WALK into the centre of a volcano and see the lava flow - all within cappuccino distance of the Royal Mile. The volcano in question has of course been out of action for 350 million years and is more commonly known now as Holyrood Park. But geologist Dr Angus Miller is promising to bring it all back to life in his new guided walking tours of Arthur's Seat. Fresh from studying volcanoes in Iceland and the Caribbean, he was involved in the monitoring of the Montserrat Volcano. Dr Miller promises the first regular tours of the area. He can be contacted on 0131 228 2410.
Shell UK has underlined its commitment to greater corporate responsibility with the publication of its first report, To Society. The report sets out the company's position on a range of issues and does not duck some of the more contentious. On oil spills the company admits it has fallen well short of its 1997 target. In 1996 the company spilled 38 tonnes but last year that figure soared to 111 tonnes - including two incidents totalling over 72 tonnes. Dr Chris Fay, Shell UK's chairman and chief executive, says the company has a duty to release statistics which make
for less than comfortable reading.
''We are not claiming that everything in the garden is rosy - we've never done this in the past and we're not about to start now. The rise in figures for oil spills is completely unacceptable. I have already taken steps to ensure that further resources are devoted to addressing this issue, that procedures are tightened up and that individual staff are clearly reminded of their responsibilities.''
A new campaign to enthuse primary school children about the countryside has been launched by the RSPB. Its
Habitat Action Pack contains posters on threatened wildlife habitats: farmland, wetland, heathland and hills and mountains. Alastair Lavery, RSPB education officer, says: ''We hope the packs will foster an interest in the countryside and the wider environment - which along with numeracy and literacy will be an essential quality for citizens of the 21st century.''
A team from the Scottish Wildlife Trust will create a natural garden for wildlife on a 5m by 4m piece of tarmac at Strathclyde Country Park during the Royal Horticultural Society's National Gardening Show this weekend. The team will take their inspiration from nature's designs and hope to show the general public how easy it is to attract wildlife to any garden.
Fiona Stewart, the trust's urban wildlife officer, says:
''By creating small wildlife habitats in your garden, you can offer Scotland's wildlife a number of valuable places to live, feed and breed.''
WE welcome any comments, suggestions,
or contributions. As well as our normal postal address, telephone and
fax numbers, you can
e-mail us on environ@cims.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article