January 2010

Wind power in the UK has just been given a massive shot in the arm with several large-scale new offshore projects in the pipeline. The Crown Estate - which is the lucky owner of the seabed around the British Isles - is awarding contracts for a vast programme of wind farm construction which will significantly improve our renewable energy capacity, not to mention creating thousands of jobs.

Did Danish authorities really hold our activists in prison for 20 days because they were diligently investigating how they got onto a red carpet at a state dinner during the Copenhagen climate conference? New evidence suggests not.

To non-violently paraphrase Michael Corleone, "If history teaches us anything, it's that you can get past security anywhere." But here's a fact: it really, really, pisses them off.

Want to know who's really pulling their finger out to give us products that cause the least environmental damage - then look no further.

Our ranking guide, published quarterly since 2006, shows clearly how the 18 top consumer electronics companies line up. But now we've produced a new chart showing which of those companies have eliminated the most harmful chemicals from their product ranges.

Roll over the stars in the chart below to see product details, and click the company name to visit their webpage about reducing harmful chemicals.

With Copenhagen and Christmas taking up most of our attention in the undignified scrabble at the end of the year, a few things have fallen through the gaps so I've only just seen the email from Jörg Iversen about the video he produced with Roman Rütten. They're both design students at Buckinghamshire New University and made this impressive short as part of their coursework. There's even a behind the scenes film!

At the mouth of the Ganges River lies the Sundarbans - 20,000 square kilometres of Unesco protected mangrove forest stretching between India and Bangladesh. It is home to 500 endangered Bengali tigers, countless crocodiles and around 4.3 million people.