Club owned by Shell tries to block local hydropower scheme
Private club owned by oil giant appealing against judicial review defeat in favour of co-operative renewable energy scheme at Teddington Lock Shell is involved in blocking the development of a renewable energy project in a legal battle between a private club owned by the company and a community hydropower scheme on the river Thames. The […]
New life seen in everything after heavy rain: Country diary 100 years ago
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 27 May 1916 SurreyIn one of our valleys, where a narrow river eats its way through rich, deep soil and yet runs over a gravel bed, the heavy rain this morning sent down small cascades from the extended boughs of trees that are all in full leaf: elms, […]
How to make rain – by splashing water
Farmers can keep those raindrops falling by turning their sprinklers on Need to make it rain? Try asking farmers to turn their water sprinklers on. New findings suggest that the act of water splashing on to ploughed fields throws up millions of microscopic particles – the remains of dead plants and animals. And it turns […]
The long-distance migrants are back in force
After a slow spring, Stephen Moss’s favourite summer visitors have all returned to Somerset – cuckoo, swift, hobby and a surprise redstart Sometimes birds appear when you least expect them. One evening towards the end of April I was driving my son to football training when the first swifts of the year zoomed past – […]
UK property executive drawn into violent African mine dispute
Graham Edwards defends environmental credentials of titanium-mining project A wealthy British investor has been dragged into a deadly dispute over a South African mine, after a community leader was killed amid allegations that excavating the site would damage the environment. Threatening comments by Mark Caruso, the chief executive of the firm at the heart of […]
It's our duty as Americans to protect our national parks for the next hundred years —Alex Honnold
Rock climber Alex Honnold argues we must do more to defend US national parks from a slew of imminent environmental threats Just over eight years ago, I completed a free solo ascent – unroped – of the one of the most beautiful and challenging climbs in the world: a 350 metre crack called Moonlight Buttress […]
How southern Africa is coping with worst global food crisis for 25 years
From Angola to Zimbabwe, food prices are soaring and malnutrition is on the rise as the latest El Niño weather event takes a brutal toll Drought is affecting 1.4 million people across seven of Angola’s 18 provinces. Food prices have rocketed and acute malnutrition rates have doubled, with more than 95,000 children affected. Food insecurity […]
Across Africa, the worst food crisis since 1985 looms for 50 million
A second year without rain threatens to bring catastrophe for some of the poorest people in the world. Donor countries, in the grip of wars and refugee crises, have been slow to pledge funds. But by the time they do, it could be too late Harvest should be the time for celebrations, weddings and full […]
The eco guide to geodesic domes
Take a leaf from the designs of Buckminster Fuller and redefine the space you live in with a freedome Most of us are trapped in rectangular living, trying to retrofit eco-efficiency, but we could be enjoying life in a geodesic freedome. For starters, freedomes are inherently efficient: they need no intermediate columns or supporting walls. […]
Flirting with Trump? No, the US will vote for a Boulder solution
Boulder, Colorado, has been voted the US’s happiest city, thanks to its urban planning, high level of healthcare and burgeoning service jobs The future is here and it works. Importantly, it is not a conservative future. Boulder, Colorado, is not as famous as San Francisco or even Palo Alto – but this city of some […]