Online is amazing!

Click here to access the interactive Wipe the Water Away! photo gallery.

German President quits

I haven't really followed the German President saga over the last few months in great detail, but it is worth bearing in mind that, as reported by BBC News, the president's role is largely ceremonial, to serve as a moral authority for the nation. It is blatantly obvious that Wulff failed to do that. As Der Spiegel put it: Wulff hat es selbst vermasselt. Es bleibt das Bild eines Gernegroß, der zu klein war für das Amt, dem letztlich seine Mittelmäßigkeit zum Verhängnis wurde (loosely translated as: Wulff has only himself to blame. What remains is the image of a show-off who was unable to do justice to the role, whose mediocrity was ultimately his undoing).

With the invaluable benefit of hindsight it seems clear now that Joachim Gauck would have been the better choice.

Wulff-Rücktritt: Er hat es vermasselt

Ich habe das ganze Bundespräsidententheater der vergangenen Monate zwar nicht so richtig mitverfolgt, aber wenn mich nicht alles täuscht hat Roland Nelles in seinem Spiegel-Artikel den Nagel auf den Kopf getroffen:  

Wulff hat es selbst vermasselt. Es bleibt das Bild eines Gernegroß, der zu klein war für das Amt, dem letztlich seine Mittelmäßigkeit zum Verhängnis wurde.

Greenpeace and Facebook unite on renewable energy

http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2011/dec/greenpeace-facebook.cfm

The Battle for Bauhaus: How A Movement Failed to Protect Its Name

Interesting Spiegel article at http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,807202-2,00.html

100 Jahre Erdplatten-Theorie: Der verlachte Revoluzzer mit der Weltformel

Interessanter Spiegel-Artikel unter http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,807228,00.html

Ecological Modernisation and Renewable Energy

Some extracts from review of "Ecological Modernisation and Renewable Energy", by David Toke, published in November 2011.

Back in 1990, Dave Toke published a visionary book with the ‘says it all’ title ‘Green Energy – A Non-nuclear Response to the Greenhouse Effect’ (D. Toke 1990, published by Green Print in conjunction with SERA), which is as relevant today as it was then. At the time Toke wrote: ‘If we are to avoid use of nuclear power with all its environmental, political and economic disadvantages, the only alternative is the speedy deployment of renewable energy sources’, and in his conclusions, Toke urged: ‘We must do this now. We have no time to lose’.
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This is where Dave Toke’s latest book, entitled Ecological Modernisation and Renewable Energy and published as part of a wider Energy, Climate and the Environment series, comes in.
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In view of the fact that the UK is about to make key energy policy decisions that will set the energy scene for years to come, Toke’s new book could hardly be more timely.

Click here for the full review.