In the lead-up to the budget, the story of crisis has been hammered home, but there’s more to a country than its structural deficit. So how is Australia doing overall? In this special series, ten writers…
As the world wakes up to the power of data, we need to start working out how to join up all this information. We need to turn it into meaningful findings that will help us to make changes to the way we…
The government’s central environmental policy, the Green Army, will take to the field from July 2014. Work has started to identify projects for the recruits. The army can potentially do some great work…
Since the late 1990s, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been committed to sustainable development. Since the Agenda for the Olympic Movement in the 21st Century (Agenda 21) was adopted in 1999…
Most Australians overestimate how much they are doing for the environment compared to others, and are more concerned about water shortages, pollution and household waste than climate change, a new CSIRO…
Like Australia, South Korea had a change of government last year. And like Australia’s, Korea’s new government was keen to distance itself from its predecessors’ legacies – particularly its “Green Growth…
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government has introduced a Healthy Weight Action Plan aimed at curbing the number of obese people in the territory. As its name suggests, the plan seeks to create…
Last month Chinese leader Xi Jinping set out his top reform agendas for China’s next decade, setting out important policies, ranging from political reforms, social policy and market reform, to a commitment…
The controversial ban on neonicotinoid insecticides comes into effect across the EU this weekend. Neonicotinoids, or neonics, are powerful neurotoxins, killing insects with minute doses and impairing their…
Veerle Heyvaert, London School of Economics and Political Science
In the days after typhoon Haiyan tore through the Philippines, David Cameron said that such extreme weather demanded that we take steps to prevent and mitigate against climate change. These are encouraging…
A report from the International Broadcasting Trust has argued that more investment should be made to get environmental issues covered on television. Environment on TV is based on interviews with people…
Climate change in the past can tell us much about what is happening today. New research shows how plankton shells dredged from sea floors hold the information we seek. For climate data dating back as far…
People who love animals and open spaces often have little use for other people. Naturalist David Attenborough recently described humans as “a plague on earth”. David Foreman of Earth First has set a goal…
One of the most depressing and puzzling features of the current election campaign is the lack of emphasis on the costs that environmental risks pose to industry and business. Australian politicians appear…
“Nothing would do more to rapidly decrease the risk of climate change than a major plan to protect global rainforests” – Opposition climate action spokesman Greg Hunt, media release, 30 August. Launching…
Researchers in Aberdeen and the RSPB have set up a project that enables Scottish birds to write their own blogs. Readers will be able to track the daily lives of red kites as they travel around the Scottish…
As a nation we pay too much attention to the sensational and the short-term. Whether it’s a social media spat, a gaffe in question time, or a political interview that runs off the rails – our national…