Recent activities and plans …

Energy, health and development: 

The vast majority of schools in Kenya cook food for their pupils and staff in wood-fired kitchens. The resulting smoke exposes cooks to very high levels of air pollution, and permeates throughout the school affecting the whole school population. Check out this piece about my latest video, a documentary film looking at just how bad the situation is for health, the environmetal impacts of the vast quantities of woodfuel being consumed, and the exciting initiatives now underway for converting school kitchens to clean, modern energy such as LPG.

And take a look at my other recent, article and short video about the new air pollution ‘Centre of Excellence’ laboratory at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Nairobi. It’s an impressive new resource that will transform prospects for air pollution and health research, and policy evaluation, across sub-Saharan Africa.

And, if you are not convinced that LPG, a fossil fuel, should be playing an important part in Africa’s clean energy transition – at least over the short to medium term – see my piece making at the case for investing in LPG now for clean cooking in Africa, alongside the development of renewables. Comments most welcome!

Adventure, cycling and history:

My story of a 6 day/5 night tour of Cycling UK’s excellent Rebellion Way, a 400 km bikepacking route around Norfolk, ridden in the beautiful warm weather in early September 2023. As there is so much of interest to discover on the Rebellion Way, I posted Part A (Days 1 to 3) first; here is Part B (Days 4 to 6). This blog is written partly from the perspective of older cyclists (like me! – aged 68); we are inevitably slower, but also have priorities that may differ from younger and/or other riders who may be more focused on completing the route quickly.