Paul Mobbs &
Mobbs' Environmental Investigations
Welcome to my web site!
For over 30 years I've been a freelance campaigner, activist, environmental consultant, author,
lecturer and engineer. I've worked on a wide range of technical subjects and campaign issues.
Today my work mostly involves writing, research and speaking around the theme of ecological
futures – examining present economic, energy and development trends and considering
what these mean in the ongoing debate about the human species and their relationship to the
environment which supports them.
This site contains information about my past and current work, forthcoming events, as well as some background information about my interests and other 'non-work' activities. If you have any queries, requests or want to discuss employing my skills please contact me.
Site index:
- Latest events and information – information about forthcoming lectures/public speaking events, and slides/information associated with my recent events;
- "Ecological futures" – this page describes the background and motivations to my work and research;
- News and alerts – recent reports, information and videos which I have produced, and a collection of recent media stories/reports which I maintain as part of the FRAW news and alerts system;
- Work archive – an extensive collections of reports, briefings and other works which I have produced as part of my professional work since the early 1990s;
- ecolonomics – ecolonomics is my irregular "essay blog", presenting a researched and referenced view of current topical events;
- Contacts – details of how to contact me;
- Copyright – details of the open documentation licences under which I release my work;
- Publication and project archives –
- A Practical Guide to Sustainable ICT – this is the web page for a book I wrote for APC in 2012 on the "deeper green"/sustainable use of computers and technology;
- Energy Beyond Oil – this is the web page for a book (in fact, Britain's first book on peak oil) back in 2005;
- The Container Project – in 2003 I worked on a community ICT project in Jamaica, still going strong today, and this is an archive of my time there;
- electrohippies archive – a decade before Occupy and Anonymous I was part of a group launching on-line actions, and now I maintain the groups' archive;
- Photo journal – an archive of thoughts and photographs gathered on my regular walks around the countryside.
Free Range 'Paul Mobbs/Mobbs' Environmental Investigations List' News...
last updated 22/05/2013Most UK species in decline, wildlife stocktake shows
Guardian On-line, 21/05/2013
An unprecedented stocktake of UK wildlife has revealed that most species are struggling and that one in three have halved in number in the past half century. The unique report, based on scientific analysis of tens of millions of observations from volunteers, shows that from woodland to farmland and from freshwater streams to the sea, many animals, birds, insects, fish and plants are in trouble.UK net firms block pirate movie websites
BBC News On-line, 21/05/2013
Big UK net firms have begun blocking access to two sites accused of flouting copyright laws. The blocks were imposed after the Motion Picture Association (MPA) won a court order compelling ISPs to cut off the Movie2K and Download4All websites.Food swapping: The movement taking off in the UK
BBC News On-line, 21/05/2013
A modern movement is growing in the UK with anything from home-made sushi, ice cream and pate to eggs, apples and wild garlic on offer. The swaps are organised events where people trade home-grown, home-made or foraged foods with each other. No money changes hands, food is the only currency. The Food Swap Network started in Brooklyn, New York. They are now spreading to Europe, with the UK leading the way.UK ISPs Block Huge Movie Site Movie2K, Proxy Immediately Unblocks
Torrentfreak, 20/05/2013
In a follow up to similar actions, the MPAA obtained a High Court order which compels all major ISPs to begin blocking Movie2K, a massive site with millions of visitors each month. However, in a ridiculously fast show of defiance, one of the largest Pirate Bay proxy operators has already deployed a brand new site to beat the censorship.Obsessive compulsive hoarding: A serious health risk in store
Independent On-line, 19/05/2013
As of this weekend, there is new hope for those afflicted. The latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – the bible of psychiatric illnesses – recategorises hoarding in its own right, after previously treating it as a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder. This will result in more cash and research into the condition, boosting hopes for more effective treatment.Driverless cars, pilotless planes … will there be jobs left for a human being?
Guardian On-line, 19/05/2013
Suddenly a robotised, automated economic reality is moving off the science fiction pages and into daily life. The growing use of unmanned battlefield drones is encouraging the growth of pilotless commercial aircraft. The world's major car companies are all hot in pursuit, working on their own prototypes of their own versions. The automated checkouts at supermarkets are becoming as familiar as bank cash machines.Is computing speed set to make a quantum leap?
Guardian On-line, 18/05/2013
Quantum mechanics research could hold the key to a new generation of super-fast computers.Propaganda: Lies and distortion
BBC News On-line, 18/05/2013
Propaganda has a bad name. It is what repressive regimes use to glorify their leaders, motivate their citizens and demonise their enemies. It is about lies and distortion, manipulation and misrepresentation. But it is also, according to the British Library, about alerting people to the risks of disease, about making sure children learn how to cross the road safely and about building a perfectly legitimate sense of common purpose among the citizens of a democracy.Deep sea mining 'gold rush' moves closer
BBC News On-line, 18/05/2013
The prospect of a deep sea "gold rush" opening a controversial new frontier for mining on the ocean floor has moved a step closer. The United Nations has published its first plan for managing the extraction of so-called "nodules" – small mineral-rich rocks – from the seabed. A technical study was carried out by the UN's International Seabed Authority – the body overseeing deep sea mining.A Black Mound of Canadian Oil Waste Is Rising Over Detroit
New York Times, 17/05/2013
Detroit's ever-growing black mountain is the unloved, unwanted and long overlooked byproduct of Canada's oil sands boom. And no one knows quite what to do about it, except Koch Carbon, which owns it. The company is controlled by Charles and David Koch, wealthy industrialists who back a number of conservative and libertarian causes including activist groups that challenge the science behind climate change.Economics and the perils of big data
Guardian On-line, 17/05/2013
The brouhaha over Carmen Reinhart's and Kenneth Rogoff's article "Growth in a Time of Debt" may be the most conspicuous and incendiary scholarly controversy since 1974, when two earlier economists, Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman, published a notorious book, Time on the Cross, defending the efficiency of American plantation slavery. As with Time on the Cross, the Reinhart/Rogoff controversy, while ostensibly stemming from the authors' statistical procedures, is actually rooted in the purposes to which others put their study.Eco-spirituality: towards a values-based economic structure
Guardian On-line, 17/05/2013
As our world stumbles to the brink of ecological collapse, the "tipping point" of irreversible climate change, sustainability has become a vital issue. But in order to consider the question of sustainability, it is important to begin with the question: who or what is being sustained?Global warming has not stalled, insists world's best-known climate scientist
Guardian On-line, 17/05/2013
Suggestions that global warming has stalled are a "diversionary tactic" from "deniers" who want the public to be confused over climate change, according to the world's best-known climate scientist. Prof James Hansen, who first alerted the world to climate change in 1988, said on Friday: "It is not true that the temperature has not changed in the two decades."Switching supplier isn't enough – we need to talk about energy consumption
Guardian On-line, 17/05/2013
So Ed Davey, climate secretary, wants to "want to turn the non-switchers into savvy switchers", he said on Friday, talking about the importance of driving down energy bills. But switching supplier is never going to be enough. We need to start taking energy consumption seriously.Obama's Arctic strategy sets off a climate time bomb
Guardian On-line, 17/05/2013
One week ago, the Obama administration launched its National Strategy for the Arctic Region, outlining the government's strategic priorities over the next 10 years. Despite giving lip service to the values of environmental conservation, the new document focuses on how the US can manage the exploitation of the region's vast untapped oil, gas and mineral resources in cooperation with other Arctic powers.Quantifying the benefits of HS2
BBC News On-line, 17/05/2013
The creation of a high-speed rail line from London to the north of England will produce quantifiable benefits to society, the government believes. It has put this figure at £48.2bn for the whole project – significantly higher than its estimate of the cost, which is £25.7bn. But critics have questioned the assumptions underlying the estimate of likely benefits. So how did the government arrive at this sum?Call centre menu options catalogued by frustrated man
BBC News On-line, 17/05/2013
Retired IT manager Nigel Clarke, from Kent in the UK, has launched a website listing the call centre menu sequences for accessing thousands of services. He started the project after growing frustrated about the number of options and amount of recorded information on call centre menus. Mr Clarke discovered that some automated menus have nearly 80 options.The Quiverfull: The evangelical Christians opposed to contraception
BBC News On-line, 17/05/2013
A Christian evangelical movement where followers avoid contraception and have as many children as they can is spreading to the UK. They are The Quiverfull, writes Cat McShane.Cold War politics hang over EU shale gas revolution
EU Observer, 17/05/2013
The shale gas revolution has taken its time to arrive in Europe. But after years of watching the US plunge head-first into natural gas exploration and of reaping the rewards, Europe's politicians are now deciding whether to join in. Most of the political focus has been on potential economic benefits and the environmental consequences of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" used in unconventional oil and gas drilling.Pope Francis attacks 'cult of money' in reform call
Guardian On-line, 17/05/2013
Pope Francis has hit out at unbridled capitalism and the "cult of money", calling for ethical reform of the financial system to create a more humane society. In an impassioned appeal, the Argentinian pontiff said politicians needed to be bold in tackling the root causes of the economic crisis, which he said lay in an acceptance of money's "power over ourselves and our society".
Latest news and events
These are the upcoming public events which I am due to take part in/speak at:
Green Scythe Fair
Thorney Lakes, Muchelney, Langport, Somerset – Sunday 9th June 2013
The Green Scythe fair is part of a global movement to raise awareness of environmental issues and explore
solutions through appropriate technology, artistic expression, local distinctiveness, maintaining rural skills,
organic food production, sustainable resources and environmental information exchange. I'll be there giving
workshops/talks on fracking and coal-bed methane extraction and what they mean for Somerset.
Click here for a location map
The Green Gathering
The Racecourse, Chepstow, Monmouthshire – Thursday 1st to Sunday 4th August 2013
Once again I'll be at Britain's premier green gathering with the Free Range Network's "fracking truth"
stall. I'll also be running some workshops over the festival, or you can stop by the stall for a cup of tea
and a chat.
Click here for a location map
USAF Croughton Peace Rally 2013
USAF Croughton, Northamptonshire – 12 noon to 3pm, Sunday October 5th 2013
I'm a speaker – taking about military drones and the changing nature of surveillance technology – at the
Oxfordshire Peace Campaign's Croughton Rally in October.
Click here for a location map
The following files/information are available in association with the recent events and workshops I have presented:
Jam Tomorrow slides from Wycombe FoE evening
(2.3MB PDF file)
Wednesday 1st May, 2013
These are the set of 'Jam Tomorrow' slides I used for the Wycombe Friends of the Earth talk
on fracking/energy futures in High Wycombe.
A holistic view of energy and the economy, March 2013
Tursday 5th March 2013
These are the slides (based around the "Less is a Four Letter Word" presentation) and background
information/references page from this year's Bulmer Sustainable Development Advocacy course:
Slide presentation (1.6MB PDF file)
Background information/references (9kB HTML file)
Fracking Hell?:
Britain's Gas Rush
Ecologist Film Unit, February 2013
I was recently interviewed by the Ecologist Film Unit as part of a new documentary on fracking/extreme energy
in Britain. This was the result – although there's a discussion as to whether this cut of the film
really works, and so there might be a longer version in the future.
Extreme Energy In the UK
School of Advanced Studies, University of London, 23rd November 2012
A video of my presentation to the School of Advanced Studies' event at UCL. For more on the their 'Extreme
Energy Initiative' goto – http://extremeenergy.org/.
Extreme Energy Developments in South Wales, Autumn Tour 2012
November 2012
The Free Range Network produces information sheets on unconventional gas/"extreme energy", but these
are not intended for any specific area. As part of the South Wales Autumn tour I produced a new South Wales update
to the Free Range sheets E11 and
A1 which covers current developments in
the South Wales. You can also download the slide pack for South Wales Extreme Energy Tour – each of the
four workshops used a slightly different set of slides, and the slides PDF file contains them all.
Colour PDF version, with embedded web links for
browsing (460kB PDF file)
Greyscale PDF version, for printing/photocopying
(460kB PDF file)
PEDLs in South Wales – colour, a free colour map of
PEDLs in South Wales (554kB PNG image)
PEDLs in South Wales – greyscale, a free photocopiable map of
PEDLs in South Wales (541kB PNG image)
Workshop slides
(6.6MB HTML file)
Thoughts on the Future of Adderbury Meeting House
(1.3MB PDF file)
A report on the historic Adderbury Quaker Meeting House and its
future preservations/restoration. Please note that this was a 'private' report, and was written without any expectation
of public viewing, but as Adderbury Parish Council demanded access to my notes as part of negotiations on the future
of the meeting house I've now made it public.
Croughton Quaker Meetings 2013 (58k
PDF file)
Details of the Quaker meetings taking place outside USAF Croughton in 2013
Jam Tomorrow slides from SAVE workshop (2MB PDF file)
Wednesday 19th September, 2012
These are the 'Jam Tomorrow' slides I used for the SAVE talk on unconventional gas/energy futures in Aylesbury.
Energy development in the countryside
(1.9MB PDF file)
Wednesday 12th September, 2012
These are the slides from the CPRE workshop on fracking/unconventional gas in Preston, September 2012.
A Practical Guide to Sustainable ICT
August 2012
I spent much of the late Spring and Summer 2012 writing a book on sustainable computing for the Association for
Progressive Communications (APC) and the International Development Research Centre. It forms part of APCs work
on ICTs environmental sustainability, and represents many years of my own experimentation and research in to the
low-tech/low-cost/sustainable use of information technology. I've now set up an archive here on my web site
to give access to the book, and also to provide a continuing updates to the information in the text.
Shale Gas: An Analysis of UK Policy and
Cuadrilla Resources Exploration Activities in Lancashire
(693kB PDF file)
January 2012 (released August 2012)
In July 2012 I attended the trial of protesters who occupied Cuadrilla Resources drilling rig at Banks near Preston to
give evidence on shale gas development in Lancashire. Due to delays with the case coming to court, whilst I wrote
this report in January 2012 I couldn't release the text until after the conclusion of the trial. The report looks at
shale gas/fracking developments in Lancashire, and the regulatory problems that surround the activities of Cuadrilla
and other companies in England and Wales (Scotland takes a slightly different regulatory view of these processes).
"FRAKNET": The Jam Tomorrow presentation
at the Manchester anti-fracking conference
Saturday 17th March (released June 2012)
I was invited to give a presentation at the gathering of anti-fracking groups in Manchester in March. I asked
for two hours, was guaranteed an hour, but at the last moment they cut me down to thirty minutes! (hence why
this presentation is extremely rushed). A guy filmed my presentation, and I thought nothing more of it until
my automatic web alert system sent me details of the following YouTube video.
Contact Paul Mobbs/MEI
As I travel often I'm rarely at home to take calls, and I don't subscribe to the concept of the mobile phone either. For this reason:
- The easiest way to get me is via email – mei☮fraw.org.uk;
- Or you can call and leave a phone message on – 01295 261864;
- You can also write to me – Paul Mobbs, 3 Grosvenor Road, Banbury OX16 5HN.
Digital signature:
Please note that for security reasons I routinely sign my emails.
You can download my current digital
signature here.
If you'd like to learn more about digital signatures, and why it's useful to use them, read the briefing I wrote for the UK Internet Rights Toolkit – Using Encryption and Digital Signatures. Please note that, for legal reasons, I do not accept unsolicited encrypted files.
Copyright on Paul Mobbs' publications/work
As in the old slogan, Information wants to be free, unless otherwise stated the information I create is made available under various open licences. Some of the works I produce have no restrictions on use; most differentiate between the commercial and non-commercial use of the information.
For those who wish to use a "non-commercial" licensed work for commercial purposes (defined as activities which are primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation) I regularly license my work to those wishing to reproduce my work in print/web articles or for commercial educational use (for good causes I may even waive the fee).
Currently I use the following licences:
- The
Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike 2.0 Licence (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 UK) – England & Wales
Recently the Creative Commons licences have been updated to reflect the legal jurisdictions of different states. Since the updated UK licence has become available, as of September 2012 I've been using this licence for my written works. - The
Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike 3.0 Licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
This is the generic Creative Commons 'BY-NC-SA' licence. For works created before September 2012 this was the standard licence I used for on-line and hard-copy distribution. - Gnu
General Public Licence version 3 (GPLv3)
I use GPLv3 to licence my software creations.
If you are not sure about re-using/copying my information, or you wish to negotiate the use of non-commercial licensed information for commercial purposes, please get in touch via the addresses given in the 'contacts' section of this page.