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The latest environmental news from the UK, brought to you by UNEP/GRID-Arendal.
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Into the wild

Fri, 08/20/2010 - 08:00
If the kids have spent too much of the summer indoors, it's not too late to get out and discover the wildlife buzzing near you. Here are our top 10 things to do and see outdoorsGo pond-dippingWhen I was a child, we would spend the summer holidays at the local stream, fishing for tiddlers. Since then
Categories: Environment

Volunteering in paradise

Fri, 08/20/2010 - 08:00
The Seychelles isn't all five-star hotels and honeymooners. A marine conservation project gives volunteers a taste of paradise, and the chance to help save the planet. Plus how to plan your volunteering projectFor many years I had fantasised about escaping the British winter to spend December on a w
Categories: Environment

How to reduce UK transport carbon emissions by 76 per cent by 2050

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 08:00
Researchers in the UK have achieved a significant breakthrough in climate change policy by showing how to make drastic cuts in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from transport. The study goes beyond the science and paints a picture of what a low carbon transport future would look like. What emerges is vision of a less stressful, quieter, healthier, more resilient and confident society.
Categories: Environment

A history of nature printing

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 08:00
Author and printing history expert Roderick Cave explores the history of nature printing - the name given to the technique using the surface of a natural object to produce the print
Categories: Environment

Churchill's butterfly house given wings

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 08:00
National Trust butterfly project recreates Churchill's breeding house at his country home in Chartwell, KentWar was the talk of Europe's foreign ministries and workmen were digging air raid shelters in London's parks, but the great politician Winston Churchill had other things on his mind.As his fel
Categories: Environment

Veolia wildlife photographer of the year 2010

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 08:00
A first glimpse of entries to the BBC Wildlife magazine's classic photo competition? In pictures: last year's winners? In pictures: last year's runners-upBBC Wildlife magazine and the Natural History Museum have put out the first sneak peak at two entries from this year's Veolia Environnement Wildli
Categories: Environment

The wheel that's too clever for its own good

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 08:00
The Copenhagen wheel turns a normal bike into an electric cycle, but it also adds extra weight and screams out to be stolenFile this cycling invention under "solution in search of a problem". A team of design engineers at MIT, led by Christine Outram and Carlo Ratti, last week won the US national ro
Categories: Environment

Greenfinch populations hit by disease

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 08:00
Populations in parts of England dropped by one-third within a year of the emergence of trichomonosis, figures showGreenfinch populations in central England dropped by one-third within a year of the emergence of a new disease, a study said today.Scientists from the Garden Bird Health initiative (GBHi
Categories: Environment

Country diary

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 08:00
East YorkshireThere is a wildlife haven hidden along the Hudson Way on the Yorkshire Wolds. Setting off from Kiplingcotes station, near Market Weighton, I followed the disused railway track, which was edged with wildflowers in varying shades of purple: knapweed, scabious, cornflower, vetch, harebell
Categories: Environment

Pakistan floods are a 'slow-motion tsunami' - Ban Ki-moon

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 08:00
UN general secretary urges countries to send more money, quicker as monsoon rains worsen floodingThe United Nations general secretary, Ban Ki-moon, has appealed for swifter aid to provide immediate relief in food, shelter and clean water for the millions affected by the worst monsoon rains on record
Categories: Environment

BP oil spill: US scientist retracts assurances over success of cleanup

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 08:00
NOAA's Bill Lehr says three-quarters of the oil that gushed from the Deepwater Horizon rig is still in the Gulf environment while scientists identify 22-mile plume in ocean depthsWhite House claims that the worst of the BP oil spill was over were undermined yesterday when a senior government scienti
Categories: Environment

Rising temperatures reducing ability of plants to absorb carbon, study warns

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 08:00
Research shows warming over past decade caused droughts that reduced number of plants available to soak up CO²Rising temperatures in the past decade have reduced the ability of the world's plants to soak up carbon from the atmosphere, scientists said today.Large-scale droughts have wiped out plants
Categories: Environment

BP oil spill: scientists find giant plume of droplets 'missed' by official account

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 08:00
A 22-mile plume of droplets from BP's Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico undermines claim that oil has degraded? White House claim that spilled oil has vanished is disputed? BP oil spill: an interactive timelineScientists have mapped a 22-mile plume of oil droplets from BP's rogue well in
Categories: Environment

Scottish gold mine turned down at Loch Lochmond

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 08:00
A proposed gold mine near Loch Lochmond national park has been refused on the grounds it will devastate the area's sceneryA proposal to build Britain's only commercial gold mine in Loch Lomond national park has been refused after councillors decided it would "devastate" the park's outstanding scener
Categories: Environment

Pakistan flood aid pledged, country by country. Visualised data

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 08:00
Pakistan will need millions in aid following the floods. Find out which countries have donated what so far - and where the funding gaps areGet the dataFloods have decimated Pakistan: the number of people suffering could exceed 13 million - more than the combined total of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunam
Categories: Environment

Kingfisher breeding success for 'bird hotel'

Wed, 08/18/2010 - 08:00
A nesting site custom-built for kingfishers has had its first breeding success within a year of opening its doors near Ely in CambridgeshireJuliette Jowit
Categories: Environment

Extreme weather fails to heat up climate debate

Wed, 08/18/2010 - 08:00
The world is experiencing the hottest weather on record but politicians have failed to respond. They need a wake-up callWe've had so much record heat around the world lately that the records themselves are setting records: 17 nations have reached new temperature highs, a new record for records in a
Categories: Environment

Female cyclists expose sexist idiots online

Wed, 08/18/2010 - 08:00
I've had my top pulled down when I've stopped at traffic lights and been asked if I put in as much effort in the bedroom - but at least I can deal with it on my blog, 101 Wankers? Wanted: top women cyclists (to look pretty)? I love cycling in a summer dress but it has its embarrassing pitfallsI beli
Categories: Environment