Carbon offsets – whats the deal?
At the UNWTO Conference on Climate Change and Tourism I attended in Davos, Switzerland last week, participants were requested to offset the carbon dioxide emissions of their travel and accommodation. Not an unreasonable request given the subject matter of the conference, and the fact that the conference itself was free to attend. But as reported…
World tourism leaders tackle climate change
Earlier this week, some 600 representatives from over 100 countries, representing all sectors of the tourism industry (public and private sector, NGOs and governments) met in the idyllic Swiss resort of Davos to debate the global challenge of climate change as it affects and is affected by tourism, at the 2nd International Conference on Climate…
Organic tomatoes – better for your heart?
Having carried out organic farming research for three years prior to joining CABI, my attention is always grabbed by comparisons between organic and ‘conventional’ agriculture. The size of the organic food market continues to grow (the global organic food and drink market was projected to generate revenues of US$40 bn in 2006, according to British…
Tourism threat to cradle of evolution
The pressures on one of the world’s most famous centres of biodiversity, the Galapagos Islands where Darwin studied his famous finches which contributed to the theory of evolution, have been highlighted by Ecuador’s President and Unesco, the UN’s scientific and cultural body. The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, has warned that he is considering a…
Fancy a bottle of Swedish white?
At the moment, the idea of wines from Scandinavia, or other northern climes, may seem fanciful. But by the end of this century, climatologists suggest that Sweden could be producing Riesling or Chianti, Germany will be better known for luscious red wines than the current whites, and California’s famous Napa Valley could be as hot…
Drink coffee, feed the world?
As I sat bleary-eyed in the staff restaurant at CABI drinking a morning cup of coffee today, was I simply having a shot of caffeine to keep me going after an early start. Or, as it was Fairtrade coffee I was drinking, was I making a real contribution to improved livelihoods of small farmers in…
Penalty kicks: are they all in the mind?
For English soccer fans, it is an all too familiar story. The national side gets to a major tournament with high hopes, get through to the knockout stages, battle through a match plus extra time after something goes wrong (usually, it seems, a player sent off) – and then go crashing out with a dismal…
Tortilla crisis: how green fuel may be harming Mexico’s poor
In the face of global warming which is now acknowledged by almost all to be at least partly man-made, and of high oil prices and worries about dependence on imports from politically unstable regions, the idea of renewable energy from plants seems a very attractive one. Biofuels aren’t at risk from political upheaval or terrorism,…
Can ecotourism help save ‘Planet Earth?’
For the last few Sunday nights, a significant proportion of the British population has been glued to the mesmerising BBC wildlife series ‘Planet Earth’. An accompanying series on the digital channel BBC4, on the challenges faced by wildlife and habitats from increasing human population, will have been seen by far fewer people, but it may…
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