I am writing this on a train to Edinburgh, and as it happens it is quite comfortable, with empty seats and a relatively quiet carriage. I would normally fly – partly because I live near Luton and partly because I prefer short to haul journeys to long – and actually enjoy flying.

As a New Zealander I’m not about to give up the principal of air travel so I am genuinely conflicted about aircraft emissions.

Trundling along at over 100 miles an hour I can’t help thinking that I would have already reached my destination had I flown.

So have I really made a difference or will this only happen when enough of us give up air travel, so that air lines reduce their scheduled flights. Sounds like a long shot to me.

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There's an amazing video on the BBC News website.  The story has been bigged up as an 'Alien scene' in reference to the Ridley Scott classic.  I have to say, it's pretty eye-popping.  I think we're conditioned to find slimy creatures repulsive, and when combined with parasitical behaviour - in this case eating the newly hatched unfertilized eggs of the mother frog - then you've hit the gross-out jackpot.  After all these years, isn't it great that something occurring 'naturally' like this has the ability to shock and amaze so many people?  
And don't get me started on the incidental fact that the (highly endangered) frog in question is called a 'mountain chicken frog'.  Why is it called a 'mountain chicken frog'?  A. It's found in the mountains.  And B. It tastes like chicken.  I do believe we've got to the bottom of why it's endangered.

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There seems to be a lot of chatter about wind power at the moment, like this piece in the Independent. Each side of the argument are as passionate as the other, and as an observer, it's sometimes hard to see the wood for the trees.

One issue is whether you think wind farms are a blight on the landscape or have some aesthetic value.  Some years ago David Attenborough said he thought they were quite beautiful, but clearly many people disagree.  Of course, there are other factors like the cost of creating this type of clean renewable energy.  But in the end, doesn't it boil down to weighing up the long-term benefit gained from reduced carbon emissions (is it measurable and meaningful?) against the perceived uglification of the landscape and seascape?

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Are we being too short term in our thinking on green issues? 

Understandably, the environmental agenda is set by what can be achieved in our children or grandchildren's lifetimes, if not our own (say the next 100 years). 

There are plenty of scientists out there who'll tell us we're due another ice age .  This may not be in the next 100 years, but possibly the next few thousand.  So in the long-term our impact is puny, unless supposedly 'clean' nuclear power is counted.  Sure, it may well be clean in terms of emissions, but this guy, Alan Weisman, says that in the US, scientists are devising danger warnings near modern reactors that can be interpreted by whoever may stumble across them in tens of thousands of years.

It certainly puts the focus on carbon emissions in perspective. 

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An unspoilt paradise? 

I suppose most people would think that.  Our channel, showing the best natural history and adventure programmes in the world, aims to show the world in all its beauty and wonder. This means everything from animal behaviour and glorious landscapes to extraordinary people and life-endangering exploration.  Through this, hopefully we're going some way towards meeting audience expectation of what would be on a channel called 'Eden'.

I get a thrill when I see some creature, place, or situation that I know I will never see in person.  In the TV age, we take for granted underwater images of whales, or magnificent aerial shots of waterfalls.  What we forget is that 99.999% of all the people who ever lived never even saw an image of such things, let alone witness a heli-gimballed fly-over.  Even for those of us alive today, very few will get to scuba dive in arctic waters or scale Everest; still less penetrate unexplored jungle or discover a new species.  It's these astonishing aspects of our natural world, brought to us exclusively through the film lens, that never fail to excite me. 

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