Farmers in Northern Ireland offered fertiliser training
by David Masters
Farmers in Northern Ireland are being encouraged to attend training workshops to teach them what they must do to comply with the new water laws in the country. The Nitrates Action Programme Regulations, which have been effective from January 2007, were implemented as an attempt to improve the water quality in Northern Ireland's lakes and rivers. The regulations control the use and storage of fertilisers and livestock manures, and apply ...
American beauty Tahoe feels the heat of climate change
by David Masters
Lake Tahoe is considered by many Americans to be the epitome of natural beauty. However, the lake is currently under threat due to climate change. The lake, which crosses the California-Nevada border, is famous across America for its crisp blue colour and for the clarity of the water. However, a new study by scientists at the University of California predicts that the lake is likely to be severely impacted by climate ...
Northern Ireland set to have tidal power
by Rachel Thomas
Tidal power has come to Northern Ireland yesterday as SeaGen was laid down in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland. The world’s first and biggest commercial scale tidal stream energy generator weighs in at a phenomenal 1000 tonnes and has a width of 43 metres from end to end. The tidal generator’s makers, Marine Current Turbines, have stated that this form of tidal power could potentially supply up to 10% of the UK’s total ...
World’s cities plunged into darkness for Earth Hour
by Alan Harten
The world renowned Harbour Bridge and Opera House in Sydney harbour were plunged into darkness this weekend, as were many other Sydney landmarks and office blocks as well as bars and restaurants all over Australia, to signify the 2008, Earth Hour. It is estimated that up to 30 million people turned out their lights, switched off their TV’s around the globe to make a point about global climate change around the ...
Western US getting hotter, faster, than the rest of the planet
by Alan Harten
The Western States of America are getting hotter, nearly twice as quckly as the rest of the planet. This is liable to cause increased draught, as serious problems for many large US cities in the region. the Natural Resources Defense Council has been studying official federal government temperature data. And has come to the conclusion that, across the western region of the US is made up of 11 states. From ...
Italy feels the pressure over buffalo cheese scare
by Rachel ThomasYesterday the EU put further pressure on Italy to provide information regarding the scale of a potential crisis over a possible correlation between cancer and cheese. Brussels warned Italy of a potential banning of buffalo mozzarella over the EU. Italian authorities were encouraged to provide detail about carcinogenic dioxins found in buffalo mozzarella produced in the Naples area. The European commission set the Italian government a deadline, which expired ...
Northern Ireland on track to meet energy targets
by David Masters
The government in Northern Ireland is aiming for 12% of the country's electricity to come from indigenous sources by 2012, with much of this produced using renewable sources. Currently, just 5% of the country's electricity comes from renewable sources. However, the government hopes that this figure will eventually rise to over 40%, with wind power being the cheapest and most effective option. Nigel Dodds, Northern Ireland's minister for enterprise, ...
Rubbish cheat fined £25,000
by David Masters
The owner of a scrapyard in Buckinghamshire has been ordered to pay a hefty fine after repeatedly flouting waste disposal laws. Michael Komaroni was investigated by the Environment Agency and given numorous warnings to clean up his scrapyard in Halton. The mess in the yard included skips full of car batteries and piles of electronic equipment. Having ignored the warnings, Komaroni has now been ordered by Aylesbury magistrates to pay ...
Government to give free advice on going organic
by David Masters
Farmers in England will soon be offered free impartial advice on switching to organic production. The British government has announced a new service that will offer farmers practical advice on moving to organic. The advice will take into account both the difficult of switching to organic, and the principled nature of the decision. Current advice on organic farming is often seen to be biased. Defra hopes that their new service ...
British reality TV crew accused of causing Peruvian tribal epidemic
by Rachel Thomas
An isolated tribe of Peruvian Indians has been hit by a flu epidemic thought to have been the result of contact with a British reality TV company. Regional Indian rights organisation Fenama, a US anthropologist working in the region and government officials have stated that a two person crew working for the London based Cicada Films went against regulations to visit isolated Indian communities. Fenema accused the film ...
Nuclear plant designs meet safety criteria
by David Masters
The four potential designs for the UK's new nuclear power plants have been approved by safety experts from the nuclear regulators, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Environment Agency (EA). The designs were submitted to the government by four different private contractors: AECL; EdF/Areva; General Electric/Hitatchi; and Westinghouse. If the claims in the submissions are correct, then all four designs satisfy security, safety and environmental critera. The validity of ...
Northern Ireland homes and business lead the way on energy efficiency
by David MastersHomes in Northern Ireland have improved their energy efficiency by 20% over the last 12 years. Figures from the Housing Executive reveal that because of improvements in energy efficiency households and businesses have on average saved £230 per year since 1996. This equates to three million tonnes of carbon dioxide not being emitted into the atmosphere. Chairman of the Housing Executive, Brian Rowntree, said of the figures: "We have seen some significant ...
Satellite map reveals true extent of EU carbon emissions
by David Masters
Scientists in Germany have created a map that depicts the levels of carbon emissions across Europe's regions. The map was created by Envisat, a satellite owned by the European Space Agency. Data from the satellite was formatted to reveal the environmental impact of different regions in Europe. The resulting map gives credence to scientist's estimates of carbon output in different regions. Carbon emissions were found to be highest across ...
Undercover investigators find that illegal logging is rife
by David Masters
A new report dishing the dirt on the illegal timber trade says that much of the UK's garden furniture is made with illegal timber from Indonesia, traded via Vietnam. The report, published jointly by NGOs Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), based in the UK, and Telapak, based in Indonesia, says that the illegal timber passed through Vietnam is fuelling high-speed deforestation in Laos. Around 500,000 tonnes of illegal timber is moved ...
Ice shelf suffering serious melting
by Alan Harten
New satellite images are showing that a huge chunk of Antarctica's Wilkins Ice Shelf has begun to fall away in the quickly warming waters. This is according to scientist Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The area affected is huge at 160 sq miles of the Wilkins Ice Shelf which is a very wide sheet of floating ice making up part of the ...
Britain’s fish industry to set green records
by Rachel Thomas
Britain’s fishing industry is set to break records as a number of fleets are to be awarded “eco-labels”, making the industry one of the greenest across the globe. This has come to light since the Marine Stewardship Council, overseers of the most widely acknowledged scheme for fisheries, stated that many of the UK’s largest fleets are set to join its labelling scheme for their catches of dover, sole, prawns, herring and ...
Inventor of virtual water wins international accolade
by David Masters
A university professor has received international recognition for his concept of virtual water. Professor Tony Allan, of King's College London, discovered that large amounts of water are embedded in the production of industrial and food products. The importance of his breakthrough discovery is to be recognised in August this year when he will be awarded with the US$150,000 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate. The virtual water concept has made it possible ...
London’s residents support congestion charging
by David Masters
A new poll has found that almost two-thirds of those living in London back Mayor Livingstone's decision to increase the congestion charge for high-polluting vehicles. A survey of over 1,000 Londoners was carried out by IPSOS-MORI, asking respondents what they thought of the new £25 per day charge for the most heavily polluting vehicles. 61% said that they are in favour of the new charge. Only 29% of those polled disagreed ...
Londoners charged £3.4 million for eco-bus fuel
by David Masters
London's new hydrogen buses will be powered by fuel supplied by the transnational company Air Products. The £3.4 million deal means that Air Products, which has a European base in Surrey, will be supplying the fuel for the 10 new buses, as well as installing, operating and maintaining the infrastructure that is needed to run hydrogen buses. Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, announced the plan to trial the buses in November last ...
Afghanistan’s eco-friendly reconstruction
by David MastersHomes in war-torn Afghanistan are being rebuilt using bricks made from compressed earth. The earth bricks are eco-friendly because they are low carbon, use local materials, and need far less energy than kiln-fired bricks. As an added bonus, they are cheap, easy to make, and easy to build with. The bricks are made using soil and a little cement or lime. The machine used to make the bricks is ...