Hot Potatoes
With advancing climate change have potatoes had their chips?Looking back over the International Year of the Potato, Marco Bindi (University of Florence) answers the question "What effect will global warming have on the potato?" "Since potato's tuberization rate declines above a temperature of 17°C, increasing temperatures may lead to reduced yields in potato varieties now…
What is the single most effective thing we can do for the environment?
An article in the New Scientist issue number 2682 gave answers to the question above and many other eco questions, e.g. why can't the machines in my gym be used to generate electricity? or How clean does the pizza box have to be for it to be recyclable? Are laminated juice cartons recyclable? and 22…
Coming soon: biofuel from forestry waste
As you will have noticed from our previous blog articles, sources of biofuels are a hot topic. There is an ongoing battle to find sources that have a minimal environmental impact. The popularity of food crops such as corn, sugar and vegetable oils, as a source has decreased recently as governments have become more aware…
Who can predict the fate of the Amazon rainforest?
Modellers around the world are trying to predict the fate of the Amazon rainforest under future conditions of climate change. It seems a tiny change in model parameters leads to regular new headlines contradicting previous predictions. The latest of these headlines is that the Amazon forest will survive warming, becoming seasonal forests rather than savannahs,…
Medicinal plants threatened by changing climates
An article (full text here) warning that climate change is affecting medicinal and aromatic plants around the world and could ultimately lead to losses of some key species, was recently published in HerbalGram the journal of the American Botanical Council. The authors note that species endemic to regions or ecosystems that are especially vulnerable to…
A Lot of Land
Last week, The National Trust announced that it would be making land available for 1,000 allotments over the next 3 years. This apparently equates to an estimated 2.6 million lettuces per year, 50,000 sacks of potatoes or £1.5 million worth of mixed produce1. With the increased popularity of growing-your-own, this will be welcome news to…
If you go to Brazil tonight…
You will surely have the time of your life – as it is Carnival time! The Brazilian Carnival is usually associated with Rio de Janeiro and the Samba Schools parading along the Sambadrome, and is said to be the biggest street party in the world. However, it happens throughout Brazil in the streets and in…
Galapagos Islands need tourism, says Sir David Attenborough
As celebrated by fellow handpicked blogger Dave Hemming last week, this year sees the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, as well as the 150th anniversary of the publication of the 'Origin of Species. In the Galapagos Islands, which more than anywhere else have become associated with Darwin's development of the theory of…
Could ecosystem services save the Amazon?
A new report suggests that the Amazonian rainforest may be worth more standing than cut and cleared for farming. Although the idea is not new, a recent report (Keeping the Amazon forest standing: a matter of values) commissioned by the WWF suggests that marketing the ecological services supplied by the Amazonian forest could hold the…
A future climate that is beyond anything we have considered
GHG emissions are now far higher than even the worst-case scenario envisaged by the IPCC's fourth assessment report published in 2007, according to statement by Christopher Field, a lead author on that report. This statement was delivered at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Chicago, USA, last…