South Africa's President Zuma has warned the climate talks will not be a stroll in the park

As the 17th such gathering approaches, the initial reaction is that it is unlikely to get the pulses racing. It certainly does not have the expectation of the 2009 meeting in Copenhagen, nor the conclusion of the Bali summit, which seemed so close to collapsing it left then UNFCCC executive secretary Yvo de Boer in tears.

Maybe this is a blessing. Low expectations may just give the negotiators the luxury of a little wriggle room to reach something more meaningful than a woolly worded consensus that allows the process to continue by its finger tips.

South African president Jacob Zuma appears to be doing his best to manage expectations. He is quoted by AFP as saying:

"We go to Durban with no illusion at all that it will be a walk in the park. On the contrary, we are fully aware that in some areas the national interest of parties will make consensus a challenge."

The BBC's Richard Black will be in Durban, acting as a Babel fish that translates the mysterious and brain-aching bureaucratic language and procedures into something a little coherent, to report, tweet and blog on the twists and turns at the annual climate showcase.

In the meantime, if you want to know what is catching the UNFCCC's eye in the build-up to the talks, you can follow them on twitter: @UN_ClimateTalks.

Bleak to beautiful

Recently we have seen the harvesting of a number of stunning images captured by wildlife photographers around the world as a number of high-profile competitions announce their winners.

One of the annual highlights is the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, organised by London's Natural History Magazine and BBC Wildlife magazine. This year's overall winner, entitled Still Life in Oil, shows a pod of brown pelicans that were coated in crude oil as a result of the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The National Geographic magazine's Environmental Photograph of the Year competition produced another stunning crop of images. The judges deemed Homeless as its overall winner. The photo captures the hopeless plight of a young child as he comforts a toddler amid the debris of a scrapyard in Kathmandu, Nepal.

At the other extreme, the UK's Landscape Photographer of the Year competition invites photographers to submit their efforts that highlight the best of the views around us. This year's winner shows an isolated stand of haw frost-coated trees in the middle of a field.

'Recycling chalk'

Finally, a headteacher who is looking to tighten their budgetary belt may be tempted by a gadget featured on the US-based Treehugger website. Two designers have developed a blackboard wiper that "recycles chalk".

It apparently works by collecting chalk dust from the board with a tiny vacuum cleaner, then "uses heat and water to create a new stick of chalk out of what is collected".

No price is listed, but it is safe to say that it will be a little too costly for a teacher to hurl across a classroom at any pupil that dares to misbehave.

This year seems to a vintage year for landmark anniversaries within environmental circles.

For black-footed ferrets, 1981 was a very good year

As well as valuable geological pedigree, the moors have one of the world's best examples of an ancient high-level oak woodland and internationally important blanket bogs.

As well as the hills often being shrouded in mist, the landscape is also shrouded in mystery and strange going-ons, with tales of hairy hands, headless hounds and haunted houses. The bleak landscape also inspired Arthur Conan Doyle's to write one of the most famous Sherlock Holmes stories, the Hound of the Baskervilles.

A number of well-known environmental campaign groups are also marking notable milestones in 2011. WWF, the conservation group, is celebrating 50 years since its formation. Half a century on from a group of scientists, business leaders and politicians setting up a group to help protect threatened species, WWF now operates in more than 100 countries and has an estimate five million members.

Greenpeace is a little younger. The NGO is 40 years old this year. It began when a group of campaigners set out from Vancouver, Canada, in September 1971 with the goal of disrupting US military nuclear tests on the Aleutian Islands, in the North Pacific. They did not complete their voyage, yet it still signalled the formation of one of the world's best known campagin groups.

Looking to a future anniversary, 2012 will see Brazil host the UN's Rio+20 summit. Twenty years on from the original Earth Summit, which many people view as the moment the world finally took environmental issues seriously, it is hoped the gathering of world leaders will offer a much-needed shot in the arm for global green policies. The summit will be focus around two main themes: green economics, and sustainable development.

Finally, three decades ago marked an important historical event - if you happen to be a black-footed ferret. For it was in 1981 that the fiesty fellows, the only native species of ferret in North America, were rediscovered. To celebrate the anniversary, the ferrets have their own website, a web cam, and you are even invited to become their facebook friend.

This month, the UK's Met Office is celebrating its sesquicentennial. To mark the occasion, the agency has produced a special webpage.

Among the highlights is a video that charts the Met Office's history - from Fitzroy to Fish.

It has also produced a timeline of some of the historical moments in its 150 years. These include the publication of the first forecast (in the Times) in 1861; the start of the shipping forecast in 1925, and the great storm of 1987.

Admirably, it also refers to one of its less glorious moments - the "barbecue summer" of 2009 that turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, and led to the demise of publicly available seasonal forecasts.

Extreme times

However, people living in parts of the US would give anything for a summer washout. The latest data from the US Drought Monitor show the Mid-South in the grips of an "exceptional" drought.

Writing in the Washington Post's weather blog, Jason Samenow said that official data from Noaa showed how the region was experiencing "blistering heat" that "torched large parts of the country".

While Oklahoma recorded its warmest 4 July on record, the blog also recorded how the nation experienced its most extreme month, meterologically speaking, on record:

"The primary factors which led to such an extreme July were: extreme warm minimum temperatures, extreme wetness in the northern plains and western Great Lakes, extreme warm high temperatures, and extreme drought in the south central U.S. through Gulf Coast."

In Texas, one of the states hardest hit by the drought, the waters of one lake retreated so far that a large piece of debris from the 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster was revealed for the first time.

Sofa safari

Web cams have come along way since the early, narrowband days of grainy images of concrete walls and roads that updated once every minute.

Now, it is possible to have a family safari without having to crouch behind a bush for hours on end, or even having to spend a penny.

One such example of what is on offer on the web is Wild Earth. With cameras at a vast range of locations, you are almost certain to see something.

And if you want to know when you could literally have an elephant in the room, then you can sign up for the site's Twitter feed that will alert you every time something appears in front of the cameras.

Anyone who follows stories on energy and climate change cannot help but notice how shale gas has emerged as a hot topic.

As well as the US and Europe, China has recently tapped into the potential of the subterranean energy resource.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, there are at least 48 major shale basins around the globe, offering a geographical diverse source of possible energy.

Domestically, it says:

"The development of shale gas... has become a "game changer" for the US natural gas market."

At a time when there are growing concerns among nations about being left vulnerable to the potentially unstable supply of imports, shale gas does seem to offer, at the very least, a buffer to soften the blow of any sudden disruption in supplies.

But not everyone is convinced.

Some researchers have questioned the assertion that the gas is a "stepping stone" to a low-carbon future and energy security.

Instead, they say it has the potential to be worse in climate change terms than coal.

Another US study suggested that shale gas drilling operations increased the risk of nearby drinking water becoming contaminated with methane.

In some cases, the concentrations were so high that people appeared to be able to ignite water pouring out of their taps.

Another concern is the risk of minor earthquakes in the vicinity of drilling operations.

In North-West England, two minor quakes in the space of weeks prompted MPs to call for an inquiry about the safety of extracting the gas via "fracking" because a trial extraction plant had been operating in the area.

Responding to the concerns, the British Geological Survey said:

"Any process that injects pressurised water into rocks at depth will cause the rock to fracture and possibly produce earthquakes.

 

"It is well known that injection of water or other fluids during the oil extraction and geothermal engineering, such as shale gas, processes can result in earthquake activity.

"Typically, the earthquakes are too small to be felt, however, there are a number of examples of larger earthquakes occurring."

Fracking involves injecting a mixture (including water and chemicals) under high pressure to break rock to release gas or oil locked in the material.

While environmentalists argue the process causes environmental damage, industry representatives say it is the only viable method currently available.

A recent report by MPs on the Common's Energy Select Committee called on UK ministers should support plans to allow shale gas extraction to go ahead.

Yet, across the English Channel, Bloomberg reports that France has become the first country to pass a law to that bans the use of fracking to extract gas and oil.

Permits that had been issued to companies to carry out exploration drilling have now been revoked.

'Mini tsunami'

Meanwhile, the shores of southern and western England experienced an "eerie" tidal surge at the end of June.

Videos posted on the web showed a "wall of water" flowing up river estuaries in a similar, but - admittedly, much smaller - fashion to the River Severn Bore.

Experts attributed the phenomenon to a underwater landslide on the continental shelf.

The Daily Telegraph's Donna Bowater reported:

"Witnesses said the sudden movement around 200 miles out to sea caused the tide to suddenly shift by 50 metres, creating walls of water.

"The change in air pressure also generated static that left onlookers' hair standing on end in the extraordinary environmental events earlier today.

"There were even reports that the conditions caused fish to leap out of the water."

As we approach the first anniversary of David Cameron pledging to make the coalition the "greenest government ever", there have been some grumblings within the environmental movement.

Some groups are asking if Mr Cameron has left his green credentials behind

For example, Friends of the Earth UK published a report assessing how the Conservative and Lib Dem political partnership was progressing on the green front.

It assessed 77 government policies and "found little or no progress in more than three quarters of them".

The author was Jonathon Porritt, former chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission (which, incidentally, has been scrapped by the coalition).

In his blog, Mr Porritt said writing the report was a "disheartening process", adding that greens had little to applaud as the first anniversary approached.

However, he did offer a glimmer of hope:

"There is of course a long way still to go, assuming that the Coalition does not fall apart. The hope must be that the more progressive elements in the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats will use this first year anniversary to take stock of why they hcave made so little progress to date - and what needs to happen now to retrieve the situation."

Another group feeling the pressure of green angst is the biofuels industry.

Once viewed as a green saviour of the transport fuel sector, the alternative fuel source has found most of its environmentally minded chums becoming increasingly critical, questioning its carbon neutrality, and the industry's role in deforestation and risk to food security.

One of the latest offerings comes from a group of EU-based green NGOs operating under the banner of "Stop Bad Biofuels".

They have released a cartoon that tells (very young viewers, it has to be assumed) why Jane's love of sunflowers is misguided and has a bigger impact than just stopping Peter growing his beloved potatoes.

No new message or science, and it is hardly In the Night Garden, but offers an insight into how efforts to get across policy positions are evolving.

For the grown ups, the journal Global Change Biology Bioenergy contains an article that attempts to offer a olive branch in the ongoing row.

Author Joyce Tait from the University of Edinburgh calls for an global ethical standard for the industry, backed up with a certification scheme.

Professor Tait observed:

"Biofuels are one of the only renewable alternatives we have for transport fuels such as petrol and diesel, but current policies and targets that encourage their uptake have backfired badly. The rapid expansion of biofuels production in the developing world has led to problems such as deforestation and the displacement of indigenous people. We want a more sophisticated strategy that considers the wider consequences of biofuel production."

Finally, if you are in the northern hemisphere and planning to get a little closer to nature over the summer, then an app for your smartphone called Leafsnap could help your stroll become a little more informed.

Developed by US scientists, the app uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves.

Before you get too excited, so far it only features trees from two US cities (Washington DC and New York). However plans are afoot for the app to cover the entire US.

If you are elsewhere, such as Europe, watch this space... or take a book.

The tsunami wiped out power supplies at Fukushima, causing three of the six reactors to overheat

In the immediate aftermath, the world was shocked by TV pictures showing the sheer scale and force with which the wall of water wiped whole towns off the map, but another story was developing that would come to dominate the headlines.

Fukushima will now be forever associated with one of the world's most serious civil nuclear incidents, especially after Japanese officials this week reclassified the event to Level Seven on an international scale of seriousness. Until now, the only event to warrant a Level Seven status was Chernobyl.

The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES), an-eight-level-system, was developed in 1990 by the nuclear sector as a method to communicate the seriousness of an event at a civil nuclear facility, in an effort to reassure people following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. It ranges from Zero (no safety significance) through to Seven (major accident).

Now that the international media are no longer covering every twist and turn in minute-by-minute coverage, there are still a number of organisations providing at-least daily updates on developments.

The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been attempting to provide fact-based information in an "update log" amid confusing coverage across a spectrum of vested interests, from anti-nuclear activists to industry lobbyists.

On Tuesday 12 April, the IAEA offered an explanation as to why Japanese officials had sought to upgrade the incident:

"The IAEA can confirm that the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) has submitted a provisional INES Level 7 rating for the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. This new provisional rating considers the accidents that occurred at Units 1, 2 and 3 as a single event on INES and uses estimated total release to the atmosphere as a justification. Previously, separate provisional INES Level 5 ratings had been applied for Units 1, 2 and 3."

As well as regular updates from Fukushima by the plant's operators Tepco, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) is another source for continuing coverage, although some of the detail can get lost in translation.

An additional source of information is provided by World Nuclear News, an arm of the World Nuclear Association (WNA). The news aims to be "plain English to place comprehensive coverage of nuclear power in context using background information, expert commentary and links to relevant authoritative sources".

Spring has sprung

Finally, if are planning on getting out and about to enjoy the delights of spring in full swing, then there are a number of online resources to help you identify the plants and animals around you. The British Trust for Ornithology can help you tell your tits from your chaffinches; the Woodland Trust is there to tell you the difference between beech and birch; while the Botanical Society of the British Isles can offer guidance on a whole host of botanical delights, beside the lake, beneath the trees.

The late arrival of snowdrops upset some, but experts say it will have been worth the wait

So as the world stirs from its winter slumber, the more phenologically minded among us have had their eyes and ears open for the first shoots, bud bursts, or song thrush warbles of the new year.

After the coldest December for a century, it may just be that people were keen to herald the arrival of lighter evenings and warmer temperatures, but there was a collective grumbling in the media when it was decided that spring was a little behind schedule.

The Daily Mail said spring was late for the second successive year, and events that signal a shift in seasons - such as hazel, willow or snowdrops flowering - were delayed by two weeks.

But the paper did add that the delay in flowering meant that it would trigger fantastic displays of snowdrops in bloom, as the early varieties flowered alongside the late risers.

The Daily Telegraph agreed that people had a to wait a little longer to see the first shoots emerge from the soil, but once it gathered pace then it would come "thundering through".

The Guardian quotes Dr Tim Sparks, one of the leading voices on phenology, who suggested the adverse weather in December probably put a temporary brake on early flowering species.

"It was that cold month which has delayed flowering of things like celandines and snowdrops," he said.

"Things will come on in much of a rush because they've been held back.

"By the time we get to hawthorn and bluebells, later spring events, they're going to be the usual time or could even be earlier."

For those who would like to get a better understanding of the science and history of phenology, the Nature's Calendar website offers a good grounding.

Eye-spy

It is not just plants that signal a change in the weather, feathered and furry creatures are also getting in the mood.

A quick search on the web reveals a wealth of web-cams that offer a peep inside nest boxes, out-of-sight ledges or underground dens.

For example, the Wildlife Whisperer website (which lists broadcaster and cameraman Simon King as one of its co-founders) has a number of webcams to capture footage of visitors to its rural HQ.

Another wildlife film-maker, Andrew Cooper, has set up a series of cameras that offer a unique glimpse of life in a badger sett.

And Nottingham Trent University allows web users to get up close and personal with peregrine falcons that have set up home on one of the more exposed ledges at the university.

Blowing in the wind

And you do not have to be in the great outdoors in order to hear short tweets of spring. There is a growing band of TV and academic naturalists sharing their views and musings via social media.

The National Trust's Matthew Oates, one of the UK's leading authorities on butterflies, has dipped his toes into the world of Twitter.

While the attention of many is focused on the arrival of spring, Mr Oates used one of his first tweets to dampen any talk of BBQ summers.

He wrote: "Worried - a peacock as my 1st butt of the year usually heralds a wet summer."

Finally, a project that is set to begin in March is looking to recruit the help of citizen scientists.

The Met Office and Royal Meteorological Society will be asking people to either look to the skies or blow bubbles in the wind - all in the name of improving the performance of weather and climate models.

Those of you who would like an information pack (and live in England) can submit your details on the Opal climate survey website. Everyone else will be able to download the information once the survey gets underway.

If you can't go into the woods today...

As the UN Year of Forests prepares for its official launch, the UK government finds itself facing a growing level of opposition to its consultation on disposing of land owned by the Forestry Commission.

 

The Sunday Telegraph newspaper is leading the media charge with its Save our Forests campaign.

A growing number of high-profile people are lending their names to the call to keep the forests in public ownership.

Broadcaster (Lord) Melvin Bragg, according to the Guardian, has described plans to sell off forests within the Lake District as "political vandalism".

However, it is worth remembering that the UK does not have a forest culture that is deeply engrained in its national history, in comparison with other European nations such as Germany.

The Forestry Commission was established back in 1919, when it was realised that the nation was so dependant on timber imports from forest-rich nations that its industrial might was vulnerable during wartime to shipping blockades.

For decades, from the time the commission planted its first trees on 8 December 1919 in Devon, the dominant view was that the UK tree management policy should follow a "whatever the cost" attitude.

However, the combination of the emergence of alternative materials and net afforestation in Europe saw this argument lose weight.

Instead the commission evolved into a multi-objective organisation as a result of the public's increasing demand for recreation and environmental services such as nature protection. By the end of the 1990s, a greater volume of broadleaved species were being planted than conifers.

This is not the first time that a government has attempted to dispose of commission-owned forests in order to boost the public coffers.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, some forests were sold by the then-Conservative government. However, ministers again faced strong opposition, so plans for further privatisation were ditched in the mid-1990s.

Among the current concerns being voiced by campaigners is that the majority of bidders will be organisations that will want to develop the land.

Trees face uncertain future

Whether or not this will be the case remains to be seen, but it does not appear to be a good time to buy a woodland, either broadleaf or conifer.

There is growing concern about the possible impact of a disease that has now being recorded in all corners of the UK. Sudden oak death, the result of a fungal infection, affects a number of tree species, not just English oaks.

In fact, the Forestry Commission says it has only affected five native oak trees to date, and describe the "sudden oak death" term as a misnomer, preferring to call it ramorum disease.

In 2009, it was found to be affecting Japanese larches in South-West England - these were the first recorded occurences in coniferous species. Since then, cases have been recorded in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Advice from Forest Research - the scientific arm of the Forestry Commission - says Phytophthora ramorum kills many of the trees that it infects, and could have serious impacts on trees, woodland, forest industries and the wider environment.

Conservationists are worried, warning that failure to contain the spread of the disease could have a devastating impact, threatening species that depend on woodland habitats for their survival.

Cancun concludes

After Cancun, are things looking up for the UN climate process?

So this year's climate summit in Mexico has concluded with a modest deal that UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said has "set the world on the path to a safer, more prosperous, and sustainable world for all".

However, after two weeks of negotiations, it was only the late intervention of the hosts that prevented the annual global gathering becoming, in the words of the UK Climate Secretary Chris Huhne, a "car crash" conference.

Not everyone had a rose-tinted outlook on what was achieved. The UK's Guardian carried a story that suggested that the deal rescued the UN process's credibility after last year's failings in Copenhagen, but fell short on delivering meaningful measures.

An editorial by the New Zealand Herald was much more scathing, saying that the aftermath of these annual events were becoming "depressingly familiar".

Much is being made of the small steps agreed upon after two weeks of tortuous negotiations and how these can be built upon at the next meeting a year hence.

Little is said of yet another failure to arrive at a legally binding pact that obliges the world's major emitters to meet serious greenhouse gas targets. Nor is it mentioned that the obstacles to such an agreement remain firmly in place.

The blog 350 or Bust, which wants atmospheric carbon dioxide limited to 350 parts per million (it is currently above 350 ppm), said that politicians at the Mexican coastal resort had fallen well short of what the science showed was needed to curb climate change.

But it did acknowledge that the idea of the meeting delivering legally binding emission targets was never on the agenda. Instead, the main focus was on the need to pick up the pieces from last year's Copenhagen conference (as BBC environment correspondent Richard Black pointed out back in July).

All in all, it was a business-like summit that was of little interest to mainstream broadcasters. But there was one story that did capture editors' attention back in the UK - whether or not Mr Huhne would have to leave the talks to attend a key vote in the House of Commons.

After a few hours of confusion and usual political mudslinging, it was announced that Mr Huhne would remain in Mexico. So was it an outbreak of common sense? Was it the result of the political parties sitting down and behaving like mature, responsible human beings?

Well, according to the UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC), it was the result of a "twitter-storm", as thousands of people used the social network software to ask Mr Huhne to stay put.

And who was responsible for unleashing the technological tempest? A press release by the UKYCCC provides an answer:

"The twitter-storm was initiated by the UK Youth Climate Coalition, and subsequently Nick Clegg made a decision to let the energy minister stay."

So not all of the youth of Britain were venting their anger in central London or reportedly poking royals with a big stick last Thursday, some were too busy tweeting Mr Huhne.

A winter warmer

And finally, as the season of goodwill is upon us, spare a thought for our featherless friends that have worked so tirelessly to bring us our daily egg.

Charity Little Hen Rescue is looking for people to either adopt or foster ex-battery hens. However, if you are somewhat of a traditionalist and prefer to have a bird in the oven rather than one scratching up your garden, they are also looking for volunteers to knit woolly jumpers for the girls.

In case you are interested, all you need to bring a little warmth into a life of a recently retired hen (they do not qualify for the winter heating allowance) is a ball of double knitting yarn, a couple of buttons, a pair of number eight knitting needles and a 4mm crochet hook.

Go on, it may be the first thing you have knitted that will be worn longer than just a few hours on Christmas Day.

The Cancun climate meeting has started amid low expectations

Some readers may have been wondering what has happened to our regular Green Room strand. Here it is in its new guise.

The Green Room has taken upon itself a new and slightly different mission. Rather than commissioning comment and opinion articles on environment-related issues, we will scour the web with the aim of bringing you the most interesting and thought-provoking environment stories, comment and analysis we can find on other sites.

We’ll continue to report on our Science/Environment pages about the issues and stories of the day of course, and we hope that this new Green Room format will allow us to do that while also broadening the range of subjects and viewpoints we can bring to your attention. You can read the next Green Room entry in a fortnight.

Concerned about the way it is reported in the media, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has added a new section to its website - Myth Busters.

In the regularly updated section, the department looks to correct what it sees as inaccurate coverage.

In one of the latest offerings, the department highlights a “myth” on a topic that is set to be one of the main environment and rural affairs stories in the UK next year - bovine TB and badger culling.

The Myth - Badgers will be culled to control bovine TB when vaccination could do just as good a job.

The Truth - More than 25,000 cattle were slaughtered last year because of bovine TB.

 The department’s myth busters write:

“As our research published this week shows, while vaccination will not be as effective as culling in quickly lowering the TB infection in the badger population, vaccination does have a part to play and our consultation covers how the two might be used together.”

Environmentalist Mark Lynas found himself using an interview with the Ecologist magazine to explain why he was not the “pariah of the green movement”.

After winning plaudits from the green-minded for authoring books, such as Six Degrees and High Tide, he found himself somewhat alienated following the broadcast of the What the Green Movement Got Wrong documentary, in which he was featured being critical of the way current environmental campaigns are being conducted.

In a feature on the Channel 4 website, Mr Lynas is quoted as saying:

“Does the environmental movement still speak for the environment? Or are the greens in danger of being left behind, trapped in their own ideological fortress, as the world outside changes rapidly?”

He goes on to question the green movement’s stance on issues such as nuclear power and GM food. The reason for Mr Lynas’s epiphany? He explains that the time had run out, and called for urgent decisions to be informed by “sound science, and not by outdated prejudice”.

It is fast approaching that time of year UN climate summit when ministers from all corners of the globe gather under one roof to agree that urgent action is needed to curb climate change, only to disagree on what needs to be done.

Judith Curry - professor and chairwoman of the School of Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology, US - raised a few eyebrows among her fellow climate scientists earlier this year when she entered the lions’ den and posted a blog on Watts Up With That, one of the leading sites which voices the concerns of climate sceptics.

Active in the blogosphere since 2006, she recently decided to raise her head above the parapet permamently. She has set up her own blog, Climate Etc, in response to her growing concerns over the apparent “tribal nature” of parts of the debate, brought to the boil this year in the media melting pot, following the rows over “ClimateGate” and mistakes in the IPCC’s most recent climate assessment.

In a recent posting, she set out the reasons why she was looking to engage with sceptics. Some of the 500+ responses make interesting reading.

In an interview with the journal Nature, Phil Jones - one of the scientists at the centre of the ClimateGate saga - reflects on the past year that saw his world turn upside down.

The row erupted in November 2009 when more than 1,000 e-mails, most of which were “personal correspondence”, and documents were illegally taken from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (Cru) and released into the public domain.

Critics said the data showed that the scientists were trying to manipulate their findings to support the idea that human activity was warming the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate.

Such was the fallout, that numerous inquiries were established. All of which cleared the scientists of wrongdoing, but the reviews did call for more openness.

In the interview, Professor Jones said he liked to think the worst was now over but still recalls the level of personal abuse he received, some of which threatened his safety and that of his family.

“Someone, somewhere, will hunt you down,” read one, Nature reports. “You are now blacklisted,” read another. “Expect us at your door to say hello.”

Now back at the helm of Cru, what lessons have the past year taught Professor Jones?

“I’m a little more guarded about what I say in e-mails now.”

The heavy snowfalls soon lost their magical appeal as it caused travel chaos in many parts of the US and Europe

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. While it may be the season to be jolly, for many people the weather outside has been a little bit more than frightful.

Thousands of people in the US and Europe found their holiday plans disrupted.

About 2,000 flights in the US were cancelled as snow storms swept down the eastern side of the country, reaching as far south as Florida.

In Europe, nations well versed in dealing with copious amounts of snow being dumped in a short space of time struggled to deal with the recent conditions.

Even Russia’s transport infrastructure, which most of us would assume could cope with the worst that nature could throw at it, suffered amid the bleak mid-winter power cuts. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was not impressed, and banned government officials from taking holidays until the problems were sorted.

It has also been a bad year for a number of species. An estimated 700 manatees have died in the waters around Florida this year, according to US wildlife officials.

They attributed 244 of the deaths to "cold stress", as most occurred during January, which included the state’s coldest 12-day period since 1940.

Forecasters have found themselves in the eye of a storm as people vented their frustration over what they saw as a lack of preparation for the arrival of the big chill.

The UK Met Office’s chief scientist, Julia Slingo, said the past 12 months of extreme weather highlighted the need for the agency to have access to more supercomputer capacity.

She told Nature News that they needed four times the computing power currently available to forecasters:

“The science is well ahead of our ability to implement it. It's quite clear that if we could run our models at a higher resolution we could do a much better job - tomorrow - in terms of our seasonal and decadal predictions. It's so frustrating.”

However, the Met Office says its severe weather warning system did provide advance warning to local authorities and government agencies.

One project is looking for unwanted Christmas trees in order to make wooden stools

The one place in the northern hemisphere you would expect to be firmly in the grip of the frozen winter is the Arctic. Yet, latest data from National Snow and Ice Data Center shows that sea-ice extent is unusually low. It is too early to tell whether this is an anomaly or an indication that 2011 will set a new record low.

And finally, just in case you are wondering how you should make the most of your Christmas tree when the time comes to wrap your baubles in cotton-wool for another year, here is an idea.

The treehugger blog suggests that, once 12th night has passed, you donate your tree to the Christmas Tree Project that will make a rather fetching stool to help take the strain of the extra pounds accumulated during the festive season of excess and over-indulgence.