Uncertainties on the journey to a net-zero life (1)
I was intrigued by a suggestion in your look at net-zero living from Hayden Wood at UK green energy firm Bulb (4 September, p 34). He said “it makes no sense to have gigawatts of battery capacity in people’s cars [that is] not being used to help balance the grid”.
Actually, it does. We are pleased to have our first family electric car. But when we plug it in overnight, we expect to find it fully charged for our use in the morning, not to find it only partially charged after being raided to balance the grid. This would be particularly important if we were planning a long journey.
Batteries will be necessary to balance the grid, but surely it would be better to install one in each home for this purpose. The ebb and flow in them while balancing the grid wouldn’t affect the householder.
Uncertainties on the journey to a net-zero life (2)
E-bikes deserve a mention in our net-zero future. They broke through at least 10 years ago with the advent of cheaper lithium batteries and novel motors. Their chargers are fitted with standard household plugs. Their embodied and per-kilometre carbon output 鈥� and unit price 鈥� are a tiny fraction of an electric car’s.
In his book How Bad Are Bananas?, UK carbon footprint authority Mike Berners-Lee figures an e-bike ride burns less total carbon than a regular bike trip, due to a need for fewer food calories.
Uncertainties on the journey to a net-zero life (3)
If we take the handling of the covid-19 pandemic as a template for how we get to a net-zero world, we can imagine leaders addressing the emergency belatedly with uncoordinated, chaotic, inhumane and often cynical measures.
The hard problem of consciousness remains
Anil Seth breaking a bottle of champagne over the bow of his attempt to explain the physical processes of consciousness and calling it “the real problem” will not make it so (4 September, p 44).
The difference between life and consciousness is that when you take life apart, there turns out to be nothing, over and above the processes involved. When you do the same to consciousness, as Seth seeks to do, you are left with… consciousness.
On the debate over new fossil fuel projects (1)
The development of a new coal mine in the UK for coking fuel for steel-making would constitute an embarrassing step in the wrong direction (11 September, p 11). The possible use of green hydrogen in steel furnaces has been mooted for some time and is soon to be a commercial reality, albeit 鈥� as with all new technologies 鈥� an initially more expensive one. The use of coke from a new mine will reduce the incentive to develop this considerably cleaner method and the UK will soon be left behind.
On the debate over new fossil fuel projects (2)
The UK may not need a new coal mine or even an oil field, as Mark Peplow’s comment makes clear (4 September, p 17), but it may have no option. The , as amended in 2015, requires the UK to make the maximum profits from fossil fuel deposits in its territory. The .
To boldly go, you may need a little spite
While the actions of spiteful people may result in head-shaking disapproval, the need for the assertiveness that might be driven by spite has been explored before (4 September, p 40). In “The Enemy Within”, an episode of Star Trek, while beaming up from planet Alpha 177, a transporter accident splits Captain Kirk into two personalities 鈥� one meek and indecisive, the other bold and brazen.
A review noted that, although it is important to have goodness for intellect and mercy, it is the evil side that provides decisive action and strength. One can’t survive without the other.
Many ways to explain the 10,000 steps target
There is an explanation for how a Japanese marketing gimmick came to be the source of the idea that taking 10,000 steps each day is good for you (11 September, p 38). It may be that 10,000 is an “easy number to remember”, but in most European languages, it is no more so than 8000 or 12,000.
The real reason that 10,000 is easy to remember in Japanese is that its Chinese-influenced number system has a separate word for it (). What’s more, the Sino-Japanese words for 10,000 are used to mean “a whole lot” 鈥� an indeterminate number. The point is not to take exactly 10,000 steps, but just lots of them.
Perhaps metal pollution affected more than insects
I read Coline Monchanin and Mathieu Lihoreau’s article on heavy metal pollution affecting insects with great interest (11 September, p 25).
Our intestinal microbiome is effectively an enclosed bioreactor susceptible to such substances. Lead residue build-up from leaded petrol would have been worst in inner-city areas during the 1960s and 1970s, and it is possible that people experienced microbiome changes at that time.
The microbiome is significantly heritable via vaginal birth and is known to be important for the development of a child. Could this have had an impact on the health of millennials and “Gen Z-ers”, who were born to parents who played in such leaded dust when they were themselves children?
Dogs may be masters of mental mapping
The story “Monkeys navigate using mental maps just like us” states that most animals don’t possess mental maps of their surroundings (21 August, p 22). I beg to differ.
We had a dog who had a highly developed mental map of our house and garden: whatever window I threw his ball out of, he would run downstairs and out the door straight to his ball, wherever it landed, even though he couldn’t see out of them. Another of our dogs, when out on a walk, always takes what he perceives to be the shortest route rather than following us.
I would have thought that the possession of mental maps is a key characteristic of most animals.