The extraordinary story of how Peru's Indians are fighting to the death to protect their way of life and their rainforest ...Read more

Why ex-servicemen are stepping out of their camouflage and into the renewable energy industry. ...Read more

In the General Grant Houses in Manhattan, two women are spreading the word about recycling, door by door. ...Read more

Video: Hauliers, polluting the environment, breaking bridges and slowing down traffic is not your God-given right ...Read more

Supermarket chain Sainsbury's has announced that it is binning boxes for its own-brand cereals. Will you be happy to get your rice pops in a plastic packet or will you miss the old-fashioned cardboard box? ...Read more

Twenty-two defendants went on trial charged with obstructing a freight train which was carrying coal to Drax power station. Martin Wainwright hears from environmental protesters outside Leeds crown court ...Read more

Koala twin reared by hand in captivity in Australia after mother throws her out of the pouch ...Read more

On a remote Scottish island, the sheep are shrinking, and the cause appears to be the warming of winter. ...Read more

Two residents of the General Grant Houses in Upper Manhattan are spreading the word about recycling, building by building. ...Read more

Environmental groups lost all five of their cases before the Supreme Court last term, a trend scholars see continuing as the court moves to the right. ...Read more

Aida Edemariam asks: "Why are we so hostile to foreign species?" (G2, 1 July) and suggests an underlying xenophobic cause to our unease with such species. Non-native invasive species are widely considered by conservationists to be one of the greatest threats to biodiversity - they have directly caused the extinction, and drastically reduced the population sizes, of many native species throughout the world. It is not that they are "foreign" or from "overseas", although often the language us ...Read more

Could Peru's uncontacted Amazonian tribes be wiped out by oil giants? Not if they don't exist ... Rory Carroll investigatesStand on the muddy riverbank at Copal Urco just before dawn and it is easy to see why the Amazon breeds legends. The vast river swishes past, almost invisible in the gloom. Insect and animal noises seep from the dense blackness of the forest. The day barely begun and already humid. As the sun rises the blackness recedes, revealing massive, tightly packed trees. Even when t ...Read more

Major economic powers buying and renting farmland in sub-Saharan states to satisfy soaring consumptionSee the full FAO report into land deals in Africa here (pdf)A million Chinese farmers have joined the rush to Africa, according to one estimate, underlining concerns that an unchecked "land grab" not seen since the 19th century is under way.Some of the world's richest countries are buying or leasing land in some of the world's poorest to satisfy insatiable appetites for food and fuel. In the ...Read more

• UN sounds warning after 30m hectares bought up• G8 leaders to discuss 'neo-colonialism'John Vidal Environment editorThe acquisition of farmland from the world's poor by rich countries and international corporations is accelerating at an alarming rate, with an area half the size of Europe's farmland targeted in the last six months, reports from UN officials and agriculture experts say.New reports from the UN and analysts in India, Washington and London estimate that at least 30m hectares i ...Read more

Hundreds of climate protesters will form a human chain at Kingsnorth power station in what will be the biggest test of Kent police tactics since its controversial handling of last year's demonstrations.Protesters from a coalition of groups, including Oxfam, the Women's Institute, Greenpeace, and the RSPB, will form the chain around the parts of the plant that are not subject to court injunctions.The chain, dubbed a "Mili-band of polite radicals", is intended to intensify the pressure on the ...Read more

Image via: Coulomb Technologies Sonoma County, CA is preparing to install 200 new ChargePoint electric vehicle charging stations throughout the county. The infrastructure is being installed in preparation of electric vehicles being sold like hot cakes starting over the next few years, but the plan hinges on a little thing calle... ...Read more

Before: how not to grill--high flame, smoke and charring. Photo via flickr by (appropriately) Combust When barbecuing your free-range meats and line-caught fish this July 4th, be sure to whip up some marinade first. Yesterday, I offered ten ways to avoid carcinogenic HCAs and PAHs when grilling (or any high-heat cooking, for that matter). Thanks to a comment from a reader, I dug digger into tip # 4, the marinating suggestion that lessens HCAs, and discovered some compelling results and recomme ...Read more

The outcome of the trial of the Drax protesters was determined the minute the judge banned the consideration of climate changeI would say that if the law considers it acceptable to kill 180 people a year, then the law has some catching up to do.When Beth Stratford addressed the jury on Wednesday at the trial of the Drax 29 she was speaking in the knowledge that the judge in her trial had already secured a guilty verdict by his earlier decision to ban consideration of climate change from the proc ...Read more

Those prices are in Yuans per liter, I think. Fuel Subsidies Punish Virtue The Chinese government has recently decided to raise fuel prices by about 10%, the third increase in the past few months, following a 6-7% increase on June 1st, and a 3-5% increase in March. The stated goal is to bring the price of fuel in China closer to what the market price is. From a green point of view, this is good because subsidized fossil fuels only encourages waste, over-consumption, and the buying of vehicles ...Read more

Photos via Critical Bench, and the Guardian We're well aware that more and more products are apt to be labeled with false green claims to try to grab the attention of increasingly green consumers--and 98% percent of them were guilty of exactly that last year. Now consider the federal, USDA regulated ...Read more

Put your energy questions to Smart Solar, the Oxfordshire-based firm that supplies photovoltaic solar panel systems for domestic useIn the You Ask, They Answer spotlight this week is Smart Solar, an Oxfordshire company that produces photovoltaic solar panel systems for domestic use. Managing director, Jonathan Stobart, will be on-hand to answer all your questions about how to install solar generation in your home and garden.What are the pitfalls in applying for planning permission for solar pane ...Read more

Photo: Wikipedia, CC The Incredible Shrinking Sheep! Could the changing climate be shrinking animals? That seems to be the case for the Soay sheep of Scotland. "The island of Hirta, on the western coast of Scotland, is home to a special breed of sheep. Soay sheep, named after a neighbouring island, are the most primitive breed of domestic sheep and have lived on the isles of St Kilda for at least a millennium." These sheep are already smaller on average than other breeds of sheep, but accord ...Read more

The idea is one of 20 radical solutions to the threat of global warming to be proposed during presentations at a conference in Manchester this weekendThe British public could invest their savings in the UK's renewable energy revolution and reap the financial rewards of helping to save the planet, under ambitious plans to be discussed this weekend.The Public Interest Research Centre, a thinktank based in Wales, says the government could sell "energy bonds" to pay for the required investment. T ...Read more

The idea is one of 20 radical solutions to the threat of global warming to be proposed during presentations at a conference in Manchester this weekendThe British public could invest their savings in the UK's renewable energy revolution and reap the financial rewards of helping to save the planet, under ambitious plans to be discussed this weekend.The Public Interest Research Centre, a thinktank based in Wales, says the government could sell "energy bonds" to pay for the required investment. T ...Read more

Prometheus Energy has raised $20 million in funding from the Shell Technology Ventures Fund and Black River Asset Management, a subsidiary of agriculture giant Cargill. ...Read more

From a Harris hawk at Wimbledon to animals cooling off in Britain's heatwave - the pick of this week's images from the natural world ...Read more

Image via: Ninety Acres Culinary School Richard Branson, known for supporting all types of wild and high profile schemes (renewable energy, carbon capture, alternative fuels for Virgin Airlines and even eco-resorts on his famous islands), now he's into something a little more mellow: funding a F... ...Read more

The hijack of a coal train by climate protesters and their ensuing trial both played out in a uniquely British manner, writes Martin WainwrightIt was a lovely sunny morning in perfect English countryside, but somewhere among the fields between the M62 and Drax in North Yorkshire, something extremely atypical of this tranquil landscape was about to happen.I wasn't sure exactly what, but on the empty lanes not long after dawn it was easy to guess that the railway line servicing Drax power station ...Read more

The cultural legacy of R. Crumb's 60's cartoon character, "Mr. Natural," may well be that US consumers have an instinctive preference for the "100% Natural" label over the "100% Organic" one, and by a wide margin (as pictured). That's according to recent survey of 1006 people by the Shelton Group, which offeres detailed results in a commercially-sold EcoPulse market report.... ...Read more

Industry, government and climate campaigners say Britain should take advantage of its marine resources to become a renewable energy powerhouse. ...Read more

Drax protesters convicted of obstruction but cleared on lesser charge of stopping coal trainClimate change protesters who hijacked a power station coal train in a highly organised operation have been convicted by a jury in a unanimous verdict which came after less than two hours.The 22 men and women, including a senior university lecturer, teachers and film-makers, were found guilty of obstructing the service carrying 42,000 tonnes of coal to Drax in North Yorkshire last June.They were cleared o ...Read more

I know, that contradicts everything we have been saying about the carbon footprint of flying, but there are a lot of lessons to be learned from visiting other places and cultures. In Paris, it's more than just the smaller carbon footprint of urban dwellers; it is about food, bikes, walking, transit, and a different style of living. So many lessons. ... ...Read more

Images via Orange Taking their Chill-n-Charge tent to a whole new level, Orange has dreamed up a concept solar tent that would use flexible solar fabric and modern design to create a place to relax and charge up gear while off grid. Check out images of the concept tent and how it would work. ... ...Read more

Dealing with your FICO score can sometimes make you see red, but the company is trying to throw in some green. They launched a Sustainable Enterprise Initiative in 2008, with the goal to reduce the company's IT energy use by 50% and paper consumption by 80% by 2010. They've already made some serious headway on that goal. ... ...Read more

With every upload, download, accolade, email, tweet and article there comes an energy costWithin hours of Michael Jackson's death Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were all groaning under the strain as millions of people turned to the web to pay tributes, watch MJ videos, upload their attempts at moonwalking and, inevitably, to share a seemingly unlimited number of jokes about the dead star. And Twitter saw a 23% increase in tweets after his death.It's a remarkable display of how the internet and ...Read more

Image credit: StreetFilms Dangerous intersection reclaimed as public space One of my favorite things about the folks at StreetFilms is that they don't just report on innovative projects for livable streets - they deconstruct what has been done so we can all learn from it. It's like they are building a sense of collective literacy around planning and public space. Whether it's physically separated bike lanes or ...Read more

From catcalls to lurid comments, should you shout back, or just ignore them? Any tips for those who will not give up their skirts?Forget modesty: it's about catcalling. Unlike Gwladys, I quickly gave up on the idea of biking with a skirt on. A pity really, because the thought of commuting to work wearing light and fluttering fabrics is especially appealing during summer time. But from now on, I'm all about ugly lycra capri pants.My admission of defeat isn't about wanting to keep my poise: loo ...Read more

Beijing is steering a push toward wind and solar power, while the U.S. is just starting. ...Read more

The discovery that a periodic warming pattern in the central Pacific Ocean is linked to more frequent hurricanes in the Atlantic may help improve forecasts. ...Read more

'Megatrucks' like these may soon be permitted on EU roads. They are already driven in some parts of Europe, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, the US and Canada ...Read more

Scientists use GPS to track the movements of a colony of puffins living on the Farne Islands in a bid to discover why their numbers are falling ...Read more

Severin Carrell reports from the Farne Islands on monitoring seabird decline ...Read more

Severin Carrell meets the zoologist Richard Bevan who is helping the National Trust investigate puffin numbers on the Farne islands using GPS tags ...Read more

Antonia Windsor joins scientists and conservationists in Mozambique where new species of butterfly and reptiles await ...Read more

EU restrictions on the size and shape of 26 types of fruit and vegetables are lifted today ...Read more