Why are Colorado businesses still testing for pot if it's legal?
Last week’s THC scare in Hugo began when a company tested its employees for cannabis. While the drug is legal, employees can still be fired for using it Laboratory tests conducted over the weekend showed that there was no THC – marijuana’s primary psychoactive ingredient – in the water supply in the town of Hugo, […]
Josh Frydenberg: Australia's use of coal is falling 'and that is not a bad thing'
The new energy and environment minister tells Katharine Murphy the market can be trusted to cut emissions without more changes to Direct Action Australia’s new environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, says coal will be a declining part of Australia’s energy mix because of inexorable market forces – but he insists the Coalition’s much criticised […]
That won't fly: Venus flytrap thief snags prison sentence in North Carolina
Man who stole nearly 1,000 plants to get at least six months State made law to protect the rare, carnivorous plant in 2014 A North Carolina man will spend at least six months in prison after he removed nearly 1,000 Venus flytrap plants from public game lands. Media outlets reported that a jury found 23-year-old […]
What's next for green chemistry? Join The Guardian for this one-day event
The Guardian’s Green Chemistry Conference will bring together voices and ideas from science and industry to explore a toxin-free future. Join us for this special one-day event in New York City on 2 November 2016 In a year punctuated by toxic chemistry crises – including the Flint River scandal and large-scale water pollution in upstate […]
George McRobie obituary
George McRobie, who has died aged 90, was the last surviving founding member of Practical Action, an international organisation harnessing technology to help developing countries. He was a close associate of the economist EF Schumacher (my late husband, known as Fritz, who was the author of the influential text Small Is Beautiful) and for many […]
Mexican village uses fireflies to halt deforestation by local logging industry
Camp spaces in Piedra Canteada park, a rural cooperative near Nanacamilpa, sold out weeks in advance to see thousands of the fireflies light up the night In the village of Nanacamilpa, tiny fireflies are helping save the towering pine and fir trees on the outskirts of the megalopolis of Mexico City. Thousands of them light […]
World's largest carbon producers face landmark human rights case
Filipino government body gives 47 ‘carbon majors’ 45 days to respond to allegations of human rights violations resulting from climate change The world’s largest oil, coal, cement and mining companies have been given 45 days to respond to a complaint that their greenhouse gas emissions have violated the human rights of millions of people living […]
Flamanville: France's beleaguered forerunner to Hinkley Point C
Over-budget and behind schedule, the €10.5bn nuclear reactor has faced problems that some say could be repeated in the UK On granite cliffs overlooking the Channel is France’s most famous building site. If all goes to plan, by the end of the decade this rocky outcrop will house the biggest and most powerful nuclear reactor […]
European offshore wind investment hits €14bn in 2016
BusinessGreen: Record six-month period sees UK secure €10.4bn (£8.7bn) of investment in offshore wind projects, but installation rate slows The European offshore wind industry has enjoyed a record six months of investment, according to new figures released today by trade body WindEurope. In the first six months of this year Europe’s offshore wind projects attracted […]
Flooding in India affects 1.6m people and submerges national park
Outlook grim for state of Assam, with heavy rain that has buried hundreds of villages and displaced wildlife set to continue for two days Heavy rains and floods in India have affected more than 1.6 million people in the tea-growing north-eastern state of Assam, with officials scrambling to shift hundreds of thousands of people into […]