Link to the Show / Show NotesThis week on Living Planet we delve into a scandal over the labelling of organic cotton wear in Europe, we chat with the Pakistani-born climate expert Adil Najam, and we hear about how Australia's environment ministry is considering banning people from climbing one of the country's most famous tourist attractions.
You can download the show or subscribe to Living Planet as a podcast. Click on the links below for the individual reports.Organic garment makers respond to cotton scam
Demand for ethically manufactured clothing is booming, so it came as a blow to the organic textiles industry in Europe last Friday, when it emerged that major European retail chains were caught up in a labelling scam.
Organic products often fetch significantly higher prices than their conventional counterparts, because their customers are willing to pay more for something that's been produced in a more sustainable way.
Last Friday, the Financial Times Deutschland broke a story claiming that major European retail chains were caught up in a scam. Cotton clothing labelled organic at H&M, Tchibo and C&A were found to include large traces of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.
DW spoke to Rolf Heimann, an executive at a leading European organic garment-maker, and a board member of the International Association of Natural Textiles, the IVN. He rejected the paper's claim that up to 30% of organic cotton is tainted.
Interview: Nathan Witkop/ Rolf Heimann
Leading US climate scientist discusses the prospects for action in 2010
Adil Najam dropped by Deutsche Welle's studios during a speaking tour of Europe.
Adil Najam is one of the leading authors of the fourth assessment report for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, which won the Nobel Peace prize in 2007 together with Al Gore.
He is a Pakistani-born academic, and the director of the Frederick Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University. DW spoke to him about where action to tackle climate change is heading following the Copenhagen summit.
Interview: Nathan Witkop / Adil Najam
Australian environment ministry endorses plan to keep tourists off Uluru
Australia considers banning visitors from climbing one of its most famous tourist attractions - so what do backpackers think?
One of Australia's top tourist destinations is a huge red monolith in the middle of the country called Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock. The world heritage site stands 348 metres tall - higher than the Eiffel Tower. It's visited by over 350,000 tourists a year and a about a third of them climb the rock, ignoring the signs put up by the traditional indigenous owners, requesting them not to, because the site is sacred to the indigenous community. But this month, the Australian environment ministry announced a long term plan to stop visitors from climbing the rock.
Report: Cinnamon Nippard
RSS Feed
