Cabot Institute for the Environment blog

Wow! What weather we have been having!   Incredibly hot, sticky and humid down south in Bristol – I’ve been feeling like I’m in an urban rainforest - and freaky hail, lightning and rainfall up north, causing landslides, flooding and serious damage.   Are these signs of environmental change and is it a warning of risks that will be commonplace in the UK in the future?   A very Cabot-y question!   Check out the news coverage. This week I have been updating the Cabot website and have uploaded a video from the AXA Research Day and all the presentations from theday .   The content highlights the success of the Cabot Institute in bringing together people who work in different disciplines but cover the same ground, in this case volcanoes.   There is still more video content to come including coverage of the whole days presentations and conversation. We have been struck by the hideousness of the #sciencegirlthing issue bouncing around Twitt...

A very fishy Big Green Week Well the BIG Green Week has finally drawn to a close, and what a week it was! Let's hope it can become an annual event on the Bristol Calender. Huge congratulations to Paul Rainger and Darren Hall, Forum for the Future, the army of volunteers and the 40,000 visitors that took part in a truly inspiring week. As a Cabot Institute Knowledge Exchange Fellow at the University of Bristol , the event provided some great opportunities for me to talk to the public about the work we are doing on the Future of Fisheries and effects of climate change on fish and marine ecosystems ( full details here ). Our first event was at the Saturday Bristol's BIG Market, where a team of us ran a Future of Fisheries stall on St Stephen's Avenue with fishing for children (and several over-competitive adults!), 13 species of UK fish to hold, poke and investigate, and displays about our research on the recent effects of climate change on European fisheries ...

As part of our contribution to Bristol's first BIG Green Week , we wanted to put on a public event that got people discussing both Cabot's research and the interdisciplinary approach we take.  We came up with an event called ' Patterns of change ', where we asked people from across Cabot's research areas of science, social science and engineering to tell a story of how something they study is changing across space or over time. A wide remit, which led to a fascinating and far-ranging evening of presentations and discussion. Professor Jonathan Bamber spoke about his work on the diminishing 'frozen planet' and implications for sea level rise. Professor Kathy Cashman spoke about the awesome havoc volcanoes wreak on the human and natural environment and the ways people have come to live with their eruptive neighbours. Professor Colin Taylor spoke about a new way of looking at resilience to natural hazards that needs not only strong buildings but strong relati...

Source: AWH Saturday saw us on a stall in Bristol City Centre shouting about climate change and sustainable fish.  We had a brilliant time meeting with members of the public and engaging them in an important issue.  Our marine biologist, Steve Simpson was on hand to answer the more difficult questions posed.  We also had a ‘sea’, full of (rubber) fish which big and small children could catch.  On the bottom of each fish was the name of a species which was lying in an ice box on our stand.  Having real fish on display was great to make learning about sustainable fish fun and engaging, even if people just came over to point at the fish and say ‘eurgh!’ - we got them thinking about their fish food choices. An interesting Steering Group meeting was had on Monday.  We discussed public engagement activities, had an update from Jonty Rougier on BRISK activities and talked about gaps in Cabot’s expertise. We have launched the Cabot Open Call for 2...

On Wednesday 13 June, researchers from the Cabot Institute will talk at Big Green Week about the changing world, from large-scale environmental trends in ice sheets and oceans to social and economic patterns, and changes in the built environment and its resilience to hazards.   Speakers are from the University’s engineering, science and social science faculties, making this a truly interdisciplinary event.   Speakers from Cabot include Professors Jonathan Bamber, Colin Taylor, Wendy Larner, Kathy Cashman, and Bronwen Morgan.  The event is sold out and we will be updating our blog after the event. More info about the event.

Gurnard - a relatively sustainable fish Steve Simpson Steve Simpson talking to passers-by A brilliant (and breezy!) time was had by us at Big Green Week on Saturday 9 June 2012.  Apart from our umbrella blowing over in the wind and collapsing the whole stand, we made a quick recovery and had a very successful day. We had our marine biologist, Steve Simpson , on hand to talk to people about sustainable fish and how climate change is affecting what fish we should eat. Big and little kids got involved by catching a fish from our small sea and finding out about and seeing the real fish from the seas around Britain. The MCS Good Fish Guides about what fish to eat were very popular, as was the Fish Fight sign-up sheet from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's campaign to end the wasting of by-catch. We also had MSC certified fish products on show to let people know what to look out for when buying from the shops. Here are some pictures from the day.