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The site contains articles and information on topics related to health, the environment and animal welfare.
While the focus is on Hvar Island in Dalmatia, much of the information is relevant to the rest of Croatia, and some to Europe, the United States and the rest of the world.
The main language of the site is English, but articles in Croatian are being added as quickly as possible. Some of the Croatian articles are translations, some original. Book reviews are in the language of the publication being reviewed.
To see all the articles archived in each category, click on the category name which is given below the title of each article (Environment, Highlights, Notices etc).
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Government keen to avoid panic as oil price surges, but perhaps households need advice on reducing consumption
Labour ministers asked in recent days about the looming energy crisis sparked by the Iran war, including Keir Starmer himself, have essentially stuck to that reassuring wartime slogan: keep calm and carry on.
“I think people should go about their lives as normal, knowing that the government is taking action to bring energy bills down,” James Murray, the chief secretary to the Treasury, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday.
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Merlin could disappear in worst-case scenario, with British isles facing ecological ‘point of no return’
The merlin, Britain’s smallest bird of prey, is one of more than 200 species that will become extinct in the UK if action is not taken to curb emissions and unsustainable land use, a study has claimed.
According to the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), there is a 20-year window in which decisions on climate and land use will determine the fate of dozens of Britain’s native species.
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The more than 100 bat species living in the Mozambican reserve’s labyrinth of caves play a key role in maintaining a fragile ecosysytem that benefits wildlife and people
• Words and photographs by Kang-Chun Cheng
After wriggling gingerly into a damp, cool cave, Raúl da Silva Armando Chomela waits for his eyes to adjust. Donning latex gloves, a helmet fitted with a headlamp, and a mask to protect his lungs from fine particles and bacteria, the molecular biologist from the Mozambican port city of Beira gazes into the shadowy recesses for signs of bats.
He has spent two years in these claustrophobic spaces studying the winged mammals and their excrement. “Guano is far more than just bat droppings,” he says. “If I had to describe it in one word, I’d say ‘ecosystem’.”
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Research from the University of Exeter find that the method could help reduce thefts by as much as 50%
Gulls thrive on snatching chips from unwary beachgoers, but now research shows that painting a pair of eyes on takeaway boxes could put gulls off, reducing thefts by as much as 50%.
Laura Kelley, from the University of Exeter, and colleagues presented herring gulls with tempting takeaways at a number of seaside towns in Devon and Cornwall. When faced with a choice between a box with eyes painted on it and a plain box, the gulls were slower to approach the box with eyes and less likely to peck at it. And the findings, which are published in Ecology and Evolution, show that the effect is sustained, with gulls remaining wary of the boxes with eyes on them, even after repeated exposure.
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Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire: These early spring bloomers are a favourite of mine, a model of nature’s generosity, yet so often ignored
The drier days of March are always marked by the hum of dutiful grass-cutting on our urban Midlands housing estate, and so I know I will have to look to the gutters and pavements to spot my favourite spring flower. Sure enough, the first one I see is blooming in a crack beside a crumbling wall on the busy main road. I can’t help but let out a joyful shout, leaning down to cradle its fierce lion head in my fingers. Hello, dandelion, how I’ve missed you!
Perhaps it’s being a wheelchair user, closer to the ground than most, that has given me a special place in my heart for them, or perhaps it’s because I’ve always felt like a weed myself, inconvenient and growing in the wrong place. Either way, I have long been kindred spirits with keen-eyed toddlers who love to carry them in their fists. I’ve often joked that my bridal bouquet will be dandelions, please. I can honestly think of no finer flower. Why? Because there is no better example of nature’s generosity than a dandelion.
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Government told to focus on transition to mix of wind, solar, tidal and nuclear energy
More drilling in the North Sea would do nothing to improve the UK’s energy security, former military leaders have said, as a new analysis finds no fossil fuel importer is safe from chokepoints in the global supply chain.
The government should focus on a rapid transition to a mix of wind, solar, tidal and nuclear energy to ensure the UK’s future security, the former military leaders told the Guardian, as well as a programme of energy efficiency and a “major renewal” of the electricity grid.
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‘Precious ocean life is being pushed to the brink,’ say campaigners, arguing that overfished marine areas are ‘protected only on paper’
Almost 40% of England’s seas are designated as marine protected areas. Their purpose, the government says, is “to protect and recover rare threatened and important marine ecosystems … from damage caused by human activities”.
And yet in the four years to 2024, trawlers using vast nets, including those that scour the seabed, caught more than 1.3m tonnes of fish within them, according to official figures that campaigners say show they are “little more than lines on a map”.
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After being pushed to ‘distress’ by people trying to film and take selfies with the cattle in Kent, the fold has had to be taken away from public view
Name: Highland cows.
Age: More than 1,000 years old.
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Home to one of the world’s largest deposits of freshwater, the Great Lakes region will soon host next-generation generators – just as prices are being hiked across the US
Submersible hydroelectric technology deployed across the Great Lakes could become a key cog in clean energy efforts, supporters say, amid surging electricity demand and costs.
Home to one of the largest deposits of freshwater on the planet, the Great Lakes region has on its shores some of the largest cities in North America in Chicago, Toronto, Montreal and Detroit, where electricity demand is growing. While none of the five Great Lakes have significant tides or currents to fuel hydropower, several of the waterways that link the lakes do.
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A death rate of up to 90%, attributed to warming seas, is threatening the trade in Hiroshima prefecture, which produces most of the country’s farmed oysters
The Kure oyster festival is doing a brisk trade in beer and grilled meat on sticks. But the longest queues are in front of the oyster stalls, where chefs shuffle piles of mottled shellfish across griddles, waiting for their hinges to ease and reveal their fleshy interiors.
Nobuyuki Miyaoka, who is attending the festival with his son, daughter-in-law and their young children, likes his oysters steamed with sake and served with a few drops of tangy ponzu sauce. “The local oysters were fine until this year,” he says. “They used to be a lot bigger … look how small they are.”
Chefs prepare oysters at the Kure oyster festival. This year, local businesses and consumers say the shellfish have been scarce and smaller than usual
Continue reading...More than a million people in England will start being offered the anti-obesity jab for better heart health and to avoid strokes.
Diagnosed just before her fourth birthday, Sophia, now 15, can no longer speak and cannot walk unaided.
The Welsh Ambulance Service said newly qualified paramedics would not be offered roles this year due to "financial and operational issues".
The prime minister says the NHS could lose 1,000 extra training places if resident doctors go ahead with a six-day strike next week.
Can Universal Credit and the work and benefits system more generally reshape itself to meet a new reality?
Families of seven children believe the wrong sperm or egg donors were used in their IVF treatment.
People sharing pictures and accounts on socials of red, inflamed skin have triggered the first UK research into TSW.
Human composting is when a body placed in a sealed vessel containing organic matter turns into soil.
Claire Harkin believes the experiences of people who are supporting loved ones with an addiction can be overlooked.
After Noa-Rose became critically ill, the four-year-old spent two weeks fighting for her life.
Deep in the mountains of Palawan, Conservation International scientists are capturing what few people ever see: the secret lives of the Philippines’ rarest species.
At Maido — the Lima restaurant recently crowned the best in the world — one of the star dishes is paiche, a giant prehistoric river fish.Its journey to the table begins on a small family farm deep in Peru’s Amazon.
“Jane Goodall forever changed how people think about, interact with and care for the natural world,” said Daniela Raik, interim CEO of Conservation International.
Conservation International’s Neil Vora was selected for TIME’s Next 100 list — alongside other rising leaders reshaping culture, science and society.
Climate change is happening. And it’s placing the world’s reefs in peril. What can be done?
After decades of negotiation, the high seas treaty is finally reality. The historic agreement will pave the way to protect international waters which face numerous threats.
The Amazon rainforest, known for lush green canopies and an abundance of freshwater, is drying out — and deforestation is largely to blame.
The ocean is engine of all life on Earth, but human-driven climate change is pushing it past its limits. Here are five ways the ocean keeps our climate in check — and what can be done to help.
In a grueling and delicate dance, a team led by Conservation International removes a massive undersea killer.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. These pictures might be worth even more. An initiative featuring the work of some of the world’s best nature photographers raises money for environmental conservation.
