videos

Video: the discovery of Aaptos kanuux

Fascinating news just in - our two month research expedition to the Bering Sea last summer led to the discovery of a new species. Using manned submarines and a Remote Operated Vehicle, the crew of the Esperanza explored two of the world's deepest underwater canyons and took samples of never before seen life on the sea floor. Now, careful analysis has revealed one of them to be an entirely new species of sponge. Discovered in Pribilof Canyon, the new discovery is to be named Aaptos kanuux.

A couple of videos that throw our new Dove campaign into sharp relief. The first is a rather stonking effort from our international office, taking Dove's own Onslaught film as it's inspiration (you can see the original here). The second, some highlights from the fun and games in London and Merseyside earlier today. Enjoy.

The undercover experts down the road at the Environmental Investigation Agency have released this short video exposing the trade in illegal timber from the forests of Laos. Shady deals and corruption allow large amounts of dodgy lumber to be processed in Vietnam and Thailand, where it's made into products like garden furniture for export to (among other places) the UK. Yet another reason why we need laws in Europe to ban the import of illegal timber.

Flashmob at Heathrow's Terminal 5 this morning

This morning saw the opening of Heathrow's new Terminal 5 to the public. Unfortunately for the aviation industry and government - who wanted this to be a chance to promote their case for airport expansion - a large section of that public is vehemently opposed to unsustainable aviation growth, and not afraid to show it.

So at exactly 11am this morning, hundreds of people stripped down to reveal identical "Stop Airport Expansion T-shirts", and to highlight the problems caused by airport expansion and unsustainable aviation growth. Pictures of the flashmob are coming in to our Moblog thick and fast. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see video footage of the event.

From Plane Stupid:

The video of yesterday's protest at Heathrow:

A brilliant reminder from enoughsenough of just what's at stake when it comes to airport expansion:

Do you like eating fish? Did you realise that around 75 per cent of the world's fish stocks are now fished to their limit or over-fished? While you can still eat some species of fish with a clear conscience, others are being rapidly fished close to extinction. Oxford-based band Stornoway has helpfully recorded a song that tells you which are which. 'The Good Fish Guide' is based on the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) guidelines to ethical fish consumption. It will shortly be released as a downloadable single via the Truck label, an environmentally proactive record label, with all profits to the MCS.

It's Friday: time to slow down a bit and do a bit of surfing. There's plenty of green stuff out there on the web to compete with the best time-wasting games, videos and sites (aah, dancing hamsters - remember those?). There are also the bizarre stories that have me shaking my head in wonder and disbelief, those plans to save the planet that you know will never work. Or maybe they just might...

This is the start of a (hopefully) weekly blog* to publicise the best of the weird and wonderful stuff that clutters up our inboxes. We're open to suggestions, so drop us a line.

(* although we reserve the right to skip a week if we're pushed for time.)

• Green Thing appeared a few months ago to set monthly green challenges. I'm waiting for February's thing to do (it's only the 1st, so I'll be patient) but January was all about taking the stairs, not the lift.
• A few weeks ago (we have a backlog of these), someone clever so-and-so suggested using shiny crops to reflect the sun's energy back into space.
• Around the same time, crematoriums were accused of not being energy efficient.
• And finally, should animals do more for animal rights? Like the lady says, "I don't like those hermit crabs."