In the absence of an alternative, shoppers and businesses in New Delhi have ignored the government’s ban on plastic bags, citing practicality over environmental concerns. Source: Reuters

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Every year since 1972 , June 5th has been celebrated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as World Environment Day (WED). Through WED, the UN is able to give a human face to environmental issues and enable people to realize not only their responsibility, but also their power to become agents for change in support of sustainable and equitable development. Here UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner encourages participation in World Environment Day at a local level and highlights the need for a Green Economy approach to address the missing links in the sustainability agenda, including particularly the need to preserve biodiversity for the benefit of us all. Source: UNEP

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World Environment Day (WED) 2010 is aimed to be the biggest, most widely celebrated, global day for positive, environmental action. Commemorated on 5 June since 1972, WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action. WED 2010 is aimed to be the biggest WED celebration ever and we count on you to make this happen! We call for action – organize a neighbourhood clean-up, stop using plastic bags and get your community to do the same, plant a tree or better yet organize a collective tree planting effort, walk to work, start a recycling drive . . . the possibilities are endless. Source: UNEP

Australian researchers are really getting to the bottom of greenhouse gas emissions with a long-term study into sheep and their methane gas contributions.
Source: Reuters

A study has discovered that the average dates of flowers blooming in Britain has changed in the last 250 years, with earlier flowering happening at an increasing pace over the last 25 years alone. Scientists are also worried about the knock-on effect hese changes might have on other species and habitats. Source: Reuters

A new burial method developed in Sweden gives the environmentally-conscious consumer the opportunity to have an ecologically friendly funeral. Source: Reuters

Wildlife returns to Las Tablas de Daimiel national park, Spain’s most important wetlands, after rain brings welcome flooding. Source: Reuters

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Thailand’s jungle wildlife is under threat from poachers and loggers, but a new project that turns the former criminals into mushroom farmers aims to help everyone. Source: AFP

Karen Hendren reports how engineers in the United States have developed an organic packaging material they hope will one day replace expanded polystyrene to protect packages and the environment. Source: Reuters

In a bid to boost its flagging tourism industry, developers in Cyprus are laying down many more golf courses. But the manicured greens demand continuous irrigation and opponents say plans to use water from oil-fired desalination plants will increase the country’s CO2 emissions. Source: AFP