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Mashatu Game Reserve Botswana (Skye Meaker )

2018 wildlife photography winners highlight nature's beauty

The top wildlife photographers of 2018 have been crowned, with South Africa's Skye Meaker taking top honors in the youth category. Meaker tells DW of how he got his start — and of the challenges of working with leopards.  

Danube river in Bavaria, Germany (picture-alliance/dpa/A. Weigel)

Germany's disappearing rivers and lakes

Low precipitation and high temperatures have caused rivers and lakes throughout Germany to recede to near record lows. Meteorologists say the country is on course for one of the driest years in recent history.  

Sleipner gas platform off the coast of Norway

Could oil nation Norway help save the climate?

The world may not be able to make necessary changes in time to limit rapid global temperature rise, the UN climate panel has warned. Existing emissions must also be captured and stored. Norway thinks it has the answer.  

Big beef versus family farms: A war of ideas in Brazil

Rainforest with trees and undergrowth and some people in the background

When a group of Brazilian families occupied disused farmland they found lifeless soil and water. Fifteen years on, they have brought it back to health. Their story is part of a larger battle over Brazil's farming future. 

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Doing Your Bit: An app to cut food waste

An app is helping Zimbabweans order fresh produce while also cutting traffic and food waste.  

Slabs of raw meat

World Food Day

Should there be a 'meat tax' to fight climate change?

Meat would actually cost about triple its current market price if we factored in its environmental impact. Could a "meat tax" cut consumption and help do what needs to be done to fight climate change?  

Breathing easy: Hanoi attempts to improve its air quality

Traffic jam in Vietnam

If Hanoi wants clean air, residents in the Vietnamese capital are going to have to kick their moped habit. Or at least trade in polluting models for cleaner alternatives. 

Two people toast beer krugs at Oktoberfest

Climate change could cause 'severe' global beer shortage

Increasing droughts around the world may reduce barley yields, resulting in shortages of beer, a fall in global consumption and a rise in prices for the beloved beverage around the world, a new study finds.  

Gannet flying with plastic in mouth

Plastic waste and the recycling myth

Germany is hailed worldwide as a recycling champion. But like many European countries, it actually recycles a lot less plastic packaging waste than commonly understood — with dire consequences for the environment.  

Hurricane Michael leaves massive destruction in the US

Mexico Beach, Florida (picture-alliance/Zuma Press/Tampa Bay Times/D.R. Clifford)

Florida families emerged from shelters to find their neighborhoods leveled after the strongest storm since 1969 wreaked havoc. More than 375,000 people were issued mandatory evacuation orders, but many defied the calls. 

Tree marked Hambi stays

exclusive commentary

Opinion: Hambach Forest a battlefield for the planet's future

Hambach Forest is sacred ground. It must be left standing as a monument to our folly — and our ability to shift course and do the right thing, says author and environmental activist Bill McKibben.  

Tamsin Walker

How hard is living without plastic?

In 2016, DW reporter Tamsin Walker made it her New Year's resolution to eradicate plastic packaging from her life. After an initial shock to the system, she got used to it. But did she stick to it?  

How the UK slowly turned against single-use plastics

A person walking on the beach

Communities around the UK are trying to rid their towns and villages of polluting plastics. What started as a small grassroots campaign has spread nationwide, garnering support from unexpected places. 

A Caribbean island tackles its growing trash problem

Dominikanische Republik Müllentsorgungssystem soll modernisiert werden (DW/Christopher Springate)

Garbage collection in the Dominican Republic is ineffective and chaotic. But clean streets and a cut in climate-killing emissions could be on the way thanks to new modern facilities and clever management. 

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Living Planet podcast

Our changing climate

1.5 is the new 2 degrees. With rising temperatures, a lot is at risk. What might we lose and how can we save it?  

6 things you can do to avoid climate catastrophe

People's Climate March Sydney 21.09.2014 (Reuters/David Gray)

The UN has issued its starkest warning yet over climate change, but says it's not too late to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. Political will is required — but there are also things you can do. 

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IPCC 1.5 C degree report points to high stakes of climate inaction

A gentoo penguin stands before a glacial face on Trinity Island, Antarctica

The UN's scientific body on climate change says the world could still stay below 1.5 C degrees of warming. Although impacts at 2 C degrees are likely to be more serious than anticipated, political action remains elusive. 

Clock showing five minutes before midnight

Opinion: 1.5 degrees — do we want climate catastrophe or not?

A new global warming report shows it's still not too late to avert the worst impacts of climate change. It just boils down to whether we can muster the will to do so, thinks DW's Sonya Diehn.  

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Anti-venom at Kenya's snake farm

A unique snake farm helps produce effective anti-venom while teaching the public about snakes' importance for nature.  

Changing attitudes toward waste can transform communities

DW eco@africa - Durian

Tony Joy, founder of Durian in Nigeria, tells DW about the battle she is waging against waste in rural communities. It's an uphill fight with surprising results.  

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Helping Ghana’s forests with biogas

An entrepreneur in Ghana has introduced a technology that turns organic waste into biogas and helps cut deforestation.  

Making coral grow 50 times faster than nature

Australien Great Barrier Reef

If you want a coral reef, the Bahamas-based startup Coral Vita is the place to go. They'll grow you one 50 times faster than Mother Nature could. The first clients are already on board. We spoke to one of the founders. 

Insect pet food to offset carbon pawprint

Internationaler Gerichtshof Den Haag Walfang Japan Hundefutter (picture-alliance/dpa)

As meat-addicted dogs and cats threaten to eat us to extinction, some pet food startups are pioneering sustainable puppy snacks based on high-protein, low-emission insects.  

  • Living without plastic

    Inside an attempt to live without plastic packaging

    Less edible, more functional

    These liquid soaps and cleaning liquids on the other hand are not for drinking. They don't all smell divine either, but they serve a purpose. Two in fact, given that, besides cleaning, they also remove the need to buy their plastic-wrapped factory-made counterparts.

  • A collection of bottles, bags and jars containing ingredients for making cosmetics

    Inside an attempt to live without plastic packaging

    Cosmetics with a difference

    Berlin now has two shops that sell unpackaged ingredients for making your own cosmetics and cleaning products, and the internet has an endless supply of suggested combinations for soft, sweet-smelling skin. What's not to like?

  • Living without plastic

    Inside an attempt to live without plastic packaging

    The proof of the pudding...

    ... because you genuinely could eat it all. That's not to say it would taste good or necessarily be nutritious, but it is testimony to the natural nature of many make-your-own potions, lotions and creams. And not a tube or plastic bottle in sight.

  • Pot containing bamboo toothbrushes, a jar of tooth tabs and dental floss

    Inside an attempt to live without plastic packaging

    Teething problems

    As with cosmetics, there are many recipes for homemade toothpaste online. But if that's an (understandably) acquired taste too far, it's possible to get hold of minty tooth tabs either loose or in paper bags. These can be used with a bamboo toothbrush, and if you really want to go for it, complemented with a length of all-natural floss.

  • A wooden dish containing three bars of soap

    Inside an attempt to live without plastic packaging

    The hard stuff

    Keeping clean doesn't have to involve a row of plastic bottles. Soap, which predates shower gel by donkey's years, has always been widely available. But even solid shampoos and conditioners are becoming easier to get hold of. And for all their hard exterior, they have a soft touch.

  • Living without plastic

    Inside an attempt to live without plastic packaging

    Bags of potential

    Supermarkets still have rolls and rolls of those thin plastic bags for customers to use to carry fruit and veg home. Once there, the vast majority are immediately disposed of. Doesn't make a lot of sense, and even said supermarkets must be cottoning on, because they are also starting to sell cloth bags for the same purpose.

  • A collection of cotton shopping bags

    Inside an attempt to live without plastic packaging

    Totes to last

    And while we are on the subject of bags... Plastic carriers have not been banned in Germany, although some shops have taken it on themselves to stop offering them. It's not as if there are no alternatives. It's just a matter of having them with you when needed.

  • Toilet paper and a brown bag of unpackaged tissues

    Inside an attempt to live without plastic packaging

    Paper all the way

    Alternatives are harder to come by in the world of toilet paper and tissues. Given their destiny, the need to wrap them in plastic reads like one of life's little mysteries. It's for the sake of hygiene, manufacturers have been known to note. Really?

    Author: Tamsin Walker


Environment stories from around the world

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The weekly half-hour radio show and podcast Living Planet makes the environment matter to you. Listen over radio or as digital audio every Thursday. 

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