British insurers prepare for 'worst case' climate impacts

By EVAN LEHMANN of ClimateWire British insurers are raising rates on homeowners to insulate themselves from increasing claims blamed on climate change, a justification that U.S. companies are hesitant — or unable — to embrace. The price of policies covering buildings in the United Kingdom rose 10 percent over the last year as insurers struggle […]

British woodlands losing biodiversity

British woodlands are less biologically distinctive than they were 70 years ago, says a team of UK researchers. The use of fertilisers in farming had increased soil fertility, while tree canopies had grown thicker and cut light levels, they explained. As a result, the woodlands were becoming home to the same species, resulting in the […]

Britain’s ancient trees in danger of dying out

Britain’s ancient trees, including Newton’s apple tree, are in danger of dying out due to pollution, development and climate change, the National Trust has warned. By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent The UK has some of the most famous ancient trees in the world around country houses, in historic parkland and castle grounds. However the National […]

Australian black swan threat to British cousins

By Jasper Copping Aggressive Australian and over here – black swans are spreading across the UK and threatening to force out their native cousins conservationists have warned. The birds, which originate in Australia and have escaped from private collections in Britain, are now breeding at dozens of sites across the country. The number of locations […]

US has enough empty houses to hold all of Britain

100 Abandoned Houses: Photographs of Detroit Paul Kedrosky crunches numbers from Bloomberg and makes them far more astounding: According to the latest data, the number of vacant U.S. homes touched 18.7-million in the second quarter. That is a daunting figure, of course, but it is more fun to put it in context. Assuming four people […]

Graph of the Day: UK Recession Comparison

The UK economy could decline for another year and take a further two years to recover, according to a respected think tank. A National Institute of Economic and Social Research study says the current economic decline is “very similar” to the slowdown at the start of the 1980s. … Their forecast is consistent with what […]

UK biodiversity declining, in spite of government and NGO efforts

Conservationists criticise the government for failing to provide the resources to protect dwindling species. Biodiversity in the UK is continuing to decline according to statistics released by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Defra is studying these trends as part a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP), aiming to "significantly reduce the rate of […]

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