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This edition of Green Room considers the whether there is any real expectation of progress at the forthcoming climate summit in South Africa. It also brings you a selection of some of this year's best environmental photographs, and it looks at a gadget that recycles one of the most treasured teaching comodity - chalk.

Although it has been a relatively quiet year on the climate policy front, with perhaps the exception of the in October, commentators are now flexing their fingers in preparation for a blog-fest in the run-up to the , at the end of this month.

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 Copenhagen, nor the conclusion of the Bali summit, which seemed.

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 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."

In a time of economic woes, austerity measures and Eurozone uncertainty, it seems a safe bet that warm words will not be matched with hard, cold cash. But whatever the outcome, one thing is certain - the blogosphere will be watching every move and will not be shy in passing judgement on the outcome.

The 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: .

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 , organised by London's Natural History Magazine and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ 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 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 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. ".

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.