Suffocating seas: how climate change is reducing ocean oxygen levels

Carrie Madren

26th July, 2010

The main impacts of climate change - changing weather patterns, melting glaciers, sea level rise - are well known. But its ability to reduce oxygen levels in the deep ocean is little reported... more...

Will the RepRap machine bring a new manufacturing and the end of consumerism?

Ann Danylkiw

20th July, 2010

3D printing machines such as the 'RepRap' already allow people to design and 'print out' products at home. Could this be the beginning of the end for traditional, capitalist manufacturing? more...

Will high petrol prices help the environment?

Mark Jansen

12th July, 2010

High petrol prices mean less demand and less pollution, right? Not necessarily, finds Mark Jansen. Our relationship with our cars is far more complex... more...

Can a landfill site ever return to nature?

Nick Kimbrell

6th July, 2010

One of the biggest landfill sites in the US is in the process of becoming a nature reserve and a recreation ground. Is this just papering over the cracks, or can our rubbish heaps really turn into something beautiful? more...

Putting communities back in charge of their forests

Christopher Davey

29th June, 2010

What can western countries learn from their less industrialised counterparts about returning woodlands and forests to productive, profitable, local control? more...

Las Gaviotas: proving sustainable living possible where it shouldn't be

Michael Buick

22nd June, 2010

How one Colombian community put wind turbines where they shouldn't have turned, water pumps where they shouldn't have worked, and planted a forest in soils thought long dead more...

Can algae-eating fish save our coral reefs?

Anna Taylor

15th June, 2010

Coral reefs are under threat from all quarters - rising temperatures, ocean acidity, fishing practices... But can clever management of certain fish species help the reefs to recover their former glory? more...

The Living Machine: an ecological approach to poo

Tafline Laylin

8th June, 2010

By mimicking the purifying behaviour of wetland ecosystems we can deal with our sewage using one quarter of the energy, and a fraction of the smell... more...

Think nuclear is clean energy? Ask the Nigeriens

Carolyn Lebel

1st June, 2010

As the new nuclear renaissance grows, so too does uranium extraction. In Niger, which boasts some of the world's richest deposits, NGOs say that the poor are being exploited for the West's 'clean energy' more...

What will the coalition Government do about planning law?

Bibi van der Zee

25th May, 2010

Planning - a dull subject that has a direct impact on some of the most important areas of our lives. One proposal to speed up planning has just been scrapped by the new Government. What will replace it, asks Bibi Van Der Zee more...

The new green face of incineration technology

Mark Jansen

18th May, 2010

Incineration is a dirty word amongst environmentalists, its reputation earned through the use of outdated technology. Could new techniques help bring green approval to energy-from-waste facilities? more...

Why only the Amazonians can save the rainforest

Nicholas Bruschi

11th May, 2010

'Saving the rainforest' has been a battle-cry of the environmental movement since its inception. But just what does that mean, how does it work, and who exactly does the 'saving'? more...

Could open source technologies help us solve climate change?

Jamie Andrews

4th May, 2010

'Open source' is a familiar concept to many web users, providing free, well-supported software across the internet. But could the same principles be used to rapidly disseminate low-carbon technologies around the world? more...

Can our electricity grid cope with all the new wind power?

David Strahan

27th April, 2010

Wind energy finally seems to be moving somewhere in the UK, but without some new techniques, our grid is simply not going to cope with this flood of new green power more...

What is the health impact of air pollution?

Andrew Marszal

20th April, 2010

After the Clean Air Acts banished the smogs of the 50s and 60s, many thought that air pollution problems had disappeared. They were wrong more...

How deep sea aircon could cut the heat of climate change

Chris Pala

13th April, 2010

The deep ocean is cold; our cities are growing increasingly warm. What if we could tap those frigid depths to cool down energy-hungry metropolises? more...

Lab grown meat: a low-fat, low-carbon, cruelty-free future?

Matilda Lee

6th April, 2010

The technology isn't fully developed yet, but when meat really can be grown in a lab it's going to turn all our arguments about carnivorous diets on their heads... more...

Don't buy it - hire it: the real green consumer

Ewan Kingston

30th March, 2010

It's an unfashionable idea, but would a return to hiring products and services rather than buying them help us reduce our ecological footprint and turn businesses green? more...

How long until health foods become illegal?

Chris Milton

23rd March 2010

A huge number of UK citizens take food supplements or buy health food products, yet new legislation threatens to either remove these items from our shelves, restrict their dosages or ban them from making any health claims more...

What if we all traded energy between ourselves?

Mark Jansen

16th March, 2010

The time may soon be coming when every government will need to think about rationing fossil fuel usage. What's the quickest and most equitable way to do it? more...

'Just throw it out' - Council advice on toxic lightbulbs

Ian Randall

9th March, 2010

An Ecologist investigation reveals that three quarters of London Boroughs are advising their residents to simply throw compact fluorescent lightbulbs in their general waste, despite the hazard posed by their mercury content more...

The human cost of 'super-clean' sugar ethanol

Ella Windsor

2nd March, 2010

Brazil is hailed as a biofuels success story - producing and using ethanol from high yielding crops within the country. But those indigenous families who have been displaced by sugar cane cultivation see things differently more...

How we poison Bangladesh with toxic ship carcasses

Andrew Hickman

23rd February, 2010

Workers are dying in Bangladesh’s shipyards because the west's shipping industry - including UK companies - is not taking responsibility for the disposal of ageing vessels more...

Jatropha biofuels: UK investors sell controversial crop as 'green'

Andrew Wasley

15th February, 2010

UK fund managers are selling investments in jatropha plantations as a wallet-swelling, planet-saving financial bonanza. But the reality for poor farmers is very different more...

Jatropha biofuels: the true cost to Tanzania

Thembi Mutch

15th February, 2010

Billed as wonder crop, the establishment of jatropha plantations on the ground in Tanzania has been far from successful, or, in some cases, ethical more...

Copenhagen failed. So should we tax carbon at the border?

Dan Box

8th February, 2010

The lack of agreement at Copenhagen has left some thinking that the only way to protect national economies is to tax imports from nations who don't pay a carbon price... more...

What is the Pill doing to our bodies and planet?

Yanar Alkayat

2nd February, 2010

It was the drug that fuelled the sexual liberation of the 1960s, but what price are we paying for our love of the contraceptive Pill? more...

Farmers' markets, coops and repair shops will seed the new economy

Tim Jackson

26th January, 2010

It's called the 'Cinderella economy'. You know it as the local, sustainable businesses that don't make the GDP figures soar, but do provide jobs and glue communities together... more...

How green are tetrapak food cartons?

Emilie Filou

19th January, 2010

They're becoming more and more common - wrapped around everything from milk to chickpeas. But just how environmentally friendly are composite cartons compared to the good, old-fashioned tin or jar? more...

Peak phosphorus: our most important nutrient running out

Ewan Kingston

12th January, 2010

It has no synthetic alternative and some scientists believe supplies may already be in a terminal decline. But there is still no international effort to tackle the massive agricultural problems that will come when the phosphorus runs out more...