John Vidal

Coal power plants kill 120,000 a year in India

INDIA’S breakneck pace of industrialisation is causing a public health crisis with 80-120,000 premature deaths and 20m new asthma cases a year due to air pollution from coal power plants, a Greenpeace report warns. Published 12 Mar, 2013 12:02am

Climate crisis

THE world’s climate could be hijacked by a rogue country or wealthy individual firing small particles into the stratosphere, claims a warning that comes from a sober report from the World Economic Forum (WEF). Published 10 Jan, 2013 12:00am

Pollution killing millions in Asia

AN explosion of car use has made fast-growing Asian cities the epicentre of global air pollution and become, along with obesity, the world's fastest growing cause of death according to a major study of global diseases. Published 19 Dec, 2012 12:00am

Arctic ice levels to reach record low within days

LONDON, Aug 23: Arctic sea ice is set to reach its lowest ever recorded extent as early as this weekend, in “dramatic changes” signalling that man-made global warming is having a major impact on the polar region. Published 24 Aug, 2012 02:55am

UK’s air pollution ‘worst’ in Europe

AIR pollution is prematurely killing 13,000 people a year in Britain compared with fewer than 2,000 deaths a year from road accidents, a major study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has Published 23 Apr, 2012 12:01am

Half of UK homes facing water restrictions

LONDON: Half of all households in Britain could face water restrictions unless exceptionally heavy and prolonged rain falls by April, water companies and the environment agency have warned Published 16 Feb, 2012 08:31pm

2011 — another tumultuous year for ecology

LONDON: The year 2011 is another ecologically tumultuous year with greenhouse gases rise to record levels, Arctic sea ice nearly equalling 2007’s record melt, and temperatures the 11th highest ever recorded. Published 23 Dec, 2011 09:40pm

High cost of pollution

IN a first attempt to link financial costs to emissions from large power stations, refineries, waste plants and factories, the European Environment Published 26 Nov, 2011 12:55am

Climate talks stuck in the mud

OUT in the real world Russia is burning, Pakistan and China are grappling with floods and mudslides, and millions of... Published 11 Aug, 2010 12:00am

Pavlovsk seed bank

TWELVE Russian scientists famously chose to starve to death rather than eat the unique collection of seeds and ... Published 10 Aug, 2010 12:00am

The worst spillage

WHEN BP`s chief Tony Hayward said in May that the Gulf oil spill was “tiny in relation to the total water volume” — ... Published 19 Jul, 2010 12:00am

Emitting less carbon

THE UN is set to pay billions of pounds of public money to giant energy companies to build 20 heavily polluting... Published 16 Jul, 2010 12:00am

Record low emissions

GREENHOUSE gas emissions from rich countries fell a record seven per cent in 2009 because of the recession, but the... Published 03 Jul, 2010 12:00am