What a fantastic year it has been for every species on earth, with one notable exception, and oh boy have they been letting us know about it! Apart from them everyone else got a bit of a holiday from the human race and its rapacious consumption

(consumption can be a serious problem if you are the one being consumed)

Yes, the fires and the floods and the cyclones continued apace, but the freight train hurtling towards the abyss at breakneck speed has slowed just a tad. Covid forced us to stay home and do less stuff! World emissions plummeted more than any time in modern history. Without a billion slaves to turn the great wheels, the juggernaut slowed just enough for some of us to hop off and wander into the countryside and lie down under a tree and feel the flow as the world breathed an enormous sigh of…