Where? Natural History Museum.
How Much? £8/£4 consessions.
Until? 11th March.

I’m not normally someone that can spend ages in a gallery, or someone who reads the descriptions on every work of art but at the 46th annual wildlife photographer of the year exhibition I couldn’t help myself. The gallery at the Natural History Museum in London is lined with the most breathtaking photographs; ranging from tear-jerkingly sad (ok, I am a crier) to heart-warmingly adorable with everything weird and wonderful in between.

On entering the gallery the first set of photographs are expertly taken. Perfectly exposed. Carefully composed. Flawlessly clear. And all taken by a bunch of kids – literally. The under 10’s category was of absolute professional standard. Walking along the first set of photographs, it’s hard to imagine that they can get any better; but they do. I’d love to describe some of my favourites to you, but really it isn’t worth it. There are so many that deserve a mention and they simply have to be seen to be fully appreciated.

Worth every penny.

Bill Bryson said of ‘How bad are bananas’; “I can’t remember the last time I read a book that was more fascinating and useful and enjoyable all at the same time” – I couldn’t agree with him more.

This book is an essential read for anyone who cares about climate change. The author’s aim is to equip us with the knowledge to make an informed decision about what we can do to cut our carbon footprint.

Berners-Lee turns complex sums into easy to digest concepts and explains the meaning of the numbers we all know but can’t image; A tonne of CO2e is like filling a couple of standard-sized garden water butts with petrol and setting them on fire.

Berners-Lee’s sums are both enlightening and terrifying, but the perspective he provides on the effect of our food choices on our carbon footprint is what I found most fascinating.

The food we eat (and waste) makes up about 20% of our carbon footprint and Berners-Lee sets out simple ways we can cut our foodie footprints by as much as 60%. It turns out that fruit, vegetables and grains are good low carbon foods when they are eaten in season or when transported by boat. Meat, dairy and foods that must be air freighted have much higher carbon footprints. A leg of lamb, for example, results in 38kg of CO2e, which is equivalent to 3,800 apples produced in the UK when they are in-season.

Berners-Lee has helped me to really understand how my choices will affect the planet. It’s time for me to stop driving to the supermarket smugly with my re-useable shopping bag and get out and walk there. If I walk the 1-mile to my local supermarket instead of drive, I could have 71 plastic bags guilt-free (in fact, even if I walked, my plastic bag would only account for 0.1% of the carbon footprint of my shopping).

Buying this book added about 1kg of CO2e to my carbon footprint, but it has changed my perspective and over the coming months and years will almost certainly be the best Kg of CO2e I have ever spent.

In Making Animals Happy, author Temple Grandin gives unparalleled insight into the inner workings of the animal mind. Grandin, who suffers from autism, has the ability to understand how animals experience their environment in a way that most people can’t but while reading her book each revolutionary comment made me question ‘why didn’t I think of that? It’s SO obvious!’. Making Animals Happy really is just common sense – so common, you never really thought about it before.

Throughout the book, Grandin discusses the huge significance of animals’ core emotions, which are brought to life through science, anecdote and industry examples. A whole range of animals are discussed from our much loved family pets, to our openly ignored food animals and beyond but in every chapter Grandin ceaselessly highlights the importance of not only reducing animals’ negative emotions, but increasing their experience of positive emotions.

Grandin, who designs industrial feedlots and slaughterhouses in the US, discusses farming practice with the knowledge and understanding that only someone working in the field could. Her descriptions are, on occasion, chilling. The combination of matter-of-fact descriptions of typical farming procedures, paired with the deep understanding of the emotions being experienced by the animals involved can be rather sobering.

Making Animals Happy is a fantastically accessible book that doesn’t have to be read cover to cover. Once you have read the opening chapter, you can dip in and out in any order you like. Making Animals Happy really is an essential read for anyone that cares about the welfare of animals and is a great book for anyone who wants to get a deeper understanding of the emotions of their family pets and other animals.

by Pru Elliott