As delegates gather once again for climate talks in Bonn, the question has to be asked: after decades of conferences, committees, procedures and protocols, is the multilateral approach to tackling climate…
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Environment – Articles, Analysis, Comment
Displaying 4026 - 4050 of 4510 articles
With the promise that Tesla’s Model S will “liberate its owners from the petroleum-burning paradigm”, this electric car is an example of just how far technological innovation could take us towards achieving…
Nearly a third of all the food produced in the world is lost or wasted, according to the UN’s World Resources Institute. If we convert this mass into calories, it constitutes nearly a quarter of all food…
Over recent decades, scientists have watched the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions respond in starkly different and perhaps surprising ways to the effects of increasing human influence on the Earth’s…
The Tesla Model S electric car arrives in the UK this week. On the face of it this appears just another car launch, but is in fact something closer to a revolution. The Tesla Model S is the first battery-electric…
Changing the rules by which nuclear power stations are judged to be safe or not may sound unpalatable to some, even outright dangerous. But this is what the Office of Nuclear Regulation is considering…
Monarch butterflies are known for their striking flame-orange and black appearance, and especially for their mass migration in their millions to spend winters in the mountain forests of Mexico. But despite…
Not In My Back Yard, or NIMBY-ism as it is known, is one thing, but the prospect of fracking for shale gas in rock deep underground has thrown up a new type of protest: Not Under My Back Yard. Following…
It was day two of our 18 day trek to Everest’s Base Camp when in the afternoon our head guide Lhakpa Nurbu Sherpa sombrely reported to me that 16 Sherpas had been killed in an avalanche on the mountain…
Three years ago, government plans to privatise the forests met with strong opposition from community groups and NGOs. But there have been calls for change – among others the Woodland Trust has called for…
There is a boom in renewable energy sources coming online worldwide, but the predominant types – solar and wind – are problematic due to their variable nature. For most regions of the world, the sun cannot…
The state of the British summer has always been a constant source of fascination and irritation, if only for its fickle nature. Now the latest prediction is for more heavy summer downpours. Our study…
Footage of Google’s prototype driverless car has got people talking about the potential for self-driving vehicles. While this seems like an exciting new technological advance, in fact the idea is not so…
In 2008, the European carbon market crashed. Carbon emission allowances in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) plunged from €30 per tonne of C02 in June 2008 to €7 at the beginning of 2009. Prices have…
The inhabitants of a frequently cold and windy country like the UK need to heat their homes, even in what is loosely termed “summer”. This is achieved mostly by natural gas-fed boilers – but this dependence…
The ineffective burning of wood in traditional stoves means that more people die around the world from pollution indoors than outdoors. There are simple, cleaner alternatives for sale, but encouraging…
Britain’s energy-hungry population is highly dependent on oil and gas, which powers around two thirds of the UK’s energy needs. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) projects that by 2030…
It is amazing for me to see the very aggressive building boom underway in south Florida; on the beaches and barrier islands, throughout downtown and in the low western areas bordering the Everglades. They…
When former Mexican president Felipe Calderon shut down the development of a planned US$2 billion, 4,000 hectare hotel mega-resort in 2012, it looked as though the extraordinary diversity of the Cabo Pulmo…
Are you feeling inspired from watching the Chelsea Flower Show? Do you long for an immaculate, well-designed garden, full of well-behaved plants, brimming with colourful flowers and attractive foliage…
The Chelsea Flower Show is in full bloom. The UK’s annual botanical extravaganza celebrates all aspects of horticulture and is an important venue for watching emerging trends in the gardening world. But…
Ancient woodlands and flower-rich meadows have disappeared to make way for agriculture and urbanisation, but attempts are being made to reverse the decline using “green” farming projects. The question…
After ten years of negotiations, Russia’s Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) have announced they have signed a 30-year gas contract. Russia will from the end of this decade supply…
Britain’s homes are responsible for almost a third of the nation’s energy use, despite decades of gradually improving energy efficiency. For the UK to meet its targets for carbon emissions reductions by…
City-dwellers consider cycling or walking to work to be part of a healthy routine. But latest studies on air pollution show that nanoparticles – unseen pollutants – are a major concern. In the UK, the…