Soft towels, fluffy fleeces and synthetic fabrics don’t cling. What’s not to like? Well, try skin irritation, increased flammability and environmental pollution, for starters. It seems the average bottle of fabric softener has a dark side.
If you read the international press, it is easy to be convinced that the international ‘debate’ about global warming is about whether international organisations and country governments are able to ‘wake up’ to alarming news about the future of the planet.
Lying off the coast of Papua New Guinea, the Carteret Islands are slowly being engulfed by a rising sea. Follow Dan Box's weekly blog as he journeys to meet the Carteret Islanders - the first people to be officially labelled as climate change refugees.
Over 500 people have signed the online 'Fire Sammy Wilson' petition in 24 hours. The Green Party of Northern Ireland has set up the petition calling for the resignation of Environment Minister Sammy Wilson because of his refusal to recognise man made climate change.
The Severn Estuary, earmarked as a potentially huge source of energy, has been met with increasing concerns over serious environmental damage. A report from 2008 by Frontier Economics found that justification for the Severn Barrage is slim - both economically speaking and on environmental grounds. Peter Bunyard takes a look at an innovative solution that has similarities with a tidal reef.
Forest carbon finance, through avoided deforestation, is at best a sticking plaster solution that fails to get to the roots of the problem, argues Harriet Williams
Get into an argument with a climate change sceptic, and sooner or later they’ll trot out the old arguments about it being all due to cosmic rays, or the sun.
Unravelling a garment’s green credentials isn’t easy, says Matilda Lee. Instead of fretting about what not to wear there’s a few simple things we can do (that could save money too)
A hundred years ago, markets ruled: fortunes were made, workers abused, bubbles blown. The Austrian School of economists, led by Ludwig von Mises, said this was fine: despite temporary messiness, the market knows best.
The bird is now bones, the gravy glue, the roast veggies are on their way to becoming a source of winter fuel and as soon as everyone’s dinner has gone down a bit, it will be time to do the washing-up. If you are one of the 64 per cent of households in the UK that doesn’t own a dishwasher, chances are there will be a trusty bottle of Fairy Liquid by the sink to get the job of washing-up done.
