The SolarCycle Diaries: 3 riders. 12,000 miles. 1 cause.

Well, that was unexpected…

The beauty of undertaking a trip to highlight the power of the sun and the deserts is that it is usually warm.

If not utterly sweltering.

It is possible however, that while we were planning our trip, we may have overlooked a couple of small things.

Namely, mountains and the winter!

Man alive - there was a moment back there when Charles’ beard had frozen and Jamie nearly crashed as he couldn’t feel his hands to work the brakes. (Though I maintain that they can’t have been that bad since he refused the  - exceptionally generous - offer to stick them in my armpits…)

It all began on the first day out of Jiyanguan.

We decided to attempt an epic mission to get to Zhangye, 246km away, in a day.

The billowing winds had recently been in our favour and - if we made it - we would have time to visit a beautiful temple housing the largest reclining Buddha in Asia.

We got up early, ate our hotel out of its buffet breakfast (we locate buffets at all opportunities, it still astounds me that the guys can physically move after they have polished off their eighth or ninth plate but their skills in this regard are unrivaled) and hit the road as dawn broke.

All went marvelously well until the first incident with the local constabulary.

We were allowed on most of the expressways in the desert. As they are wide, smooth and - curiously - devoid of traffic they are great for cycling in areas where there is little to see. They are quicker and far safer than their smaller alternatives.

In reality though, we knew that we weren’t really meant to be there.

When, that morning, I accidentally cut up a police car on the slipway, it didn’t bode well…

Luckily the old ’smile, wave and keep cycling’, technique was used to brilliant effect. I scooted past just in time and the guys gesticulated that they could do nothing but follow me.

However, after several hours battling the wind (which had naturally turned) we were spotted again and told to head back 10k and get onto a smaller road.

It was looking bleak. We pulled into the service station to get some supplies and contemplate the awful thought of returning the way we had just come.

We soon started chatting to some truckers  interested in the panels on the bikes. There was much pointing and gesticulating. As this is the general basis of most of our conversations it took us a while to realise that in this case this meant: ‘the police have gone, keep going’.

I love truckers!

It had already begun to get late though and so we had to make a call. Stop and camp or continue in the dark. Jamie was not sure about safety but Charles, wanting to see the sights and I, wanting a hot shower, persuaded him.

Naturally, two hours later, we were cycling the wrong way back along the pitch black motorway into oncoming juggernauts! (Don’t worry Mum, still wearing my cycling helmet…)

We had missed the exit. (Well, I hadn’t, I had seen it. But was told I was wrong. And then ignored. Again. Not that I am bitter or anything.)

Damnations.

Eventually though, after 256k, frozen solid, ravenous and exhausted we made it to town.

The next morning we headed straight for the poshest hotel in town and once again booked ourselves in for breakfast. (With the guys appetites wheted by the previous days exertions, the level of consumption achieved was almost awe inspiring.) We then found the sanctuary of the buddhist temple for a couple of hours of blissful calm before once again hitting the road.

The late start coupled with tired legs led to a short 65k but it was all uphill and the cold was bearing down on us once again as we hit the town of Milne.

Luckily Milne is a town with several exceptionally cheap places to stay. We headed to bed that night filled with trepidation about the mountains ahead. We were woefully underprepared for an escapade to the edges of the Tibetan Plateau…

The next day brought another dawn start. We had a huge climb ahead and hoped to avoid two nights camping in the snowline.

It was slow going.

Very slow.

Once again, all of us were finding it hard to maintain the feeling in fingers and toes. (”Oh no. My toes aren’t even excruciatingly painful any more. Do you think they have fallen off? I want the sharp stabbing sensation back!” Etc.)

Then the climbing began in earnest.

We made the first 3685m peak at midday. The sun was shining, we were bouyed with a sense of great achievement and Jamie built a snowman.

Speeding down the other side, the icy sting of the wind was a quick sharp shock that took your breath away but there were yaks, stunning mountains and monks on motorbikes to distract from the pain.

By the top of the next 3765m peak the mood had changed. The clouds had come in blocking out the late afternoon sun and our legs were giving out underneath us. Wrapping our running noses into scarves we plummeted down the otherside. It was difficult to decide whether to go slow and minimise the agony or fast to get it over with. When we eventually hit uphill  again our legs cried out but it was a relief to pedal and get some warmth back into our bodies.

Just before dusk we found the town for which we were aiming.

All two houses of it.

And - rather fortuitously - a strange abandoned mosque like building with sheds outside.

One of which was unlocked.

We rolled our sleeping mats and settled in for a restless night as the temperature dropped.

The next morning was our coldest yet.

This was the ‘frozen beard / total loss of feeling in extremities’ mentioned earlier. We were saved at the nearest town by a wonderful man who let us sit by his hearth then gave us tea.

He was certain our plan to cycle to Xining over another pass was folly.

Naturally we set off regardless.

In actual fact, this pass was much as the first the day before. A huge steep climb but during the heat of the day, saving us from the arctic conditions. The descent too was nowhere near as terrible as that the previous afternoon. (Jamie still insisted his hands were frozen. I am suspicious, though, that this is because I said he could warm them up on my tummy if they were really bad and he just wanted to put his hands up my T-shirt…)

Anyway, after a long (wind strongly against) descent we eventually made it to Xining, pausing along the way to have a rest under a stunning monastry.

What a culture shock!

We awoke that morning on a desolate mountainside and had arrived in the hustle and bustle of a huge, modern and very neon city.

So strange.

People talk about ‘two China’s’ but this was our first introduction to the populated half.

Modern China has though, been treating us just as kindly.

The kind and smiling faces remain and our first meal was generously discounted as ‘we like foreigners’.

We took a quick side trip to Ta-er Si, one of the most important monastries outside Tibet, birthplace of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Yellow Hat Sect, and former home of the current Dalai Lama (hanging out specifically at the Auspicious Palace).

Otherwise though, we have simply taken the opportunity to launch ourselves back into consumer society with some purchasing.

• Shoes (flip flops just don’t cut it in the snow)
• Gloves (for Jamie, so no more excuses)
• And Snickers… it is hard to express our new found love and devotion to this most wonderful of snack based experiences

With Jamie and I needing a day to organise and plan, Charles has headed on to Langzhou to do a spot more sight seeing before we rejoin him in a couple of days. The time has just flown though so I had best get a wriggle on to some emails and leave this post here.

Before I do though, I just want to highlight some environmental facts on the area.

“The Tibetan plateau gets a lot less attention than the Arctic or Antarctic, but after them it is Earth’s largest store of ice. And the store is melting fast. In the past half-century, 82% of the plateau’s glaciers have retreated. In the past decade, 10% of its permafrost has degraded. As the changes continue, or even accelerate, their effects will resonate far beyond the isolated plateau, changing the water supply for billions of people and altering the atmospheric circulation over half the planet.” Physics Today 

As well as a vast store for ice, the Tibetan Plateau is the closest place on earth to the sun.

“This region has a near inexhaustible source of solar energy due to its average annual radiation intensity of 6000–8000 MJ/m², ranking it first in China and second after the Sahara worldwide. Currently, Tibet has 400 photovoltaic power stations with a total capacity of nearly 9 MW. In addition, 260,000 solar energy stoves, passive solar house heating covering 3 million square meters, and 400,000 m² of passive solar water heaters are currently in use in Tibet. ” Science Direct

So the ‘roof of the world’ will play a key role in our climates future.

Anyway, for more general trip info. Jamie has updated the stats page so take a look on there for the latest. Also if we can get around the ‘Great Firewall’ he should be getting some new pictures up too. Fingers crossed. (Well, if he doesn’t put the ones up of me looking like a mental patient this time…)

Right, better go but hope life is brilliant wherever you are and that the sun is shining!

Susie xx

We made it through the desert of no return.

Whoop!

To be fair, it’s probably a bit easier now they have built a motorway (though we weren’t technically allowed on it and had to employ some serious ’smile, wave and keep pedalling’ skills) but it was a bit of a mission regardless.

First things first though, back to that morning in Kashgar when - having just found there is a media blackout across Western China - I was scribbling a panicked note to my beautiful cousin, asking her to update this blog and email several people on my behalf (Amy - you are wonderful - thank you).

My parents had, fortuitously, chosen that point in the trip to come and visit. Meaning that, not only was it wonderful to see them but they could take messages back home.

All was going smoothly.

Following a delicious dinner, I had snuck into their - rather more luxurious - hotel for the night and got up at 5 to have a  coffee with my Mum and write out some notes.

Two hours later the guys (Jamie and Charles, whom we met in Kyrygzstan and who crossed the desert with us) rocked up to wave my parents off.

This was unexpected.

They weren’t meant to be there till 9.

Cue: Pandemonium.

My mother, in an extremely unusual move, had got the time wrong. In Western China they work on both ‘local’ and ‘Beijing’ time (despite it’s size, China has only one time zone so people often use ‘local’ to avoid doing everything in the dark). My folks were due to leave in five minutes…

For anyone who hasn’t met my mother, I can assure you that ‘calm serenity’ does not  often apply.

I can’t really remember the details but I do know that I was dragged downstairs, still scribbling, as a mad frenzy occurred all around. (My Dad conversely snuck off to read the paper while no one was looking.)

Anyhow, after a devastatingly quick goodbye we were left (conveniently by the buffet) to have breakfast. I was still all over the place so obviously ate nothing and instead drank a litre of coffeee.

I was therefore in a slight state of shock and already having palpatations when we were told that the police had come for us by the receptionist in our own hotel…

“What?”

“The police want you to move to a new hotel and say you can’t cycle anywhere in the province.”

(Well, that’s how the conversation would have gone had we any Mandarin. It was in actual fact an extremely convoluted affair involing an array of hand gestures, drawings of stick figures and the assistance of a kindly Pakistani business man.)

Not having much clue what was going on, we moved as requested and spent the rest of the day pondering whether the room was bugged and if we were being tracked by mysterious men in dark glasses. (Well, I did at least.)

Needless to say, after a day off to clean the bikes and resupply, we decided to ignore the demand to take a bus to the next town and simply hit the road.

Rather less dramatically than imagined, absolutely nothing of any excitement then happened.

A bit of an anticlimax but it did mean that we were able to tackle the Taklaman under our own steam.

Which we have been doing for the past three weeks.

And it has been great.

Since there is only a vast expanse of nothing we have been putting in some long days. Charles nearly killed us after the first of these but soon, even with his two extra panniers (we are travelling pretty light in comparison to most of the other cyclists we have come across) was happy to get the distance covered.  

There have been several amazing points though. The beautifully remote campsites, stars that go on for miles, incredible food, an accidental and amazingly cheap stay in a luxuory hotel, the ancient city of Jiaohe, brilliant truck drivers, brilliant truck stops, tailwinds so strong we were pushed along at 50kmph, sidewinds so strong I was blown off a cliff….

Which was unexpected.

To be fair, ‘cliff’ could be a tiny exaggeration but - as Iain would invariably remind us - “you should never let the truth get in the way of a good story!”

I did though, in all honesty, get blown down a bank and do a full 360 pulling my bike over my head.

At 2mph.

Thankfully, this was hugely funny, rather than in anyway damaging and provided an entertaining moment during the slowest 25km we have ever travelled. (My thanks to Jamie who helped block the wind from me for much of it as I couldn’t actually stay on the road.)

Anyway, over the last two days, the gale force wind finally turned in our favour and we were flung to Jiayuguan.

The fort at the very end of the great wall.

After 2500km we took the day off to catch up with the outside world, enjoy a morning with feeling in all our fingers and toes and check out the sights.

As we have travelled from Kashgar the central asian influence has been diminishing but this area of China is famed for its difference from the East. The people are laid back, the towns small and sparse (the smallest of which was - rather intriguingly - a sign with no buildings whatsoever) and the landscape mountainous to one side, flat desert plains to the other.

The fort signifies the point at which, traditionally, Chinese civilisation ended. Those cast from the land spent their last days there and it was the final staging point on the silk route West. It is a beautifully oriental building from which the Great Wall used to radiate. Built to keep out the ‘Hun’ in the North, the Wall (or several walls) is 25000km long and was, during the Ming dynasty, guarded by a million soldiers.

I can confirm that it is currently being guarded by an evil dog with horrible red eyes that pulled its chain from the wall and ran at me till I tried to twat it on the head with a bicycle pump.

Bleeding dogs.

We get enough of them while we are cycling!

Anyway, rabid dogs aside, all is great here and China has been nothing but kind.

It has also bouyed our spirits in relation to renewable energy.

From the very first town in which a small mud hut had a PV panel on the roof we have seen solar everywhere. All the communications towers, all the water heaters and across every town we have passed.

Solar power stations are also being built in the Taklaman and several other provinces. Centrally, the government also aims to incentivise the industry.

Additionally, we have passed some of the largest wind farms in the world. The vast, flat landscape is the perfect place to capture the gale force winds that constantly rage.

There are also incredible facilities for cyclists. Wide cycle lanes run alongside the main streets of all big towns and most of the population use them to pedal around.

Those of a less energetic nature are now making use of a variety of electric vehicles. (So many that crossing the road can be quite dangerous when they sneak up on you.)

As the country continues to develop, it does seem ideally suited to jump to - and lead us all into - a new green economy.

So here’s hoping.

Anyway, I have been rambling on for ages and now a man has started singing (badly) in the corner of the room. Time to make a swift get away…

We will be updating from the road now we are back online though so feel free to keep checking in.

Hope life is ruddy marvelous wherever you are.

Loads of love, Susie xx

[This has just come through from Charlotte Webster at We Support Solar.  If you want to do your bit to support solar, read on....]

Crunch time for the UK and solar power
 

Tomorrow (Thursday 15th October) is a big day for solar power in the UK. Whilst in their media blackout, Susie and Jamie probably have little idea of what is happening here.  The Department of Energy and Climate Change closes its consultation on how they are going to price solar electricity produced by individuals and businesses. Over the next month or so they will decide, essentially, what role solar power has to play in our energy mix. If they decided it’s just a ‘token’ technology, they are unlikely to bother creating an effective scheme. This lack of political will is just what must be resisted. And its not just us saying it. Germany was the first of 30 countries to introduce a ‘Feed-in tariff’ or ‘Clean Energy Cash back’ scheme - but only through the sheer determination and skills of Hermann Scheer and supporters.  Have a little look at this video for inspiration: http://onlinepact.org/fit.html
 
(If you support solar and but don’t have time to read on, just click here to make a difference in one minute www.wesupportsolar.net)
 
Basically, if the rate is set too low, it is potentially a massively wasted opportunity. But set at a good rate - we reckon at least 47p/unit (yes, geeky stuff..) thousands of people will put solar on their roofs over the next few years.  That’s why ‘We Support Solar’s Small Change, big difference’ campaign continues to call for a greater commitment from the Government to solar power in the UK. Its not too late to act.
 
Backed by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth and 275 MPs, the group remains confident that the right investment in solar energy in Britain will create lasting economic, social and environmental change. This follows modelling by the UK Photovoltaic Manufactures Association (UKPV) showing that over 30,000 jobs could be created in solar manufacturing, design, installation and servicing by 2014 if the market price for solar electricity is set at a level to drive rapid expansion of the solar industry.
 
Backed by the British construction industry, an additional 10p incentive is all that is needed to create nearly 30,000 jobs in the solar power sector by 2014. The Federation of Master Builders (FMB), National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) and Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA) are calling for effective ‘Clean Energy Cashback’ payments for solar electricity, at least an additional 10p for every unit of solar electricity produced in the UK.  In late 2009, the level of payments to households, businesses and other organisations generating their own electricity from solar photovoltaics (PV) will be set by the Government under its new ‘Clean Energy Cashback’ scheme.  Adding just 10p to the Government’s proposed rates would drive demand for 400,000 new solar PV installations on homes by 2014, and thus create substantial employment opportunities in the construction industry.
The organisations wanting to change the proposed scheme represent almost 16,000 building companies. The scheme is under consultation as part of the Renewable Energy Strategy published in July 2009, for an April 2010 start. The ‘Small Change, big Difference’ campaign for at least a 10p top up comes from umbrella group ‘We Support Solar’.  This follows modeling by the UK Photovoltaic Manufactures Association (UKPV), outlined in the report ‘2020: A Vision for UK PV’, demonstrating that over 30,000 jobs could be created in solar manufacturing, design, installation and servicing by 2014 if the market price for solar electricity is set at a level to drive rapid expansion of the solar industry.
This support for solar power, set to provide an increasing percentage of the UK’s electricity by 2020, comes as the UK construction industry continues to witness a slowdown. How can we turn down such a huge opportunity to create employment? The industry is expected to lose approximately 319,000 jobs between the industry’s employment peak in 2007 and its expected trough in 2010, according to Experian, consultants behind the FMB’s ‘State of Trade Survey’. The latest research from the FMB for the second quarter of 2009 shows that 49% of their members’ workloads continue to fall; with manufacturers all but stopping production. According to the ‘State of Trade Survey’, one of the worst affected areas appears to be Wales, a potential hub for solar manufacture and assembly in the UK.
The cash back scheme, as it is proposed, is a missed opportunity according to the campaign. The Government predicts that its proposed cashback scheme for solar PV will deliver around 0.5% of UK electricity demand by 2020, with much of this demand coming post 2014.  But  modelling from the UK PV Manufacturers Association suggests that adding just 10p to the starting tariff numbers from April 2010 would deliver well over six times the Government’s target for solar, and begin to come close to the more ambitious targets set by the rest of Europe.  Under the proposals, in 2010 the UK will continue to fall further behind countries such as Belgium and the Czech Republic, where the solar power installation rate is already ten times that of the UK.
Those wanting to add their voice to the We Support Solar ‘Small change, big difference’ campaign, should write to their MP. www.wesupportsolar.net

Susie and Jamie are still in the media black hole of Western China. Based on previous trips through the region they have probably faced sandstorms, ferocious headwinds, extreme temperatures and possibly, crazy bees. From all accounts sticking a whole bunch of bee hives on the back of lorries is quite common in parts of China. We have been informed the bees do not really find this too amusing and can often take their frustrations out on innocent people on bikes….

Some of you may have heard of a chap called Al Humphries. He gave us lots of awesome advice before the start of the trip and as well as being one of the nicest, most interesting guys you will meet, has done some incredible things. He spent 4 years cycling round the world in a trip described as the ‘first great adventure of the new millennium’ by Sir Ranulph Fiennes and has gone on to do all sorts of other incredibly impressive things. His books are awesome (he has written 3 so far) and his website is amazing, have a look! (http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/). He has been busy at various engagements recently promoting books, speaking to schools and planning more trips but we thought we’d feature him in a guest blog. These were some words of advice he came across on the web and passed on to us that summed up riding for miles and miles and miles if anyone is planning something similar…..!

The Beginners Guide to Preparing For a Cycling Trip

Step 1: Get a spaghetti-strainer and several small sponges. Soak the sponges in salt-water and paste them to the inside of the spaghetti-strainer. Place the strainer on your head. Find a busy road. Stand by the side of the road and do deep knee-bends for 8 hours. This will acclimatize you to a day’s ride.
Step 2: Take some sandpaper and rub your rear-end and the insides of your legs for about 20 minutes. Rinse with salt-water. Repeat. Then, sit on a softball for 8 hours. Do this daily.
Step 3: Each day, take two twenty-dollar bills and tear them into small pieces. Place the pieces on a dinner-plate, douse them with lighter fluid and burn them. Inhale the smoke (simulating car-fumes). Rub the ashes on your face. Then go to the local motel and ask them for a room.
Step 4: Take a 1-quart plastic bottle. Fill it from the utility sink of a local gas-station (where the mechanics wash their hands). Let the bottle sit in the sun for 2 or 3 hours until it’s good and tepid. Seal the bottle up (kinda, sorta) and drag it through a ditch or swamp. Walk to a busy road. Place your spaghetti-strainer on your head and drink the swill-water from the bottle while doing deep knee-bends along the side of the road.
Step 5: Get some of those Dutch wooden-shoes. Coat the bottoms with gear-oil. Go to the local supermarket (preferably one with tile floors). Put the oil-coated, wooden shoes on your feet and go shopping.
Step 6: Think of a song from the 1980’s that you really hated. Buy the CD and play 20 seconds of that song over and over and over for about 6 hours. Do more deep knee-bends.
Step 7: Hill training: Do your deep knee-bends for about 4 hours with the salt-soaked spaghetti-strainer on your head, while you drink the warm swill-water and listen to the 80’s song over and over (I would recommend “I’m a cowboy/On a STEEL horse I ride!” by Bon Jovi). At the end of 4 hours, climb onto the hood of a friend’s car and have him drive like a lunatic down the twistiest road in the area while you hang on for dear life.
Step 8: Humiliation training: Wash your car and wipe it down with a chamois-cloth. Make sure you get a healthy amount of residual soap and road-grit embedded in the chamois. Put the chamois on your body like a loin-cloth, then wrap your thighs and middle-section with cellophane. Make sure it’s really snug. Paint yourself from the waist down with black latex paint. Cut an onion in half and rub it into your arm-pits. Put on a brightly colored shirt and your Dutch oil-coated wooden shoes and go shopping at a crowded local mall.
Step 9: Foul weather training: Take everything that’s important to you, pack it in a Nylon bag and place it in the shower. Get in the shower with it. Run the water from hot to cold. Get out and without drying off, go to the local convenience store. Leave the wet, important stuff on the sidewalk. Go inside and buy $10 worth of Gatorade and Fig Newtons.

Step 10: Headwinds training: Buy a huge map of the entire country. Spread it in front of you. Have a friend hold a hair-dryer in your face. Stick your feet in toffee and try to pull your knees to your chest while your friend tries to shove you into a ditch or into traffic with his free hand. Every 20 minutes or so, look at the huge map and marvel at the fact that you have gone nowhere after so much hard work and suffering. Fold the map in front of a window-fan set to “High”.

“There’s a what…?”

“A complete phone and internet blackout in Western China”

“Ah…mmmm….and how big is Western China?”

“About 3000km”

“Urrm…”

If there’s one thing that complicates the organisation of a trip where you are visiting various projects and promoting solar energy, it is being entirely unable to organise a trip where you are visiting various projects and promoting solar energy.

Not to be deterred however, this post is coming through the rather protracted route of pen, paper, my mother and my wonderful cousin Amy (presumably typing this and feeling slightly odd about writing how wonderful she is in the third person. Amy – yes.)

Anyway, Jamie, I and Charles – a lovely English guy we found on a mountain – are in Kashgar and about to set off across the Taklamakan desert. Or as the locals prefer it “you go in and you don’t come out”.

As we will be out of touch for three weeks, Iain who has sadly had to leave us again, is in charge. He has promised to keep the blog ticking over with insightful and witty anecdotes (no pressure) and we promise to be back asap with more tales of our exploits. If the last few days are anything to by, there will certainly be a few.

Since Osh we have encountered; boulders, mudslides, road rivers, 3700m climbs, arctic gales, thick sands, angry boarder guards, crazy Austrians and a policeman extremely enamoured with Jamie (he only knew the words ‘I love you’ in English but he said them loudly and forcibly whilst wielding a machine gun!)

Right now though, I am not actually going to tell any of that to you…oh no. For you I have a treat of epic proportions! Why bother with reality when I can lure you instead into some solar-based excitement courtesy of my imagination…At half way through our trip and before we plunge into media darkness I thought it would be appropriate to remember what we are doing this for. Teetering along a precipice, clinging to the handle bars while bouncing off the road and praying my numb fingers were actually pressing the brakes, I began to wonder….. (Begin daydream)

I was initially giving a presentation to a university in America (we have been asked to do so) but since I have never been one for such cumbersome impediments such as practicality, reason and feasibility, let me take you instead to….addressing the UN on solar power!!

It is important to note that during the course of this daydream I am looking extremely attractive, well dressed and poised. I am much cheered by the support of my lovely new boyfriend (in all likelihood an intelligent, waggish, charismatic member of the Danish snowboarding team). As I walk to the podium in front of the world’s leading political luminaries, my speech is the epitome of eloquence. Of course.

“Ladies and gentlemen.”

“I stand before you today because …” (argh…but why? There is no reason I can think of…bugger…urm…ok well it’s my daydream so let’s skip this and assume the aforementioned fluent articulation).

“We have heard so many times of the dangers that a 2° rise in the earth’s temperature can bring; drought, famine, flood, disease and a complete transformation of the economic and social stability of the world. We have to avoid it.

This can only be done if strong action is taken. And now. Taking measures that reduce CO2 emissions only a little, simply will not work. If we reduce emissions, but still allow the temperature to rise above this level, the consequences will remain the same.

A thorough study by Professor David Mackay in the publication ‘Without the hot air’ has shown what reducing emissions will mean. The renewable energy required will be vast. We will need to use every available method in our arsenal; wind, tidal, geothermal et al. Critical to this is the adoption of solar power. Indeed, photovoltaics are expensive, but an environment must be created where they can be employed. Concentrating solar power in deserts can provide all our energy needs but this needs to happen on a vast scale. Stations the size of countries must be built.

There is still time to stop catastrophic climate change. But it must be done now.

There are people who can stop catastrophic climate change. Those people are you.

Please. Do not fail us. (Or something suitably dramatic! End daydream)

In fact it is all dramatic and was incredible in my head but I have 5 seconds to finish this before it has to be sent to be updated! (I am writing on the hotel floor as my mother panics. Wildly).

Back with more ramblings soon but in the meantime please take a look at the solar sections on the site and read the ‘Without the hot air’ book as mentioned.

See you on the other side!

Susie x