Turning your office wasteland into a recycling haven

By the Big Green Switch

For several years, colleagues within our office looked around at the mountains of used printer paper, newspapers and other waste that surrounded them and made mild mutterings about how awful it was that it all just went into the main waste skip and wasn’t recycled. Yet while many were keen to see the waste dealt with in a better way, no-one was particularly keen to take on the recycling role themselves.

Yet, when we finally got the bit between our teeth at the start of the year and decided once and for all that the waste must stop, it turned out to be much

Iron Fertilization: “Give me half a tanker of iron and I’ll give you the next ice age.”

Simmons blogs at Thoughts on Global Warming. If you feel like writing for us, drop us an email!
What if, to prevent global warming, humanity fertilized the ocean with iron? That is the question scientists will be discussing at an international Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution conference from September 26-27.

The idea became more mainstream after oceanographer John Martin famously told his colleagues, “Give me half a tanker of iron and I’ll give you the next ice age.”

Dissolved iron is rare in the ocean. Iron is a vital nutrient for phytoplankton growth and photosynthesis. Ocean zones that are iron-deficient have small phytoplankton populations, if at all.

Phytoplankton, like any other life form that obtains energy through photosynthesis (e.g. plants), absorbs carbon dioxide. Unlike most other plants, when phytoplankton dies, the CO2 is not necessarily immediately released in to the atmosphere. When most plants die, they decompose and the

Prius a no, no – Peugeot, Citroen and Ford are all greener, says new study

It looks like bad news for the Toyota Prius. A joint study between Cardiff University and Clifford Thames an automotive consultancy revealed that far from being the greenest of the bunch, the Prius lagged behind the likes of Peugeot, Citroën, Ford, Smart, and other cars in a new environmental rating system.

Opponents will claim that this is far from the truth, the Prius is after all, the cleanest for its size. However, David Riemenschneider, Clifford Thames’ chief executive said that “Conventional technology will overtake the Prius over the next 12 to 18 months, and consumers won’t have to pay a premium for it.” He would know… the researchers have been studying cars which are going to launch in the near future – these petrol and diesel guzzlers are already

Man uses fake leg to smuggle iguanas

Three endangered iguanas, one man and one prosthetic leg: the ingredients needed to get past security at an airport - apparently. That’s according to an American citizen named Mr James. He reportedly told an undercover agent that he managed to smuggle highly endangered reptiles using a specially created compartment inside his prosthetic leg. He also told the agent that he sold three of the banded iguanas for $32,000 four years ago. Mr James could face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors began an investigation into Mr James’ affairs after the United States Fish and Wildlife services received a tip off, informing them that

Baby tigers and baby orangutans become the best of friends

A pair of Sumatran tiger cubs and a set of young orang-utans, all abandoned at birth, have become inseparable after sharing a room at an Indonesian zoo.

“The four have lived side-by-side for a month without a single act of hostility,” said zookeeper Sri Suwarni

A quick guide to composting

Around 30% of the household waste currently sent to landfill sites could be composted instead. Composting the right materials can produce fantastic food for your garden as it generates valuable nutrients which can then be placed back into the ground.

What to compost
While there is lots of household waste that can be composted, it’s important to make sure you only put the correct types of things onto your compost heap.

Do compost

Japanese Atlantis: 5,000 year old city beneath the sea.

A city lies dormant, deserted and forgotten. Submerged beneath the ocean off Yonaguni Jima is a Japanese Atlantis—an ancient city sunk by an earthquake about 2,000 years ago, according to marine geologist Masaaki Kimura.

Kimura, who is a professor at the University of the Ryukyus in Japan has been diving at the site to measure and map its formations for more than 15 years and is convinced that what he sees are the remnants of a forgotten city, once which is over 5,000 years

Green motoring

Did you know that 25% of all UK carbon emissions come from the way we travel? The journeys we make in our cars, the flights we take on holiday and the buses and trains we use to get around all contribute a staggering amount of CO2 to the national total.

A large degree of this transport carbon comes from our cars and, although giving up your vehicle and using a bike may be the most environmentally friendly way to get around, it’s unlikely to appeal to the majority of us. So is there a way to keep our cars without killing the planet?

Changing the way you drive is one of the most effective ways to cut the carbon you produce. Try removing any excess weight from your car

The bigger picture of climate disaster

Post By Richard Graves. If you feel like writing for us, drop us an email!

It is time to connect the dots. This year has seen more than our fair share of extreme weather and there have been a profusion of ‘record-breaking’ climactic events.

We have seen fires devastate Greece, killing 63 people and burning almost a half-million acres, almost charring Olympia itself (National Geographic). Last year, 9.6 million acres in the United State were

Environmental News 2.0: Online communities fuel the fight against global warming

Post By Richard Graves. If you feel like writing for us, drop us an email!

Major online communities are becoming a huge force in making Global Warming a political priority. While there has been a lot of ink spilled about how online communities are changing the face of politics, the fact is that they really raise the profile of ordinary people’s concerns.

Well, people are concerned about Global Warming, because as Carlos showed us in Climate Tipping Points Get Scarier … there are only about 10 years left to

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