The environmental impact of the clothing industry is well documented. Last year in the UK alone, 235m items of clothing were sent to landfill. The fashion industry produces 20 per cent of global wastewater and 10 per cent of global carbon emissions - more than all international flights and maritime shipping. For anyone who is looking to reduce their carbon footprint, cutting back on new clothes and shopping sprees is an obvious quick-win. But even when we know the facts, it can take us a while to commit to changing our behaviour.

As the UN Secretary General's Climate Action Summit gets underway in New York, Lucian J. Hudson, Chair, Earthwatch Europe, and Peter Hudson, writer on the environment and climate campaigner, consider the scale of the challenge we face, and the need for urgent - and unprecedented - collaborative action across government, business and civil society.

In August members of the Earthwatch team headed to Stockholm for SIWI World Water Week as part of the HSBC Water Programme. Launched in 2012, the HSBC Water Programme brings together expertise from Earthwatch, our corporate partner HSBC, and their charity partners WaterAid and WWF, to employ a holistic approach to tackling the global water crisis.

Many members of Earthwatch Europe's staff will be striking this Friday. CEO Steve Andrews explains why he is encouraging the team to go out and join the protests. 

Many of us are fortunate enough to take clean drinking water for granted.

Yet for poor communities in Zambia, water can be deadly. Full of pollutants and bacteria, their water can cause debilitating diseases, with children particularly vulnerable.