The Ecologist Headline News Reader

Not all of us could raise £2.5m by selling the junk in our attics. But that's what the Chatsworth Estate achieved in 2010 - and now the money is funding a major renewable energy expansion.

After decades of work, A$200 million in taxpayer funding and even more from farmers' pockets, Australia has a good news story to tell about the Great Barrier Reef. But as John Brodie reveals, all that is now at risk from vast dredging operations.

To avoid future electricity shortages the UK needs to reduce peak demand - at 5.15pm on a December evening. The simple answer, proposes Chris Goodall, is to distribute free LED light bulbs to every household in the UK.

UK pension funds are betting an estimated £1.5 billion on global food prices - £180 per average UK pension saver - according to a report released today by the World Development Movement. And the speculation is increasing food costs for the world's poorest…

It's high time for an independent Wildlife Protection Agency, argues Dominic Dyer. The botched badger cull shows we can no longer trust DEFRA, Natural England or the JNCC to carry out their duty to protect our wildlife.

The Gaza blockade - a state of chronic shortage of the necessaries of life jointly imposed by Israel and Egypt - is creating floods of sewage and a growing shortage of fresh water. Charlie Andreasson's blog reflects the increasing difficulty of daily life ...

Could your fashion style be destroying forests and driving orang-utans towards extinction? Nicole Rycroft shows how cellulose fibres used in textiles are a major cause of biodiversity loss worldwide. But your choices can make all the difference ...

The New Zealand courts have refused to grant asylum to a 'climate refugee' from the Pacific island of Kiribati. But as Sandi Keane reports, the underlying problem is set to increase to a stupendous scale.

Europe has to plan for future extreme weather incidents, according to a new report by EASAC. Heat waves, floods and storms do not respect national frontiers, so as climate change gathers place, there is an urgent need for action at both national and EU levels.

Last Friday 2,000 people joined a massive 'die-in' to protest at recent death of six London cyclists - and their public demonisation by London Mayor Boris Johnson. Catherine Nelson was there, demanding a radical re-balancing of London's transport priorities.

After military attacks on Gaza failed to bring down the territory's Hamas government, reports Ramzy Baroud, Israel is now waging an environmental war whose weapons are chronic power shortages, collapsing sanitation - and floods of sewage.

A temporary ban on neonicotinoid insecticides comes into effect across the EU this weekend. Dave Goulson argues that far deeper, structural changes are needed to create a countryside fit for bees and other wildlife.

Horrified at the giga-scale death of birds caused by collisions with trendy expanses of plate glass in modern buildings, James Fischer calls on architects to bring an end to the needless slaughter - and "save a billion birds"!

Wildlife groups are celebrating following the announcement that the Gloucestershire badger cull is being abandoned early, after it failed to meet any of its targets.

Unsustainable farming systems that damage the environment and public health thrive at the expense of sustainable producers. Patrick Holden makes the case for "true cost accounting" ...

An inspirational series of talks has taken place this autumn at St Pauls Cathedral in London. Sharon Garfinkel will be back for more when the next series begins in 2014.

China led the reclamation of the largest abandoned rice farm in Mozambique, with the blessing of the authorities. But now the company involved is accused of land grabbing and displacing thousands. Cecilia Anesi and Andrea Fama report

We do not have to be constrained by our current dysfunctional system of capitalism, argues Michael Townsend. People are already finding and implementing more attractive alternatives. A quiet revolution is under way ...

Canadian has approved production of GM Atlantic salmon eggs. Conservation NGOs cry foul - and fear for the future of the species.

An unexpected outcome of the Fukushima nuclear disaster is that the UK's Sellafield nuclear site - already the world's biggest plutonium repository - is set to store even more of the radioactive, fissionable metal.

A major US wind energy company is fined $1 million in the country's first-ever settlement over bird deaths caused by wind turbines, after 149 protected birds were killed.

The battle against coal mining by Mountain Top Removal has been fought by the people of Appalachia over generations. The campaigners' target is now Swiss bank UBS, the main financier of the destruction.

Much of our meat and dairy produce is made from animals raised on GM feeds. Alarming new claims suggest that the GM diet is affecting animal health - prompting fears over human safety. Andrew Wasley reports ...

The unspoilt pastoral landscape of Transylvania is the latest battlefield in the war against aggressive fossil energy extraction. Jim Wickens reports on the farming communities fighting back against multinational energy companies.

Ofgem chief Andrew Wright was grilled in the UK Parliament today by MPs whose constituents are furious with soaring energy bills and ballooning energy company profits. Andrew Stevenson was there ...