Environment news feed

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I sat on a rock on our local beach watching the pure white-edged waves slip nearer on the advancing tide. Farther out on a rock waiting for his meal was one of our resident herons. Suddenly the long beak stabbed downwards. Immediately, a seagull swooped and there was an altercation, each trying to g

Dozens of dead seals have washed up in Scotland with strange spiral wounds. What could be the culprit?It's a mammalian mystery that would baffle even Sherlock Holmes: the unexplained deaths of dozens of seals, found washed-up off the coasts of Norfolk, St Andrews and the Firths of Forth and Tay