Environment

A US billionaire’s plans for a luxury Scottish golf course to rival those owned by President Trump could be stopped by a team of animal charities -- and a super rare fly.

Hamish, the first polar bear cub to be born in the UK for 25 years, is celebrating his first birthday at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s Highland Wildlife Park today.

Increasing numbers of ­businesses are beginning to look at their impact on the natural environment. Waste ­recycling and saving energy have become the standard for businesses of all shapes and sizes. It’s a win-win for the environment as well as for the bottom line.

The world is failing to take the necssary action over climate change at what is perhaps the most important crossroads in the history of humanity, writes Mary Church.

Baby seals around the UK coast are at risk from man-made toxic chemicals in their mothers’ milk, new research has found.

Hundreds of homes across Scotland were still without power on Sunday evening after Storm Deirdre struck.

Early signs of catastrophe are everywhere, in floods, wildfires, freezing conditions – and the paralysis of human efforts to combat them, writes Ilona Amos

Puffins are Scotland's most sought-after seabird due to their strikingly coloured beak, trademark waddling gait and unique behaviour - and spotting them in Scotland is easier than you might think.

With the news that the whisky giant Glenmorangie had recently assisted a groundbreaking environmental project which has seen Native European oysters reintroduced to their once native waters of the Highlands after a century’s absence, it would seem that the Scottish spirits industry is beginning to take its green credentials quite seriously.

Humans are the only animals to have a chin – it’s not quite clear what the protruding bone is for – and we also have a vestigial ‘third eyelid’, writes Ben Garrod.

From the air we breathe to the food we eat, Scotland needs seas full of life. Yet they are struggling. With the tide of ocean plastics awareness, resistance to mechanically stripping ­pristine kelp forests, community monitoring of scallop dredge damage in Loch Carron, Firth of Lorn and Loch Gairloch and a growing consensus for overhauling aquaculture, more and more people realise this.

Soil on Mars is “strikingly similar” to that found on two Scottish islands.

People taking part in an annual “Santa Dash” charity run through Glasgow city centre have been urged to think about its environmental impact, after discarded costumes were spotted on the streets.

Motorists in India could soon be driving about in vehicles powered by waste left over from whisky distilling after a pioneering Scottish biofuel company signed up for a joint venture with one of the country’s renewables firms.

A project to improve data and digital technology across Scotland’s cities has received a further £15 million in European funding.

Climate change has been very much in the news of late. In October, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a special report that made headlines around the world. It set out the dangers to our planet from allowing average global temperature to rise by more than 1.5C. This week, all eyes are on Poland where world representatives are meeting at the United Nations climate talks (COP24).

Edinburgh has been named the best city to live in the world thanks to its low crime rate, high levels of education and the overall health of its workforce, according to a new study.

We all know the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change – that has been clear for a while now. What is becoming increasingly apparent is the extent to which this offers an economic opportunity for Scotland.