Environment news

• 'Cultural rebirth': Covid-hit Barrow's bold vision for the future

  01-01-2021 14:14
  
  Project aims to make town often described as one of the unhappiest places in UK a top tourism locationCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe people of Barrow-in-Furness, the Cumbrian outpost that is perennially described as one of the most unhappy places in Britain and has one of the UK’s highest Covid-19 death rates, are used to negative headlines about their town.Three months ago its council declared a poverty emergency, becoming one of the first in the cou
  
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• Hopes for most endangered turtle after discovery of female in Vietnam lake

  01-01-2021 13:14
  
  Find is chance for species’ survival say scientists as DNA results confirm turtle found in Hanoi district is a Swinhoe’s softshell The last known male giant Swinhoe’s softshell turtle is no longer alone on the planet after the discovery of a female of his species in Vietnam.The female 86kg (13 stone) turtle was found in Dong Mo lake, in Hanoi’s Son Tay district, and captured for genetic testing in October. Continue reading...
  
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• Avoid using wood burning stoves if possible, warn health experts

  01-01-2021 12:05
  
  Charity calls for people to use alternative, less polluting heating and cooking options if they canCampaigners and health experts are calling on people who have alternative heating not to use their wood burning stoves this winter amid growing concern about their impact on public health.The Guardian recently reported that wood burners triple the level of harmful particulates inside the home as well as creating dangerous levels of pollution in the surrounding neighbourhood. Continue reading...
  
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• Beekeepers brace for next round with Canada's 'murder hornets'

  01-01-2021 12:00
  
  British Columbia resigned to a ‘long fight’ after 2020’s efforts to track and kill the invasive insects ended in frustration‘Murder hornets’: race to protect North America’s honeybees from giant invaderRead more in our series Biodiversity: what happened next?The year 2020 is not one that beekeepers in Washington state and the Canadian province of British Columbia are likely to forget in a hurry. Since the spring, experts in both states have been gripped by fea
  
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• 'The litter was a shock': 2020's Covid-driven rush on UK national parks

  01-01-2021 11:30
  
  In lockdown, beauty spots such as Snowdonia attracted new visitors – but also fires, parking rows and ‘fly-camping’Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageFor some years, Britain’s national parks have been wrestling with the same conundrum: how to attract visitors that aren’t just white, middle-class and middle-aged.This summer, they got what they all thought they wanted: the biggest influx of new visitors in their history. With foreign tra
  
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• A different world: could 2021 be the best year for a generation?

  01-01-2021 08:00
  
  With the worst potentially behind us, we can be optimistic that somewhere better lies aheadHas a new year ever been as eagerly anticipated as 2021? A fresh start, a new era, technically a new decade, a line drawn under an annus horribilis, and some genuine hope to look forward to. Making predictions is always unwise, especially about the future, they say; making optimistic ones even more so. But could 2021 be the best year for a generation?Of course this is tempting fate. It would be far safer t
  
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• Pollutionwatch: fine particles affect lungs of those near airports

  01-01-2021 07:00
  
  Trial finds reduced lung function and heart changes in young people who exercised near SchipholFor seven months in 2018, a lorry trailer was parked near a runway at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. It housed exercise bikes and air pollution measurement equipment. Twenty-one healthy young people took turns to visit the trailer for pedalling sessions. Air was funnelled from the outside as the young people exercised, and researchers monitored their heart and lung functions. Related: Could Covid
  
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• Country diary: lapwings flock together in a great, morphing mass

  01-01-2021 06:30
  
  Otley, West Yorkshire: Lapwing flight is sometimes mischaracterised as clumsy, but this group reveals enormous powers of control and coordinationThe sun sets the water ablaze, creating a dazzling trail of Greek fire, the light glittering as it bounces off the breeze-ruffled surface into my squinting eyes. I wish there was some way of distilling that molten brightness and drinking it; it is such a potent antidote to the past few days, which were hardly days at all, just a few hours of sickly gloo
  
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• Why 2021 could be turning point for tackling climate change

  01-01-2021 01:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  This year could be a "make or break" moment in the fight against global warming.
  
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• Why 2021 could be crucial for tackling climate change

  01-01-2021 01:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  This year could be a "make or break" moment in the fight against global warming.
  
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