Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
Globally we kill 74 billion animals a year. 80% of farmland on Earth is used for livestock, where the process efficiency of fodder crop nutrients ending up in the meat we eat is horrifically low. The production of one kilogram of steak requires 15,000 litres of water and 15% of all our greenhouse gas emissions […]
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To say Trump’s wall is controversial is like saying leaving the EU has been a minor nuisance. The associated government shutdown has been wreaking havoc across America, including the science sector, where data has been lost, researchers are struggling without pay, and science as a whole is losing out. However, conservationists and environmentalists are worried […]
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Oceans make up nearly three quarters of our planet’s surface and are home to over 300,000 currently described species, with an estimated 95% of the total number yet to be discovered. But just how important are these species and why should we care to protect them? Life underwater is so fundamentally important to our existence […]
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Coming from a French family, I was looked at in befuddlement when I announced my transition to vegetarianism two years ago. In a country where meat is the centre-piece of a meal, the question my grandparents asked me was ‘So what will you eat then?’ Yet within those two years, I have observed some – […]
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Photo credit: Theilr (CC BY-SA 2.0) When confronted with the question “Would you eat insects?” the average student shudders in disgust, memories of bush tucker trials flashing through their head. Indeed, most people in the West are reluctant to stray far from the pork, beef and chicken we are accustomed to – treating less conventional protein […]
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Photo credit: Evva Christmas is coming. The shops are full of Christmas family packs and what is now the traditional start of the festive season for many, the release of the John Lewis Christmas advert, was just last week. The John Lewis advert may have become a staple of Christmas, but far more attention this year […]
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Picture Credit: Jean Beaufort Goldlocks’ misunderstanding with the three bears and Little Red Riding Hood being eaten by the “Big Bad Wolf” is a key part of many childrens’ upbringing. But the negative portrayal of apex carnivores in literature is, arguably, one of the most ecologically damaging messages we could be telling our children. One […]
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Image credit: Hydrosami (CC BY-SA 4.0)- Description: Dry, cracked earth Food security is one of greatest challenges of the 21st century: by 2050, food production must increase by 70% to meet the demands of 9 billion people. Progress towards this target must occur in a climate with higher temperatures, more variable rainfall patterns and more frequent […]
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Image Credit: amarpreet25-Description:Leaking pipe As 2018 began in the South African city of Cape Town, water levels rapidly declined in its reservoirs, marking a continuing trend since a drought began in 2015. In early January, the city issued plans for “Day Zero”, when, if a lower limit of water was reached, the city’s water supply […]
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Image Credit:Jami Dwyer Tropical forest constitutes the most diverse and complex biomes on Earth. Since Humboldt to the present day, the ecology of these biomes has been captivating and challenging scientists. The speciality of the ecology of these biomes reaches further than pure natural history; they are of key importance to the world: from timber, […]
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This weekend I popped into Modern Art Oxford to have a little run around their latest exhibition – Future Knowledge. The exhibition is part of the UK-wide Season for Change programme, which, through a range of cultural events, talks and exhibitions, has been designed to provoke discussion about the future of our planet and offer […]
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A campaign in favour of ‘Green Trashing’ – a more environmentally friendly variety of the post-exam tradition – is to be launched next term. The campaign, which will be run by three college Environment & Ethics reps, will aim to encourage students to have trashings with as little adverse environmental impact as possible. Harry Holmes, […]
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Over the vacation, I took advantage of my free evenings and BBC license to catch up on David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II. Stories of the sea’s rich wildlife were intertwined with stark ecological warnings, and one night, as I watched a baby puffling’s parents clack beaks and kiss, I felt a sudden well of rage […]
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Danny Evans talks with FAIRR’s Rosie Wardle about the critical issues surrounding industrial animal agriculture and the meat industry. It is currently estimated that over 56 billion animals are slaughtered every year for human consumption (excluding fish and sea creatures), leading to 32,000 million tons of CO2 emissions. This equates to 14.5% of the world’s […]
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Oxford City Council have announced that they will start efforts to ban all non-zero emissions vehicles from the roads of Oxford, making the city the world’s first emissions-free urban area. The plan involves a gradual ban on petrol and diesel cars and vans from roads in the city centre, starting with Cornmarket and Queen Street […]
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“When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money.” In her famous statement, Native American Alanis Obomsawin jabs at the deep contradictions at the […]
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Dangerously high levels of air pollution in the UK – often imperceptible as it very rarely resembles the smog of the 1950s – are proven to lead to many health complications and even death. Yet the current government has been regularly accused of intransigence over the issue, the Guardian going so far as to suggest […]
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8 am: I wake up, feel groggy and grab a coffee on the way to the lab. For many of us students, coffee is the fuel that keeps us going. The UK goes through 5,000 coffee cups per minute and, despite common belief, only 1 in 400 is recycled. The popular to-go cup consists of […]
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In his famous allegory of the cave Plato suggests that there are a group of people, prisoners, facing a wall, unable to direct their vision at anything else. Behind them lies reality, which has its true form projected onto the wall the prisoners are doomed to watch indefinitely. The prisoners only see the shadows and […]
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