Day: 14 July 2025

Edinburgh’s iconic floral clock celebrates 200 years of braille

Stuart Mitchell

Edinburgh’s iconic floral clock- the oldest in the world- is marking 200 years of braille, the tactile code that enables blind and partially sighted people to read by touch. On Tuesday 17 June, the Lord Provost was joined by representatives from RNIB including visually impaired members of the community to mark the completion of the new design, which takes three gardeners six weeks to create. More than 35,000 flowers and plants are used in the clock, which will be in bloom until October. This includes plants like antennaria, crassula, echevaria,…

Read More

The Fairtrade Effect: how new research suggests encouraging progress for farmers, women and workers

Stuart Mitchell

Fairtrade farmers and producers tend to enjoy greater economic benefits — including higher incomes, farm revenues and net returns — than they would otherwise have done, according to a recent study. Fairtrade also provides greater price stability and more money to invest in businesses and communities. These are some of the findings of the Fairtrade Evidence Map 2021-2024, a study commissioned by Fairtrade International to better understand our impact, and identify areas where we can improve. The main focus of the study is a close analysis of 122 studies and…

Read More

Kraft Heinz Commits to Remove FD&C Colors From Its U.S. Portfolio Before the End of 2027 and Will Not Launch New Products in the U.S. With FD&C Colors, Effective Immediately

Stuart Mitchell

The Kraft Heinz Company announced it will not launch any new products in the U.S. with Food, Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) colors, effective immediately. The Company also announced it will remove the remaining FD&C colors from its U.S. product portfolio before the end of 2027. Already, nearly 90 percent of Kraft Heinz’s U.S. products are free of FD&C colors (by Net Sales). For the small portion of products that currently contain FD&C colors, the Company has invested significant resources, mobilizing a team to address this complex challenge with a three-pronged…

Read More

New IEA report assesses emissions from LNG supply and maps out opportunities to reduce them

Stuart Mitchell

Analysis shows release of greenhouse gases from liquefied natural gas supply chain could be cut by more than 60% using today’s technologies Drawing on the latest data, an IEA report released recently provides a comprehensive new estimate of greenhouse gas emissions from across the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply chain and identifies key opportunities to bring them down. Assessing Emissions from LNG Supply and Abatement Options examines upstream production, processing, pipeline transmission, liquefaction, shipping and regasification worldwide. The report estimates that greenhouse gas emissions associated with global LNG supply…

Read More

WMO faces the future, with action plan on Artificial Intelligence

Stuart Mitchell

A new Joint Advisory Group on Artificial Intelligence will inform WMO activities in relation to the development and use of AI intelligence technologies in meteorology and hydrology. It will seek to accelerate integration of AI into the WMO infrastructure and research activities. There is a special focus on incorporating AI in the WMO Integrated Processing and Prediction System (WIPPS) – which is the backbone of all forecasting.   WMO will work collaboratively with the public, private and academic sectors in applying AI and machine learning technologies to strengthen the entire…

Read More