Environment news

• There’s an itsy-bitsy fear I want to overcome. I will never be a fan, but can I at least be Normal about spiders? | Rebecca Shaw

  25-12-2025 22:41 via theguardian.com
  In order to be less scared, I imagine the huge Australian huntsman as a girlie, just chilling and listening to us yap. It sounds dumb, but it worked (a little bit)Read more summer essentialsI am someone who believes it is never too late to change. I think you can in fact teach an old dog new tricks, as long as the old dog is open-minded and willing to learn. As long as the old dog is willing to admit when it was wrong, and work to become a better dog.OK yes, I am the old dog. And the trick I am
  
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• ‘They’re scared of us now’: how co-investment in a tropical forest saw off loggers

  25-12-2025 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Low-cost tech and joined-up funding have reduced illegal logging, mining and poaching in the Darién Gap – it’s a success story that could stop deforestation worldwideThere are no roads through the Darién Gap. This vast impenetrable forest spans the width of the land bridge between South and Central America, but there is almost no way through it: hundreds have lost their lives trying to cross it on foot.Its size and hostility have shielded it from development for millenn
  
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• Wild animals are great gift givers – and there’s one present in particular I’d love to receive for Christmas | Helen Pilcher

  25-12-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Penguins hand over pebbles; scorpionflies give spitballs. But I’m hankering after a sea sponge presented by a dolphinThis Christmas morning, are you worried you didn’t choose quite the right gift for that someone special? I always try my hardest, but everywhere I turn I’m bombarded with unhelpful suggestions. No, I don’t want a candle that smells like turkey, because, well, we’ll be cooking turkey. Nor do I want a sunrise alarm clock that mimics natural light, becau
  
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