Iain Dunn
Founder of Earth and Leaf Community Interest Company. Lifelong career as a livestock farming expert backed by an education in agricultural sciences and economics. Now a conservationist, researcher and sustainability campaigner.
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An Urgent Rescue Plan
An Urgent Rescue Plan for Our Shared World – First Steps We need international agreement here and this will be impossible with the current president of the USA in power. There are a handful of other leaders who will be problematical…
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One Man can Save the Amazon
One Man can Save the Amazon (but he can also destroy it) The one man who can save the Amazon does not need to be named, we all know, you know who he is. When we started this project we vowed…
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Incredible Insights: Do we Grow the Right Food?
Do we Grow the Right Food in the UK? The fact I am asking the question, do we grow the right food tells you the likely answer. A traditional British diet used to comprise a lot of bread, potatoes, root vegetables,…
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The Boiling Frog Concept – The Absolute Truth be Told
It is early August 2025 and the news and hot weather reminds me of the boiling frog concept in relation to global warming. The news has been full recently of angry people who are unable to go on holiday due to…
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This is it, our final chance
About five years ago I had a discussion on with a local dairy farmer about feeding the world or saving the planet, our final chance. Which must we do first? Save the planet was and still is my answer and scientifically…
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The Alternative Happy Ending to a Heartbreaking Story
This is the sad sad end of an ancient tree in Rushden and it is the completely wrong solution. This solution sets an awful example to our children and grand children. This is the sad end of an ancient Beech tree…
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The Incredible Significance of the Ancient Enfield Oak
The Enfield Oak is not as well known as the Sycamore which was wantonly vandalised at Sycamore Gap, but environmentally and ecologically it’s loss is far more significant. One of around only 20 ancient Oaks in London. It is irreplaceable. What…
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Grazing Pressure
Grazing pressure has transformed our world and it must be used again to transform it once more. The Sahara was created by grazing pressure and is expanding as a consequence. The same applies to the American dust bowl. The Highland clearances…
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Food Grown in the Lab: Shocking or Revolutionary
Fantastic, we can now have meat, sugar and butter grown in the lab. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2ern1zjkvyo Mushrooms are the Future of Our Diet and of our Worldinternal link Meat, sugar and butter grown in the lab How efficient is it to grow meat?…
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Sugar and the Bees
Sugar and the Bees – Sustainable Food Production The use of neonicotinoids is controversial, but we know that they are absolutely lethal to bees. They are a class of neurotoxic pesticides, banned in the EU, loved by Sugar Beet farmers in…
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The Concept of Net Zero is Flawed
The concept of net zero is flawed, although achieving an equilibrium between carbon output and carbon sequestration is a fine ambition. However we don’t measure outputs properly or report them properly. This leads to what I refer to as Net Zero…
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How Many Climate Change Warnings do we Need
As storm Eowyn hits Yorkshire I wonder how many climate change warnings do we need. We are definitively in a climate emergency, despite the denials from international leaders and influencers who should know better. How Many Climate Change Warnings do we…
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Can We Build A Sustainable Future for Farming
Introduction – A Sustainable Future for Farming The agricultural sector is at a crossroads, faced with the pressing need to adapt to climate change and an increasing demand for food. Sustainable agriculture has emerged as a crucial approach to address these…
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Sustainability in Farming
When I talk about sustainability in farming, which I do a lot, I don’t just mean looking after the environment and reducing global warming. I mean making sure farming communities benefit in future from sustainability in farming. They need to earn…
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Soil
Soil is something we all take for granted. I’m surprised, first of all, that I have not written about this before. Soil is the absolute foundation for farming and we exploit soil at our peril. It comes in many guises, from…
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Feed or Save Our World ?
Feed or Save Our World; that is the question asked by farmers. The simple academic answer is we must save the world, then we can feed the humans. In trying harder and harder simply to feed ten billion we are destroying…
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Net Zero and Carbon Credits Exposed for all to See!
Net Zero and Carbon Credits are both concepts that allow polluters to continue to pollute. Fact. Both ideas have been drawn up to not rock the boat, yet to appear as though governments are doing something about global warming. The glaring…
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Our National Parks are Stunning First and Foremost but Flawed
Our National Parks are stunning but flawed. They are not quite what they seem. Yes they are beautiful, they preserve the heritage of their area at least physically, but not socially.
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Agricultural Methane Emissions Must be Eliminated as a No 1 Priority
Short term gains in the fight to save the planet can be made if we understand that dealing with methane emissions must be a priority 1st is best. Methane is rapidly heating up our world and some sources we can directly…
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Is Biomass a Sustainable Fuel?
Lets look at the question – is biomass a sustainable fuel? There is a good biomass case study right on our doorstep here in Yorkshire. Drax power station. Drax was responsible for three per cent of the UKs total carbon emissions…
