International Environmental Conventions
In praise of ... maize | EditorialGuardian Unlimited | 10 Apr 2011One of the world's most successful food crops, maize could also prevent greenhouse emissions from flatulent cowsIt has a ring to it, but that is the only sound the world will hope to hear from the latest use for one of the world's most successful staple foods. Research at Reading University has found that increasing maize silage in the diet of cattle reduces the flatulence which accompanies their gentle rumination of the cud.
England | Agriculture | Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Livestock | Science and Environment Is there a scientific consensus?Guardian Unlimited | 07 Apr 2011Read about the project. Despite uncertainty about many of the details of climate change, there is a broad consensus among the world's most prestigious scientific bodies that the world is warming and that humans have played a significant role in creating that warming. Various studies have attempted...
England | Climate Change | Science and Environment Will rising seas put London under water?Guardian Unlimited | 14 Mar 2011In its 2007 report, the IPCC projects that sea level will rise anywhere from 180mm to 590mm by 2090-2100. This range is smaller than in the IPCC's 2001 report, but it excludes some key uncertainties about how quickly warming will melt land-based ice. The last few years have seen glaciers accelerating their seaward flow in many spots along the margins of Greenland and West Antarctica.
England | Climate Change | Science and Environment | Sea Level Rise Mass rat cull for remote UK islandGuardian Unlimited | 24 Feb 2011Eradication programme aims to save millions of seabirds from invasive rats on South Georgia. Testing for the biggest rat eradication programme in history is beginning on a remote UK island in the south Atlantic. Scientists are preparing to drop poison in a limited area of South Georgia in a bid to save the world's most southern songbird from extinction and restore tens of millions of seabirds to the island's breeding grounds.
United Kingdom | Biodiversity | Biodiversity Conservation | Pollution | Science and Environment UK firm develops way to store hydrogenGuardian Unlimited | 24 Feb 2011Cella Energy used nanotechnology to develop microbeads that can trap hydrogen and release it when heated. One of the biggest stumbling blocks on the road to hydrogen power has long been the difficulty in storing the fuel. Hydrogen atoms are so small that they can slip between the spaces in molecules of other materials, and the gas can be a hazard if it escapes. But a cheap and practical way of storing hydrogen has been developed by a British company.
United Kingdom | Energy Production | Renewable Energy | Science and Environment Target 'black carbon', recommends UNGuardian Unlimited | 23 Feb 2011Cutting the amount of soot we pour into the atmosphere, and emissions of methane from agriculture, would be one of the most powerful ways to tackle climate change, a new report from the United Nations environment programme (Unep) has concluded. Preventing "black carbon" - particles of soot from industry and cooking fires – from polluting the air would help to cut global warming by as much as 0.5C, and reduce warming in the Arctic by about two thirds by 2030.
Air Pollution | Global Warming | Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Industry | Science and Environment