The Guardian
Why are female cyclists so vulnerable to lorries? | Anna Leach
As I cycle home I'm conscious of an ominous rumble behind me. A quick glance over my left shoulder confirms my worst fears: a looming heavy goods vehicle is blocking out the sun.
I don't fancy taking it on with only my helmet and luminous vest as protection, so I veer to closer to the kerb so it can overtake. We meet again at traffic lights, and again I shrink towards the edge of the road.
Continue reading...Bill Gates' cloud-whitening trials 'a dangerous experiment'
Campaigners have criticised plans for a sea trial of cloud-whitening technology, funded by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
A US-based research body, Silver Lining, which has received $300,000 from Mr Gates, is developing machines to convert seawater into microscopic particles to be sprayed into clouds. Scientists believe this will increase the whiteness, or albedo, of clouds and increase their ability to reflect more sunlight back into space, reducing global warming.
Continue reading...Dyson and Kimberly Clark in hand to hand combat over paper towels | Leo Hickman
• Should I ... use paper towels or a hand-dryer?
• American taste for soft toilet roll 'worse than driving Hummers'
"Hand-to-hand" combat has erupted between two of the companies responsible for drying the digits of the nation.
Dyson, the makers of the Airblade dryer, has accused Kimberly Clark of landing a low blow, by saying the air jets its machine uses increases the bacteria on hands. Dyson says the US paper towel corporation has used "biased and misleading" research to support the claim, and to state that paper towels are just as environmentally friendly as the air dryer.
Continue reading...Why I stopped believing in environmentalism and started the Dark Mountain Project
It started last year with two men in a pub. It spiraled from there, and gathered in thousands of people from across the world who shared its vision. It is still expanding; so much so that the two men now have rather less time to spend in the pub, because much of their day is spent just trying to keep up with a minor global movement which they have accidentally brought into being.
This is the story of the Dark Mountain Project, a new cultural movement for an age of global disruption, of which I was one of the co-founders less than a year ago. It seems much longer; a lot has happened in a year. We seem to have touched a nerve. This is all the more interesting to me because this project began life as a response to a sense of disillusion with what environmentalism has become.
Continue reading...Iceland volcano gives warming world chance to debunk climate sceptic myths | Leo Hickman
Along with the ash and lava, there have been many interesting asides tossed into the air for our consideration by the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. We have noticed just how reliant our globalised systems are on air travel. We have been reminded of nature's brute force and primordial beauty. And we have been intrigued by what a wonderfully complex language Icelandic appears to be – to Anglo-Saxon ears, at least.
But one opportunity the volcano has gifted us in particular is the chance to put to bed once and for all that barrel-aged climate sceptic canard which maintains that volcanoes emit far more carbon dioxide than anthropogenic sources. It's always been a favourite, but has been pushed even further up the charts of popularity in recent months by the repeated claims of Ian Plimer, the Australian mining geologist who wrote the climate sceptic bible Heaven and Earth last year.
Continue reading...Clouded leopard caught on camera
A rare image of a clouded leopard on the ground has been captured by a researcher in Indonesia who was trying to photograph slightly less unusual sun bears.
Wai-Ming Wong is working on a doctorate at the University of Kent on how the bears ‑ which are regarded as less critically vulnerable than the leopards, but have received far less attention academically ‑ are surviving in human-dominated landscapes.
Continue reading...Humans driving extinction faster than species can evolve, say experts
• Ghost orchid comes back from extinction
For the first time since the dinosaurs disappeared, humans are driving animals and plants to extinction faster than new species can evolve, one of the world's experts on biodiversity has warned.
Conservation experts have already signalled that the world is in the grip of the "sixth great extinction" of species, driven by the destruction of natural habitats, hunting, the spread of alien predators and disease, and climate change.
Continue reading...Drax power plant is no greener than the coal it burns | Fred Pearce
Drax is Britain's biggest power station. In fact, it is western Europe's biggest. It produces 7% of the country's electricity. By burning coal. For years, it has promised to replace some of that coal with locally grown biomass. But last week, its chief executive, Dorothy Thompson, appeared to tear up those plans.
If you travel north on the train from London towards York, you will have seen Drax. It is one of three gigantic power stations near the River Trent, in an area of lowland often called Megawatt Valley. Drax is the one with 12 cooling towers.
Continue reading...Climate scientists withdraw journal claims of rising sea levels
• Read the full story of the hacked climate emails
• Jeffrey Sachs: Sceptics recycle anti-tobacco control arguments
Scientists have been forced to withdraw a study on projected sea level rise due to global warming after finding mistakes that undermined the findings.
The study, published in 2009 in Nature Geoscience, one of the top journals in its field, confirmed the conclusions of the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It used data over the last 22,000 years to predict that sea level would rise by between 7cm and 82cm by the end of the century.
Continue reading...Tesla's Roadster Sport saves the electric car | Bibi van der Zee
How often do police take your picture just because they like your car? Not very often, presumably. In which case, try driving the latest electric sportscar from Tesla Motors, the Roadster Sport.
Continue reading...Wildlife photographer of the year stripped of his award
The Natural History Museum's wildlife photographer of the year has been stripped of his £10,000 prize, after judges found he was likely to have hired a tame Iberian wolf to stage the image of a species seen rarely in the wild.
The judges of the award, which attracted more than 43,000 entries from 94 countries, said they were convinced José Luis Rodriguez hired the wolf called Ossian from a Madrid wildlife park, contradicting his claim the image was taken in the wild after months of patient tracking of the dwindling species.
Continue reading...Tips on how to cycle in snow
Snow, for many, is already here. And after I'm done writing this, I'm going to put the knobbliest tyres I have on my bike for this morning's commute.
I've got used to riding with a big crowd of cyclists on my way to and from work, but I suspect that as it has snowed overnight in London, the rank and file of two-wheeled commuters will be thinned out substantially.
Continue reading...How do I know China wrecked the Copenhagen deal? I was in the room | Mark Lynas
• China's fears of a 'rich nation conspiracy' revealed
• Ed Miliband: China tried to hijack climate deal
• The key players and how they rated
Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations. The truth is this: China wrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insisted on an awful "deal" so western leaders would walk away carrying the blame. How do I know this? Because I was in the room and saw it happen.
China's strategy was simple: block the open negotiations for two weeks, and then ensure that the closed-door deal made it look as if the west had failed the world's poor once again. And sure enough, the aid agencies, civil society movements and environmental groups all took the bait. The failure was "the inevitable result of rich countries refusing adequately and fairly to shoulder their overwhelming responsibility", said Christian Aid. "Rich countries have bullied developing nations," fumed Friends of the Earth International.
Continue reading...Hippopotamuses attack a crocodile
Britain's problem with pets: they're bad for the planet
Henrietta Morrison confidently plunges her spoon into a tin of slow-cooked lamb hotpot and lifts out a mouthful for inspection. She passes her nostrils over the meat chunks and accompanying sauce, smiles, then places the whole lot into her mouth. "Delicious," she remarks, as a small crowd of onlookers gathers round to watch the spectacle.
Someone eating their lunch doesn't usually elicit such attention, but, then again, most people aren't prepared to tuck into a tin of dog food for sustenance. Morrison has a point to prove, though: she is at Europe's largest pet trade show, PetIndex, at the Birmingham NEC, and her company, Lily's Kitchen, sells the most expensive pet food on the market. Her dog food, for example, retails in places such as Harrods for more than £2 a tin, with the promise that the contents are "proper food".
Continue reading...The cashless man responds to your comments | Mark Boyle
When I wrote a blog last week about living without money, I thought it would be just that: a little blog. But it seems the money issue is much more taboo than I thought. The reaction was huge and mostly positive, but there was also a fair amount of inevitable criticism too. So I thought it could be helpful to respond, not in defence, but just to clarify.
Take this comment:
Continue reading...Greenwash: Dong Energy - 'clean' Denmark's dirty secret | Fred Pearce
The Danes like to think of themselves as green. Denmark is home to the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas. And today, the giant state-owned energy company, Dong Energy, opens the world's largest windfarm.
But the Danes have a dirty secret. For Dong Energy, while greening its image at home, is busy building coal-fired power stations elsewhere in Europe. First in Germany, and now in Scotland.
Continue reading...Toxin-free, easy to use and eco-friendly: What's not to like about the Mooncup? | Jill Tunstall
Every year, in Britain alone, a staggering 1bn tampons and sanitary towels are used and disposed of – many ending up in the sewerage system.
If that figure gives you a PMT-type headache consider this: the average woman – if such a woman exists – uses 11,000 sanitary items during her lifetime, spending around £90 a year.
Continue reading...What's the environmental impact of a sky lantern? | Leo Hickman
I am getting married next year and when going to buy so-called 100% biodegradable "sky lanterns" I have been disgusted to find that they contain metal wires which obviously take years to degrade. Beautiful and fairly cheap they may be, but I for one will not allow even the possibility of harming animals to come from my wedding, and I strongly believe that others will feel the same – if they have the knowledge.
Saffron Light, by email
Continue reading...