New evidence shows country's largest palm and pulp group is breaking its environmental commitments by destroying critical habitats

Greenpeace said today it had fresh evidence that palm oil firms linked to Indonesian agribusiness giant Sinar Mas have bulldozed rainforest and destroyed endangered orang-utan habitats in Kalimantan.

The charges were denied by palm oil firm PT SMART Tbk, part of Sinar Mas, which has already said it would stop clearing critical forests.

The accusations, levelled by Greenpeace in a new report, are the latest chapter in a long and bitter dispute between the conservationists and a key player in one of Indonesia's biggest industries, palm oil.

The high-stakes battle has already led to top palm oil-buyers Unilever and Nestle dropping PT SMART as a supplier. Earlier this month, HSBC sold its shares in Sinar Mas.

Industry giant Cargill today reiterated that it may also delist the Indonesian producer if the allegations of wrongdoing are borne out in an audit due to be released next month.

It also has implications for Indonesia, which competes fiercely with neighbouring Malaysia for dominance of the lucrative palm oil market, and which is also under intense international pressure to curb deforestation, seen as fuelling dangerous climate change.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 by as much as 41% from business-as-usual levels, and agreed to a moratorium starting in 2011 on issuance of new permits to clear primary forest.

The ban is part of a $1bn climate deal signed with Norway earlier this year.

SMART has already promised to stop clearing high conservation value (HCV) forests, which refers to forests that shelter endangered species or provide valuable natural services such as trapping climate-warming greenhouse gases.

It said it will publish an audit of its operations on 10 August.

SMART manages Indonesian palm oil firms PT Agro Lestari Mandiri (ALM) and PT Bangun Nusa Mandiri (BNM). The parent company for SMART, ALM and BNM is Singapore-listed Golden Agri-Resources, which is part-owned and led by the Widjaja family that controls Sinar Mas.

Greenpeace said in a report released on Thursday that aerial photographs taken in July by their own photographers, as well as by a Reuters photographer, showed that ALM was still clearing carbon-rich peatland forests in Ketapang district, in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province.

"What we found was that, despite their commitment, high carbon destruction is still going on,"said Greenpeace forest campaigner, Bustar Maitar. "This is still happening, even while their auditor is writing the report."

Greenpeace also published photographs (pdf) which it said showed BNM clearing in an area in Ketapang that was identified by the United Nations Environment Programme as habitat for highly endangered orang-utans.

SMART released a press statement saying the firm did not clear virgin or primary forest and that it complied with Indonesian laws and regulations.

"We are not responsible for clearing primary forests, which are the natural habitats for orang-utans. On the contrary, all our concession areas do not contain primary forests and we conserve high conservation value areas, creating sanctuaries that will continue to preserve biodiversity," said Daud Dharsono, PT SMART's president director. Areas of untouched greenery in the aerial shots were proof that parts of their concession areas are being set aside for preservation, the statement said.

Enormous amounts of greenhouse gases are emitted when peatland forests are cleared and drained. Their preservation is seen as crucial to preventing runaway climate change.

SMART's spokesman, Fajar Reksoprodjo, told Reuters that in the past, aerial photographs that appeared to show clearing in peatlands had been misinterpreted and showed mineral soil.

SMART initially planned to release its audit in July but delayed it to August 10 because it was not yet finished.

The auditors are paid by SMART and were selected in collaboration with Unilever, which chairs the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an industry body made up of producers, consumers and non-government organisations.

The Greenpeace report also called on fast food chains Pizza Hut – a unit of Yum Brands Inc – and Burger King to stop buying palm oil from firms linked to Sinar Mas.

• Forests
• Deforestation
• Endangered habitats
• Greenpeace
• Food & drink industry
• Indonesia

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Ben Darvill and Bob Dawson of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust on the importance of conserving Britain's declining bumblebee population

George Monbiot should be calling the IPCC to account for its unreferenced rainforest claims, rather than attacking its critics

• George Monbiot: Who's to blame for 'Amazongate' story?
• Sunday Times apologises for false climate story in a 'correction'
• Forests expert officially complains about 'distorted' Sunday Times article

In what has become the long-running saga of the unsubstantiated claim by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) about the potential effects of global warming on the Amazon rainforest, the fact that George Monbiot has weighed in so heavily to the "Amazongate" issue is perhaps a measure of its importance.

One cannot help but enjoy the irony of Monbiot's apology for troubling his readers over an issue which he claims is "trivial", then spending so much time and effort exploring it.

But the one thing Monbiot has not told us, in his torrent of excoriating verbiage, is quite why "Amazongate" – the name given to the "outing" of the IPCC - is so important. In his rush to condemn those who pointed out the error of the IPCC's ways, and me in particular, he somehow glosses over this essential point.

And that essential point is that the IPCC got it wrong, not once but in several different ways, in making a key assertion about the Amazon rainforests which, when the chips are down, is entirely without foundation. Let us count the errors of its ways.

Firstly, we have the offending claim, which asserts that up to 40% of the entire rainforest could turn to savannah, given even a slight reduction in rainfall (which we can assume is the result of climate change).

For such a startling assertion, one would of course expect the IPCC to have good evidence and, in the very essential nature of its report, to cite that evidence to support its claim. This is the very basis on any reputable reporting – the fundamental requirement to disclose the sources. So what do we have?

Well, the referenced source of the claim is a review, the lead publisher of which is the advocacy group the WWF. The lead author is an unqualified freelance journalist and green activist. He relies, we are told by the WWF, on a claim made by the "respected" Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM - The Amazon Institute of Environmental Research).

By some error, we are told by the WWF, the reference to the work of the "respected" institute is missing from the review. But, we are assured, the original does make the claim, and it is "supported" by peer-reviewed scientific literature.

Come what may, this is enough to support the charge against the IPCC. It has referenced an important claim to so-called "grey" literature which is not the originator of the work on which the claim is supposedly based. That work in turn has omitted the reference. Then, through the writing process and the three-layer review process, which assures quality control, the IPCC has failed to notice this error and correct it.

Already, this is more than a referencing problem, as some assert. It is a major system failure on the part of the IPCC, a real failure in quality control.

But it does not stop there. While the WWF refers to this mysterious IPAM "report", it does not supply the missing reference. And somehow it has omitted to tell us that the source is actually an educational website entry, put up by the Brazilian institute in 1999 and removed in 2003.

Thus is the final source of the IPCC claim. It is not even a report. It is not a research document. The author is not identified. It is neither referenced nor peer-reviewed. And neither, as Monbiot later admits, is there peer-reviewed scientific literature which supports the specific claim.

That he claims that there is research which supports the general thesis, is not the point. Apart from the fact that its meaning and value is arguable, the fact is that Working Group II of the IPCC did not refer to this work and did not call it in aid of its claim

By any measure, my original assertion that the IPCC claim is unsubstantiated stands up. Yet Monbiot, rather than follow the trail of evidence, chooses to use the inexplicable and unexplained retraction of the "Amazongate" story in the Sunday Times as evidence that the IPCC has been vindicated.

And, on that slender basis, he asserts that its accusers – "North first among them" – are exposed for "peddling inaccuracy, misrepresentation and falsehood."

It is a fascinating reflection of the mindset of Monbiot that, when the Sunday Times first printed the story in January, it is somehow not credible. Yet, when the newspaper retracts the story, it acquires such great authority that this one action is taken to vindicate the IPCC. The source, it seems, it is not the issue. It is whether the source says what Monbiot want to hear.

However, the fact is that the IPCC has been caught out. And instead of admitting its error – by no means the first, as we know from its claims on Himalayan glaciers –it retreats behind a wall of bluster and obfuscation.

That is really why "Amazongate" matters. We have in the IPCC an organisation which purports to offer the best that science has to offer on the state of the climate. To err is human, and it is not surprising that there are errors in its report – although the basic nature of this system failure should raise eyebrows. But a failure to investigate and then to correct its errors is unpardonable.

An honest commentator would be joining us to ensure that the unsubstantiated claim by the IPCC is removed. But Mr Monbiot has instead resorted to ad hominem abuse which he – or his employers – justify as "fair comment".

Rather, he should be concerned, even if for entirely different reasons, that the response of the IPCC to a proven and egregious error has not been healthy. And an organisation which cannot admit error and deal with it is one that cannot be trusted.

The same might also be said of its supporters who, instead of dealing with the entirely justified criticisms, seek to attack the critics. By their deeds shall we know them and, in respect of his particular deeds in relation to "Amazongate", we have come to know Monbiot quite well.

We are not enriched by the experience.

• Richard North is a writer who blogs at EU Referendum

• Climate change
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

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Protected species displaced would include water voles, bats and hedgehogs and, in addition, 94 per cent of bird species presently found there would go

Name of project
Upper Thames Reservoir

Describe the site currently, including details of protected or threatened habitat or species
The four square mile development site is currently occupied by prime agricultural land, 70 per cent of which is very high quality productive farmland which is protected by national planning policy.

Some studies have shown that Thames Water's proposals for the reservoir could create great environmental damage and habitat destruction on and around the reservoir site.

A report by Dr Clive Spinage, who has studied in close detail the area of the proposed reservoir, highlights the scale of destruction of wildlife habitats over this huge area. Protected species displaced would include water voles, bats and hedgehogs and, in addition, 94 per cent of bird species presently found there would go, leading to a further decline in some of the rare birds which nest there, including Lapwing and Golden Plover.

What development is proposed?
Thames Water is proposing to build a £1 billion mega reservoir near Abingdon, Oxfordshire with the £1bn construction cost set to be passed on to consumers across London and the southeast in higher water bills.

Group Against Reservoir Development (GARD) is fighting the proposals at a make-or-break Public Inquiry into Thames Water's future development plans, set out in its 25 year Water Resources Management Plan.

The inquiry started on 15 June and is expected to last for five weeks, after which time the new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Caroline Spelman MP, will determine whether the plans get the go-ahead or whether Thames Water will be forced to reconsider its plans in the light of evidence from GARD, CPRE and the Environment Agency. The campaign groups argue that:

1. There is no need for a reservoir that would cost consumers a billion pounds in higher water bills. The reservoir could provide 60 million gallons of water each day - Thames Water's own forecasts show that the daily projected shortage in 2035 will be just 13 million gallons. The cost will be borne by consumers.

2. There are cheaper and more sustainable alternatives. Thames Water has rejected more cost effective schemes such as the Severn-Thames transfer scheme that could provide just as much water at half the cost.

3. The building of the reservoir could come at a huge environmental cost. It could destroy 5,000 acres of productive farmland, increase flood risk and increase carbon emissions. It could involve a ten year construction programme, devastating some four square miles of rural Oxfordshire.

What one thing would help you or your group protect this site?

Readers could do one (or more!) of the following by going to www.abingdonreservoir.org.uk

1 Join our e-newsletter – Please fill in this form and join our campaign to stop Thames Water's plans. Sign-up for our e-newsletter to keep up to date with our progress.
2 Sign our petition – Please sign our petition to stop Thames Water's plans! We will also keep you informed with our campaign progress.
3 Follow us on Twitter – Keep up to date with our progress by following the GARD Campaign on Twitter.
4 Find us on Facebook – Show your support by joining our Facebook group and keep up to date with our campaign.

Exact location

OX13 6AP

Developer
Thames Water, Swindon

Planning authority, and reference number of planning application
The project will not reach the planning stage unless the Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs approves Thames Water's Water Asset Management Plan.

• If you are the developer and would like to respond to this campaign, please email piece.by.piece@guardian.co.uk

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Tree planting collaboration between BATN Foundation and the Community Link Advancement Programme (CLAP) founded by Oluwakemi Alao-Akala, wife of the governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala, inaugurated five-hectare Teak tree plantation in Ologede Village in Atisbo Local Government Area of the state.

Owner of north London Budgens says squirrel tastes lovely and is a sustainable way of feeding people

The owner of a local Budgens supermarket has defended selling squirrel meat as a sustainable way of feeding people and says it has a "lovely" taste.

Andrew Thornton, started selling the meat about five months ago after requests from customers at his Budgens store in Crouch End, north London.

"There too many squirrels around, we might as well eat them rather than cull them and dispose of them," he said. He sells up to 15 squirrels a week when they are in stock.

The animal welfare group, Viva accused Budgens of profiting from a "wildlife massacre".

Its founder and director, Juliet Gellatley, said: "If this store is attempting to stand out from the crowd by selling squirrel, the only message they are giving out is that they are happy to have the blood of a beautiful wild animal on their hands for the sake of a few quid."

Thornton rejected the claim. "That's not the case at all," he said. "If we are selling 10 or 15 a week I don't think that falls into the definition of a massacre."

But he predicted more people would eat squirrel in the future.

"I think it's lovely. It's bit like rabbit. I think there will be a lot of fuss about this now, but in a few years it will become accepted practice that we eat squirrels. People don't bat an eyelid now about eating rabbit," he said.

Thornton buys the meat from a game supplier in Suffolk, the Wild Meat Company, but he said he hadn't stocked it for several weeks because the firm had run out of squirrel while it focused on other game products.

"We would like to get it back on shelves as soon as we can. We are a mainstream supermarket but we take a very strong sustainability stance," he said.

"We got into it because we had requests from customers. There are a lot of people who understand sustainability issues around here."

Thornton claimed that squirrel meat is more sustainable than beef. "It takes about 15 tonnes of grain to produce one tonne of beef, which is not sustainable."

"Squirrels will be being culled anyway. You have two choices. Either you dispose of them or you eat them."

The actor and Viva patron Jenny Seagrove said selling squirrel meat was "unbelievable".

"Anyone who cares about wildlife, as I do, should be appalled at Budgens for allowing this," she said.

A spokesman for Musgrave, which operates Budgens, told the Daily Mail: "As our retailers are independent, they therefore have the right and ability to secure products that Budgens do not offer for sale, within their individually owned stores."

• Food
• Food & drink
• Supermarkets
• Animal welfare
• Wildlife

Matthew Weaver
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A new Greenpeace investigation into the operations of Sinar Mas reveals that the company is continuing to break its own environmental commitments on protecting forests and peatland.

The Artisanal Fishermen Association of Nigeria (ARFAN) has demanded N46.8 billion from Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU), as compensation for the destruction of their fishing gears by oil spills.

New book claims western-style schemes to protect animals damage the environment and criminalise local people

Ecotourism and western-style conservation projects are harming wildlife, damaging the environment, and displacing and criminalising local people, according to a controversial new book.

The pristine beaches and wildlife tours demanded by overseas tourists has led to developments that do not benefit wildlife, such as beaches being built, mangroves stripped out, waterholes drilled and forests cleared, says Rosaleen Duffy, a world expert on the ethical dimensions of wildlife conservation and management.

These picture-perfect images all too often hide a "darker history", she adds. Her new book, Nature Crime: How We're Getting Conservation Wrong, which draws on 15 years of research, 300 interviews with conservation professionals, local communities, tour operators and government officials, is published today.

When wildlife reserves are established, Duffy says, local communities can suddenly find that their everyday subsistence activities, such as hunting and collecting wood, have been outlawed.

At the same time, well-intentioned attempts to protect the habitats of animal species on the edge of extinction lead to the creation of wild, "people-free" areas. This approach has led to the displacement of millions of people across the world.

"Conservation does not constitute neat win-win scenarios. Schemes come with rules and regulations that criminalise communities, dressed up in the language of partnership and participation, coupled with promises of new jobs in the tourism industry," claims Duffy, professor of international politics at Manchester University.

A key failure of the western-style conservation approach is the assumption that people are the enemies of wildlife conservation – that they are the illegal traders, the poachers, the hunters and the habitat destroyers. Equally flawed, she says, is the belief that those engaged in conservation are "wildlife saviours".

Such images, she argues, are oversimplifications. "The inability to negotiate these conflicts and work with people on the ground is where conservation often sows the seeds of its own doom," she adds.

"Why do some attempts to conserve wildlife end up pitting local communities against conservationists?" she asks. "It is because they are regarded as unjust impositions, despite their good intentions. This is vital because failing to tackle such injustices damages wildlife conservation in the long run."

Duffy stresses that her intention is not to persuade people to stop supporting conservation schemes. "Wildlife is under threat and we need to act urgently," she acknowledges. Instead, she says, she wants to encourage environmentalists to examine what the real costs and benefits of conservation are, so that better practices for people and for animals can be developed.

"The assumption that the ends justify the means results in a situation where the international conservation movement and their supporters around the world assume they are making ethical and environmentally sound decisions to save wildlife," she says. "In fact, they are supporting practices that have counterproductive, unethical and highly unjust outcomes."

Duffy focuses on what she says is the fallacious belief that ecotourism is a solution to the problem of delivering economic development in an environmentally sustainable way.

This is, she says, a "bewitchingly simple argument" but the assumption that such tourism necessarily translates into the kinds of development that benefits wildlife is far too simplistic.

"Holiday makers are mostly unaware of how their tourist paradises have been produced," she says. "They assume that the picture-perfect landscape or the silver Caribbean beach is a natural feature. This is very far from the truth. Tourist playgrounds are manufactured environments, usually cleared of people. Similarly, hotel construction in tropical areas can result in clearing ecologically important mangroves or beach building which harms coral reefs."

But the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, one of the four biggest environmental NGOs in the world, maintains that the loss of wildlife is one of the most important challenges facing our planet. As such, a powerful focus on conservation is necessary: "Conservation is essential so let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater," says a WWF-UK spokesman. "There are examples out there where ecotourism is working and has thrown a lifeline to communities in terms of economics and social benefits, as well as added biodiversity benefits.

"Let's have more of those projects that are working for everybody and everything," he adds. "There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to ecotourism and conservation."

• Conservation
• Wildlife
• Animals
• Ethical holidays
• Ethical and green living
• Endangered species
• Endangered habitats

Amelia Hill
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With more mouths to feed and increasing demands on land, Duncan Graham-Rowe looks to see if high rise city blocks will be the source of tomorrow's supper

The vaults rose up as high as the city walls, bearing reeds richly bedded in bitumen and gypsum. The layered galleries peered each beyond its neighbour to reach the sunlight, and water drawn from the river was pumped through conduits up to the highest level. The topsoil was thick enough to root even the largest trees...

These were the renowned Hanging Gardens of Babylon, as described by the Greek historians Diodorus and Callisthenes, and the earliest example of vertical farming – at least according to Dan Caiger-Smith. His company, Valcent, is taking the concept into the 21st century, recently launching the first farm of its kind at Paignton Zoo in Devon.

It's a beguilingly simple idea: make maximum use of a small amount of space by filling glass houses with plant beds stacked high one above the other.

Financial and environmental pressures on modern agriculture have sparked new interest in vertical farming. With global population expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, competition for land to grow both food and energy crops will become increasingly fierce. Four-fifths of us will live in dense urban areas, and increasing awareness of the carbon and water footprints of well-travelled food will have pushed locally grown produce even further up the list of desirables.

So it's easy to see the appeal of a system which, its proponents insist, can surpass the productivity of existing agricultural spaces by up to 20 times, while using less water, cutting mileage and energy costs, and delivering food security.

"It answers so many of the big questions of the future", says Caiger-Smith.

Valcent's system requires about the same amount of energy as having a home computer on for ten hours a day. That's enough to produce half a million lettuces a year – and, the company claims, seven times less than is required to grow the same crop on a traditional farm.

The 100 square metre farm at Paignton Zoo grows leaf vegetables for animal feed. It applies a technique called hydroponics, where plants are grown in nutrient rich solutions instead of soil. Stacked in trays eight layers high, the crops are continually rotated to ensure that all have adequate access to air and sunlight. The system also allows nutrients that have not been directly taken up by the plants to be collected and recirculated, along with the water, reducing usage and minimising waste.

This is just the beginning, says Caiger-Smith. His company now has more than 150 clients around the world queuing up to see how hydroponics could meet the needs of human food production, too.

How indeed. Inspiring concepts and artists' impressions abound, but with none actually up and running yet, how can vertical farms meet the impressive efficiency and production claims being made for them?

By cutting lots of corners. For a start, they remove the need for tractors and other fuel-dependent equipment. Distances to ship the produce from grower to retailer to consumer are also slashed. As Jeanette Longfield, Co-ordinator of the food and farming non-profit group, Sustain, puts it: "Intensive agriculture is currently entirely dependent on fossil fuels, from its use of nitrogen-based fertilisers to mechanical equipment, transport and refrigeration – and so urban agriculture really makes a lot of sense". In particular, Longfield sees "great potential for perishables that don't travel well".

Moreover, the traditional dependence of yield on the weather is taken out of the equation, offering greater security to the full supply chain.

Proven business models are still a way off. "It takes a stock market to build a high-rise," says Natalie Jeremijenko, an aerospace engineer and environmental health professor at New York University. She doubts that the income from vertically farmed crops would be sufficient to recoup the rent. But this hasn't stemmed her interest. Instead, she's come up with two designs to sidestep the problem: one is a small hydroponic rooftop pod with a curved shape to maximise exposure to the sunlight. The other is a vertical farm designed around a fire escape on an occupied high rise.

Sustain has also set out to demonstrate that urban land doesn't always come at a premium. The organisation has launched the programme Capital Growth, which aims to create 2,012 new food growing spaces in London before the city hosts the Olympics that year. The search encompasses "all kinds of nooks and crannies" – from school grounds and the banks of canals to roof terraces.

The other option is to simply do things on an industrial scale. Dickson Despommier at Columbia University, author of The Vertical Farm: The World Grows Up, believes there is scope to take vertical farming to an entirely new level, quite literally. He wants to create a new type of skyscraper to pierce the Big Apple's skyline – vast multi-storey buildings dedicated to vertical farming. According to Despommier, a single 30-storey building could provide enough food for 10,000 people.

And he's not alone in thinking big. Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut has drawn up plans for a huge tower, also in New York, on the city's Roosevelt Island (see 'Weak signals: how to track a changing horzion'). Callebaut's vision, dubbed the Dragonfly, is to create buildings with lush, fertile interiors that function as self-contained, sustainable eco-systems, producing food for their residents.

It's not just a flight of fancy. Will Allen in Milwaukee has already demonstrated the concept with a community food aquaculture system he calls Growing Power. This symbiotic cultivation system relies on aquatic life, such as tilapia fish and yellow perch, to redistribute nutrients. Waste products from the fish fertilise plants, while vegetable waste and worms from the gardens feed the fish. Both the vegetables and the fish are sold to local businesses at a marked up price, so that local residents can buy the produce directly from the farm at a subsidised price.

If vertical food does prove cheaper to produce and consume, then it's unlikely to face much opposition. In years to come, "locally grown" may mean just a few blocks from home.

• Duncan Graham-Rowe is a former staff writer for the New Scientist and a regular contributor to The Economist and The Guardian.

• Additional material by Anna Simpson, Deputy Editor, Green Futures.

• Food
• Farming

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Water supplies cut to Jilin as floodwaters carry thousands of barrels from chemical plant down Songhua river

Water supplies were cut for a time to part of the north-eastern Chinese city of Jilin, after a flood washed thousands of barrels of a dangerous chemical from a factory into the area's main river, state media said today.

A "small quantity" of two pollutants produced by the plant were found in the Songhua river, and a reporter smelt a strange odour as he watched dozens of the metal containers float through downtown Jilin, the official Xinhua agency said.

It was not clear how well the barrels were sealed. But the environmental protection ministry said yesterday that tests showed nothing abnormal about the water quality. It would monitor the river closely, it said.

The latest spill was triggered when flood waters rushed through a chemical plant yesterday morning, carrying off barrels, including some of trimethyl chloro silicane, a colourless, flammable liquid with a pungent smell, Xinhua said.

Around 3,000 barrels contained 170kg (375lb) of chemicals, and another 4,000 were empty, Xinhua said, citing a government official speaking at a news conference in Jilin. That suggested as much as 500 tonnes could potentially contaminate the river.

Jilin, with a population of 4.5 million, saw panic buying of water. By this morning, however, water supplies had been restored to most districts. The Jilin government declined immediate comment.

Areas downstream could still be at risk, as emergency workers have so far fished only 400 barrels out of the river.

Jilin city suffered a major chemical spill in November 2005, when an explosion at a petrochemical plant released tonnes of hazardous chemicals into the river. That was covered up for over a week. In the face of widespread panic, officials were forced to cut water supplies to millions of people, including the city of Harbin.

• China
• Pollution
• Water

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In previous elections, GOP candidates have been rewarded for responding to voters' environmental concerns. Those concerns continue, a study finds, but Fiorina and Whitman are focusing elsewhere.

For decades, Republicans who won statewide office in California found success, at least in part, by showing sensitivity to voters' commitment to protecting the environment. But with state unemployment hovering at more than 12%, the two GOP candidates at the top of the ticket this year are betting that voters' concerns about jobs and economic uncertainty will trump any desire for environmental crusades.

The explosion at a plastics factory in eastern China injures 300 and reduces buildings to rubble. It follows an oil spill this month and an acid leak that poisoned a river.

A powerful explosion caused by a broken gas pipeline killed at least 12 people Wednesday, injured about 300 and flattened hundreds of buildings in eastern China in the latest in a series of troubling industrial accidents.

The author of a new guide to finding and eating wild food explains the basics of foraging

• Download John's forager's calendar (pdf)
• Five foragers' recipes

I am frequently told that going on a walk with me can be rather disconcerting. I appear to be strangely distracted and barely listening to what is being said to me. Well, I am – usually – listening; it is just that I am doing something else as well – looking.

Once one learns the foraging way of life, it is difficult to stop. Every walk, every car or train journey is an opportunity to find a new patch of watermint, a likely spot for pignuts or a promising-looking wood.

Where to look

Most people can make a good start by looking in their own flower-beds – hairy bittercress, dandelion, ground elder, silverweed and corn salad can all be found in the average flower garden and it is rather satisfying to be able to eat your weeds. The vegetable garden can supply even finer delicacies, such as fat hen and spear-leaved orache. Few places are more packed with wild edible greens than the disturbed ground of an allotment garden – with fat hen, spear-leaved orache, red goosefoot and chickweed available by the sackful. Check with the other gardeners and beware that they haven't sprayed all sorts of chemicals on them.

Even without the wildlife refuge of many gardens, the urban forager need not feel left out. Around 20 species mentioned in my book are commonly found in odd corners of our cities and suburbs. Fennel, perennial wall rocket, rowan, blackberry, stinging nettle, wild strawberry and others are all as much, or even more, at home in town as out. Not that urban foraging is without its perils. Herbicidal sprays, pollution and, most of all, dogs, can make a forage around town a dicey business.

The heart of a wood is surprisingly poor foraging territory. Wood sorrel and sweet chestnut are the most likely woodland finds. Woodland edges are seldom trimmed and will often contain many edible species. The modern version of the planted hedgerow is the swathes of trees and shrubs planted by imaginative council and highway authorities along dual carriageways and even on roundabouts. My best spot for wild cherries is on a bypass (I won't tell you which) and the largest patch of sea buckthorn I have ever come across is alongside the A1 just south of Newcastle.

Sometimes these places are accessible, but often they are a forage too far. Heath and bog bring bilberry and cranberry respectively, while streams will supply two of my favourite edible plants – watercress and watermint. Fields and meadows are also excellent hunting grounds with pignut, sorrel, wintercress and dandelion.

What to take

Wellies, thick gloves and robust clothing are often an absolute necessity. I also highly recommend a hat as this will shade your eyes, protect your head, keep you dry, and double as an emergency foraging basket. A collection of real baskets, buckets, small pots with lids and canvas bags will bring your finds home intact and, if you take enough, not hopelessly mixed together.

A knife is an important part of the forager's kit, but there is now a serious obstacle to this innocent necessity. Carrying a knife in a public place with a blade longer than 75mm, or any knife with a fixed blade or a blade that can be locked in position (many penknives are like this), is a criminal offence with up to four years available to catch up on your reading. Scissors are indispensable and I never go anywhere without a pair, but even these could conceivably be misconstrued as a fixed blade.

Berry-pickers are the love-child of a comb and a dustpan. They can speed up the picking of bilberries, though, by the time you have removed all the twigs and leaves in your collection, not as much as you might hope. A sturdy stick with a crooked end for pulling fruit- and nut-bearing branches within your grasp is de rigueur. There is one potential hazard in using these implements, or at least carrying them around in a public place – the innocent forager may be open to the accusation of "going equipped".

Such a situation might arise, for example, if you walked past a cherry orchard on your way to pick some hedgerow plums while carrying your trusty drainpipe picker over your shoulder. This sounds, and is, ridiculous, but the penalty is up to three years inside and the police and courts do not always pursue the path of good sense.

Finally, a little-used hedgerow foraging technique that is my gift to you is the "standing on the roof of your car" method. This is seriously effective – I once picked many kilos of plums from a tree whose lower branches had been stripped bare by less adventurous collectors.

When to look

If I were to choose the best time of all, it would be early September. Many summer fruits are still around and the autumn ones just beginning, roots are plump and green vegetables such as watercress and fat hen still in leaf.

Download the forager's calendar (pdf) for more information.

Things to remember

1. Take care not to damage habitats by trampling all over them.

2. Most of the plants in my book are very common but one or two are not and should be picked with extreme care and only occasionally.

3. Obey the laws that cover conservation.

4. Although it hardly applies to such things as Blackberries and Haws, in general it is wise to pick a little here and a little there of whatever you are collecting.

The laws you need to know

1. You need permission to go on to land you do not own, otherwise you will be trespassing. This does not apply in Scotland.

2. There is a common law right, enshrined in law, that you may collect "fruit, flowers, fungi and foliage", providing it is for personal use only and is growing wild.

3. Byelaws exist in some places which have removed these rights.

4. This right does not exist on CROW (Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000) land unless it existed before the land was registered under the act.

5. It is illegal to uproot any plant without permission from the owner of the land on which it grows.

6. Some (rare) plants are protected by law.

7. Plants cited in the declaration of an SSSI (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) are protected.

8. Picking any plants on an SSSI may, strictly, be illegal but it is unlikely that picking common plants such as blackberries and sorrel will result in prosecution.

And finally ...

I know that many people are concerned that a walk on the wild side will quickly see them in hospital. The good news is that identification is much, much easier in the plant world than it is in the fungal world. A mistake I see again and again is people making up their mind about something and ignoring clear features that indicate that it cannot possibly be what they think it is. A typical example would be, "I am sure it is fat hen though the leaves are a bit hairy." Fat hen never has hairy leaves so it must be something else.

Another mistake is to flick through a book to find something that "looks a bit like it". There is nothing wrong with flicking through books, we all do it, but it is essential to double check that all the characters you are expecting are actually there.

• This extract is taken from The River Cottage Hedgerow Handbook by John Wright (Bloomsbury, £14.99). To buy a copy signed by the author for £8.99, and for the chance to win a day's foraging with John, followed by a meal at River Cottage HQ visit rivercottage.net

• Food & drink
• Food

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How to find the ingredients for, and cook five simple and delicious forager's dishes including bramble mousse and chestnut macaroons

Nettle soup

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica)

Description: Upright perennial, to 1.5 metres. Leaves heart-shaped, opposite on stem, serrated edge, covered in stinging hairs. Stems tough and fibrous, also with stinging hairs

Habitat: Woods, waste ground, hedgerow, near habitation

Distribution: Throughout the UK

Season: Spring – before the flowers form, though the younger the better. New growth will appear in summer and autumn from cut-back plants. In March the whole plant can be picked, but as they mature, just take the developing leaves from the top. At the first sign of flowers developing you must stop picking. The plant will start producing cystoliths which can interfere with kidney function. By this time the texture and flavour has deteriorated anyway. Cooking completely destroys the nettle's ability to sting.

Serves 4

Half a carrier bagful of stinging nettle tops, or fresh-looking larger leaves
50g butter
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock, or even light fish stock
1 large potato, peeled and cut into cubes
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp crème fraîche
A few drops of extra-virgin olive oil
A few drops of Tabasco

Wearing rubber gloves, sort through the nettles, discarding anything you don't like the look of and any thick stalks. Wash the nettles and drain in a colander.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook gently for 5–7 minutes until softened. Add the stock, nettles, potato and carrot. Bring to a simmer and cook gently until the potato is soft, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Using an electric hand-held stick blender, purée the soup and then season with salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into warmed bowls and float a teaspoonful of crème fraîche on top. As this melts, swirl in a few drops of extra-virgin olive oil and Tabasco.

Wild garlic pesto

Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum)

Description: Short/medium perennial, to 50cm. Leaves broadly elliptical and pointed, soft and often damp to the touch. Flowers white, star-like, five-petalled in round sprays. All parts smell strongly of garlic

Habitat: Shaded hedgerow, woodland, doesn't like urban areas

Distribution: Very common throughout the British Isles, except for the north of Scotland. Also less common in central eastern England

Season: Leaves February–June. Star-shaped flowers and seed heads April– June. Root bulb all year

The younger the leaves, the better they will be. Certainly try to pick them before they flower – after this the flavour becomes fainter and coarser. The leaves wilt very quickly so either use them as soon as you get home or keep them covered in the fridge.

The decorative flowers and the young seed heads are also edible as is the underground bulb (make sure you identify the right root and have permission from the owner of the land if you plan to dig this up). There are several poisonous plants which lie in wait for the careless wild garlic collector - lily of the valley and the autumn crocus (or meadow saffron) bear a striking similarity, as do the the immature leaves of lords and ladies plants. There is no need for concern though – wild garlic smells strongly of garlic when crushed and none of these impostors do.

Makes 1 small jar

50g wild garlic leaves, washed
30g pinenuts, lightly toasted
30g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
80ml olive oil, plus extra to cover
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

The simplest method is to put everything except the oil in a food processor, blitz for a few seconds, then continue to whiz while slowly adding the olive oil through the funnel.

Transfer to a jar, pour sufficient olive oil on top to keep the pesto covered, close the lid and store it in the fridge. It will keep for several weeks.

Watercress omelette with cream cheese and smoked salmon

Watercress (Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum)

Description: Large trailing aquatic perennial. Leaflets more or less opposite plus terminal leaflet, very shallowly lobed edges, dark green, often with a bronze tinge.

Young leaves form a rosette around emerging flower heads. Taste peppery. Flowers small, white, four-petalled.

Habitat: Shallow streams, often chalk streams, ditches

Distribution: Common, less so in the North

Season: Late March until November

Every part of the plant is edible, but I usually collect the rosette around the developing flower head. Annoyingly fool's watercress (Apium nodiflorum) looks similar and is edible, though much inferior. It grows in precisely the same locations, often found intertwined with true watercress. The distinguishing features of fool's watercress are finely and bluntly toothed edges to the leaflets, shiny yellow/green opposite leaflets and a taste of carrots.

Fasciola hepatica, a small creature which spends part of its time stuck to aquatic plants waiting to enter the digestive tract of a sheep or other herbivore, is a problem. The tiny metacercarium will gradually develop and eat its way through you until it is at the 3cm, flat, slug-like adult stage, whereupon it finds its way into your liver. I presume you will not be wanting a family of slug lookalikes taking up residence in your liver so my advice must be not to bother with raw wild watercress.

There is of course one simple way of removing the parasite – cooking. Quickly sweating it for a sauce or adding it at the very last minute to a soup is the best way to retain the flavour. If you still want to eat it raw and wild, and even if you don't, pick from fast running water upstream of any grazing animals, avoid streams with muddy banks and pick from plants that are growing in the middle of streams and high out of the water. Finally, soak your collection for 10 minutes in 10% white vinegar solution or a chlorine-based steriliser such as the type used for baby's bottles. Rinse thoroughly.

Makes 2

85g watercress, washed
4 eggs, separated
2 tbsp crème fraîche
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
A little oil for cooking
For the filling
75g cream cheese
100g smoked salmon slices
Handful of sorrel leaves, washed and shredded (optional)

Blitz the watercress, egg yolks, crème fraîche and some salt and pepper together in a blender for a few seconds.

Beat the egg whites in a scrupulously clean bowl with a balloon whisk until they form soft peaks, then carefully fold into the watercress mixture.

Heat a little oil in a medium frying pan and pour in half of the omelette mixture.
Cook for a couple of minutes until set and golden brown underneath, then carefully transfer to a warmed plate. Repeat to cook the second omelette.

Top with the cream cheese and smoked salmon and sprinkle with shredded sorrel if you have some to hand. Fold to enclose the filling and eat straight away.

Bramble mousse

Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus agg)

Description: Scrambling, arching shrub, to 3 metres. Leaves with three to five leaflets – oval/pointed, serrated edge, hairy white underside. Stem with backward-pointing strong, sharp thorns. Flowers five-petalled, white to pale pink. Fruit consisting of many dark purple/black segments

Habitat: Woods, hedgerows, waste ground, gardens. All soil types, but does not like very wet conditions

Distribution: Extremely common throughout the British Isles, except the Scottish Highlands

Season: Berries from August until mid-October

The best blackberries are early in the season when the sun is strong, before the flies have pierced them and the grey mould Botrytis cinerea has taken hold. The biggest and sweetest berry is usually the one at the end of the stalk. This ripens long before all the others and is the one to eat raw; the rest are better for cooking. Blackberries do not keep, not even for a day. If there is no time to make your jam or crumble, at least cook the berries through by simmering them on a low heat for a few minutes. Or freeze them.

Serves 4

500g blackberries, washed
7g leaf gelatine
Juice of ½ lemon (omit if your blackberries taste strongly acidic)
3 large eggs
100g caster sugar
200ml double cream

Set aside 50g of the best blackberries (the plumpest and juiciest) for serving. Put the rest into a saucepan, cover and cook gently for 5 minutes until softened. Meanwhile, soak the gelatine leaves in a shallow dish of cold water to soften.

Crush the cooked blackberries in the saucepan using a potato masher, then pass through a sieve into a bowl, pressing with the back of a wooden spoon to extract as much juice as possible. Pour the blackberry juice into a clean pan, add the lemon juice and heat gently until almost simmering, then take off the heat.

Squeeze the gelatine leaves to remove excess water, then add them to the hot blackberry juice and stir until dissolved. Set aside to cool until tepid. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the caster sugar until thick, pale and mousse-like. Continuing to whisk, slowly pour in the blackberry juice, followed by 150ml of the cream. Pour the mixture into glasses and place in the fridge for a couple of hours until set.

Before serving, pour a little cream on top and decorate with the remaining berries.

Chestnut macaroons

Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa)

Description: Large tree. Leaves large, long, pointed/oval, saw-toothed edge. Husk covered with very sharp spines. Nuts two or more to a husk, slightly hairy!

Habitat: Park or woodland. Not on lime

Distribution: Common, scattered around England but with a southern preference. Less common in Scotland, Northern Ireland and central Wales

Season: October

The husk of the sweet chestnut is covered in a large number of long, fine bristles and contains more than one nut, whereas the horse chestnut has a few rather stumpy spines and only ever contains a single nut. The traditional method of removing the nuts is to make a small pile, stamp on it and search through the debris for the bright shiny treasure. Sweet chestnuts of an edible size are not necessarily found every year, but sometimes the weather suits them and we get a bumper crop. And sometimes only one or two trees in a forest will set good fruit.

Makes about 8

100g chestnut flour (see below)
20g rice flour
200g caster sugar
2 large egg whites
25g shelled hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

To make the chestnut flour, place the chestnuts in a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Cook gently for 10 minutes, or 15 minutes if they are large. Turn off the heat, but leave the chestnuts in the hot water. Don a pair of rubber gloves.

One at a time, remove the chestnuts, cut into the pointed end on the flat side and start to peel the skin. Usually, both layers come away together. Cool the peeled chestnuts in the fridge, then grate them in a Mouli grater. Spread thinly on a non-stick baking tray and place in a very low oven (40°C), with the door slightly ajar, for an hour or until perfectly dry.

Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas mark 3. Line a large baking tray with rice paper.

Blitz the dried chestnut flakes in a blender to a powder.

Mix the chestnut flour, rice flour and sugar together in a bowl. Beat the egg white lightly and stir into the mixture. Drop heaped dessertspoonfuls of the mixture on to the prepared baking tray, spacing them well apart. Sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts on top. Bake in the oven for 20–25 minutes until golden brown. Leave the chestnut macaroons on the baking tray for a few minutes to firm up, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

• These recipes are taken from The River Cottage Hedgerow Handbook by John Wright (Bloomsbury, £14.99). To buy a copy signed by the author for £8.99, and for the chance to win a day's foraging with John, followed by a meal at River Cottage HQ visit rivercottage.net

• Food & drink
• Food

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Motorists frequently ignore protected bike zones at junctions. Even the police give out mixed messages about whether they are breaking the law

A couple of days ago I blogged about my encounter with an Addison Lee minicab driver who drove into the protected bike zone at a red traffic light.

This happens frustratingly frequently and is clearly contrary to the Highway Code. (Point 178 states: "Motorists, including motorcyclists, MUST stop at the first white line reached if the lights are amber or red".) But is it actually illegal? And if so what penalties do drivers face?

When I started looking into this, the answer turned out to be surprisingly contradictory. Peter Walker touched on the in a previous blog in which he asked the police why they apparently turn a blind eye to the offence:

Booking cars which enter the zone is tricky, [PC James] Aveling says, as it's not illegal if they stop in one if a light turns red as they're part-way in. Officers thus have to watch a driver creep in on an already red light. There are also rumours that some officers see the penalty for the infringement – six points on the licence the same as you'd get for sailing all the way through the red light – as somewhat disproportionate.

So the offence comes under failure to stop at a red light.

Not so, says bike blog reader Nick Lane, who emailed us about another blog that mentioned the issue:

Cycle stop boxes are NOT legally enforceable, no points of fines can be levied against a vehicle entering or using one. Therefore they are NOT illegal.

In 2004 I had a lengthy correspondence with a chief inspector of road policy policing in which I queried why officers were not fining or awarding penalty points to motorists who compromised [advanced stop line] boxes. His reply on each occasion was emphatic - it is not an offence and therefore they cannot take action. He advised that I should not interpret the Highway Code as a set of laws attached to which were penalties, but rather as a set of guidelines.

Can that really be true? What is the point of saying in the Highway Code that drivers "MUST" not do something if there is no sanction for transgression? If that is correct, it's no wonder so many people do it.

The preface to the Highway Code suggests that the chief inspector is wrong. It states:

Many of the rules in the code are legal requirements, and if you disobey these rules you are committing a criminal offence. You may be fined, given penalty points on your licence or be disqualified from driving. In the most serious cases you may be sent to prison. Such rules are identified by the use of the words 'MUST/MUST NOT'.

For chapter and verse on the subject I called the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) (they ought to know, right?). After a day on the case, the press officer got back to me to say that nobody at ACPO knew the answer. She suggested I contact the Department for Transport (DfT). So I did.

At last some clarity. The DfT said that driving into a bike zone when the lights are red is an offence. It carries a £60 penalty and three points on your driving licence (maximum £1,000 fine if it goes to court). Police have some discretion over which bit of the Road Traffic Act to use, but most likely it will fall under "Failure to comply with a traffic sign or road marking".

So driving into a bike zone when the lights are red is illegal. Although there is apparently a great deal of confusion among the police themselves. One thing is for sure. Booking drivers for this offence is not a priority.

• Road transport
• Cycling

James Randerson
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Residents worry about employment now that oil-skimming jobs are likely to end, while lawmakers in Congress spar over spill-related legislation.

With BP's troubled oil well temporarily capped and a permanent fix progressing, government officials marked the 100th day of the Gulf of Mexico spill Wednesday by emphasizing the challenges ahead in resolving one of the worst environmental problems in the nation's history.

A number of songs have sprung up in reaction to the gulf oil spill, bringing the city together and giving vent to collective anger.

Ben Jaffe, the tuba player and creative director for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, was sitting in his Faubourg Marigny house one spring morning, drinking fresh-brewed New Orleans chicory coffee and worrying about the oil spill.

Spill of more than 800,000 gallons coated birds and fish in one of the state's major rivers. Officials hope to contain the oil before it reaches Lake Michigan.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — A company operating a pipeline that dumped more than 800,000 gallons of oil into a southern Michigan river said Wednesday it is doubling its workforce on the containment and cleanup effort.

My study is away from the house, which enables me to look out from the largest window to the pond below. The pond is large with two small islands and we had it dug out 22 years ago. Last week I watched a female wild mallard trying to control her ducklings as they darted here and there looking for seeds or insects. She had nested on the side of the burn at the back of the pond and had raised eight ducklings. Gradually the hooded crows have taken their toll and yesterday she was left with only four. As I idly watched them, the female walked up on to the grassy dam to preen and the ducklings followed, scampering up the bank to her side. It looked as though they were copying the female as they preened, but when they tried to peck at the feathers underneath, one of the ducklings actually fell over.

I turned to the computer keyboard, but after a few minutes something caught my eye. The birds were hurriedly leaving the dam and I looked skywards to see whether it could have been a crow or buzzard that had disturbed them. Instead out from behind the bushes came a roe deer, a doe. She was wary, sniffing the air and looking round as though worried she was out in the open. I instinctively reached for the binoculars and watched her even more closely. The colour of a roe doe in her summer coat is hard to describe well enough to justify the rich colouring. Some describe it as rich foxy red, while others as glowing a foxy red, sleek and glossy. This is all right if you know what a fox's coat looks like. I just gave up trying to adequately describe it. Then the hairs on my neck tingled as out stepped a kid and then another – she had twins. They looked spindly and kept close to their mother: they were about several weeks old.

Ray Collier
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