Environment

Is eating meat worse for the environment than driving?

Sheep farm
Director general Carlos Seré of the Nairobi based International Livestock Research Insitute responds to an August 2007 New York Times article about animal rights groups promoting vegetarianism as an answer to global warming.

Biodiesel  - will an alien tree deliver?

Introducing an alien species into the environment, even if it could potentially contribute to rural employment and poverty alleviation and an alternative source of bio-fuel, is not an easy consideration.

Will the real organic pesticide please stand up?

"Since when are organic pesticides not chemicals?" asks Prof Gerhard Verdoorn, Director of BirdLife SA. The word 'organic' is probably one of the most abused in the English language as far as a chemist is concerned. Consumers lured into believing the promises of so-called organic pesticides, take heed, there is no such thing as an environmentally friendly pesticide, says Verdoorn, they are designed to kill.

Icy resilience the key to survival in Antarctica's land animals

On a continent where it is dark for six months of the year and daylight for the entire summer, you might expect the long summer days to blend into one, but on a trip last summer to Cape Hallett, Antarctica, as part of a joint New Zealand-South African team of scientists, Dr Brent Sinclair and team discovered the opposite. Antarctica is home to some feisty, resilient and really tiny creatures.

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