In May Our Future Planet ran a piece about "cooperative capitalism" and its role in a sustainable future. The following...
Steel and glass may not shape our skyscrapers in years to come, as architects rethink the potential of wood. Photo credit: edvvc....
The French writer Gustave Flaubert once provocatively suggested that “our ignorance of history makes us slander our own times”. Rio+20...
A mixed picture has emerged from new environmental data issued by the UK government. The UK Environmental Accounts for...
With Rio+20 taking place this week, everyone should be ready for many sparky and sparkling arguments. To get nations working...
A new and awkward term is doing the rounds at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as...
Following research linking neonicotinoid pesticides to the decline in bee populations, France has announced it plans to ban...
In Patagonia, pumas (Puma concolor) are "generous" enough to leave kills and otherwise influence the populations of condors and...
Those debating the substance of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should learn lessons from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and focus on...
An absence of strong scientific and policy research in developing countries has stifled their ability to contribute to Rio+20 debates,...
Sustainable development targets will work only if they engage with the realities of national politics, says policy expert Matthew Lockwood....
Robert Blasiak from the UNU Institute of Advanced Studies had the opportunity to interview Allan Savory during several bus rides...
Cities in a number of Asian countries, including China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and...
America's national forests continue to deteriorate, and a proposed switch from clear-cut logging to selective harvesting might not stop...
Bridgestone, the largest tyre company in the world, offers a promising innovation for small city cars. Photo credit: Rajaram R. www.sxc.hu ...
Energy harnessed from hot steam in East Africa’s Rift Valley could power Kenya many times over. Photo credit: jlong9899. www.sxc.hu ...
Source: Courtesy of Matthew Howman, Author I have recently been on a venture to Costa Rica volunteering on a conservation project...
Colony collapse disorder threatens food crops valued at $15 billion a year. New research says farm chemicals put...
The challenge: build the greenest houses on earth—and make them affordable. Photo credit: Steve Woods. www.rgbstock.com
U.S. scientists have developed a new method of verifying urban reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2). Researchers from Harvard and...
Time Magazine considers ideas that are changing our lives. Photo credit: Nerus. www.stockfreeimages.com
Last Friday the pro-environment business organisation the Aldersgate Group convened a meeting to discuss the EU proposals to cut greenhouse...
Human society is consuming natural resources as if there were one-and-a-half Earths, and not just a single blue planet,...
Dr Julian Caldecott, a member of Our Future Planet's Advisory Board, began his talk at the University of...
A researcher believes thermoelectric paint could bring affordable DIY solar energy to the market within five years. Photo Credit: Adrian van...
American company Solar3D Inc is working on a low-cost 3D solar cell prototype that could lower the cost of...
The Royal Society's report People and Planet, published today investigates the links between global population and consumption, and its implications...
Illegal and unregulated fishing is rampant worldwide, particularly off the coasts of West Africa and the Horn of Africa, and...
When all the world's scientists tend to agree on something, it's worth taking note. What is certain here is...
One of the most proactive marine conservation body is offering to help patrol and protect Australia's new Coral Sea...
In the entire climate change debate the impacts to air have dominated, with water not having featured as a...
JAKARTA, 24 April 2012 (IRIN) - Heavy pollution of river water by household and industrial waste in the Indonesian...
Water conservation is the responsibility of everyone on the planet. It is a vital component to life on earth,...
A new report finds that the oceans are facing a mass extinction. One day many of the world's marine species...
Jacob Park looks at how migration and displacement induced by environmental change and resource scarcity is already happening. Photo Credit: Troy...
Our World 2.0: The BioFresh project is using innovative ways of communicating to illustrate the science and importance of freshwater...
There is a lot of plastic detritus in the oceans of our planet - that is certainly true, and owing...
Seawater greenhouses, solar power plants and other new green technologies will be brought together in Jordan in an attempt to...
Seawater greenhouses, solar power plants and other new green technologies will be brought together in Jordan in...
Seawater greenhouses, solar power plants and other new green technologies will be brought together in Jordan in an attempt...
By building dams on the upper Mekong, China has triggered a revival in hydropower ambitions downstream, writes Philip Hirsch. image by...
“Every now and then in history, the human race takes a collective step forward in its evolution. Such a time...
“Every now and then in history, the human race takes a collective step forward in its evolution. Such a time...
The world's coral reefs are in trouble. Due to a variety of factors—including ocean acidification, warming temperatures from climate change,...
Policymakers need better information about the regional impact of climate change on water supplies, and on ways of adapting to...
As marketers learn to fake climate-friendly food, how do we spot the real thing? Anna Lappé says it's a question...
The Earth’s supply of water is dwindling. Giles Crosse looks at the issues, and what it might take to solve...
Raw sewage may become a new source of energy for the world. That’s right—electricity from poop.Photo Credit: David Ritter ...
Giles Crosse tracks down some more equitable ways to make a buck. Despite many popular conceptions, big business doesn’t necessarily mean...
Giles Crosse explores the issues. According to Greenpeace, ‘Every four seconds, marine life in an area of ocean floor the size...
Giles Crosse reviews the risk. It’s very easy to concentrate on global dangers including climate change, forthcoming energy shortages or population...
Whether on land or in the sea, rubbish we don’t see equals rubbish we don’t think about. Giles Crosse discovers...
Restorative ecology was at the heart of the winning bid. But how well do the slick sporting venues sit alongside...
Outline of a Carbon Price Creation Initiative (CPCI), through which to create a realistic price for conserved carbon, and thereby...
END:CIV examines our culture’s addiction to systematic violence and environmental exploitation, and probes the resulting epidemic of poisoned landscapes and...
A major New Zealand supermarket chain has asked Cottonsoft to prove its environmental credentials after testing by WWF and Greenpeace...
Two people came across around 200 finless baby sharks washed up at Owhanake Bay, Waiheke Island, which is one of...
Fear is growing among environmental and indigenous organisations in Chile over the possible appropriation of native seeds by foreign companies,...
Africa’s forests are fast diminishing to the detriment of climate, biodiversity, and millions of people of dependent on forest resources...
Working in the field of environmental management as researchers, and being particularly interested and concerned by the fate of tropical...
Worldwide wolf populations have dropped around 99 percent from historic populations. Lion populations have fallen from 450,000 to 20,000 in...
Cities can be resource-sucking, pollutant-spewing monsters, but the picture could well be green if modelled after Vitoria-Gasteiz, 2012 European Green...
The controversial Serengeti road is going ahead, but with conditions. Critics argue that even an unpaved road would eventually cripple...
For years now, environmentalists have become accustomed to associating palm oil with large-scale destruction of rainforests across Malaysia and Indonesia....
World leaders must get their priorities straight or risk global economic upheaval that will be caused by something most of...
Big mammals shouldn’t be a casualty of modern society. They could make a comeback—if we give them what they need...
A new law expected to pass in Bolivia mandates a fundamental ecological reorientation of the nation’s economy and society. Indigenous and...
Our World 2.0: The BioFresh project is using innovative ways of communicating to illustrate the science and importance of freshwater...
During a meeting in March 2011 twenty-six experts—from biologists to social scientists to NGO staff—crafted a statement calling on the...
A new study has put the brakes on a rush by some countries and companies to establish plantations of jatropha,...
In the quest for development, community thinking and actions are dynamic and evolving, yet a sense of ‘rootedness’ guides them. Human...
Palm oil, usually produced from a species of palm tree originally from West Africa, has emerged over the past 30...
Below is a quick review of some of the biggest environmental stories of 2010. Commentary by Jeremy Hance and Rhett...
On Friday, October 29th, 193 member nations of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) reached a possibly landmark agreement on...
The world's coral reefs are in trouble. Due to a variety of factors—including ocean acidification, warming temperatures from climate change,...
While many factors come into consideration when the fate of forests are being determined, economics often play a key role...
Thousands of grassroots, African-led efforts are building locally rooted alternatives to the chemical agriculture promoted by the Gates Foundation and...
By Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com Selectively logged forests and timber plantations can serve as habitat for orangutans, suggesting that populations...
Developing sustainable fisheries might be a way to combat future global hunger. Giles Crosse casts off.
Biochar—the agricultural application of charcoal produced from burning biomass—may be one of this century's most important social and environmental revolutions....
As marketers learn to fake climate-friendly food, how do we spot the real thing? Anna Lappé says it's a question...
Greenpeace finds striking success in targeting big business.
Following research linking neonicotinoid pesticides to the decline in bee populations, France has announced it plans to ban...
In Patagonia, pumas (Puma concolor) are "generous" enough to leave kills and otherwise influence the populations of condors and...
America's national forests continue to deteriorate, and a proposed switch from clear-cut logging to selective harvesting might not stop...
American consumers are unwittingly contributing to the destruction of endangered rainforests in Sumatra by purchasing certain brands of toilet...
February saw my faith in humanity restored when I took part in a 3-day, 200-man effort to rescue 85 disorientated...
Two people came across around 200 finless baby sharks washed up at Owhanake Bay, Waiheke Island, which is one of...
Endangered sharks are finding more sanctuaries. Honduras has announced that commercial shark fishing will be banned from its 92,665 square...
Grief, friendship, gratitude, wonder, and other things we animals experience. Scientific research shows that many animals are very intelligent and...
Aquaculture is the best way to meet future demand for seafood, which is expected to rise significantly by 2030 due...
Worldwide wolf populations have dropped around 99 percent from historic populations. Lion populations have fallen from 450,000 to 20,000 in...
Big mammals shouldn’t be a casualty of modern society. They could make a comeback—if we give them what they need...
Yes Magazine: Born violent? A troop of baboons chooses an enduring culture of peace. The evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky once said,...
Scientific research shows that many animals are very intelligent and have sensory and motor abilities that dwarf ours. Dogs are...
There are two sides to every story. But in some cases, society must admit that only one is right. The CAFO...
“What we have seen up until now, with both the exploitation of wild fish and the selection and propagation of...
On Friday, October 29th, 193 member nations of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) reached a possibly landmark agreement on...
Giles Crosse shines a light on new ideas to make it even more appealing. One of the best things about global...
By Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com Selectively logged forests and timber plantations can serve as habitat for orangutans, suggesting that populations...
Despite the fact that we are now in the 21st century, infectious disease remains a major issue for mankind and...
Greenpeace finds striking success in targeting big business.
Global population remains one of the most pressing issues for future sustainability. Our Future Planet examines where we are now...
Despite years of campaigning, worldwide animal abuse continues to make headlines. Why are these problems so hard to stamp out?...
Creating a bond with our fellow animals enriches our lives and relationships with other humans, writes Katrina Fox. Amid the horror...
Giles Crosse investigates why. For thousands of years, human beings have relied on natural planetary resources for cures to all sorts...
Where do we draw the line when it comes to culture and sustainability? Few would argue there’s justification for deliberately causing...
Unsustainable farming methods continue to endanger planetary soils. Giles Crosse plants some ideas for a more productive relationship. “Conservation agriculture is...
As population grows, so do demands for space on the planet. Giles Crosse wonders how to harmonise human existence with...
We live in a fragile and remote world, a blue, white and green gem in the solar system. With our...
Conservation brings to mind images of cuddly panda bears, majestic elephants and fiery tigers. The aim of conservation is to...
In small holdings and rolling grasslands across the United States, people are raising miniature pint-sized cows half the size of...
“I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that...
Outline of a Carbon Price Creation Initiative (CPCI), through which to create a realistic price for conserved carbon, and thereby...
A new report based on scores of personal testimonies from refugees in Eastern Africa finds that climate change can make...
America's famous Empire State Building has cut its energy usage by $2.4million (£1.5million) more than expected in under a...
The city of Boulder, Colorado, has won the right to take its power supply — and carbon emissions —...
Forecast to be underwater by 2050, the Pacific island states must plan for climate adaptation, with global support, urges Crispin Maslog....
Robert Blasiak from the UNU Institute of Advanced Studies had the opportunity to interview Allan Savory during several bus rides...
In the entire climate change debate the impacts to air have dominated, with water not having featured as a...
Last Friday the pro-environment business organisation the Aldersgate Group convened a meeting to discuss the EU proposals to cut greenhouse...
Human society is consuming natural resources as if there were one-and-a-half Earths, and not just a single blue planet,...
The report Achieving Food Security in the Face of Climate Change, released recently, offers concrete responses to the challenges of...
As climate change turns from theory to fact, can the UK prepare for a resilient future? Photo: Gavin Spencer
Roughly half of the 70 percent decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon between 2005 and 2009 can be attributed...
Imagine the internet, only for energy. Imagine that, as well as tens of millions of personal computers all linked together, exchanging information...
Imagine the internet, only for energy. Imagine that, as well as tens of millions of personal computers all linked together, exchanging information...
The United Nations Conference of the Parties’ 17th gathering (COP17) has taken place in Durban, South Africa. As with previous...
Those engaged in activism – including Transition Town projects – are more likely to flourish than those who are not,...
Flecks of soot from a smoky open stove in India blacken more than just the roofs of the hut...
Global climate models indicate that Central America will experience temperature rise and increasingly dry conditions over the next decades. Precipitation...
Converting cattle pasture and cropland in Brazil to sugar cane helps cool local climate reports research published in Nature Climate Change. ...
Climate change effects are already observable in many parts of the world and, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate...
Africa’s forests are fast diminishing to the detriment of climate, biodiversity, and millions of people of dependent on forest resources...
Cities can be resource-sucking, pollutant-spewing monsters, but the picture could well be green if modelled after Vitoria-Gasteiz, 2012 European Green...
A raft of new studies show that protecting Southeast Asia's forests could provide an enormous economic lift for Southeast Asia. Photo...
As the unfolding nuclear disaster in Japan has shown, the costs of cleanup after a nuclear meltdown are borne in...
World leaders must get their priorities straight or risk global economic upheaval that will be caused by something most of...
When historians look back at the fight to combat climate change—not to mention the struggle to overcome our global addiction...
Our World 2.0: Almost six weeks after the triple disaster of quake, tsunami and nuclear accident devastated the Tohoku-Kanto region,...
Our World 2.0: Efforts to stem our planet harming ways would be more effective if they harnessed the feelings of...
Efforts to keep London moving during the Games could help unjam the city for years to come, says Terry Slavin....
With Rio+20 taking place this week, everyone should be ready for many sparky and sparkling arguments. To get nations working...
U.S. scientists have developed a new method of verifying urban reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2). Researchers from Harvard and...
An opinion piece that appeared in the New York Times, with the provocative title If All Chinese Had Wheels, argued...
You may want or need to consider a face mask if cycling in the city.
Imagine a country where clean, green electric vehicles dominate the roads and rails, offering drivers and passengers the...
A Kentucky power cooperative had plans to burn more coal. Local residents instead demanded cleaner energy and greater efficiency—and won....
What is going on with today’s global atmosphere? It’s fairly obvious that over the years, Earth’s atmosphere has taken something of...
The rising tide of economic growth has failed to lift all boats and is now promising to be environmentally disastrous....
By Julian Caldecott, Founding Member of Our Future Planet Advisory Board1. Humans are (ecologically speaking) a 'weed' species, the toughest...
By Peter BunyardFor 30 years climatologists have questioned what would happen to rainfall over the Amazon Basin were the forest...
Climate change is the most worrying environmental catastrophe on the horizon fueled by global warming gases such as carbon dioxide,...
A collaborative project in Ethiopia that has created climate data and tools can be applied in much of Africa, says...
In many former industrially important cities in the United States and around the world, solid old buildings stand empty —...
Can LOCOG’s Food Vision help to make sustainable catering standard fare at major events in the future? That’s the plan,...
No one can say they did not see last year’s food crisis in East Africa coming; there was almost a...
Twenty years have passed. There’s plenty of food to go round, and it hasn’t cost the earth to produce… So...
Illegal and unregulated fishing is rampant worldwide, particularly off the coasts of West Africa and the Horn of Africa, and...
Sally Uren makes the case for a shared vision of a sustainable future, across value chains and the food sector...
High in the Alai mountain range in Tajikistan, near the border with Kyrgyzstan, is a village called Jirgatol where winters...
A new report based on scores of personal testimonies from refugees in Eastern Africa finds that climate change can make...
Cocoa harvests are shrinking, but The Cocoa Parternship, launched by Cadbury, is bringing stakeholders together to restore them and...
A new and awkward term is doing the rounds at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as...
The wellbeing of coffee growers makes business sense for big brands like Kenco, as well as niche ones. Photo credit: Sandy...
Chocolate giant Mars says it will exceed its initial targets of sourcing certified sustainable cocoa. It met its 2011 goal...
Faced with mounting resource crises, can the global food industry hope to meet the appetite of a growing population? Andrew...
Robert Blasiak from the UNU Institute of Advanced Studies had the opportunity to interview Allan Savory during several bus rides...
Colony collapse disorder threatens food crops valued at $15 billion a year. New research says farm chemicals put...
Rio+20 must launch SDGs to guide countries through complex development challenges, argues Colombian ministry official Paula Caballero Gómez. Photo credit:...
Major risks to food security have successfully helped to push agriculture and food policy higher up the international development agenda,...
Do farming and ecology mix? The immediate answer is no! Despite many farmers' allegiance to conservation, when it comes...
The report Achieving Food Security in the Face of Climate Change, released recently, offers concrete responses to the challenges of...
The system of rice intensification (SRI) is gaining ground across Asia as more and more governments come to rely...
Durable food security and agricultural growth depend on development strategies with resilience built in from the start, says Gordon Conway. Photo credit: CIMMYT. www.flickr.com ...
In West Africa, women’s resistance to the new Green Revolution shows that the question of agricultural sustainability is also a...
With energy demands soaring worldwide, more and more hydropower dams are being constructed since these present a viable ‘green’ option...
From the toes of our socks to the hem of our necklines, Americans alone consume 25% of the world’s cotton,...
Fear is growing among environmental and indigenous organisations in Chile over the possible appropriation of native seeds by foreign companies,...
Outline of a Carbon Price Creation Initiative (CPCI), through which to create a realistic price for conserved carbon, and thereby...
When all the world's scientists tend to agree on something, it's worth taking note. What is certain here is...
One of the most proactive marine conservation body is offering to help patrol and protect Australia's new Coral Sea...
In Patagonia, pumas (Puma concolor) are "generous" enough to leave kills and otherwise influence the populations of condors and...
America's national forests continue to deteriorate, and a proposed switch from clear-cut logging to selective harvesting might not stop...
In the entire climate change debate the impacts to air have dominated, with water not having featured as a...
Do farming and ecology mix? The immediate answer is no! Despite many farmers' allegiance to conservation, when it comes...
Roughly half of the 70 percent decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon between 2005 and 2009 can be attributed...
Beehive fences are proving effective at deterring crop-raiding and reducing human-elephant conflict. Growing elephant populations in Kenya have been a conservation...
Aquaculture is the best way to meet future demand for seafood, which is expected to rise significantly by 2030 due...
Worldwide wolf populations have dropped around 99 percent from historic populations. Lion populations have fallen from 450,000 to 20,000 in...
In many parts of the world, it is hard to find fresh fish to buy, even if you live next...
Our World 2.0: The BioFresh project is using innovative ways of communicating to illustrate the science and importance of freshwater...
In the quest for development, community thinking and actions are dynamic and evolving, yet a sense of ‘rootedness’ guides them. Human...
The United Nations has declared 2011 as International Year of Forests. The rationale for this is undoubtedly quite strong. As...
What if we changed our relationship with the natural world from one of taking what we can to one of...
On Friday, October 29th, 193 member nations of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) reached a possibly landmark agreement on...
If the Indus delta in southern Pakistan were protected by mangroves, a few hundred villages would have been saved from...
If the Indus delta in southern Pakistan were protected by mangroves, a few hundred villages would have been saved from...
It’s always been an interesting conundrum, to discover whether businesses walk down the sustainable path to make money, or whether...
By Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com Selectively logged forests and timber plantations can serve as habitat for orangutans, suggesting that populations...
While remarkable creatures roam African deserts, it’s worth remembering they’ve an equally remarkable link to the tiniest organisms holding biodiversity...
Giles Crosse explores the issues. According to Greenpeace, ‘Every four seconds, marine life in an area of ocean floor the size...
Unsustainable farming methods continue to endanger planetary soils. Giles Crosse plants some ideas for a more productive relationship. “Conservation agriculture is...
By Peter BunyardFor 30 years climatologists have questioned what would happen to rainfall over the Amazon Basin were the forest...
Every hour over ten thousand people are born in different parts of the world that’s three humans every second. The...
Coral Reef Survival: Our Planet’s Works of Art Coral reefs form a most stunning marine ecosystem with a multitude of coral reef...