Governments must ramp up action to ward off looming water crisis, UN report warns
With competition on the rise between humans and other species for the world’s limited water supplies, governments must take environmental issues into consideration when drafting laws on the use of water to avert an impending water crisis, cautions a new United Nations report.Although more than two-thirds of the planet is covered in water, only 2.5 [...]
Jakarta ‘cannot accommodate’ any more people
In a efforts to control the seasonal influx of newcomers to the capital, Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo recently urged the public not to bring friends or relatives back with them after the Idul Fitri exodus. “In Tambora there are so many people that you trip over children when you walk,” Fauzi said as quoted by [...]
Are solar panels the next e-waste?
In recent years the electronics industry has gained notoriety for creating an endless stream of disposable products that make their way at life’s end to developing countries, where poor people without safety gear cut and burn out valuable materials, spilling contaminants into their water, air, and lungs.
Solar modules contain some of the same potentially dangerous [...]
Antibacterial socks may boost greenhouse emissions
Antibacterial nanoparticles may have more of an impact on the environment than we thought, including potentially raising levels of greenhouse gases. Silver nanoparticles are used as an antibacterial agent in a wide range of products, from odour-free socks to wound-healing bandages (see diagram). They can find their way into waste water, and have been shown to [...]
Links between health and farming have to be acted on before it’s too late
The strong and complementary connections between agriculture and health seem obvious: farms should grow nutritious produce to improve health, and healthy employees make better farm labourers. But these links have long been neglected during discussions on global trade and international development. Today the realities of the interactions between agriculture and health across the world are [...]
US Environmental Protection Agency rejects challenges to labelling carbon emissions a pollutant
US climate sceptic lobbyists’ attempts to stop greenhouse gas emissions from being labelled as a pollutant were last week rejected by The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Climater sceptics and coal lobby groups, including the Peabody Energy Company, had challenged the EPA’s ruling from December 2009 that climate change caused by GHG emissions was a [...]
Mediterranean marine life in greatest peril, census shows
A dragon fish. Photograph: Dr. Julian Finn/Museum Victoria/PA
Marine life in the Mediterranean faces the greatest risk of damage and death, the Census of Marine Life shows. “Enclosed seas have the risk that, when you impact it and throw chemicals or other garbage into it, it will not go away so easily as it will from [...]
UNESCO declares Everglades endangered site
A U.N. panel has declared the Florida’s Everglades to be an endangered World Heritage site due to the wetlands’ continued degradation, officials said on Friday. The wetlands’ water inflows have fallen by up to 60 percent and pollution has produced excess plant growth and a decline in marine species, the World Heritage Committee of the [...]
Pakistan: Are Millennium Development Goals attainable by 2015?
Karachi: No woman should have to pay with her life for giving life, hoped United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a recent speech on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs, recognised in 2001 by the UN, aim to eradicate poverty in the developing world. The goals include promoting universal primary education, practicing gender equality, working [...]
Pollution makes quarter of China water unusable
Almost a quarter of China’s surface water remains so polluted that it is unfit even for industrial use, while less than half of total supplies are drinkable, data from the environment watchdog showed on Monday. Inspectors from China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection tested water samples from the country’s major rivers and lakes in the first [...]
Ghana: Ignorance on abortion law means death
Unsafe abortions account for more than one in 10 women who die in pregnancy in Ghana, according to new research by the US-based Guttmacher Institute, with ignorance of the law and inadequate facilities partly to blame, say health authorities. Abortion was declared legal in 1985 for women who have been raped, in cases of incest, [...]
African leaders review womens’ health
Leaders gathered to renew the Maputo Plan of Action on maternal health at the 15th African Union Summit this past Sunday afternoon in Kampala. Created by African ministers and heads of state in 2006, the Maputo Plan is one of the world’s most progressive frameworks for sexual and reproductive health and rights policy.
………………………..
The theme of [...]
Death rates at lowest ever levels in England and Wales
Death rates in England and Wales are at their lowest-ever recorded levels, official figures show. Despite health concerns surrounding rising levels of obesity and alcohol use, death rates for both men and women fell by about 5% in 2009 from 2008. There were under half a million deaths registered - the last time the figure [...]
British seas: More fish, cleaner and greater biodiversity, says Defra
Thousands of holidaymakers heading to British beaches this summer will be cheered by a major government report into the state of the UK’s seas. Coastal waters are getting cleaner, fish stocks are improving and species diversity in estuaries is increasing, according to the most authoritative examination ever carried out of UK seas. But while the [...]
Scientist urges government to address ‘peak phosphate’ risk
Peak oil presents the world with an energy crisis once supplies start to dwindle any time from 2015. But another growing crisis is looming, with potentially devastating consequences for the world’s food supply.
Phosphorous is an essential nutrient for plant growth, along with nitrogen and potassium. It is a key component [...]
Cost of litter spirals out of control
The cost of clearing up Britain’s litter epidemic has risen by almost £100 million (10 percent) in just one year.[1] Figures highlighted today (Monday) by Keep Britain Tidy show the full shocking £858 million cost of our throwaway culture.
Samantha Harding, Manager of the CPRE Stop the Drop Campaign, says: “We’re told [...]
BP oil cap may not have stopped leak
Government demands answers as engineers detect seepage and possible methane gas leak on seabed of Gulf of Mexico
Fears about the new cap over BP’s damaged Gulf of Mexico oil well have been raised after engineers detected seepage and a possible methane gas leak on the seabed.
Admiral Thad Allen, who is in charge [...]
When a Billion Chinese Jump by Jonathan Watts
A man collects dead fish in Donghu lake in Wuhan Photograph: STR/AP
It’s always wise to be careful what you wish for. When China was poor and communist, its government disdained consumption and castigated the evils of capitalism, while in the west we argued that happiness lay in the joy of stuff. [...]
Mercury poisoning, the dark side of Colombia’s gold boom
A Colombian gold prospector mines for precious metal on the river Dagau, Zaragoza province, Cauca ,November 17, 2009.
Credit: Reuters/Jaime Saldarriaga
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia’s gold bonanza has a dark side, U.N. experts said on Tuesday: mercury poisoning spreading from miners to the population of a northwest state where they use [...]
How much damage has the BP oil spill done?
In the months since the start of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico there have been harrowing images of birds coated in oil and dead dolphins, but just what do we know about the scale of the environmental damage done?
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE OIL?
“The good news is that [...]
Emissions of sulphur oxides and ozone-forming pollutants fall significantly
The European Union air pollutant emission inventory report compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA) shows that the EU-27 has cut sulphur oxides (SOx) emissions by 78 % since 1990. The decline was particularly sharp during the latest reporting year, falling 20 % in 2008 compared to 2007. The emissions of [...]
Accounting rules could force businesses to disclose environmental impact
A new initiative by regulators may call on firms to publish information about their social and environmental impacts
Companies could be asked to publish details of their environmental and social impacts alongside their financial accounts under new rules being discussed with the organisations that set accounting standards.
News of the initiative – which [...]
‘Soulless corporations are the enemy of the environment,’ says Pavan Sukhdev
It is up to society and its leaders to ensure that companies do not become cancerous, says leading UN official
Modern businesses are “soulless corporations” that are in danger of becoming a “cancer” on society, a leading UN environmental official warns today.
Companies usually take a short-term view of the importance of the [...]
Eco warrior’s Pacific journey shows how ‘dumb plastic’ is killing our seas
David de Rothschild set out on a mammoth ocean crossing aboard his recycled yacht to highlight pollution of Earth’s waters – but even he was shocked by what he found
The weather closes in on the Plastiki, above. The recycled plastic bottle boat is due to complete its 7,000-mile voyage in Sydney [...]
Air pollution comes under scrutiny
You might not be able to see it but you will almost certainly feel it at some point in your life. Air pollution is on the rise, bringing with it a whole host of health problems and altering the world’s weather and climate. For Gregory Carmichael, an atmospheric chemist at the [...]
Carbon emissions by local authority
For the first time the carbon emissions of every local authority have been released. Find out how yours does
Data released today slices up the 8.3 million tonne carbon footprint of local authorities’ buildings and transport - equivalent to 1.6 per cent of the UK’s CO2 emissions in 2008 - in England [...]
A truly toxic issue
Modern life is saturated with carcinogenic chemicals. But without regulation, just how are we supposed to avoid them?
Healthful or hateful? Apples can contain any of 42 pesticides, including cancer-causing chemicals. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian
I used to be under the impression that you had a reasonable chance of avoiding debilitating [...]
Mississippi coast faces environmental crisis
Mississippi (Reuters) - Coastal Mississippi is facing its biggest environmental crisis since Hurricane Katrina as oil from a leaking BP well in the Gulf of Mexico fouls its beaches and creeps onto inshore wetlands.
People watched in horror on Thursday as high tides washed oil onto beaches in the southeast of the [...]
Regulation is holding back green power, says Drax
Europe’s biggest coal-fired power station is calling for changes to the Government’s renewable energy regulations to enable Drax to convert one of its six coal generators to run on biomass.
Engineers are set to start work converting the facilities immediately and the green generator could be up and running within 18 months. [...]
G8 Maternal Health Initiative must include funding for family planning
After months of speculation and debate over the priorities, the 2010 G8 Summit in Muskoka, Canada concluded by affirming a sustainable commitment to maternal, newborn and child health through a total contribution of US$ 5 billion over the next 5 years. But overall the G8 commitment to health and development [...]
Dutch courage for climate mainstream
It’s beginning to look like a pattern. An apparent scandal is unveiled that threatens to rock climate science to its very core, a scandal that usually ends in the suffix “-gate”.
Himalaya, Amazon, and Climate itself are just three of the stems that have borne the suffix in recent months.
Sections of the [...]
Even low levels of air pollution can stress out hearts
Air pollution is bad for your heart – particularly if you are elderly. This is the clear message coming from an animal study, which shows that certain aspects of air pollution can be directly linked to a decline in heart function. The results provide support for epidemiological studies, which indicate that [...]
Balancing the weights of poverty and population
Image: Slapbcn/Flickr
The 21st century began on an inspiring note: The United Nations set a goal of reducing the share of the world’s population living in extreme poverty by half by 2015. By early 2007 the world looked to be on track to meet this goal, but as the economic crisis unfolds and the outlook darkens, [...]
Eiris review names Britain as ‘dirty man of Europe’
Britain is being accused of being the “dirty man of Europe” after new research showed that, of the world’s top 300 companies, more than half of those most engaged in carbon-polluting sectors were based in the UK.
A review of Europe’s top 300 companies by the ethical investment consultant Eiris found that the greatest proportion of [...]
Giant China algae slick getting bigger
A floating expanse of green algae floating off China’s eastern seaboard is growing and spreading further along the coast, state-run media has reported. The algae bloom has expanded by about 50 percent since it was first reported by state media earlier in the week to 320 square kilometres (120 square miles), or about four times [...]
Car fumes raise spectre of 1980s revival nobody wants…acid rain
A European spruce forest devastated by acid rain during the1980s
Thirty years ago it was one of the great environmental issues, along with the hole in the ozone layer and CFC chemicals. Now acid rain may be making a comeback – but this time, there’s a change in the chemicals responsible. Nitrogen emissions from motor vehicles [...]
Millions face starvation in west Africa, warn aid agencies
Starving people in drought-stricken west Africa are being forced to eat leaves and collect grain from ant hills, say aid agencies, warning that 10 million people face starvation across the region. With food prices soaring and malnourished livestock dying, villagers were turning to any sources of food to stay alive, said Charles Bambara, Oxfam officer [...]
Cleared forests lead to rise in malaria in Brazil
Clearing forests in the Amazon helps mosquitoes thrive and can send malaria rates soaring, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday. They found a 48 percent increase in malaria cases in one county in Brazil after 4.2 percent of its tree cover was cleared. Their findings, published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, shows links between cutting [...]
Intensive farming ‘massively slowed’ global warming
Fertilisers, pesticides and hybrid high-yielding seeds saved the planet from an extra dose of global warming. That, at least, is the conclusion of a new analysis which finds that the intensification of farming through the green revolution has unjustly been blamed for speeding up global warming.
Steven Davis of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Palo [...]
UN agency joins with ‘green’ town to spread waste management know-how
The United Nations agency created to promote industrial development announced today a new agreement to help developing countries acquire environmental technologies and waste recycling through exchange of information with one of the world’s “greenest” cities. Kitakyushu, Japan, has created a system of recycling and wastes management which treats nearly all persistent organic pollutants (POPs), chemical [...]
Climate already helping disease spread north: study
Rising global temperatures might already be helping infectious diseases to creep north, according to a report by European scientists. The report links warmer temperatures to the spread of dengue fever, yellow fever, malaria and even human plague in Europe. “Fundamental influences of climate change on infectious disease can already be discerned and it is likely [...]
Canada: Experts seek to slash multiple birth rate
Canadian fertility specialists have agreed they should slash the number of multiple births triggered by reproductive treatments, citing the serious medical problems and steep costs associated with twins and other multiples. At a recent closed-door, federal conference of doctors and other experts, some attendees even called for government rules to limit the number of embryos [...]
UK will fail climate change target
In 2000 the last Government set a target of generating 10 per cent of electricity from renewable energy sources like wind, wave or solar by 2010. But a report from the National Audit Office said the target is likely to be missed this year, despite direct government grants of £265 million to help energy companies [...]
Britain will struggle to handle ‘catastrophic’ population growth unless changes are made
Britain will struggle to handle ‘catastrophic’ population growth in future unless urgent action is taken, a report has warned. The predicted increase to 70million by 2029 will put unsustainable pressure on housing, schools and hospitals as well as natural resources such as food and water, experts said. Current trends will see a city the size [...]
Support for U.S. climate regulation growing
A growing number of Americans want the United States to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as the largest oil spill in U.S. history helps boost interest in petroleum alternatives, a poll by two universities found on Tuesday. About 77 percent of 1,204 Americans polled support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, up 6 percentage points from [...]
Ban calls for greater awareness of the value of oceans to humanity
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged governments and citizens across the global to acknowledge the enormous value of the world’s oceans to humanity and ensure that pollution of the bodies of water by human activity is brought under control. “The diversity of life in the oceans is under ever-increasing strain. Over-exploitation of marine living resources, climate [...]
Oil power: Vocal cinema
One minute, herds of caribou are scampering through the lush green subarctic forests of western Canada. The next, their progress is impeded by country-sized carve-ups of vegetation. Toxic ponds visible from space leak poisonous chemicals into rivers. Cavalcades of diggers score through the countryside, eager to lay their claws on that most precious of fuel [...]
China’s ‘cancer villages’ reveal dark side of economic boom
Zheng Gumei thought she was down with a cold until the doctor told her to wait outside the room so he could talk to her son alone. “I knew then that I must have a serious illness,” the 47-year-old farmer recalled, wiping away the tears and then staring into the distance. “I’m having treatment now. [...]
Tide of oil threatens to wipe out the iconic pelican
For more than a decade, the hundreds of brown pelicans that nested among the mangrove shrubs on Queen Bess Island, south of New Orleans, were living proof that a species brought to the edge of extinction could come back and thrive. The island was one of three sites in Louisiana where pelicans were reintroduced after [...]
Nuclear fusion dream hit by EU’s cash dilemma
A £15bn international bid to harness the fusion process that powers the Sun is facing a major funding crisis. Scientists have revealed that the cost of the International Thermonuclear Experiment Reactor (Iter) has trebled from its original £5bn price tag in the past three years. At the same time, financial crises have beset all the [...]
Saving nature saves money, too
Photo: PA
‘Say anything you like about me, except that I drink water,” said W C Fields. Well, don’t tell the great comedian’s sozzled spirit, but his old stomping ground of New York has long had some of the world’s finest: soft, chemical-free and so sought-after that you can buy it bottled on the internet, it’s [...]
David Cameron calls on G8 to target maternal deaths
Britain is to press its G8 partners to intensify efforts to lower the “shocking and shameful” levels of maternal mortality which have barely fallen in many developing countries over the past 20 years, David Cameron announces today. In his first Guardian article since taking over as prime minister, Cameron calls for the G8/G20 summit in [...]
EU ‘half way to 2020 emissions target’
The EU is more than halfway to its target of cutting emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2020, a report shows. The assessment by the European Environment Agency (EEA) reveals that emissions across the 27-nation bloc fell by 11.3% during 2008. However, the EEA adds that the global economic downturn played a key [...]
UK given final warning over London air quality
Britain has been given a second and final written warning by Europe to clean up London’s air or be taken to the European court of justice and face fines of up to £300m. The warning, sent today by the Environment commissioner Janez Potočni refers to minute airborne particles known as PM10s which are emitted by [...]
MADAGASCAR: “May you have seven sons and seven daughters”
In a tiny shack in Ankilibory village, southern Madagascar, Herintsoa, just 16 years old, recently gave birth to her second child, but it was easy compared to the first one, which she had when she was 14. “That was a lot more painful. I did it at home myself - my husband cut the [umbilical] cord.” [...]
BP’s behaviour in the Gulf is appalling. But our thirst for oil is the real issue
As this piece is written, act one of the Gulf of Mexico tragedy continues, agonisingly, to unfold. We, the people of the region, keep hoping to leave behind the terrifying explosions and ghastly loss of human life, the dread invoked by black jets billowing endlessly from below and the floating oil spreading over an ever-growing [...]
Britain to export fuel made from household waste
The UK faces massive fines if landfill is not reduced over the next few years but recycling rates remain low. In their search for new ways to dispose of household rubbish, councils are to export fuel pellets made from the contents of hundreds of thousands of bins to countries like Holland and Germany. Because the European [...]
Come on in, the water’s lovely
More than half of the UK’s beaches have excellent water quality, a report for the Marine Conservation Society has found. The Good Beach Guide, released yesterday, shows a slight improvement in water quality on last year. The number of sites failing the bathing water tests fell from 66 in the previous guide to 41 this [...]
UK faces legal action from Europe over sewage pipes
The European Commission is preparing to take the United Kingdom to the European Court of Justice, alleging it pumps too much sewage into the sea. The case is expected to be filed within weeks and proceedings will centre on sewerage systems in London and Whitburn in north east England. But the action is seen as [...]
India discloses carbon emissions for first time in more than decade
India claimed to be a front-runner among developing nations for emissions disclosure today with its first national survey of greenhouse gases in more than a decade. The government study based on 2007 data showed a sharp increase in industrial activity since the last assessment in 1994 has made India the world’s fifth biggest emitter after [...]
Environmentalists fear Salt Lake mining plans
The grazing bison, silhouetted against the almost black-and-white landscape, is a welcome sign of life on Antelope Island - the largest in Utah’s Great Salt Lake. Swarms of persistent gnats and brine flies attract migratory waterfowl to these salt-lined shores, but any other living creatures here are finding it a harsh, inhospitable place. Even the [...]
Autism link with migrant parents, study finds
Researchers have discovered that where you used to live could affect your child’s chances of being autistic by up to five times. The study looked at children whose mother had moved to the UK from outside Europe. It showed an increased risk of autism in children whose parents had migrated from Africa, the Caribbean and [...]
Oil, risk and technology: Choices we need to make
The oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico should be a wake-up call to governments and energy companies, argues William Jackson, raising deep questions about our addiction to oil. Compensation may be paid for immediate damages - but what about the wider environmental harm?
The world changed one summer’s day in 1858.
In a [...]
Australia’s population is set to grow 65 percent by 2050
SYDNEY, Australia — Australians, let it be said, like their space. Which is just as well, as they have more than most. But recent angst over projected dramatic population increases have many wondering how much space is enough for the average Aussie?
By 2050, Australia’s 22-million population is projected to grow to [...]
Residents’ fears over Australian mines
Set in a landscape that is both beautiful and bountiful, the coalfields of the Upper Hunter Valley in New South Wales help explain why Australia is often called the quarry of the world and the Saudi Arabia of coal.
The open cast mines that are carved into the earth are so vast [...]
Coffee and contraception
“Population pressures and diminishing land holdings–due to high fertility rates, war and genocide, and subsequent migration–have caused a rapid decrease in the forested and protected areas and increased soil infertility and food insecurity” in Rwanda, USAID’s Irene Kitzantides told a Wilson Center audience.
Kitzantides, a population, health, and environment advisor and global health fellow, said “the [...]
European recession slashed 2009 carbon emissions
(Reuters) - The European recession last year slashed by 11.6 percent climate-warming emissions from heavy industry participating in the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme, the European Commission said on Tuesday.
This was a slightly deeper cut than preliminary data suggested last month.
“It is attributed to several factors — firstly, the reduced [...]
How will the Western Balkans shape its environmental future?
Economic development in the Western Balkan countries is putting additional strains on the environment, affecting primarily resource use, waste and biodiversity. A new report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) provides a detailed analysis of the environmental pressures and forces at play and urges policy-makers to take action towards sustainable [...]
I share their despair, but I’m not quite ready to climb the Dark Mountain
To sit back and wait for the collapse of industrial civilisation is to conspire in the destruction of everything greens value
Those who defend economic growth often argue that only rich countries can afford to protect the environment. The bigger the economy, the more money will be available for stopping pollution, investing in [...]
What’s the one lifestyle change I could make that would have the most positive environmental impact?
Ditching the car, having no children, eating less meat? It’s hard to see how we could find a definitive answer, but let’s give it a go
Newly born day old babies and mothers hands seen in an NHS maternity unit. Illustration: Roger Bamber / Alamy/Alamy
What’s the one lifestyle change I could make [...]
Industry, transport drive leap in India CO2 emissions
(Reuters) - India’s greenhouse gas emissions grew 58 percent between 1994 and 2007, official figures released on Tuesday showed, underlining the country’s growing importance in the fight against climate change.
Green Business | COP15
Emissions rose to 1.9 billion metric tons in 2007 versus 1.2 billion in 1994, with the industrial and transport [...]
BP’s U.S. Gulf project exempted from enviro analysis
A platform is surrounded by the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead at the mouth of the Mississippi river May 5, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace/Handout
HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators exempted BP Plc from a detailed environmental review of the exploration project that ultimately resulted in the deadly Gulf of [...]
Gulf spill will “forever” change drilling: BP exec
(Reuters) - The explosion and sinking of a BP Plc oil rig and subsequent massive oil spill will “forever” change the offshore drilling industry, a top executive with the London-based oil giant said on Thursday.
Green Business
“There is no doubt that this event will change the offshore industry forever, around the globe,” [...]
Spill could devastate U.S. Gulf Coast oyster reefs
(Reuters) - The lowly oyster, a tasty delicacy to seafood lovers but a curiosity to more squeamish diners, is also the backbone of marine life along the U.S. Gulf Coast and among the most vulnerable creatures now threatened by a giant oil spill.
U.S. | Green Business
The region’s oyster beds are the vital [...]
Gulf oil spill threatens wildlife refuge created by Roosevelt
A pelican flies near a Deepwater Horizon plant near Breton Island, Louisiana. Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters
At the heart of the region now threatened by the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a chain of islands containing tens of thousands of seabirds. Thin ribbons of sand rising no higher than 19 feet out of [...]
Deep reflections on the ozone story
There’ll be a party in the chemistry labs at Cambridge University this Friday.
But no-one will turn up with hugely coiffured hair, the champagne will be served warm, and if a fire should break out, there’ll be nothing to use on it but old-fashioned water, CO2 and sand.
Well… that’s how life might have [...]
Don’t let disputes over data get in the way of safe water for billions
Your article reported criticism of the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets for water supply and sanitation (Doubt cast on claim that UN clean water targets will be met, 26 April). This concerned me because it fell into the trap of focusing on a narrow argument about data.
“The World Health Organisation said that [...]
The chance discovery that averted ecological disaster
Steve Connor on how the hole in the ozone layer was discovered by UK scientists a quarter of a century ago
It was perceived as one of the greatest environmental threats of the late-20th century. Twenty-five years ago this month, a hole in the ozone layer was detected high in the atmosphere [...]
Europe to exceed air pollutant emission limits – NOx in particular
In 2010, around half of the European Union’s Member States expect to miss one or more of the legal limits set by the National Emission Ceilings Directive. According to recent data compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA), 11 countries expect to exceed their ceilings by significant amounts — some missing [...]
Festivals like Glastonbury and Leeds need to curb their carbon emissions
They may promote green values, but summer music gatherings are often the biggest culprits in terms of carbon emissions and waste
One of the many tents left abandoned on a litter-strewn Worthy Farm following the 2009 Glastonbury Festival. Photograph: Martin Godwin
For an event that usually takes place in a field, the average [...]
Deepwater Horizon oil spill: turtle deaths soar amid fight to save wildlife
Tests take place to determine cause of deaths, as locals hope booms along coastline will protect commercial fisheries
Jackye Carroll was walking along the beach that runs outside her home in Pass Christian, Mississippi, early this morning when she came across a curious sight. The sun had just come up and [...]
U.S. presses BP to stop gushing Gulf Coast oil leak
(Reuters) - A huge oil slick caused by an underwater leak continued to creep toward the U.S. Gulf Coast on Monday as the Obama administration pressed energy giant BP Plc to stem the oil gushing from its ruptured offshore well.
U.S. | Green Business
The direction of the slick has been pushed around by [...]
‘In a terrible way this is a portent of things to come and a warning’
The author of Wild at Heart, Barry Gifford, whose books are set in the American South, talks about the man-made horrors that have ravaged the Louisiana coast
Acontainment boom staged at the Breton National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana. Photograph: JOHN EDWARDS/EPA
When Hurricane Katrina wrecked the Louisiana coast, it wasn’t the wind that created [...]
Wildlife rescue teams ready for U.S. oil spill victims
(Reuters) - The first known wildlife casualty of the massive oil spill threatening the U.S. Gulf Coast was a single Northern Gannet seabird, found alive but coated in the toxic grime creeping ashore along Louisiana’s coast.
Green Business
That bird, recovered offshore on Friday and taken to an emergency rehabilitation center to be [...]
U.S. pressures BP as Gulf oil slick spreads
(Reuters) - The U.S. government pressured energy giant BP to avert an environmental disaster as a huge, unchecked oil spill reached coastal Louisiana, imperiling fish and shrimp breeding grounds and vulnerable wetlands teeming with wildlife.
U.S. | Green Business
With oil gushing unchecked from a ruptured deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico [...]
Water pollution expert derides UN sanitation claims
Hundreds of millions of people that the UN declares have gained access to safe water and sanitation are still struggling with polluted supplies and raw sewage, a leading expert has told the Guardian.
In its latest report on the progress of the UN Millennium Development Goal to halve the proportion of people lacking access to safe [...]
Brazilians told to have more sexual intercourse to avoid illness
Brazilians can fight off chronic illness by engaging regularly in physical exercise, and particularly in sexual intercourse, the country’s health minister said.
“People need to be active. A weekend football game must not be the only physical activity for a Brazilian. Adults need to do exercise: walk, dance and have safe sex,” said Jose Gomes Temporao. [...]
UK offshore wind breezes through 1GW barrier
Wind farms at Gunfleet Sands and Robin Rigg mean the UK can now power up to 700,000 homes.
An offshore windfarm near Prestatyn, north Wales. Photograph: CHRISTOPHER THOMOND
The UK cemented its position as the leading player in the global offshore wind energy market today with the announcement that it has attained one gigawatt of installed offshore [...]
Empty skies proved that airports cause pollution, say researchers
Scientists have used the no-flying period caused by the ash cloud to show for the first time that airports are themselves significant causes of pollution. Although long suspected, the fact that mass take-offs and landings are large pollution sources could never be proved before, because aircraft pollution could not be measured as separate from the [...]
Only 10 Percent of Ghanaians Know Their HIV Status
The Executive Director of Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR), Vicky Okine, has said that only 2.2 million Ghanaians out of the 23 million, representing 10% of the population, are aware of their HIV status. The remaining 90%, she said, are hesitant to know theirs due to the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS.
According to her, stigmatization [...]
Climate change migration could complicate polio eradication efforts
Migration to major cities in India is on the rise, thanks to increasingly unpredictable rains and fluctuating farm income, and is complicating an old battle: that to eradicate polio.
India is one of just four countries - including Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan - that have never managed to eradicate the disease, which paralyzes a share of [...]
Hundreds flee flood in Iceland volcano zone
Fresh flooding has hit areas around an erupting volcano in Iceland, prompting the second evacuation of local people in 48 hours. About 700 people were evacuated to the small town of Hvolsvollur from isolated rural homes near the volcano, which is under the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier.
Flooding has cut the coastal road from the area to the [...]
Allergies Worse Than Ever? Blame Global Warming
Allergy sufferers like to claim — in between sniffles — that each spring’s allergy season is worse than the last. But this year, they might actually be right.
Thanks to an unusually cold and snowy winter, followed by an early and warm spring, pollen counts are through the roof in much of the U.S., especially in [...]
World marine debris totals 10 mln pieces in 1-day cleanup
More than 10 million pieces of trash were plucked from the world’s waterways in a single day last year. But for Philippe Cousteau, the beach sandals that washed up in the Norwegian arctic symbolized the global nature of the problem of marine debris.
“We saw flip-flops washing ashore on these islands in far northern Norway near [...]
Calls to reduce light pollution ‘backed by CPRE survey’
Most people feel their view of the night sky is spoiled by artificial light, a survey suggests.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) is calling for more control on the likes of street lighting and neon signs to cut down on the problem.
Its survey of 1,745 people in the UK conducted with the British Astronomical [...]
Mobile telephones more common than toilets in India
More people in India, the world’s second most crowded country, have access to a mobile telephone than to a toilet, according to a set of recommendations released today by United Nations University (UNU) on how to cut the number of people with inadequate sanitation.“It is a tragic irony to think that in India, a country [...]
Nebraska Law Sets New Limits on Abortion
Gov. Dave Heineman of Nebraska signed a law on Tuesday banning most abortions 20 weeks after conception or later on the theory that a fetus, by that stage in pregnancy, has the capacity to feel pain. The law, which appears nearly certain to set off legal and scientific debates, is the first in the nation [...]
Maternal deaths ‘fall worldwide’
Maternal deaths have fallen worldwide, from about half a million a year in 1980 to less than 350,000 in 2008, according to new data. Countries such as China are making significant progress but there have been surprising increases in others, including the US, say researchers. UK deaths are very low, but have not fallen in [...]
Climate change treaty ‘more urgent than ever’
The need for a new global climate deal is “greater than ever”, according to developing country delegates speaking at the opening of UN climate talks. Blocs representing the poorest nations called for intensive talks during the year, leading to agreement on a legally binding treaty in December. The EU backed the call, re-stating that the [...]
On World Day, Ban spotlights health burdens on urban populations
As the world’s population becomes increasingly urbanized, so too is the poverty burden, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today on World Health Day, highlighting the need to address resulting public health challenges. By mid-century, seven out of every 10 people will be city dwellers, up from just over 50 per cent of the global population currently.Developing [...]
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