Glasgow recently became the first European university to join the rapidly-expanding fossil free divestment movement. Following hot on the heels of the Australian National University, Glasgow promised to…
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Environment – Articles, Analysis, Comment
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To exaggerate is human, and scientists are human. Exaggeration and the complementary art of simplification are the basic rhetorical tools of human intercourse. So yes, scientists do exaggerate. So do politicians…
Whether you’re into mining, energy or tourism, there are lots of reasons to explore space. Some “pioneers” even believe humanity’s survival depends on colonising celestial bodies such as the moon and Mars…
Former environment minister Owen Paterson has called for the UK to scrap its climate change targets. In a speech to the Global Warming Policy Foundation, he cited “considerable uncertainty” over the impact…
The consistent message from those who would seek to exploit shale gas is that it has three distinct advantages over existing forms of fossil fuel energy: it is cheap, it has a lower influence on global…
The Ukraine crisis caused relations between Russia and the EU to fall to their lowest point since the Cold War. But despite the bickering and outright conflicts, both still need each other: Europe relies…
Remember the big, somewhat bulky Mercedes Benz cars of the early 1990s? State-of-the-art at that time, they left their competitors behind on Germany’s autobahn. Mercedes is still here today, but the autobahns…
The UK’s environment agency has confirmed quagga mussels, a fresh or brackish water mollusc, have been found in a reservoir near London. Quagga were previously identified as one of the single greatest…
A few weeks ago I was visiting a colleague in Brazil who told me he had a new post-doctoral researcher working for him from West Africa, but that he was in 21 days quarantine. I asked him if the newest…
Plans for a new £600m “floating” cycle route along the edge of the River Thames in London have been announced. It is expected to stretch for around seven miles from Battersea, west of the city centre…
Car sales have raced to a ten-year high according to new figures that are being celebrated as part of wider signs of a UK recovery. In the latest monthly figures published by the Society for Motor Manufacturers…
October 9 2014 was a big day in eco-activism: Lego announced that it would not renew a product-placement deal with Shell, following concerted pressure from Greenpeace as part of a campaign to ban Arctic…
Fish are acutely aware of sea temperature; it’s one of the key reasons particular species of fish live where they do. As the oceans warm however, many tropical species are moving towards cooler climes…
As ships resume the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in the depths of the Indian Ocean this week, we often hear that the oceans are “95% unexplored” and that we know more about the surface…
Globally, we still catch enough fish to eat – just about. But numbers of fish caught from the sea haven’t kept up with human population growth and unsustainable fish farms have filled the gap. So why are…
We’ve all been caught out by a thunderstorm or freezing winter morning down on planet Earth, but up in space things are rather different. Fluctuations in the weather up there won’t make you cold or damp…
I’ve heard it many a time, and you probably have too. It’s supposedly the trump card to any argument on addressing climate change globally: “Yeah, but what’s the point? Isn’t China building a new coal…
The UN’s proposed sustainability targets are riddled with conflicts that could make them ineffective or outright harmful. In theory, there is nothing wrong with such targets. After all, the Millennium…
I run 50km per week on my treadmill and eat a calorie-restricted diet; this is something our ancestors didn’t have to do. But then they didn’t sit at a desk all day and certainly did not have access to…
The Aral Sea has reached a new low, literally and figuratively; new satellite images from NASA show that, for the first time in its recorded history, the largest basin has completely dried up. However…
British-owned car manufacturing has been in decline in UK for decades but the shift to electric cars might be just what is needed for a revival. The recent announcement by US-based Detroit Electric that…
Protests against a proposed waste incinerator power plant involving thousands of residents took place in southern China over two weekends in mid-September. The demonstrations, in Boluo county, Guangdong…
Landslides happen everywhere and in different geological locations. This can be because of flooding, which allows sodden soil to move, or rockfalls and slower, continuous movements of land due to gravity…
Full marks to colleagues at the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London for the Living Planet Report 2014 and its headline message which one hopes ought to shock the world out of its complacency…
Next up on the global development agenda: the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs). The UN hopes the goals will form a framework of rules and ideals that can influence development plans and actions…