LEADING a struggling economy into a green recovery offers more challenges than it did pre-Covid-19, a leading environmental scientist will warn this week.
Professor Sir Ian Boyd, former chief scientific adviser at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is the keynote speaker of a webinar looking at whether Scotland is taking the right steps towards a sustainable economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The webinar, A Green Recovery from Covid-19, is the second in a series launched by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) to look at the “wicked challenges” facing the planet.
Boyd, a professor of Biology at St Andrews University said: “There is much talk about a ‘green’ recovery from Covid-19, but it is important to understand the kind of challenges this presents. Moving a vibrant economy to become sustainable was always going to be difficult but moving one which is struggling to function in that direction will be even more difficult.”
There will then follow a Q&A session where participants can ask questions and share their thoughts.
A third webinar on Wednesday, October 7 – Fake news: The challenges of communicating environmental and climate change research – will feature presentations by Tracey Brown, director of the charity Sense about Science, and Professor Stephan Lewandowsky, chair of Cognitive Psychology at the School of Psychological Science at the University of Bristol.
A Green Recovery from Covid-19 webinar will be held on Friday, October 2 at 1pm.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here