Restaurants can influence consumer food choices by offering climate-friendly meals on their menus, a recent study concludes. In a trial at Finnish restaurants, customers and staff were receptive to selecting meals based on the carbon footprints of their ingredients. Appearance, taste and healthiness were priority factors in consumers’ choices. The research highlights the importance of planning communication strategies and the need for a carbon footprint food database.

Establishment of cooperative biogas projects is aided by strong community spirit, regional traditions and farmers' sense of responsibility for their local area, finds a new Italian study. The findings suggest that renewable energy policy could benefit from taking account of community aspects at the local and regional levels.

Putting a price on carbon emissions from deforestation is unlikely to prevent tropical forests being cleared for palm oil production, according to a recent study. Additional measures should be included in climate policies to protect forests from increasing global demands, such as biofuels.

Deforestation in the tropics is being driven by people moving from villages to cities and the global demand for agricultural products, according to a recent study. The researchers suggest that forest conservation policies which target small landowners should be extended to also target industrial-scale, mechanised farming if such initiatives are to be effective.

Annual maps of forest cover in Indonesia reveal that, between 2000 and 2008, almost 10 per cent of forest cover on the islands was lost. Around one fifth of this loss occurred in regions where logging is restricted or prohibited. The new maps will help Indonesia meet the objectives of the UN REDD+ programme, which aims to reduce deforestation and forest degradation.

Countries that appear to have reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through reforestation may have simply “displaced” the emissions to another country, by increasing their imports of food, timber and wood. A new EU study highlights the need to recognise this ‘loophole’ in ongoing emission targets.

A new study suggests that, although the global terrestrial carbon sink remained relatively stable from 1990 to 2007, the effects of tropical forests were virtually neutral because CO2 emissions from deforestation offset their carbon sink.

Assessing the potential of new environmental management tools often brings an ‘innovation dilemma’: is it better to stick with what is known to work, or to implement new measures that are potentially more effective, but also more uncertain? Researchers have proposed an approach to deal with these dilemmas, and applied it to the case study of an invasive species programme in the US.

“We recommend allowing all physical shops dealing on sales, repair and service activity of mobile phones, mobile devices (laptops and tablets) and their supporting accessories to be opened on a limited basis (three days a week for five hours) with limited number of staff,” AIMRA said in an April 17 letter to union home minister Amit Shah.

Discarding – returning unwanted catches to the sea – is seen as wasteful, but banning the practice would remove an important food source for many marine organisms. This study modelled the effects of gradually reducing and abruptly banning discards using data from a protected bay in Australia. The researchers recommend gradual reduction of discards in order to maintain ecosystem stability.

Record high prices for gold have driven a recent six-fold increase in deforestation in parts of the Peruvian Amazon with damage that can be measured from space, according to a new study. Rates of forest clearance and imports of mercury, used to process gold ore by local, small-scale miners, were both found to increase with the rising international price of gold.

Pests that cause millions of euros in damage to Europe’s forests every year could be controlled using fungi. A new study finds that certain strains and formulations of fungi are extremely effective in killing large pine weevils. Control of the weevils using fungi may provide forest managers with an alternative to chemical pesticides.

THE hospitality industry has reacted with both optimism and trepidation to the news that venues will soon be able to serve a small number of in-house diners.

Driving up the long curved path up to The Grove always feels like a treat, and none more so than on last Friday evening when I was invited to try the hotel’s newly refurbished restaurant.

Watford town centre's fantastic range of restaurants, pubs, and bars have teamed up for the third consecutive year to celebrate Watford Food & Drink Week. From Monday, June 17, to Sunday, June 23, you can enjoy special drinks offers, free samples and discounted set menus throughout the town centre.

If The Florist is cool and charming, its new downstairs neighbour, Las Iguanas, is all about fun and colour.

Are you fully up to speed with your portals? No, it’s not a quiz question for Dr Who buffs. We’re talking about the online world of selling homes.

Club doctors are reported to have expressed concerns about the Premier League's Project Restart proposals, which aim to have clubs back training in small groups within the next two weeks.

Brighton and Hove Albion chief executive Paul Barber insists it is not just clubs fighting for Premier League survival who oppose the completion of the season at neutral venues.

Watford chairman and chief executive Scott Duxbury has labelled the Premier League's Project Restart plans as "unfair" and claims they are "lacking sporting integrity".

The group is carving out ways to secure, strengthen, and stimulate North Dakota's energy future.

She was expecting a nasty comment for breastfeeding her baby in public. What she got was a free dinner.

Deforestation’s impact on climate change has piqued NASA’s interest in documenting its progress across the globe. Here are seven examples of deforestation f

Planned cuts will eliminate 2,335 wind industry jobs.

Your heart may break as you watch anthropomorphic cooling towers and smokestacks tumble to the ground.

Human mothers have a relatively long gestation period compared to the rest of the animal kingdom, but a few animal mothers go even further. Here's our list of t

Meanwhile, rumors of a pending iPad 3 spread around the Web, but are they to be believed?

Fast, cheap, and high quality? That's right. Fast food does not have to be bad for you.

More and more independent restaurants are going hyper local by growing their own.

Nero's Grill at Caesars is changing the gambling town's image by sourcing sustainably.

Eight of Esquire's top 20 new restaurants of 2010 emphasize local and sustainable foods.

Traveling in the states this summer? You’ll want to follow this Facebook page to help you find farm-to-table restaurants all over the country.

Tired of quizzing your waiter about where your seafood comes from? Here's a website and other tools that can help with your restaurant research before you go.

Iron Chef Jose Garces’ whiskey bar in the Rittenhouse Square section of Philadelphia serves a sustainable burger and fries that are worth the wait.

Our food blogger visits the locally inspired restaurant that has been nominated for a James Beard Award for Best Chef in NYC.

Vote in the People’s Choice 2012 Green Plate Awards sponsored by The Nature Conservancy for your favorite sustainable restaurant in select regions.

Customers at Ortine's in Brooklyn sit among the gardens where the food on their plates grows.

Smart, Southern, independent start-ups are using the buildings and kitchens from closed chains and being green in the process.

Restaurants tap into the community supported agriculture model.

Good food and wine at a sustainable Fell’s Point restaurant.

Boise eatery is the only restaurant in the continental U.S. doing onsite vermicomposting with worms eat kitchen scraps.

More than just the seafood is local at this Maryland waterfront restaurant.

Virginia’s Mimslyn Inn brings a fresh idea from farm to table to schools.

You know what a “farm-to-fork” restaurant is, but what’s a “seed-to-stove” restaurant?

A slew of coupon and gift certificate sites offer discounts to sustainable restaurants, but sometimes you have to do your homework.

Yes, the burger at this seasonal and local restaurant is everything it's hyped to be.

A restaurant's reputation and, ultimately, bottom line depend on cleanliness. The dilemma for restaurant operators is that most products used for cleaning and p

Organic, grass-fed, free-range beef burgers and fries cooked in olive oil make a fast-food meal worth going out for — once in a while.

Instagramming your restaurant could get you a slap on the wrist from the chef. Should it?