Volkswagen under investigation over illegal software that masks pollution
California and EPA accuse VW of installing ‘defeat device’ software that reduces nitrogen oxide emissions while a car is undergoing official tests The US government has ordered Volkswagen to recall almost 500,000 cars after discovering that the company deployed sophisticated software to cheat emission tests allowing its cars to produce up to 40 times more […]
Rescue teams continue search for Utah boy after catastrophic flash flood
Death toll has hit 19 after ‘hundred year storm’ hit the sister towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona, often referred to as one place: Short Creek The sister towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, straddle one another’s borders and are often referred to as one place, Short Creek, a reference to […]
Martin Strel: 60-year-old man plans to swim through 107 countries in 450 days
The seasoned marathon swimmer hopes to raise awareness on water pollution through his 24,000-mile journey in March 2016: ‘It’s not such a big deal’ Martin Strel has a goal: swim more than 24,000 miles around the world to raise awareness of aquatic pollution. The 60-year-old marathon swimmer will embark on this journey on 22 March […]
Indonesia arrests seven company executives for illegal forest fires
A senior executive of plantation company Bumi Mekar Hijau is one of those held for suspected environmental crimes, as part of a wider drive to combat the pollution haze crisis, reports The Straits Times Indonesian police arrested seven corporate executives on Wednesday in connection with illegal forest fires across Sumatra and Kalimantan, as part of […]
EU united for ambitious, binding agreement at Paris talks, says climate chief
Environment ministers agree bloc’s joint position after overcoming objections from Poland Europe will not settle for anything less than a robust, ambitious and binding agreement on climate change at UN talks in Paris later this year, the EU’s climate chief has said. “Today’s a very good day. The EU is equipped with a very solid […]
How not to save the rhino
As conservation efforts fail, scientists and economists are coming up with increasingly loony and dangerous schemes to save the rhino Last month it was confirmed that the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is extinct in Malaysia. The future looks bleak for this species. The few dozen remaining individuals are confined to remote forests in Sumatra (Indonesia), […]
From Oregon to Johannesburg, micro-hydropower offers a solution for drought hit cities
Cities worldwide are harnessing the power of gravity to generate electricity from public drinking water pipes To see how closely water and energy are linked, you only have to look at the west coast of the US, where four years of severe drought have led to historically low levels in water reservoirs, forcing some hydroelectric […]
We are pro-nuclear, but Hinkley C must be scrapped
Overpriced, overcomplicated and overdue, the Hinkley project needs to be killed off and the money invested into other low-carbon technologies • Read more: Nuclear supporting environmentalists in call to scrap Hinkley C plans As committed environmentalists, our conversion to the cause of nuclear power was painful and disorienting. All of us carried a cost in […]
A dying Californian shopping mall gets the world's largest green roof
City links: Greening Silicon Valley, Guatemala City’s mystery zone and spray paint cycle safety in Berlin feature in this week’s best city stories This week’s best city stories from around the web explore Silicon Valley’s newest sustainability project, an app which automatically sprays potholes you cycle over, the “missing” Guatemala City neighbourhood and Indianapolis’ growing […]
Rescuers find seventh Utah flash flood victim and release names of those killed
The hikers – six from California and one from Nevada – died when fast-moving floodwaters rushed through a narrow park canyon on Monday afternoon Hours after rescuers traversed a 100ft drop into a rugged Utah area to find the seventh victim of a flash flood, Zion National Park officials released the names of all those […]