The Grand Oil Party: House Republicans denounce a carbon tax | Dana Nuccitelli
Lobbying from the petroleum industry may have convinced Republicans to denounce a carbon tax On Friday, the US House of Representatives voted on a Resolution condemning a carbon tax. As The Hill reported: Lawmakers passed, by a 237-163 vote, a GOP-backed resolution listing pitfalls from a tax on carbon dioxide emissions and concluding that such […]
Warka Water: Biomimicry-inspired water harvesting
Water is essential to all life, but many people in the world do not have access to a regular healthy supply. For example, in Ethiopia, only 44% of the general population can access safe drinking water, a figure that drops to under 35% in rural areas. As well as the serious hydration problems, a lack […]
Air pollution linked to increased mental illness in children
New research is first to establish the link and builds on other evidence that children are particularly vulnerable to even low levels of pollution A major new study has linked air pollution to increased mental illness in children, even at low levels of pollution. The new research found that relatively small increases in air pollution […]
Where have all our curlew gone?
The Stiperstones, Shropshire We might have been walking towards a future devoid of the riveting, other-worldly call of the curlew A few Sundays ago, Mary Colwell-Hector and I were walking with a bunch of ornithologists and conservationists along the Stiperstones ridge. The scent of gorse drifted on warm air. Sunlight moved over the heather and […]
Five things we can do right now to save the Great Barrier Reef | John Pandolfi
It can be easy to tune out when you think a problem is too big to solve, but there are five things that need to happen now to save the reef We’ve been hearing a lot lately about the state of the Great Barrier Reef and the major threat it faces. Sometimes it feels overwhelming […]
Today's campaign: how would you rather spend $1bn?
Election 2016: Labor unveils broadband pledge as Coalition promises more money for the Great Barrier Reef Let’s start today with a game: how would you rather spend $1bn? Labor has announced it will spend an extra $1bn on the national broadband network, which will apparently double the number of homes connected as fibre-to-the-home, rather than […]
Coalition will protect Great Barrier Reef with $1bn fund, says PM
Amid a series of reports detailing the poor state of the reef, Malcolm Turnbull is promising improved water quality and clean energy for the region Malcolm Turnbull has promised that a re-elected Coalition government will protect the Great Barrier Reef by tackling its two biggest challenges – climate change and water quality. The prime minister […]
Sea of glass: the underwater world of Leopold Blaschka
The 19th century glassblower’s intricate sculptures of marine life are a window on the ocean 150 years ago, says ecology professor Drew Harvell In the 1860s, when the Bohemian glassblower Leopold Blaschka began sculpting models of underwater creatures, the Industrial Revolution, population growth and climate change had yet to take their toll on marine biodiversity. […]
How a student's death highlighted our reliance on companies for health advice
The death of Wei Zei, a student seeking cancer cures online, raises questions about the responsibility of tech companies for the health data they provide China’s equivalent of Google is under fire. Search engine Baidu has been criticised following the death of 21-year-old student Wei Zai, who used the search engine to research esoteric treatments […]
The eco guide to population growth
Every hour 10,000 people are born. Fortunately a new crop of eco innovations will help tackle the pressures on our planet The regularity with which I’m contacted by population worriers – people who think it’s pointless discussing green energy, climate change and ethical pensions when the elephant in the room is actually the new human […]