A gardener holds a sample of soil. Photograph: Graham Turner

If you'd told me a week ago that I would spend two days listening to people talk about soil carbon sequestration (and be gripped by it!) I would have laughed in your face.

But at the Soil Association conference (SA) this week it was the hot topic, partly because the SA is launching a report in a month or so which will conclude that organic farming practices mean that while the UK's soils are losing carbon at a rate of up to 1% a year, organic farmers sequester enough carbon to offset their emissions by 5-30%.
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This time two years ago all anyone cared about was whether you were switching off your standby, or riding your bicycle, or changing your lightbulbs. These days that all seems very 2006: many people now seem to have signed up for the idea that actually change will need to come from above - from shops, corporations, governmental organisations.

Which leaves us, actually, with a giant headache. While we're happily shrugging off our responsibilities, who is assuming them? Can we really believe that the government is going to deal with all this? The fact that campaigners now have the climate bill they wanted, the fact that many businesses are running high-profile campaigns about how green they are, do these things mean that you can stop wearing jumpers and turn all your radiators up high?
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Activists from the Plane Stupid campaign unveil banners from the rooftop of the UK parliament building protesting against a third runway at Heathrow. Photograph: Getty

OK, so the courts may have found Plane Stupid guilty of trespass, but the anti-aviation lobby are not relaxing even for a second. Plane Stupid are trying to instigate a criminal investigation into the government, while MP John McDonnell is planning to demand an independent public inquiry into the public consultation process into Heathrow's third runway. The government must be wishing this whole business was just over and done with but no such luck. Continue reading...

The Walking House, roaming the fields near the Wysing Arts Centre in Bourn, Cambridgeshire. Photographer: Chris Radburn

Danish housing project roams the Cambridgeshire countryside

Is rabbit making a return to the cooking pot?

They're cheap and have a low-carbon footprint - is rabbit the answer to guilt-free meat-eating, asks Bibi van der Zee

Plymouth Argyle mascot, Pilgrim Pete. Photograph: Jon Buckle/EMPICS Sport

"Come on you greens!" No, this is not a new battle cry to rouse the eco-minded folk among us. It happens to be the closest I can get living in Cornwall to hearing either a Football League or Premier League chant.
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As temperatures plummet, fuel bills soar and the global economic crisis eats away at everyone's bank accounts, an open fire brings comfort on all those cosy and cheap nights in. Continue reading...

Pipers farm's meat is slaughtered at a local abattoir, while organic meat producers can still use industrial abattoirs. Photograph: Peter Greig

When we set up Pipers farm in the late 1980s our aim was always to deliver superb quality meat, which tasted delicious and offered value for money. We are the current holders of the BBC Food and Farming best producer award and are often singled out for praise on the food pages of newspapers and magazines. But we have never once been tempted to jump on the organic bandwagon. Continue reading...

'Flying is never going to be so cheap and popular again.' Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

This is kind: Expedia, that well-known bunch of environmental do-gooders (occasionally also known as a large travel agency who would like more people to fly), have done a survey on carbon offsetting. Apparently 63% of their respondents say that basically they don't really understand it.
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From 4pm BST today, commenting on this blog will be turned off as we move to a new home. This process will last all night as every blogpost and all of your comments are transferred to our new and improved system.

On our Inside Guardian blog today, Meg Pickard, head of communities & user experience for guardian.co.uk, explains why these changes are happening while our blogs project manager Amber McNett shows off the new designs and features that you can expect to see from Wednesday morning.

Please feel free to let us know what you think of the new-look blogs. We will be reading your comments and will respond to as many as possible over the launch period.

The natural urban landscape is making way for sterile corporate developments. Photograph: Graeme Robertson

When it comes to the cities of the world the general attitude seems to be: get out! The moment you have enough money, or your work allows, or you begin to think sentimentally about views and birdsong, leave! If cities were people, they'd be the last one to be picked for the football team. If they were food, they'd be Spam.

Prince Charles spoke for many when he described cities as "unsustainable unmanageable, degraded and dysfunctional conurbations of unmentionable awfulness", (OK, maybe not exactly how most people would phrase it but the sentiment is the same). Continue reading...

We are a two-faced bunch when it comes to the environment according to new figures from Ofcom: almost three-quarters of us say we care about it, but few us take the most basic measures to help, such as turning off all those new gadgets.

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A golfer plays as sprinklers irrigate the Trilogy golf club at La Quita, California. Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP

A few years ago, the World Water Forum designated the US as the most wasteful water user in the world. And the key reason given for this liquid licentiousness? No, not all those super-sized sodas. Not the profligacy of back-garden swimming pools. Not leaving taps on during lengthy teeth-whitening sessions. No, the key culprit was golf. Continue reading...

Slow and steady may be the best thing for our lives and for the environment. Photograph: Gk Hart/Vikki Hart/Getty Images

Are you yearning to reconnect with your "inner tortoise"? As Carl Honoré, author of the international bestseller In Praise of Slow, points out in today's G2, the economic downturn and high oil prices are forcing us all to slow down the pace of our lives.
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Tourists see the sites of Vilnius, Lithuania on Segways. Could this become a popular scene on the streets of the UK's cities? Photograph: Dan Chung

It was hailed as the vehicle of the future. A small, lightweight platform on wheels that carried the user along smoothly and silently like something from a 1970s sci-fi film. Electrically powered and emissions-free, the Segway Personal Transporter seemed to be the answer to many people's prayers; a commuting alternative to the car that wasn't a crammed bus or train, and didn't involve a sweaty cycle ride. And then the government went and banned it.

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