Rising temperatures could drive 100m into extreme poverty, World Bank warns
Efforts to curb climate change must be twinned with programmes to cut poverty, warns a study of the threat posed by global warming to food security The world must pair efforts to stabilise climate change with programmes to eliminate poverty if vulnerable people are to be kept from falling back into hardship as rising temperatures […]
Ancient pear tree in path of HS2 rail route wins Woodland Trust prize
250-year-old Cubbington pear named tree of the year after public vote but is set to be felled to make way for transport scheme There is good news and bad news for the 250-year-old Cubbington pear tree, one of the oldest and largest wild pears in Britain. The good news is that it has scooped the […]
Hampshire's great spaces of wild nature: Country diary 100 years ago
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 7 November 1915 SurreyThe plough has not intruded much on the broad heath and woodlands of North-east Hampshire where they abut on the outer Surrey commons. You can pick your way through miles planted here and there with small and now bare coppices, through great spaces where the […]
Cheeses are often best after their ‘best before’ date | Letters
I write as a retired food technologist who spent many years working in the food industry. Joanna Blythman’s article (Food labels have passed their sell-by date, 5 November) is the first sensible article on this subject that I have ever seen in the media. The legislation which at first insisted that food had a “sell […]
'A one-off in human history': Stern's warning on climate change battle
Speaking before Paris summit, expert says Europe must take urgent steps such as ending fossil fuel subsidies and encouraging electric cars Europe has to step up its effort to combat climate change and wake up to the urgency of the situation, the climate change expert Lord Stern has said before crunch UN talks in Paris […]
Coastlines review – accessible and poignant
Patrick Barkham’s guide to Britain’s Neptune Coast teems with characters, history and literary allusion It is often said that Britain is a maritime nation but, writes Patrick Barkham in his new biography of the British shore, we might be more accurately described as “a coastal nation, happiest when looking seaward”. Examining our enduring love of […]
Two years after typhoon Haiyan, leaders have a duty to act on climate change | Airah Cadiogan
The second anniversary of typhoon Haiyan is a timely reminder that the world’s most vulnerable communities should be at the heart of the Paris climate talks In the small fishing town of Salcedo in the Philippines’ Eastern Samar province, fishermen and women have been struggling to feed themselves since Haiyan first made landfall 20km away […]
Marcus Barnes: ‘Graffiti art can be a positive force’
Ex-train-tagger Marcus Barnes found himself arrested for ‘encouraging’ crime when he produced a graffiti magazine. Here he tells the story of the three-year nightmare that ensued and examines our contradictory attitudes to the art form On Monday 12 December 2011 a three-year ordeal, which my barrister later described as an “Orwellian nightmare”, began. I woke […]
Did a dolphin sense my feelings of grief?
A magical encounter in the sea off Hawaii changed Susan Casey’s life and set her on a quest to discover more about one of the most loved marine mammals Susan Casey hadn’t given that much thought to dolphins when she went for a swim off the north shore of the Hawaiian island of Maui one […]
The eco guide to cleanliness | Lucy Siegle
Avoid the usual toxic brew by choosing from the increasing range of natural products A friend of mine swears by Dr Bronner’s organic soap. She uses it to wash her hair and body, and also to clean the shower afterwards. I used to think she was being puritanical; then I found out the average woman […]