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Nuclear power is again making headlines in the global debate about how to solve the current energy crisis. One of the main points of criticism put forward by environmentalists is the lack of ideas when it comes to ways of disposing of radioactive waste. In Germany, a nuclear waste storage site is now threatening to contaminate the environment.

In Germany, Asse II is a former salt mine in the state of Lower Saxony that in 1965 was turned into a temporary storage and research facility of nuclear waste. Between 1967 and 1978 hundreds of thousands of barrels of radio active waste were dumped there.

Last month it was announced that water, which has been known to be leaking into the mine since 1988, is now contaminated with radio activity -- currently eight times above safety levels. After a long period of silence, the government is now openly thinking of ways to take action, because the 1,000-metre deep former mine has been managed and maintained so badly that the structure is highly unstable and in danger of total collapse.

Report: Leah McDonnell

The G8 nations have agreed to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to curb climate change. Environmentalists react with indignity, saying industrialised countries need to go a lot further.

The leaders of the group of eight industrialised countries came together in Japan this week to discuss topics of global importance, one of them climate change. At the end of the summit they announced that they will halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Some celebrated this announcement as a major breakthrough, others – above all environmental organisations – reacted with indignity, saying the deal was not tying industrialised countries to any binding emissions reduction goals. Those, however, they say, are urgently needed if the next UN meeting on Climate Change that takes place in Copenhaguen next year is to be a success.

In Denmark, the parties to the Kyoto protocol will come together in December 2009 to agree on a Kyoto follow-up, the international climate deal. Living Planet speaks to Antje von Broock, Head of International Environmental Policy with the non-governmental organisation BUND, the German branch of Friends of the Earth.

Interview: Nina Haase

Energy-saving means changing one's lifestyle. A Dutch city is trying to convince their population that it's easier than you'd think. They send out energy coaches who dispense energy-saving light bulbs.

One of the best ways to curb climate change is energy-saving, but that requires a slight change of lifestyle. A small city in the Netherlands is currently trying to convince the population that that’s easier than most would have thought.

The city has been passing out more than 20,000 energy-saving light bulbs as part of a new programme to help low-income households save money while they conserve energy.

A group of “energy coaches” have begun travelling from house to house by bike, delivering the light bulbs and dispensing advice on how the households can make their homes more environmentally-friendly. Living Planet looks at the city of Leeuwarden.

Report: Andrew Ryan

The destruction of the world's rainforests shows no signs of let-up, especially in Brazil's Amazon region. But there is the other Brazilian forest, the Atlantic Forest, where the local population is fighting hard to restore at least parts.

Recent news from the Amazon region has been grim, with satellite data showing no let-up in destruction of the world’s largest rainforest. But better signals have been coming out of an even more threatened South American rainforest, one which is even more diverse in wildlife than the Amazon itself.

The Atlantic Forest, which once stretched continuously for some three thousand kilometres along the Eastern coast of Brazil, has already lost nearly ninety-three per cent of its original cover – giving way to farms, coastal developments and cities.

New figures, however, show that the rate of deforestation has slowed by more than two-thirds, and there are ambitious plans to restore at least part of what has been lost. Living Planet looks at the fightback of the other Brazilian rainforest.

Report: Tim Hirsch