Dan Ward

Systems thinker and futurist helping progress to a sustainable, equal and biodiverse world through research, commentary, training and engagement.

[Dan Ward @SolvingSapien]

@ceritheviking To be fair some of these numbers are very small. Bugger all for tramshed for example. Be more interesting to compare to public investment in these types of spaces in Bristol, London etc.

[Dan Ward @SolvingSapien]

@cardiffcouncil Why not provide BBQ and hot plate areas like many places such as Australia, Germany, Finland etc?

[Give A Shit About Nature @giveashitnature]

Cities are planting trees for aesthetics, which is where urban tree planting often fails.

Most songbirds don't raise their chicks on berries or seeds. They raise them on insects, especially caterpillars. One nest of chickadees can need thousands before the young birds fledge.

Many common street trees are chosen because they are tidy, tough, symmetrical, disease-resistant, and ignored by bugs. Ginkgos, zelkovas, Bradford pears, London planes, ornamental cherries. Useful in some ways, but weak as bird habitat.

'Bugs leave it alone' is not a wildlife feature that any of us should be chasing. It is a food-web failure.

Native oaks can support hundreds of species of moth and butterfly caterpillars. Those caterpillars become chickadees, wrens, warblers, cardinals, vireos, and woodpeckers. Research on suburban chickadees found yards needed roughly 70% native plant biomass to support successful breeding populations.

Now look at the average streetscape: ornamental trees, mulch islands, mowed turf, imported shrubs. From a car, it looks green. To a nesting bird, it can be a food desert.

Cities should absolutely plant for shade, heat, drought, salt, pollution, root space, and survival. A dead native tree helps nobody.

But when we plant trees, the question cannot just be 'Will this survive?' It has to be 'Will this feed anything?'

What is your city planting?

[Trafnidiaeth Cymru Trenau Transport for Wales Rail @tfwrail]

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Tap in, tap out, and travel by train within our pay as you go zones📲

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https://t.co/QgmZbK7tp4

[Sea Eagle England @SeaEagleEngland]

A record 3 #WhiteTailedEagle chicks have fledged in the wild in England this summer including the first in Dorset for over 240 years!
The chicks were reared by eagles released by @ForestryEngland & @RoyDennisWF in our project to return this lost species🦅
https://t.co/UZROzzvre9

[Dan Ward @SolvingSapien]

@AliDriverUK @DefraGovUK Good to see. Enclosures should only be needed if beavers are needed for nature based solution work in upland areas where they might leave downstream for easier living! Unless there are other ways to encourage them to stay in those upland areas?

[Dan Ward @SolvingSapien]

@ceritheviking @MarstonGareth Land prices do seem to be high considering the economic turnover of much of Wales, and the qaulity of some of the land. I'm keen to get some land so been looking, and people are asking for a lot! Especially if you compare what they're asking to more prosperous areas in England.

[Tom Bacon @TomABacon]

So, I've just spent a bit of time looking into the debate on IHT and farming. I... got a shock. First, a note: I have a friend who runs a family farm. In his view, the whole thing is a something and nothing. 🧵

[Dan Ward @SolvingSapien]

@DeAthCardiff Great to see this happening. Just walking past this all and while this is going on how about adding a pond in roath park in the wet area on the right in photo attached? It's an area that wants to be a pond anyway and would be a nice feature. Not enough ponds around Cardiff!

[Dan Ward @SolvingSapien]

@DanicaPriest @avonwt @IanBarrettSW This looks like it will turn into good habit to me. Bit of disturbance a bit like wild boar would do, allowing other species to come through. And extra water habitat. Seems to be only a very small area of the total. Be nice if they put some proper ponds in.

[Isabella Tree @isabella_tree]

Really important research from @DaveGoulson. There are really effective herbal solutions for dog fleas, as there are for lice in human hair. Why poison our pets, us, our natural water systems and the environment? All these chemicals need to be challenged.

[Beaver Trust @BeaverTrust]

Happy #WorldWetlandsDay! 💧

Covering <1% of the earth's surface, wetlands contain nearly 12% of all biodiversity - and beavers can help supercharge these habitats.

A study by @StirUni found the number of species in beaver-created wetlands was 50% greater than in other wetlands!

[Dan Ward @SolvingSapien]

Great to see this around urban areas. Time for some of this in Wales! @TirNatur @NatResWales @WelshGovernment @SeneddWales

[Dan Ward @SolvingSapien]

A great graph of predicted solar PV additions Vs where we've actually got to! Everything happens in exponentials people.

[AukeHoekstra @AukeHoekstra]

Nice "new" visualization of solar growth versus predictions ;-) ht @baumanns

[Dan Ward @SolvingSapien]

Well worth a watch. This is why I am also optimistic for the future. I call it maths based optimism! There is already so much good stuff happening.

[Hannah Ritchie @_HannahRitchie]

My @TEDTalks is now online.

I argue that we have the opportunity to build a world where we can all live well, and tackle our environmental problems at the same time.

This is possible, but not inevitable. We have to push to make that a reality.

https://t.co/16rQBiJ7E8

[Dan Ward @SolvingSapien]

@PGDCster @ramez @IRENA @NatlHydroAssoc @OceanEnergyEU @Canadian_MRE @MarineCymru @MarineCouncil I think it unlikely that marine energy can ever get as cheap as solar will be. Solar is scalable everywhere, requires much less rigorous engineering standards as in much more benign environments, and can be sited where the energy is being consumed reducing transmission costs.

[Dan Ward @SolvingSapien]

Very true. Housebuilding lobby needs to be put in its place on its environmental impacts. And start building council houses using publicly owned companies so we aren't relying on big private housebuilders to build houses for us.

[Simon Oldridge @SiOldridge]

When it comes to screwing us over, the housebuilders have form.
The 2007 Code for Sustainable Homes required ALL new homes to be zero carbon by 2016. After lobbying the Conservatives scrapped it, leaving new homeowners with huge heating bills.
https://t.co/CygG8LQhHa

[Simon Oldridge @SiOldridge]

A 🧵on why oil companies don't invest in renewables, what the UK Government is now overtly doing to assist big oil, and what it should be doing. 1/

[Dan Ward @SolvingSapien]

@gow_derek Interesting that they talk about kites taking chicks etc when cover is removed, without any consideration that maybe it is the removal of all the cover that is the issue. Of course we do need mesopredator control. Hence the need for eagle owls, white tailed eagles etc.

[Dan Ward @SolvingSapien]

Great to see this thinking becoming reality. Lets base our work time on actual evidence of what works, and around the type of society we actually want to live in. https://t.co/dKUMYxyjRQ