Green News
A list of countries which ranks their relative environmental impacts, from most environmentally friendly to least, has just been released. The list was created by US environmental economist Matthew Kahn, using the United Nations' 2006 Human Development Index and the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index. Factors taken into consideration included renewable energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and conservation efforts. General quality of life was also looked at, with things like levels of education, employment and health swaying final results as well as environmental concerns.
According to the list, Finland is the most environmentally friendly country. Ethiopia was judged to be the least environmentally friendly. In general, Scandinavian countries came out on top, and countries in Asia featured nearer the bottom of the list.
Green News
In a bid to shake its image as an evil, money-grabbing multinational, and show that it cares, the world's largest retailer, Walmart, has launched a campaign to become a more environmentally friendly company. Plans are in place to improve waste reduction and energy efficiency measures across all its stores, factories and transportation vehicles. It has even launched a website, Walmart Green, where it showcases the energy efficient appliances, recycled furniture and organic cotton clothes and bedding that it now sells.
Critics are saying, however, that simply going green is not enough to win Walmart the status of an ethical company, and that they are using it as a diversion tactic to draw attention away from the fact that they refuse to improve conditions and wages for their workers.
Green News
The country's greenest house has just been sold at a profit of £625,000. Aaron and Raphaella Curtis, who have a whopping eight children, made the brave move of acquiring a site next to a partially demolished viaduct, and creating their own eco home. The move was initially greeted with scepticism by their friends - the same friends who are now eating their words in the face of the extremely lucrative sale which the Curtis family has just made.
The building's walls are made of recycled material, and it uses solar panels and a condensing gas boiler. The materials were all locally sourced to eliminate the need for transporting them over large distances. The house has won a sustainability prize from the Royal Institute of British Architects, and it was named Norwich and Peterborough Eco-house of the Year.
Green News
Uncharacteristically clear summer skies (Yes, really; the clouds were mostly sent our way –Ed) have caused havoc in the Arctic, allowing sunlight to filter through and melt huge volumes of ice.
Scientists from Canada's Queen's University were shocked to see temperatures rise from the usual average summer temperature of 5C to an astonishing 22C on a field trip to the Arctic in July. Sea levels sank accordingly, and by September were the lowest ever on record. What makes the discovery even more shocking is that the temperature recordings were taken in one of the coldest places in the whole of North America, Melville Island.
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Green News
The RSPB warned today that increasing levels of pollution and global warming could signal the disappearance of the Norfolk Broads. The Norfolk Broads is Britain's largest protected waterway, and an important conservation site, home to some of the rarest plant and animal species in the country.
Current regulations mean that the environment is not required to be a priority for groups and authorities operating in the Broads. The RSPB is adamant that a change in policy would save the area from decline, saying that the problem will be 'difficult to tackle, but by no means impossible given sufficient will and resources from the government and its agencies'. With this in mind, the RSPB is pressing for a carbon budget to be set up in the Broads. They are also keen to implicate such plans as returning the dwindling population of wading birds to its far healthier state of 25 years ago, and ensuring that all food in local pubs is locally sourced.
Green News
The results of a survey on reusable shopping bags conducted by the British Market Research Bureau on behalf of Guardian Limited were revealed today. The survey showed that, should supermarkets decide to scrap free plastic bags and instead offer reusable shopping bags, available at a small price, the majority of customers would be willing to pay.
Opinions were somewhat divided, however, on the amount of money they would be happy to part with. 14% of respondents believed £2 or more to be a fair price for a cloth bag which lasted at least a year, 50% regarded a price between 50p and £1 as reasonable for the same bag, and 11% wouldn't be prepared to part with more than 20p in exchange for it.
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Arts & information
A team of scientists at the National Observatory of Athens have been looking at paintings created by artists such as Turner, Rubens, Rembrandt, Gainsborough and Hogarth in order to chart the changes in the atmosphere depicted at different periods in history.
This may seem a somewhat tenuous way of going about things, relying as it does a little too much on the artist's work being entirely an entirely realistic representation, but the idea certainly seems to be be making some waves in the scientific world. The correlation between sky colour and the number of pollutants present is helpful is showing them how the climate has altered naturally in the past, so that this can then be compared with how it has been changed by man-made pollutants in recent years.
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