Environment articles: top in 2008

(Alamy)

There has been little environmental news to cheer anyone up this year, but there has been plenty of it - which is perhaps why the fact that the top environment (well nature, perhaps) was one of ignorance rather than doom and gloom as the country's National Treasure on all thing natural was left bewildered : Attenborough alarmed as children are left flummoxed by test on the natural world.

Elsewhere in the top ten, it was largely a matter of noting the decline in the planet - from our revelation that, at one point, there was No ice at the North Pole, to the fact of The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan. We also noted that the world is facing a Methane time bomb and wondered Why flowers have lost their scent.

There was also signs of action - from drawing attention to the problem as Cartoonists tackle climate change to the Independent on Sunday's list of activists - The Top 100 Environmentalists. And those activists may have been heartened to read that a Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law. Such action may well have gone beyond the extremes intimated by Britain declares war on food waste.

And, of course, as with all the top stories across all the sections, the credit crunch has had an effect as we revealed How the oil crisis has hit the world.

The top ten environment stories for 2008:

1. Attenborough alarmed as children are left flummoxed by test on the natural world
2. Exclusive: Scientists warn that there may be no ice at North Pole this summer
3. The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan
4. No words necessary: The cartoonists tackle climate change
5. The IoS Green List: Britain's top 100 environmentalists
6. Cleared: Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law
7. Why flowers have lost their scent
8. Shocked! How the oil crisis has hit the world
9. Exclusive: The methane time bomb
10. Britain declare war on food waste