photo: tarop

While I imagine you rarely stray away from Hot Air for your environmental news and opinion, the fact is, other sources do exist. To try to sort the wheat from the chaff, I recently undertook a little mission: trawling the web for the best UK-based environmental blogs.

I was surprised by just how difficult this task was. The USA leads the way with blogs about the environment – from the state of carbon policy in Capitol Hill to the best organic way to tackle snails on your zucchini, the country that emits the most CO2 per capita in the world certainly likes to talk the green talk, even if it doesn’t walk the walk.

Yes, the internet is a place without borders, where knowledge written anywhere can be read anywhere, but sometimes it’s nice to get an insight from somewhere a bit closer to home. UK citizens, perhaps more reserved online as they are, supposedly, in the flesh, seem to be less enthusiastic environmental pundits. There are, however, some green UK gems. Some you will know, some you won’t. Without further ado, in no particular order, my top 10 UK environment blogs are:

James’s Blog : http://drjamesjenkins.wordpress.com
An insightful personal blog from Dr James Jenkins, senior lecturer in Environmental Management at the University of Hertfordshire. Covering everything from Corporate Social Responsibility to water pollution on our beaches. It’s intended as a study aid for his students, but you don’t have to pay the course fees to learn from this doctor.

Energy Source: http://blogs.ft.com/energy-source/
For the best news and analysis on the financial and economic aspects of climate and energy policy, the Financial Times’s Energy Source, with regular contributions from a number of journalists, can’t be beaten.

Earth Watch: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/
The BBC News website’s environment correspondent Richard Black provides regular posts covering a broad range and depth of environmental topics. With the money of the BBC backing him, this is good quality and up-to-date content. This blog also gets a massive amount of comments, which, depending on how much free time/patience you have, can make entertaining reading.

Green Futures: http://www.forumforthefuture.org/greenfutures/opinion
The sustainability charity, Forum for the Future, produces this blog. It’s primarily orientated around sustainability issues in UK politics and business and has some experts blogging, including well known environmental figures like Jonathon Porritt, who recently presented at ClientEarth’s Avoiding Environemtnal Enrons debate in the Houses of Parliament.

Ecoscene: http://www.ecosceneblog.com/
A very simple site dedicated to original environmental photography to showcase human impact on the environment. The collection illustrates a wide range of environmental issues such as climate change, global warming, recycling, renewables, pollution, and habitats such as rainforests, deserts and polar regions.

Guardian Environment Blog:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog
One of the best sources of environmental news on the web, the Guardian’s Environment section, has a blog. An interesting range of posts from green living tips to international policy in an easily accessible format.

George Monbiot: http://www.monbiot.com/
He has his own section on the Guardian blog, but for more regular postings, visit his personal site. You’ll either love him or hate him, but for provocative leftwing environmental opinion and argument he can’t be beaten.

HabitatAid: http://blog.habitataid.co.uk/
A lovely blog about conservation and wildlife from a Suffolk charity that promotes biodiversity in the UK.

Climatico: http://www.climaticoanalysis.org/
In-depth analysis of global climate change policy and science from doctoral students at Oxford University. Brilliant analysis and comment but only for those who find posts with titles like “SGS – the Designated Operational Entity of choice in the CDM?” interesting.

Short Sharp Science: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/environment/
This is New Scientist magazine’s environment blog. An interesting range of posts, well written and easily accessible – mainstream but with a scientific angle.

Do you agree with my selection? Are there any here you don’t like, or incredible blogs that I’ve missed? Let us know!