Fashion from trash

It may not be obvious, but the 3Rs of the ‘Waste Hierarchy‘ are in a particular order for a reason. ‘Reduce’ comes first, since it has zero impact. Following closely, ‘Re-use’ cuts waste and engenders no or little energy use. ‘Recycle’ comes next because it requires more energy (yet still less than to manufacture using new resources). more…

Climate change is a feminist issue

When it emerged earlier this year that Obama’s science star John Holdren had once, back in 1977, co-authored a textbook discussing possible methods of population control, among them sterilisation, America’s rightwing fury machine triumphantly seized upon it, dubbing him Obama’s “science fiction tsar“. more…

Cutting carbon by degrees

When the first Cool Biz campaign was implemented in the summer of 2005, I just couldn’t understand why air conditioners in Japanese offices were being set at 28°C. I used to think, “Isn’t it better just to switch them off?” more…

High and dry

The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is referred to as the Third Pole because it is the third largest mass of ice on the Earth, after the Arctic and Antarctic. Its glaciers provide a water source for 1.3 billion people in Asia. more…

Into the seed bunker

An endangered pink banana enjoyed by Asian elephants becomes a landmark species today, marking the first milestone in an international project to create a Noah’s ark of the world’s seeds. more…

Shared futures

This summer I stared climate change in the face and finally came to understand how much it unites us like nothing else in history. more…

The rise of online climate activists

It seems this December’s COP15 meeting in Copenhagen has created an impressive surge of activism, especially through social media.
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Earth’s catalogue now holds 1.9 million species

The number of species on the planet that have been documented by scientists has risen to 1.9 million, according to the world’s most comprehensive catalogue of plants and animals. more…

Kicking the travel drug

I am forty-five years old. I consider myself to have lived a luxurious life in terms of the spectrum of experience that has been available to me and the leisure to seek it. Yet by the developed world’s standards of today, I have only ever been modestly privileged.

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In search of shelter


The climate undergoes constant and gradual change over the space of centuries and millennia. Since the mid-19th century, however, our world has been moving towards a warm period such as the earth has not experienced for several million years. more…