Earthwire Environmental News Portal

Despite the fact that I am not a piscatorial person I've recently inherited a fishing diary (bound in red leather by Asprey & Co Ltd) that covers the decade 1933 to 1943. It's immensely interesting because weather conditions are included in each entry. The diarist was aged about 20. One of the first

The idea that we are "watering down" our commitment is simply incorrect (Dirtiest coal power plants win reprieve, 16 August): this government has committed to introducing an emissions performance standard. We are moving as quickly as possible and our consultation on a radical reform of the electrici

The desire to increase grouse numbers has created an ecological disaster zoneYour article summed up the media frenzy surrounding the much-celebrated "glorious twelfth", which occurs on 12 August, and marks the start of the grouse season (After a cold, harsh winter things are looking glorious. Unless

Your report that some of Britain's most beautiful areas could be sold off is also a stark warning to the green movement who are split over how they should respond to the cuts proposed by Defra (Plans to sell off nature reserves risks 'austerity countryside', 14 August). Rather than presenting a unit

Announcement follows White House report that found BP received exemptions for its Gulf well based on decades-old dataThe Obama administration is calling for environmental reviews for all new deepwater oil drilling, spelling an end, for the time being at least, to the kind of exemptions that allowed

Special forces to confront vessel targeting 'dangerous' deep sea oil drilling sites in wake of BP oil rig disasterA special forces naval team has been sent to confront a Greenpeace ship which is on a mission to target "dangerous" deep sea oil drilling sites, the environmental group claimed yesterday

Headquarters of media empire become latest victim of infestation sweeping through ManhattanThe blood-sucking menace that has infiltrated Manhattan's skyscrapers has taken another scalp, after the headquarters of media empire Time Warner became the latest landlord to own up to the presence of bedbugs

Leading scientists say meat grown in vats may be necessary to feed 9 billion people expected to be alive by middle of centuryArtificial meat grown in vats may be needed if the 9 billion people expected to be alive in 2050 are to be adequately fed without destroying the earth, some of the world's lea

Readers have taken me to task since my last Country Diary on the pools that spangle the high ridges like glittering sequins. Why did I not focus more on the most exquisite of these high altitude ponds, like, say, Summit Tarn on Haystacks which I mentioned as meeting the eye like the meniscus of

Fewer than 670 Rothschild giraffes now exist in the wild, following the loss of their traditional homelandDriven from its wide-ranging west African habitats, the Rothschild giraffe is clearly in peril. Now, its plight has been officially recognised. The world's largest environment network, the Inter

More than 1,600 people are confirmed to have died with millions made homeless as water levels continue to riseTwo weeks into the worst natural disaster in its history, Pakistan is braced for further flooding as waters in the upper reaches of the swollen Indus river reach critical levels.With more th

If we make a fuss over axing the Film Council we risk losing sight of the real problemA fight between Michael Winner and Clint Eastwood! Place your bets please, place your bets...Ah, put your money away. No fists, no guns; just a war of words over the UK Film Council. Rather excitingly, Clint Eastwo

Conference in Boulder will step up world's efforts to establish an early warning system for extreme weather events The world's leading climate scientists will gather this week in the United States to hammer out plans to set up an early warning system that would predict future meteorological disaster

Lawyers say response strategy should have been refiled 15 days after "significant change in worst-case scenario", but BP disagreesBP has failed to update its oil spill emergency plan in the Gulf of Mexico more than three months after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in apparent violation of federa

Sustainable products to keep your wheels running smoothlyI feel a bit sheepish when I first phone Dean Perry because out of the corner of my eye I can see my bike gently rusting in the garden. I confess to him that I don't practise the art of pedal-bike maintenance. "You are not alone," he warns.

A campaign to compile a list of 100 tasks for world governments to undertake to tackle the biodiversity crisis

Scottish conservationists sight at least two baby beavers born to animals released last year in remote Scottish woodlandIt has taken a while to arrive, but late last month the first beaver to be born in the wild in Britain in roughly 400 years emerged from its lodge.The young animal, known as a kit,

Bats facing extinction, a new primate species discovered in the Amazon and the effects of Russia's wildfires - the pick of this week's images from the natural world

Ecologists warn cuts will hamper efforts to set up marine conservation areas and safely build offshore windfarmsPlans to set up a network of marine conservation areas and safely build vast offshore windfarms and deep-sea oil rigs around the UK could be hampered or irreparably damaged by spending cut

BedfordshireA month or more has passed since I found the feather in Sandy Warren. The striking off-white plume with dark drizzled streaks lay at the side of the path. The vivid pattern said snowy owl, impossible on those hottest days of summer, but - like a jigsaw piece ? a single feather does not m