Plastic bag ban
Recently, I read an article in the January 2011 issue of BioCycle reporting a ban on non-biodegradable plastic bags, which went into effect in Italy on January 1, 2011. A clause will allow shops to use bags they already have stockpiled until they run out, after which biodegradable plastic or paper or reusable cloth bags…
Forests sell-off cancelled
Caroline Spelman formally cancels the forest sell-off consultation: "I am sorry. We got this one wrong." The consultation on the selling-off of English forests, which was going to go on until April 2011 has been officially cancelled a few moments ago. There was widespread opposition to the forestry sell-off, which would have seen private companies and some…
Forests sell-off plan is shelved, but for how long?
The government has put on hold plans to sell off some of the English forests, but the main scheme could still go ahead, said the news report by the BBC. Proposals to sell-off 258,000 hectares of forests run by the Forestry Commission have attracted cross-party criticism and a public outcry. Is people power really working?
International Year of Forest and the proposed England’s forests sell-off
The UN General Assembly declared 2011 the International Year of Forests to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of forests. The International Year of Forests was officially launched on 2 February 2011 at the UN headquarters in New York, USA, during the UN Forum on Forests. Events will be held globally throughout…
Polar bear’s epic nine-day swim
(image from CABI Images) Whilst browsing through my Facebook friends’ status update, I came across a post of a recent news report in the BBC Earth News webpage reporting that a polar bear swam continuously for over nine days, covering 687 km, and then intermittently swam and walked on the sea ice surface an additional…
Off the bee-ten track
When I was at university and my professor’s papers were published in a journal, he would crack open a bottle of champagne, but I imagined that something a little softer was shared amongst the recently-published researchers of ‘Blackawton Bees’ in Biology Letters, because they are 8 to 10 years old!
Sudden Oak Death – the ‘foot and mouth’ of trees
Hundreds of thousands of trees are being felled in the UK to try and prevent spread of Sudden Oak Death. The disease, caused by the fungus Phytophthora ramorum, came to the UK in 2003 via imported plants from America where it mainly infects oaks. European species of oak have a high resistance to the disease…
Recipe to mitigate Climate Change in 182 steps
Protect Our Water and Environment Resources (POWER), a North Halton Hill’s environmental organization, has released a 32-page online publication listing 182 steps that we can take in the home and on the move (transportation) to mitigate global warming and climate change. The publication explains, in a clear and accessible language, the reasons for adopting each…
Would you miss the mistletoe?
I was thinking “what shall I write about in my Christmas blog?” I then remembered a news item I heard in one of the BBC radio stations about the mistletoe being under threat of disappearing from our landscape. I searched for the news item in their news webpage and found it still there. The article…
Cold weather and lots of snow – is this the sign of things to come?
As I watched the news last night, I heard how the current unusually cold temperatures and snow fall in Europe has affected Christmas travelling and the Christmas trade across the continent. Heathrow and Gatwick airports in the UK had to cancel flights, with only one runway operating at Heathrow. Both Paris and Berlin airports had…