The Independent - Green Living RSS Feed

Ethical travel company drops carbon offsetting

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

One of Britain's leading ethical travel operators has launched a scathing attack on the carbon offset industry and has decided to stop offering offsets to its customers as a way of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. Justin Francis, the founder of responsibletravel.com, said he had decided to abandon offsets because he believes they have become a "medieval pardon that allows people to continue polluting".

Top food firm switches to sustainable palm oil

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

A leading food manufacturer says it will switch to a "sustainable" source of palm oil for its most famous brands, such as McVitie's, Jaffa Cakes and Penguin.

Green beliefs win legal protection

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Employees who raise concerns about their company's environmental practices won the right to legal redress yesterday after a judge ruled that green beliefs deserved the same protection in the workplace as religious convictions.

Why the Nasca's big mistake was to cut down the huarango tree

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

At the height of their power, the Nasca had mastered the craft of weaving elaborate textiles and the art of painting fine, multicoloured pottery. They etched giant figures in the desert that only made sense if seen from the air, and they irrigated their crops with a network of underground aqueducts.

Ingrid Newkirk: You can't be a meat-eating environmentalist

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:46:08 GMT

Lord Stern has just given environmental leaders food for thought and an important topic to discuss at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Centrica to build new wind farm

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:30:09 GMT

British Gas's parent company Centrica today announced it will build a new offshore wind farm in UK waters which will provide enough electricity to power around 200,000 homes.

The palm oil scandal: Boots and Waitrose named and shamed

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Most British manufacturers and retailers including Boots, Morrisons and Waitrose have done little to limit the environmental damage done by the production of the world's cheapest vegetable oil, according to research published today.

New green taxes to be unveiled

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Reports over the weekend suggested British motorists will be penalised unless they drive less environmentally damaging cars, such as Toyota's latest electric vehicle, pictured above at the Tokyo Motor Show.

Who says it's green to burn woodchips?

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

One of the most cherished articles of faith of the green movement – that wood-fuelled power stations can help save the planet – is being increasingly challenged by campaigners and conservationists around the world.

Supermodel Lily Cole launches rainforest rescue

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:37:55 GMT

Model Lily Cole launched a campaign yesterday to save one billion trees in the Amazon rainforest.

Supermodel Lily Cole launches sky rainforest rescue

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:37:55 GMT

Model Lily Cole launched a campaign yesterday to save one billion trees in the Amazon rainforest.

Prescott attacks windpower 'nimbys'

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

John Prescott, the former Deputy Prime Minister, will today launch a ferocious attack on the “landowners and nimbys” who he says are holding up the installation of wind farms across Britain and thus hindering the fight against climate change.

Eco Chic: Turning trash into treasure

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:37:27 GMT

In September the largest haul of Anglo-Saxon gold ever discovered in this country was dug up in Staffordshire.

Cars must be electric, says climate tsar

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Britain's ambitious policies to cut carbon dioxide in the fight against global warming are still not enough, the official climate change watchdog warns today in its first annual report.

Clean-up begins after cyanide pollutes Trent

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Thousands of fish have been killed in one of the worst pollution incidents in Britain this year, after cyanide was spilled into the river Trent in Staffordshire.

Green activists jubilant as Kingsnorth shelved

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Kingsnorth Power Station, which has for three years been the battleground between environmental pressure groups and the British energy industry, will not get its controversial new coal power plant.

Cyanide sparks River Trent pollution probe

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:38:41 GMT

An investigation was under way today into how untreated sewage and cyanide made its way into part of one of the country's major rivers.

Ellen MacArthur says that she'll never race again

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Four years after becoming the fastest person to sail around the world alone, Dame Ellen MacArthur is giving up ocean racing – to save the planet. The sailor, the castaway on today's Desert Island Discs on Radio 4, says she is so anxious about the threat to the environment she will abandon any new marine expeditions.

Conservative call for lower energy bills

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The "cartel" of the "big six" energy firms will be referred to the Competition Commission as one of the first acts of a Conservative government, it is reported here today.

The Australian town that kicked the bottle

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Plastic bottles were ceremoniously removed from shelves in the sleepy Australian town of Bundanoon at the weekend as a ban on commercially-bottled water – believed to be a world first – came into force.

His dark materials: The man behind Green & Black’s chocolate wants to save the planet – with charcoal

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Booking my ticket to Hastings to visit Craig Sams, I notice a link on the train operator's website that allows me to check the carbon footprint of my trip. It's a fitting start to a journey to meet one of the foremost pioneers of the green movement – not least because the latest endeavour of the man who brought the macrobiotic diet to Britain and made organic chocolate one of the most fashionable foodstuffs of the past decade is an ambitious global carbon-capturing initiative that may hold part of the answer to climate change.

Cyclo-therapy: The road up to Ditchling Beacon has roughly the same gradient as Mont Ventoux – but it's 14 times shorter

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Every year more than 27,000 people cycle from Clapham Common in south London to the seafront at Brighton in the biggest charity event of its kind. And that's why I've always avoided it. Firstly, because 27,000 people is a ridiculous number of riders to send along narrow Sussex lanes, but also because it's for charity.

Big Think: The 'Fab Tree Hab'

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:22:09 GMT

Mitchell Joachim Architect, Co-Founder of architecture firm, Terraform ONE and Professor of Architecture at Columbia, has been internationally recognized for his big ideas and groundbreaking concept designs: from eco-friendly housing, to soft cars, self-sufficient cities, and suburbs on wheels. Here, Joachim talks to Big Think about his design for the Fab Tree Hab - a ‘positive impact’ home formed entirely from elements of local ecosystems.

How a cargo of rubbish became a crime scene that shames Britain

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:00:01 GMT

In a secret compound in Britain's busiest dockyard, an unusual crime scene was unfolding yesterday. Amid a cloying stench of putrefying waste, investigators clad in face masks and forensic suits picked out the evidence they were seeking from a 500kg bale of compacted rubbish: a soiled nappy, a bag of rotting meat, rusting soup tins and a pair of knickers.

Wave electricity generator capsizes in sea

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:00:01 GMT

A power company's plans to create energy by harnessing power from sea waves suffered a setback after an 80-tonne generator capsized off the coast.