Ethical Living

We are what we eat. Concerns about climate change, environmental stress and animal welfare mean that what we eat is an ethical as well as a health issue. LAURA BRIGGS meets two women promoting the new Wildevore diet, claiming it improves the health of the individual, and the world in which they live

STEVE WATSON is committed to his vinyl - and excited by the resurgence among record collectors. DUNCAN OSWALD worries about the impact of producing yet more PVC records - arguing that streaming must surely be more green. To settle the debate the two environmental consultants developed a life cycle assessment comparing the resource impacts of the two audio technologies...

Thousands of tonnes of red roses are now being sold ahead of Valentine's Day. CURTIS ABRAHAM investigates the importance of flower exports to east African economies - and examines the impact on the environment on both a regional and a global level

Can an iPhone App help London get cheap eats - and help reduce the tragedy of food waste? Platform capitalism has delivered cheaper cabs, cheaper places to crash and cheaper stuff. But it is often driven by venture capitalism and has a steep social cost. But not always. So is 'Too Good To Go' too good to be true? SASHA DOVZHYK, a PhD student surviving in London, investigates..

So the love of your life went all vegan during Veganuary. And now there is just a week until you have to present them with the best of vegan gifts. But don't fear. The Ecologist is here! BRENDAN MONTAGUE breakfasts on a huge range of the best teas, chocolates and gins so you don't have to...

JOANNE NEMETH of Lismore, Australia, has given up the conventional life of work, shop, drop and is now growing and scavenging her own food, making her own clothes, and living as simply as possible. Without money, she has become more aware of our connections and interdependence as a society. But why did she make such a radical break? This is her story.

Springwatch Unsprung presenter Lindsey Chapman talks poetry, Blue Planet II and why we need to amplify diverse voices in the fight against climate change in the first of our new Voices for Nature interview series from our nature editor ELIZABETH WAINWRIGHT

Resilience is something of a buzzword - a necessary one in times of austerity and increased anxiety about work. BRENDAN MONTAGUE had read the literature about how being in nature, telling stories and connecting with people all increase resilience. And then he experienced it first hand when he attended a weekend workshop at Hazel Hill Woods in Salisbury. This is his story.

New years’ resolutions typically consist of promises to exercise more, sleep better and generally be more healthy and less stressed. As everyone returns to work this can be a real challenge. A practice originating in Japan and now being trialled by the RSPB and on Forestry Commission holidays could help you achieve all this and more. CATHERINE EARLY reports

Shopping is about to reach frenzy levels as the to-do list gets ever longer. And then there is that wonderful person in your life whose present cannot be fur, meat, plastic - or boring. BRENDAN MONTAGUE asked ethical companies for their best gift ideas this Christmas.

Green party deputy leader AMELIA WOMACK tried to cut plastic out of her life after witnessing haunting images of a bird struggling because its stomach was lined with waste. But the ingrained nature of plastic in modern society made the task much harder than expected. This is her story.

Christmas has become a festival of consumerism, rather than giving and family. So how do we fulfil the social expectation to find perfect, novel presents without sending more plastic to landfill. BRENDAN MONTAGUE and LAURA BRIGGS try and find some nice stuff that might just be a little more sustainable.

Winter is coming. The Met Office has warned Britain should brace for a cold spell. And so the RSPB is asking everyone to take care of our garden birds. BRENDAN MONTAGUE reports

The Vegan Society today launches its Plate up for the Planet to encourage people to abandon meat and dairy products, for their health, and for the health of the environment, reports LAURA BRIGGS.

They organise, research and protest: a new generation of climate activists around the world is prepared to do everything they can to protect the climate. The Ecologist has talked to young climate activist around the world. These are the top ten young climate activities working to stop Donald Trump.

Labour party leader, Jeremy Corbyn - who said he'd never give up his allotment, whatever the outcome of the recent UK elections - knows it and so do the millions of gardeners, growers and allotmenteers who've found a deeper relationship with their own patch of land. HARRIET GRIFFEY discovers the healing power of that relationship as described in a beautifully written new memoir

Got something to say about the environment and the way we do (or don't) care for it? Here's your chance to get what you think noticed and published....

The winner of the 2017 Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy and Water - announced today (12th June, 2017) - is Futurepump, which manufactures an affordable, highly efficient and portable solar irrigation pump aimed at the millions of smallholder farmers in Kenya and around the world, writes CHHAVI SHARMA

Almost since the advent of genetic engineering the food industry, the research establishment and parts of the media have been saying that the public is becoming more accepting of the technology. However, with no credible independent evidence to support this view it remains little more than wishful thinking and as this new survey, conducted by Beyond GM shows, most diners want to see more transparency about what's actually in our food

No More Styrofoam presents the WooBox - a new alternative to the use of Styrofoam in food transportation - and a Serbian project that is supported by a crowdfunding campaign that launches today (1st June 2017). LAURA BRIGGS reports

London-listed copper giant Antofagasta has been entangled in scandals in Chile involving water depletion, dangers to local communities, corruption of national politics and environmental contamination, write Ali Maeve & Liam Barrington-Bush. Yet the London Stock Exchange remains silent. Following the company's AGM last week, a new London Mining Network report puts their actions and operations into the spotlight.

By shifting from globalisation to localisation, and creating smaller, self-sufficient communities within sustainable developments, cities could regain their equilibrium, writes Paul Jones. From where we stand today, the Organicity may sound like a Utopian dream. But if we're to avoid an urban apocalypse, we're going to need strong alternative visions, to change the way we imagine and plan for the cities of the future. Too good to be true? Or the way to human survival?

Alanna Smith aka the UK blogger Ecowildchild will be going plastic-free from 1st June as part of the annual Marine Conservation Society (MSC) campaign to raise awareness of the devastating impact single-use plastics are having on the environment. This is her invitiation to YOU to join her in this endeavour...

Ecological farming has taken root in the UK, writes Phil Moore: drawing inspiration from the past while employing the latest ideas and techniques from organic, no-dig, permaculture, agroecology and agroforestry methods. But with agricultural fields selling for up to £10,000 an acre, there's a big difficultly for many would-be eco-farmers: access to land. Now, with public support, that's a problem the Ecological Land Cooperative is determined to solve.