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Environment

Environment

 

ECO HVAR'S AIMS:

To initiate, organize, promote and encourage projects to preserve and improve the natural environment.

HOW?:

- through projects for education in organic methods of farming

- through projects for education in the use of biodegradable substances for household washing and cleaning

- through projects to reduce the use of poisons and chemicals

- through projects for education in waste and rubbish management

- through projects for education in recycling

- through  projects to clean up the environment

- through projects to establish valid international organic certification for products

- through co-operation with organizations having similar aims in Croatia and abroad

Caring for Hvar's Environment

Published in Environment

What inspired ECO HVAR for the environment

Caring for Hvar's Environment
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Bird Names

Published in Environment

Names in English and Croatian of birds commonly seen on Hvar, together with the scientific names. 

Pied wagtail, December 2015.
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Hvar's Wildflower Treasures

Published in Environment

The wildflowers on Hvar are a year-round joy. Even in the depths of winter, there is hardly a week without colours brightening up the countryside, contrasting with the island's rocks and the variegated dark green of the woodlands. 

Hvar's Wildflower Treasures
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Perilous Pesticides

Published in Environment

Good health depends on clean air, clean water and a clean environment. Hvar Island is perfectly placed to offer all those amenities.

Perilous Pesticides
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Glyphosate - GBH

Published in Environment

GBH is the acronym for Grievous Bodily Harm, a criminal offence in UK law. It also stands for glyphosate-based herbicides...

Glyphosate - GBH
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Orchids, Dalmatia's Secret Treasures

Published in Environment

Wild orchids are a special part of our environment. Are we looking after them?

Orchids, Dalmatia's Secret Treasures
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Diocletian's Palace, A New Look

Published in Environment

The Romans knew how to build, and they knew how to choose the best sites for their building. Diocletian's Palace in Split is a prime and well-preserved example. New discoveries in and around the Palace in recent years have brought about a major revision of the history of this magnificent Late Antique building project.

The Peristyle
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The Organic Alternative

Published in Environment

Organic farming: possible? YES! worthwhile? YES! Mihovil Stipišić from Vrboska is proving the point.

Organic cultivation, Vrboska April 2017
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Plants, crops, soil: Natural Protection

Published in Environment

When soil is contaminated, what ends up on your plate and in your cup or glass is less than healthy. Chemical pesticides and artificial fertilizers are causing untold damage. The 'conventional model' of agriculture is exhausting the earth and undermining human health. There are much better methods of protecting soil and plants using natural resources.

Field horsetail (Equisetum arvense)
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Rubbish Management 2018

Published in Environment

Rubbish management is a hot topic, not to say hot potato, around the world at the moment, especially in Croatia, where the European Directives which were laid down some years ago are finally due to come into force on November 1st 2018.

Binning litter, do it right!
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Starigrad Plain: Our Survey

Published in Environment

 

The results from our survey about land usage on the Starigrad Plain (Hora, Ager). The survey was conducted on behalf of LAG Škoji (Local Action Group), Eco Hvar and the Agency for the Management of the Starigrad Plain. The aim was to gain an overview of land usage, and to gather information as to what the landowners think is needed to improve conditions in this historic field layout.

Donkeys grazing on the Plain, 2nd June 2014.
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Eco Environment News feeds

  • Freedom from China? The mine at the centre of Europe’s push for rare earth metals

    Swedish producer is trying to to accelerate the process of extracting the elements vital for hi-tech products

    It is deep winter with temperatures dropping to -20C. The sun never rises above the horizon, instead bathing Sweden’s most northerly town of Kiruna in a blue crepuscular light, or “civil twilight” as it is known, for two or three hours a day stretching visibility a few metres, notwithstanding heavy snow.

    But 900 metres below the arctic conditions, a team of 20 gather every day, forgoing the brief glimpse of natural light and spearheading the EU’s race to mine its own rare earths.Despite identification of several deposits around the continent, and some rare earth refineries including Solvay in France, there are no operational rare earth mines in Europe.

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  • ‘Fear of the next deluge’: flood-scarred Britons join forces to demand help

    As climate breakdown puts millions more people at flood risk, traumatised homeowners are finding common voice

    Darren Ridley is always on high alert, constantly checking his phone for rain warnings – even in the middle of the night.

    “Our whole family is permanently on edge,” he says. “If we hear rain, day or night, we’re up and checking the house. I can’t sleep without replaying our flood plan in my head for weaknesses.”

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  • Country diary: What are these intricate marvels that looks like bran sticks? | Susie White

    Alnmouth, Northumberland: They were once the rocky abode of a burrowing worm, and are normally found at sea not on the beach

    Each time we visit this beach, the landscape of the strand has changed. Giant boulders are exposed or disappear completely. Bladderwrack accumulates in spongy piles – tricky to walk on – then is taken back by the sea to leave smooth clean sand. Sometimes there’s sea coal, at other times heaps of periwinkles and limpets. Wind and tides are forever shaping and reshaping the coast.

    Today, after a turbulent sea, there are crunchy razor clams underfoot. Sharp-edged, they were named after the cut-throat razors used for wet shaves. These are molluscs that drag themselves beneath the sand using strong muscular “feet”. To make their downward passage smoother they shoot out a jet of water, which led to the delightful Scottish name of spoots. Their pale shells stand out against the background of sea‑moulded nuggets of coal, along with broken crab claws and the spiral skeletons of whelks.

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  • World’s richest 1% have already used fair share of emissions for 2026, says Oxfam

    Richest 1% took 10 days while wealthiest 0.1% needed just three days to exhaust annual carbon budget, study shows

    The world’s richest 1% have used up their fair share of carbon emissions just 10 days into 2026, analysis has found.

    Meanwhile, the richest 0.1% took just three days to exhaust their annual carbon budget, according to the research by Oxfam.

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  • Weather tracker: Canada issues warnings for freezing rain, heavy snow and strong winds

    Severe weather, driven by two low-pressure systems merging, is expected to bring power outages and hazardous road conditions

    Atlantic Canada is under widespread weather warnings for snow, freezing rain and strong winds as a winter storm moves across the region. In Newfoundland, up to 40cm of snow fell on Sunday, along with wind gusts of about 74mph, creating blizzard-like conditions.

    The storm began late on Sunday and is forecast to persist until Tuesday morning. Freezing rain warnings are in place across Nova Scotia, including Annapolis and Kings counties, while parts of New Brunswick could get up to 25cm of snow on Monday.

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  • ‘There’s a dark side to floristry’: are pesticides making workers seriously ill – or worse?

    Unlike in food, there is no upper limit on the amount of pesticide residue levels in flowers. But after French officials linked the death of a florist’s child to exposure in pregnancy, many in the industry are now raising the alarm

    On a cold morning in December 2024, florist Madeline King was on a buying trip to her local wholesaler when a wave of dizziness nearly knocked her over. As rows of roses seemed to rush past her, she tried to focus. She quickly picked the blooms she needed and left.

    I’m not doing this any more, she thought.

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  • Quebec’s Lake Rouge vanished – but was it a freak natural event or caused by human actions?

    Experts and community trying to untangle mystery of outburst that saw water travel almost 10km overland into a bigger lake

    Manoel Dixon had just finished dinner one night last May when a phone dinged nearby with a Facebook message.

    Dixon, 26, was at his family’s hunting camp near their northern Quebec home town of Waswanipi. They knew the fellow hunter who was messaging Dixon’s father, but what he wrote didn’t make sense.

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  • ‘It’s embarrassing’: riders say time is up for fossil fuel sponsorship of heat-affected Tour Down Under

    Cyclists prepare for Australia’s big race by training in extreme temperatures – and they’ve noticed a contradiction in the relationship with Santos

    The first time Maeve Plouffe trained in the heat, she was in Paris in the lead-up to the Olympics. It was supposed to be an easy ride to help get used to the conditions. When she returned, she fainted from heat sickness.

    “That’s how badly I was affected,” she says. “Racing in extreme heat is like playing chicken with your environment.”

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  • The pet I’ll never forget: Dory the 10kg rabbit, who saved me from a diabetic coma

    My Flemish giant bunny loved chomping on carrots, computer cables and my skirting board – and being walked on a leash. When I suffered a medical emergency, she jumped into action

    The first time I saw a Flemish giant rabbit was at TruckFest in Peterborough in 2002. Among a sprawling maze of stalls at the East of England showground, I was led into a tent filled with the biggest rabbits I’d ever laid eyes on. I’d never heard of Flemish giants before, but I knew then that I needed one. I couldn’t have predicted in that moment that one of these beautiful creatures might save my life.

    Dory was a baby when I met her, but even as a bunny she was already bigger than most normal-sized rabbits. We brought her home in a cat carrier, but she soon outgrew it. By the time she was fully grown, she weighed nearly 10kg, and I was walking her on a leash like a dog.

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  • ‘We want people to sit, pause, relax’: National Trust to open its libraries for public use

    Charity plans to make stately homes more welcoming by inviting visitors to use furniture and reading rooms

    There was a time, not so long ago, when a visit to a National Trust stately home could be a staid affair and sitting on the furniture tended to be discouraged, with pine cones or teasels often placed on chairs to remind people not to perch.

    This year, one of the aims of the conservation charity will be to make people feel more at ease in its grand houses and, where practical, allow them to sit on historic chairs and use libraries and reading rooms rather than simply peer into them.

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