Digger, the movie (2026) Review
Filed under: Environment, film | Tags: digger, John Goodman, movies, Reviews, Tom Cruise
Leave a Comment 
Tom Cruise is a bit of a turn-off for me. I was there for Risky Business back in 1983 – precisely when I was coming of age. So, I am always reluctant to part with money to see him in a film. The last time was Eyes Wide Shut because of the Kubrick connection rather than Cruise.
This time, despite Cruise, I fork out £26 for the two of us to enter a cinema at the unearthly film hour of 1030 on the grounds that this movie is significant in its approach to mainstreaming climate change awareness. It is significant. And although it had only a short stay on cinema screens, I recommend catching up with it when it is streamed. Despite Cruise.
Spoiler Alert – read no further if you are going to stream it. A viewer’s interpretation of events will determine how embedded they are in climate narratives.
The plot is straightforward. Digger is an oil magnate who lives in this surreal house with his cat. There’s definitely a nod to Goldfinger in this. The cat is old, incontinent and on its last legs. It is, however, the only other living thing he seems to care about. The rest is just money. It is a comedy. Some of it is slapstick, It is very funny. It is very dark humour, though. We are meant to laugh. Watch out for the spade and the fate of the cat. There is some great comedy timing.
So when he learns that his drilling in Greenland is causing an ice sheet to float free and collide with Europe he seeks to blame everyone other than himself for the catastrophe, including the president of the USA played brilliantly by John Goodman. That scenario is fantastical, but it is not meant to be accurate. For film goers who see it through to the end, reality and fantasy are constantly in flux. Ultimately we are being told that the oil industry can and will do untold damage to the planet. It is not just about that iceberg. It is about tipping points. These are the triggers that unleash irreversible chain reactions, including plague. There is also the scenario that using nuclear weapons to break up the iceberg leads to nuclear war as the act itself is interpreted as an act of war. This realisation knocks the smile off the military commander who thought he had a reason to use his nuclear arsenal to show off the power of the USA.
There is one particular standout scene. Standout in terms of its script, visuals and performance (right). He flies to Europe to “defend” himself over his culpability for the tragedy. If one has not been paying attention, the expectation is that he will show some contrition for the lives, livelihoods and lost land. If you have been paying attention, you will know that Digger will never do that (remind you of someone?). Digger’s speech follows that of his chief scientist who can no longer hold his lip. He comes clean to the Europeans and expects serious consequences from Digger. But he gets none of it as it provides the opportunity for Digger to present his own truth.
He tells the Europeans that they are culpable. It is they that are addicted to fossil fuels. It is their people whose lifestyles depend on fossil fuels and the products of oil such as plastic and fibres. He only satiates the addiction. I have not really done it justice here. It is a magnificent piece of writing delivered with swagger (that is probably why Cruise was perfect for the role). It is visually stunning, too. Digger is the only person present in the room with colour. The hall itself is the Coliseum with Digger as a victorious gladiator.
The imagery throughout, though, is quite disconcerting. It is so retro, despite the computer screens. Digger’s bed is something to behold. It all reminds me of Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things. Indeed it was all filmed in Pinewood Studios in the UK. There is no location as such. If you get to the end, there are a few twists. I missed the last one. Not to be missed.
William Nordhaus’legacy
Filed under: Environment | Tags: climate, climate change, Climate economics, CoP31, DICE, environment, Genevieve Guenther, global-warming, sustainability, William Nordhaus
Leave a Comment Nobel Laureate, William Nordhaus died on 30 October 2026 at the age of 85. He remained to his death a Yale professor seemingly packing out lecture halls. Not surprisingly the Economist (7 November 2026) lauds him and his economics as a “triumph of pragmatism” that curiously produced “numbers that were useful” Usefulness came at a cost of precision, but he is forgiven for that.
I think it is fair to say that, despite what the Economist says, most progressives engaged in climate change scholarship – natural scientists, social scientists including economists and those from the humanities are more on the side of the British economist, Nicholas Stern, Nordhaus’ nemesis on the case for valuing the lives of those in the future a little bit more and respecting the science. Nordhaus makes the case for adapting to 3 degrees Celsius of warming (around the year 2100). We are confident that such temperatures are not tolerable and that civilisation will be challenged by such increases.
His work was picked up by policymakers because, essentially, it makes the case for business-as-usual. With numbers and equations and the maintenance of GDP as the main measure of welfare. What is more, DICE makes clear that rising temperatures will only have a marginal impact on GDP, 2 per cent, for example, for an increase of 3 degrees Celsius. That can be offset by more growth, bizarrely.
At this point I defer to the work of Genevieve Guenther and her book, The Language of Politics: Fossil fuel propaganda and how to fight it (2025). In this book she devotes nine pages to his notoriety. She credits him with almost inventing climate economics on the publication of his Dynamic Integrated Climate Economy model (DICE). That is as far as the credits go. Nordhaus published his work just at the right time when the United Nations, on establishing the Framework Convention on Climate Change, was looking for something to work with. DICE was it. Nordhaus cautions against too rapid decarbonisation because that could render capital unproductive. Capital should be deployed against climate change only when it becomes urgent. In the meantime capital should continued to be invested productively and in ways that rewards investors today. The growth driver will remain, largely, fossil fuels.
It seems that Nordhaus’ could not see that productivity will be impacted (already is) by heat, extreme weather, flood and desertification. Guenther notes that Hurricane Harvey in 2017, intensified 15 per cent by global warming (at just over 1 degree Celsius of warming) that hit Texas and Louisiana had a greater impact on GDP than Nordhaus’ model predicts and that was below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. Whether on his death, policymakers will revisit DICE remains to be seen. With CoP31 starting imminently (November 2026) we will get a flavour of his longevity.
Photo of William Nordhaus: By Bengt Nyman – Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74934773
The day the Earth stood still (1951 and 2008)
Filed under: Environment | Tags: climate change, film, Gort, Keenau Reeves, Klaatu, movie, movies, Ringo Starr, sci-fi, Science fiction, science-fiction, The Day the Earth Stood Still
Leave a Comment 
I think my first encounter with the 1951 original was not the film itself, rather the cover of Ringo Starr’s album, Goodnight Vienna (left). I also remember the BBC running a series of evening sci-fi films – the winter Monday night treat starting after the 9 O’Clock news (back in the 1970s). Too late to watch to the end, but I always tried to start them. Another film in that series, I recall, was The Incredible Shrinking Man. Profound, in hindsight.
Spoiler alert – if you intend to watch either of these films, do so before reading further this review.
Of course I have been watching quite a bit of sci-fi in addition to my reading. The theme of my film watching has been climate change (The Road, for example). In the 2008 remake, Klaatu (the spaceman) comes to Earth to warn of the consequences for humankind of further erosion of the Earth systems. In the original carried a classic cold war message against militarisation and extending it beyond the Earth. It is a time of atomic weapons and nascent space exploration. It is a chilling message delivered firmly by Klaatu as he departs. Gort, his robot, is an example of a robot that is programmed to protect Klaatu’s race from violence and war, They are powerful peace keepers that can effectively vaporise military equipment and personnel.
In the 2008 remake, Gort has a slightly different purpose. Whilst the robot is made of a material that cannot be penetrated by humanity’s most powerful diamond drills, Gort cannot be damaged. Whilst Gort is enclosed, much to the delight of the military personnel trying to eliminate the alien threat, the robot is not disarmed. Indeed it is programmed to convert itself into tiny insects that can pulverise buildings such as a sports stadium. The reason for Gort’s transformation is humanity’s rejection of his request to speak to the United Nations. This is an interesting critique of the institution. My goodness, a humanoid space traveller, that speaks a common human language, is denied access to the only representative global body of nations.
Klaatu’s human ally, just as in the original, is called Helen Benson. In the remake Helen is an astrobiologist called on to facilitate the US State’s understanding – and handling – of the approach of a fast-moving object that looks like it will crash into the Earth with devasting effects. Of course, the craft, such that it is (it is a spherical object of light), slows and lands conveniently in Central Park (the classic flying saucer of the original lands in The National Mall in Washington). The Helens both have a role in allowing Klaatu to understand humanity’s humanity. In the remake Helen pleads with Klaatu to give humanity a chance to change. In the original, Helen tries to help him to safety after her fiancé betrays him in pursuit of fame and riches.
In both films there is a Professor Barnhardt. In both cases Klaatu assists the Barnhardt in solving one of mathematics’ most troubling problems (quaintly on a chalk board). In the original, Klaatu is gets Professor Barnhardt to convene a grand meeting of international scientists to address them. In the remake, Professor Barnhardt, played bizarrely by John Cleese, makes the case for humanity arguing that the species is on a precipice, just like Klaatu’s own planet in an earlier time.
There is also a role for children. Helen Benson from the original, has a precocious son called Bobby. He entertains Klaatu in and around Washington. Klaatu visits the Lincoln memorial and defers to his greatness after reading the inscription. Ultimately, there is wisdom in humanity as well as destructive force. In the remake it is the child who betrays Klaatu, he himself accepting the dominant media narrative that Klaatu must be caught and killed. After Helen (who is his step mother and not his birth mother) is snatched by the military, he and Klaatu have to negotiate a forest in the pouring rain and find a way to get back to New York and the ship. Meantime, Helen convinces the Secretary of Defense, Regina Jackson, who is leading the military response, that she alone can convince Klaatu to stop the flight of the destructive insects. She rendezvous with Klaatu and Jacob and along with a colleague (who dies as the SUV they are driving in unwittingly hits mines that have been laid). The boy is fatally wounded by the insects but is – for want of a better word – resuscitated to rejoin humanity. Klaatu’s own regenerative abilities are quite something (in both movies).
Some concluding thoughts
I started with the remake. Keenau Reeves as Klaatu was a suitable choice (I have always thought he was a bit wooden). That aside, the ecocide message in 2008 was quite something. It predates the Paris Agreement, though the IPCC had published ever-increasingly worrying reports and the Conference of the Parties (CoPs) were well established albeit fractious. The sense that aliens felt the need to save Earth’s flora and fauna from its most destructive product of evolution, humans, is quite something. Because 18 years’ on, it does. We are introduced to the idea that Earth, in cosmic terms, is special indeed. Not unique, but certainly rare. The other planets hosting life cannot allow Earth to go sterile again. This is not really explained, but it is an interesting concept.
The military play a huge role in both films. Actually, the mobilisation scenes are impressive, and I imagine on an Imax screen, doubly so. Though in both cases it illustrates the real impotence of the military when confronted by forces greater then themselves. Especially the forces of peace. The military leaders are depicted negatively with little sense of empathy, diplomacy and understanding. Kill, kill and kill. In the original, the standing still part is a 30-minute global power cut. In the remake, Klaatu leaves Earth with a permanent power cut. An opportunity for humanity to restart (or at least reset). This is a fair ending as, clearly, the film could not end with the destruction of human society. I suppose the weakness here is that humans will reconnect the power grid and carry on where it left off. If the original has any lessons, it is that Klaatu’s message was largely ignored. Our current trajectory will see off civilisation without the intervention of other planetary organic life forms.
Album cover source: By Apple Records/EMI – https://store.ringostarr.com/products/ringo-starr-peace-love-goodnight-vienna-lp?variant=4667045740585, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62166849f
Poster (2008) By The cover art can or could be obtained from Collider.com or 20th Century Fox., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20122070
Poster 1951: By “Copyright 1951 by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.” – Scan via Heritage Auctions., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86859809
Bonfires
Filed under: Environment, History | Tags: bonfires, climate change, environment, global-warming, Guy Fawkes, Hastings, pallets, sustainability
Leave a Comment I have come to realise in 2026 that the challenge of climate change means that lives and lifestyles have to change if we are to survive. But all around I see business-as-usual, with the odd bit of recycling and kitchen waste collections. I have to start saying things that are unpopular. So here goes…
It is bonfire season in the UK. We mark the foiling of the so-called gunpowder plot to blow up the British Parliament and see off the Protestant king. In a nutshell. We do this by adding huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere along with a cocktail of other toxic chemicals and with explosives. Usually there are casualties, but they are either unlucky or stupid. It is worth it.
I took a late stroll on 15 October, in my adopted town of Hastings, UK. I came across an area of the beach that had been cordoned off and some pallets piled up inside the cordon. The next day I ventured back in daylight to take a photograph (left).
What is going on? The Council has declared a climate emergency but is allowing the release of c29 tonnes of carbon dioxide – the most abundant of the greenhouse gases – currently locked into the wood from trees that captured it from the atmosphere when they were growing. The Council enables this for no reason at all (of course, this is disputable). In addition to carbon dioxide, the burning of the wood released potentially toxic chemicals (wooden pallets are treated with a range of chemicals such as fumigants and preservatives), and dangerous particulates. It stresses wildlife and pets.
It does not come cheap, either. There is an opportunity cost here. Let us add up the costs: security, fencing (even the fountain is cordoned off), pallets, fireworks, litter clearance (strewn everywhere), medical support, use of resources to manufacture and sell tat…
How much carbon?
I assume 800 pallets. Each pallet weighs approximately 20kg. Each pallet is, again, roughly, 50 per cent carbon. That is 10kg carbon per pallet and 8000 for 800 pallets. When it burns it oxidises. The formular is CO2=C×44/12. So that is 8000x(44/22)=29.3 tonnes. If the calculation is incorrect, please let me know.
Incidentally, the average per capita emission is 7,000 kg. The average Briton, estimated by Mike Berners-Lee, has a footprint of 13,000 kg. It is not negligible. Every kilo matters because every fraction of a degree Celsius of warming matters.
For all of the official events, there is always a fringe. Descending on the town are the “tat” sellers. I do not know if they are licensed, but they seem very organised. They sell toys that are irresistible to children as they are brightly coloured and glow very much in the dark (right). They are single use. They will be thrown away. And my goodness, do they shift this tat. Behind this stuff is a climate disaster in the making, notwithstanding the cheap labour exploited to make it and the addition carbon generated in shipping.
You are stopping people from having fun – get a life
At this time of the year, these bonfire events are taking place across the country ahead of the climax on 5 November. As a kid, of course, I loved this night of the year. November 5th would fall on the week after our school half term. That whole week would be spent collecting wood to build the bonfire. (Pallets were not an option at the time.) Children would go house-to-house with their “Guy” (Guy Fawkes, one of the plotters who managed the explosives) to collect money to buy fireworks. We would have to defend our wood from other gangs who were looking to steal it for their own fire. The idea that we might collaborate did not come into the equation. It was pre- (knowledge about) climate change.
The event in Hastings is a major attraction. It brings in welcome extra money for businesses in the centre of the town, in particular hospitality. The downside is the observation that the streets around the centre of the town were choked with illegally parked cars. Huge ones, all consuming fossil fuels for their motive power. Not a single parking ticket to be seen. I have also been criticised for seeming to be petty – “it is only one bonfire once a year” and “what about the conflagrations taking place currently in France?” I tried to respond politely, but people are naturally defensive and most miss the point that I am making. I am not attacking a particular bonfire or people having fun. I am trying to make the case for improving awareness of the climate emergency and our response to it in our daily lives.
Amateur photographer 2
I got the horizon just about level. I would have liked to have lined up the couple and the yacht. I know next time!
Not immediately obvious at Tonbridge Station, but quite an array of tools should you need them. As for the pub garden, I think these objects were once part of a parade of some kind. Hastings does parades like most people have lunch. Talking of which…
I have never been a fan of Harry Potter. I have never, to my knowledge, queued outside a non-food shop to buy tat. And what we know about JK Rowling and her hate agenda, I would never consider buying anything that helps her hate campaign. At any level, what are these people doing?
Juice by Tim Winton, book review
Filed under: Book reviews, Environment | Tags: book review, books, fiction
Leave a Comment 
This is an epic – over 500 pages for the Picador paperback edition published in 2024. Of all of the cli-fi novels I have so far read (scroll in this blog to see the others), it is probably the most chilling. It is chilling because this is a novel informed by the scientific consensus about global warming: it is happening, life will become increasingly difficult in our lifetimes (and I am heading out of this world more than I am heading into it), civilisation will break down, though not universally (more on this below), and there will be violence. Oh, and there is a little sub-plot about machines that can either help us if we let them or kill us.
This review is full of spoilers – read no further if this book is on your reading list.
It is written in the first person, which is not my favourite style. Most of the characters are nameless; there are a few exceptions including the lead character’s wife, Sun, and their daughter, Ester. It is set on an Australian homestead run and worked by the lead character and his mother. Sun joins later. They are successful in growing food, raising fowl and harvesting water. They live underground for half of the year as the heat – over 55 degrees Celsius – is too much on the surface. The lead character is big into salvage and has a whopping great solar-powered truck (rig) to repatriate his finds. The economy is one of barter. People trade in the nearby hamlet through a co-op known as The Association.
One day, the lead character goes to the hamlet to trade for parts to repair a warped central axle on their barrel turbine caused by a recent storm. He encounters the Filmlayer, a trader with one eye and broken teeth. The Filmlayer was known to visit his mother. He grabbed the young man and frog-marched him to a shelter where he encounters a nameless woman whose payment for the new axle is his attention. He consents and is confronted by a visual display of the realities of the world transformed by the warming (wildfires, for example) along with fast moving images of houses, people, vehicles, “kit”, etc. He was being recruited to a highly secret organisation known as the The Service. A mixture of fear and curiosity led to his agreement to undertake the “Basic” training under the tutelage of a woman known as Awe.
The book starts somewhat close to the end (of the lead character’s story). Our character is in his rig along with a child searching for that one place to settle. He drives up to, what appears to be, a deserted mine, only to find it is occupied with a rather aggressive man, the Bowman, who takes them prisoner underground. It is in the course of one evening/night that our lead character tells the Bowman his story. It is an incredible one at that. We know that the oath to secrecy about the Service has gone, but we do not know why. The Bowman also claims to be a veteran and is equally scarred and disenchanted.
The Service
During the basic training, volunteers are inculcated with the purpose of the Service; namely to rid the world of networks and bloodlines of the people who caused the warming – largely the fossil fuel company bosses and their helpers. Because of their vast wealth from extraction, these people live in protected, remote and secret citadels. It is clear that a lot of intelligence work goes into finding the citadels and drawing up the plans to attack them in elaborate and complex operations involving planes, helicopters, ships and sophisticated weaponry.
Our lead character is a decorated veteran having been part of, or leader in, some of the most high profile raids. He played a leading role in the operation that saw off the so-called Exxons, for example, commonly referred to as the Utah operation. The Bowman claimed to be part of that operation, too. The story of that raid takes us into the bowels of the citadel revealing the privileged lifestyle of its residents, relative to homesteaders, city dwellers and itinerants.
In between these secret operations, the lead character maintains his life as homesteader. Sun enters as an apprentice vet who comes to the homestead to assess the health of the fowl. He is immediately smitten. When she finds out that she is no longer required by the vet she agrees to join the homestead and make a new life away from the city. They build their own house from salvage and the largesse that is a reward for service. And eventually they have a child whom they name Ester because of the association with the smell of sweet fruit and for the “warrior queen of the sagas” (p294)
By virtue of the fact that the lead character is no longer with Sun and Ester or his mother, we know that something happened along the way. Ultimately, there are two causes. Sun and Ester leave the homestead whilst the lead character is on an operation. The cause is a rumour that when he is away he is actually with another family in the South. His mother pleads with him not to go looking for them. The lead character convinces himself that they will be back. The second reason is the growing harshness of the climate. Storms not only flood homesteads but huge hailstones destroy everything – homes, growing houses, vehicles. Notwithstanding the increasing temperatures in which nothing grows. The homesteads’ self-sufficiency evaporates. The people become refugees heading south seeking cooling and new lives. After the death of his mother, our lead character continues alone for a few more seasons punctuated by one final mission: to get the Aramcos!
The Sims
The Aramco mission is like no other. Normal protocols are broken but defended by the leaders as necessary to destroy this critical citadel. They will use a proscribed weapon, fire. They travel by sea and are acclimatised to the extreme conditions on board wearing full combat gear and being forced to stand for long periods. Volunteers die during the voyage and are committed to the sea. Those that remain are tough, ready to do their service.
It does not go well. Whilst many enemy defenders are killed, it is impossible to penetrate the citadel not least because so many Service members are themselves killed. Our character is injured but is picked up and protected by 11 sims (p420) who seemingly were “slaves” of the Aramcos. Sims are human in form, seemingly partly organic, but most certainly electronic as witnessed when they are destroyed by fighters or others. Our character will have a later encounter with a sim after fleeing the homestead.
This group of sims are looking for liberation and they want to be taken to Australia and away from the desert. Our character reassures them that he will honour that wish in exchange for safe passage to the coast where the support ship is waiting for the escaping Service people. They take him through the searing desert under an insulation blanket as well as plying him with food and water. The personnel on the support ship do not wait for explanations and summarily destroy the sims. Another question is raised. And it is a significant one. Who is running all of this? A drone delivered ordinance, was it directed by human or is it autonomous? The sims only shrug at this question (p419).
As noted, our lead character has another encounter with a sim. On his search for sanctuary in the South he encounters a sim who has taken responsibility for an orphan child. He agrees to take them with him, despite being one extra mouth to feed (the sim is recharged by sunbathing). One evening they are confronted by three men who take her prisoner, sexually abuse her and then destroy her. Our lead character in turn kills them leaving him alone with the child. These are not the only people he uses violence against – a man caught trying to steel his water maker (clearly a valuable piece of kit) is beaten and has his wrist broken. Another has his rig burned and is left by the roadside bound and gagged.
The big questions
This final mission raises many questions that have not been asked earlier. Among them, who runs the Service? How does the intelligence work? How is the killing ultimately justified? Where does all of the kit come from? Should the current clan members be held responsible for the actions of their predecessors, even though they are living off the proceeds? Indeed, the Service volunteers have no history with the people who caused the warming. Indeed, our central character during basic training says “The dirty world is long gone. These people are dust now.” (p121) We may ask what kind of justice is being meted out and at what cost to Service volunteers (at best, diminished mental health at worst, death)? One final concern seems to be the secrecy and whose interests it serves. Whilst our lead character thinks that he is the only person in the Association who has been recruited, we learn later that that is not the case. Everyone is lying to everyone else all of the time. This is a society of zero trust. And for what? The World heats up relentlessly. The tipping points have been reached. No amount of killing is going to bring back the Holocene. “Maybe it was a mistake, I say. Trying to purify the world one dead body at a time.” (p461)
This reminds me very much of Richard Powers’ book, The Overstory, in which the protagonists’ direct action to protect a forest and its trees inadvertently leads to the death of loggers. A number of years pass and the group disperses with no accountability for their actions. That is until, for one of them, the guilt boils over and he implicates others leading to arrests and jail. In Juice, the lead character, in his big reveal, exposes his own culpability for the deaths. Through his exchange with the Bowman, he confronts his doubts. It is catharsis. It is the first time he has been able to tell the whole story. Reluctantly, if I read it correctly, the Bowman can no longer doubt him. Living the lie is over.
There’s another comparator that springs to mind, too. As I write this the BBC is airing its next series of Traitors – the celebrity version. This year featuring the likes of Hannah Fry, Michael Sheen, Richard E Grant, James Blunt and Joe Lycett (these are some of the ones I recognise). I have never watched Traitors because of the concept; namely deceit. I trust in the analysis by Rupert Read on the mechanics, but instead of it being a show for problem solving by collaboration, it is one that deliberately pits people against one another – in some cases, siblings and professional collaborators. Trust no one. They are out to kill you (or at least oust you from the show). That is how civilisation ends.
Here is the Guardian’s review by Rachel Seiffert of October 2024.
Picture, Tim Winton https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/artists/tim-winton/
JP Morgan disaster capital investments
Filed under: Advertsing | Tags: JP Morgan, oil investments, propaganda
Leave a Comment 
Last week I posted a picture of a billboard advertising investments that would do the opposite of providing the security the investor seeks. Here is another one on the same theme.
I’ll risk interpreting the image as one of father and daughter. I trust the clarity there is an app that tells you your real-time financial performance? Questions though – they seem to be in a forest that is leafless. Autumn maybe? What does that say? Maybe without leaves the forest makes clear the routes through?
And, of course, The investments fund further biodiversity decline. The daughter has no future, despite the app.
When the advertised product does the opposite of what is intended
Filed under: Advertsing | Tags: advertising, climate change, environment, Investment advertising, JP Morgan, JP MorganChase
Comments (1) A number of years ago I posted regularly photographs of German billboards where it was still legal to advertise cigarettes. The Germans love all things dangerous and lethal, including driving at suicidal speeds. Those posts were very popular – and still are despite there being no additions to the collection since before Covid. It has been difficult to find a replacement, and hence my posts have focused on book reviews and political comment. I think I have now found a suitable replacement – investment advertising. Equally lethal.
Let me start with JP Morgan. The billboard on the left I snapped at Luton railway station on 11 September 2026. I see two potential messages here. The first is, how sweet, a sleeping child. And I presume that the child may be related to the potential pension investor. The second, of course, is JP Morgan’s expertise in investment that gets a better return than other financial services companies.
Whether that is true or not, I’m not sure. But what I am sure about is that if the investor is the parent of that child then investing with JP Morgan may not be as wise as it may seem. JP Morgan is the biggest investor in fossil fuels globally. Last year JP Morgan invested $58bn in fossil fuel interests. Interests that are totally against the future wellbeing of that child. When the child wakes up the question will be, “why did you finance fossil fuels when you knew that burning them warms the planet to unlivable temperatures in my lifetime?”
Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver, book review
Filed under: Book reviews, Environment | Tags: Barbara Kingsolver, book review, climate change
Leave a Comment This is my review of Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, Flight Behaviour. It has plenty of spoilers so read on only if you have already read the book or do not intend to.
I was a little apprehensive about this book, it did not look like anything I would want to read and 600 pages of something that one does not want to read is beyond the call of duty. My conclusion is simple, although I am unlikely to claim this as a favourite to join me in my tomb, for a book published in 2012 it shows remarkable perceptiveness. It also addresses climate change from the perspective of farming families in rural Tennessee. The family of Dellarobia Turnbow, her husband Cub, their two children, Preston and Cordie, and the dog, Roy, who live near to the fictional Feathertown – a place that we can all imagine. Nearby live Cub’s parents Hester and Bear who own much of the forested land as well as property.
New arrivals, new thinking, new opportunities
Times are really hard on the farm, not least because of the relentless rain. Unusual but increasingly common because of climate change. Our protagonists are not wholly aware of the causes, only the effects. Bear decides to cash in on the wood in his forests after a lumber company offers him money to clear it. He agrees to wait until the butterflies have migrated before the felling starts.
Central to the exploration of the changing lives of of the characters is the unexpected arrival and discovery of a huge population of Monarch butterflies (below right) in the forest. On seeing them for the first time by accident, Dellarobia has somewhat of an epiphany as she and her son become obsessed with the lives and survival of the butterflies that are normally expected to over-winter in Mexico. We learn that the habitat in Mexico has been destroyed, hence the unexpected migration.
Dellarobia becomes somewhat of a local celebrity and the spectacle becomes an attraction which Hester and Bear try to monetise unsuccessfully. The television media (News Nine) take a particular interest (pp274-288) and journalist Tina Ultna exploits a naïve Dellarobia through an interview in which she reveals that she went into the forest to kill herself (not true, it was to start an affair in the old hunting hut, but the cause was the same, alienation). On seeing the butterflies she realised that she was too focused on herself and not on the wider world including her children. Some weeks later Tina and different cameraman, Everett, came back for a follow up that is much more revealing but less reportable (see below).
A series of visitors begin to change everything. First a Mexican family call on them (pp132-142). The child, Josefina, is in Preston’s class at school. The parents Lupe and Reynaldo are not so proficient in English. They come and request to see the butterflies. They do, of course, have a parallel experience of being displaced from Michoacán (Angangueo) like the butterflies (it is a bit of a crude rhetorical device, but there are quite a few of these in the book). Indeed, they used to be guides in the forest for visitors coming to see the butterflies, such a spectacle they are/were. But then came the flood. All was gone. Be under no illusions on this point as the novel progresses.
The most significant visitor is a scientist called Dr Ovid Byron (pp143-174) who changes everything for the family. He is a 40 something tall and handsome black man and drives a rented orange VW Beetle. In an exchange with her closest friend, we get the following:
“Wait a sec,” Dovey said. “He flew across the whole damn country and drove to your place to see butterflies?”
“That is correct”
“Did he seem, I don’t know, insane?”
“How would I know? I spend my whole life with people that want to eat thumbtacks off the floor.”
Without hesitation she invites him for supper with the family after coming back from the mountain to look at the butterflies. Dellarobia likened him to Sidney Poitier because of the movie plot. At supper he charmed both Dellarobia and Preston. Dellarobia was amazed to find that scientists exist that specialise not only in butterflies, but to these butterflies. So much so that she progressively learns from Byron not only about Monarch butterflies but natural history more widely and the impact of climate change, a subject that was something they were living through but where the trust, ultimately, was in the hands of God. Preston, equally becomes beguiled by this stranger whose knowledge he can aspire to in a way that his mother, and particularly his father, cannot.
From this moment on, Dellarobia and Preston are different people. Cub is different because of the impact of Byron on his family. For a matter of weeks, Dellarobia is employed by Byron along with a research team of Mako, Bonnie and Pete (who lodged nearby) plus local and not-so-local volunteers, many of whom are hardy souls living rough in the forest throughout the winter – albeit a mild one. Byron himself lives in a mobile home parked on the farm and an outbuilding is converted into a laboratory, for a rent of course. Dellarobia’s employment on her own terms provides her with a small income that enables a degree of autonomy and the ability to provide a few of the presents that she has wanted to buy her children but couldn’t. But more important is Dellarobia’s education – learning by doing. Everything from counting, sexing, measuring, looking out for food sources and signs of flight. She realises that human life is intertwined with that of the natural world and humans’ impacts not only lead to extinctions (Byron believes that they are watching a species extinction) but hardship for human beings as well. Farming becomes uncertain; security, too, and migration becomes necessary for those whose habitats have changed so much that their lives cannot be sustained there.
Ephemera
Perhaps one of the most telling chapters, Chapter 11, is the visit to a very large second hand store in the nearby town of Clearly visited by Dellarobia, Dovey and the children. The shop is a magical place full of useful stuff ranging from bedding to toys, homeware to clothes, bicycles to books, aquariums to wigs, and so on. All at exceedingly affordable prices. The merchandise largely comes from house clearances, but the symbolism of this extended chapter speaks volumes. It tells us that:
- There are a lot of poor people, (even) in modern America
- Used stuff has value
- We are reflected in all of the things we own; we reveal our identities often after death
- It lays bare the possessions that humans acquire through life
- [resale] is a metaphor for genetic mutation (p439)
- There is such a thing as society (even in highly individualised societies, or maybe particularly in such societies)
- People come together to trade, exchange, commune and replenish.
Media culpability
And so to the second encounter with Tina Ultna and cameraman, Everett (pp498-510). Again, arriving without warning, Dellarobia (with Dovey) takes her to meet Byron, a man who is not keen on talking to the media about his work. After some goading he lets Tina have copy, but not of the kind she wants or expects. This is a long exchange, but here is the critique of media coverage of the climate crisis:
“…What is your name again?”
“Tina Ultna,” she said in a different, off-camera voice.
“To see only beauty here is very superficial. Certainly in terms of news coverage. I would say it’s off message.”
“You’re saying there’s a message here? And what is that?”
“…After a long pause, Tina tried again. “Dr Byron, something new is happening here. Most of us are struck by the beauty of this phenomenon. But” she cocked her head theatrically as if burdened by a keen insight – “do you think it might possibly be a sign of some deeper problem with the ecology?”
“Yes!” Ovid cried. “A problem with the environment is what you are trying to say. Pervasive environmental damage. This is a biological system falling apart along its seems. Yes. Very good, Tina Ultna.”
“And briefly, Dr Byron, tell us the nature of the problem.”
“Briefly? Unseasonable temperature shifts, droughts, a loss of synchronization between foragers and their host plants. Everything hinges on the climate.”
She blinked a couple of times. “Are we talking about global warming?”
“Yes, we are.”
Tina made a downward wave at Everett to stop the camera, and bizarrely her own animation clicked off too, her face slack as she walked across the lab, maybe starting to feel homesick for her average flaming interstate wreck. Tina checked something on the camera, then walked back to her interview spot and spoke in a subdued voice. “The station has gotten about 500 e-mails about these butterflies, almost all favourable. Is this really where you want to go with this segment? Because I think you’re going to lose your audience.
Ovid looked genuinely startled. “I am a scientist. Are you suggesting I change my answer to improve your ratings?”
Byron gets angrier as the dialogue progresses. It ends with Byron telling Tina that humanity has been drifting for decades but now we are at Niagara Falls in a canoe. Tina responds by saying that at least if this was Niagara Falls “I’d have a decent background.” On they go. Byron tells Tina that she is part of the problem, dancing to the tune of her sponsors and not doing real inquiry.
All the while, Dovey was recording with her phone. She had an unedited version of the exchange and very quickly it was on the internet.
Religion
Religion, of course, plays its part in the story. This is a religious community. Though there is a lot of doubt. Hester gave up after a miscarriage (not her own but she had given up a baby for adoption) and labelled Dellarobia a 9/11 Christian, “in the event of an emergency, call the Lord” (p82). The local pastor, Bobby Ogle, was an attraction beyond Feathertown and is more than a cleric. He set up his own “no heller” church. He could look past petty things. “[H]e was not into things of this world. Just love.” He also takes a role of mediating the change for and amongst those in his congregation. So much so that he has a significant influence over the fate of the trees once the butterflies have gone.
After church (chapter 13) the family meet Pastor Ogle in his office to discuss the logging contract. Not before, however, having sung “Oh this earth is a garden, the garden of my Lord, and He walks in His garden in the cool of the day.” amongst other references in a distinctly organic sermon. Surprisingly it was Cub who started the bidding pointing out the potential for mudslides and contamination of the well water. Pastor Ogle offered Bear alternatives, including selling equipment (back to the secondhand theme) and how community can help to send work his way (keeping the machine shop open). Bear stayed firm. Then the insults: “Bear apparently at the end of his argument rope, responded by calling Bobby [the Pastor] a tree hugger.” (p556). The Pastor responded with “…what have you got against the Lord’s trees?”
That is not the end of the story, suffice to say Dellarobia and Cub come to an arrangement over their marriage and the duties to their children, but not before a climate-related natural event occurs that parallels the experience of the Lupe, Reynaldo and Josefina. We observe the events with little real surprise. Kingsolver is not the subtlest of writers. It does leave us with a few questions but they are overridden by the change to all brought about by the butterflies as symbols of our own fragilities, vulnerabilities and detachment from the natural world that supports us.
Pictures: Monarch butterfly (Brooklyn Botanic Garden, CCBY-SA 4.0)
Barbara Kingsolver: Terry Ballard – https://www.flickr.com/photos/terryballard/40684622480/
Drought, heat, the summer of 26
Filed under: Environment, Photography | Tags: climate, climate change, drought, Hastings, heat, Luton
Leave a Comment 
Top left: It is not only the people that are dead, St Mary’s Luton Parish Church, 5 August 2026; Middle: Another cloudless sky, Hastings, 6 August 2026, top right: Sunsetting, Hastings, 6 August 2026.
Above left: Let’s get this straight (East Sussex College and Hastings railway station, 7 August 2026); Middle: A shape of things to come (derelict Queensbury House, Hastings, 7 August 2026); Above right: I can see you (Station Plaza, Hastings, 7 August 2026)
I have drawn on a newspaper headline for Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail newspaper. Suitably silly comment but it still has currency as people confuse climate and weather.
