It's getting steamy in the hedgerow
Wenlock Edge Hawthorns push their little cheesy shuttlecocks, oaks are in their bronze Cuckoo pint, lords and ladies, Jack-in-the-pulpit – these names are medieval nudges and winks about genitalia and sex. They belong to wild arum, a trick flower that jumps out of the earth with a bawdy country humour that mocks the righteous and […]
Business council praises Labor's 'bridge' to emissions trading scheme
Surprise praise from business lobby group centres on ALP climate policy’s potential to become bipartisan, despite Coalition criticism Labor’s climate policy has won unexpected praise from the Business Council of Australia’s chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, who said the plan could provide a platform for bipartisanship and “build a bridge” for an emission trading scheme. Related: […]
India's drought migrants head to cities in desperate search for water
Parts of India are being parched by a drought that means farmers are unable to irrigate their fields, with some areas even running out of drinking water No one in the slum of Murtinagar wants to play with Temri and Chinna. The brother and sister don’t speak the local Hindi or Marathi languages – they […]
What one milk carton says about sustainability messaging around the world
To be truly sustainable, companies must reconcile the different marketing messages they use around the world You might not realise it when you walk along the aisles of your local supermarket, but you are surrounded by marketing messages. These differ in every country. Buying milk in the UK? You’ll probably see messages about climate change […]
MPs: UK air pollution is a 'public health emergency'
Cross-party committee of MPs says the government needs to do much more to tackle the crisis, including a scrappage scheme for dirty old diesel cars Air pollution in the UK is a “public health emergency”, according to a cross-party committee of MPs, who say the government needs to do much more including introducing a scrappage […]
LED innovation aims to make traffic lights, mobiles and TVs more sustainable
LED lighting could play a key role in decarbonising the global economy because of its energy savings An Australian semiconductor company believes it is finally getting closer to “pay day”, more than a quarter of a century after its breakthrough technology first began taking shape at Sydney’s Macquarie University. Related: Mushrooms, whales and hurricanes: how […]
Labor proposes two emissions trading schemes costing $355.9m
Opposition maintains ambitious targets but aims to minimise cost to households and defers details until after election Labor is proposing two emissions trading schemes – one for big industrial polluters and an electricity industry model similar to one once backed by Malcolm Turnbull – in a climate policy that trumps the Coalition’s ambition but minimises […]
Nuclear fears 30 years after Chernobyl | Letters
Thirty years on from the tragedy of Chernobyl (theguardian.com, 26 April), the potential of nuclear power to provide cheap, safe, decarbonised energy is not diminished. While we pause to reflect on this worst imaginable accident, we must not let misplaced perceptions of risk mean we overlook reality. Nuclear power is our safest option for the supply […]
Yemen braces for locust ‘plague’
SciDev.Net: The ongoing civil war and the need to protect the bee industry make it difficult to use insecticides Yemen is bracing itself for a “locust plague” that scientists are unable to stop due to fears that any intervention would also kill bees that are vital to its economy. The country’s Desert Locust Control Centre […]
Asian wasp listed as threat to UK's sweet chestnut trees
Forestry commission elevates oriental chestnut gall wasp to high-priority tree pest after 2015 outbreaks An Asian wasp that threatens the UK’s sweet chestnuts has been designated a high-priority tree pest for the first time. The oriental chestnut gall wasp (Dryocosmus kuriphilus) was first found in the UK last year, in Farningham woods near Sevenoaks in […]