Environment news

• Artemis II: Nasa targets early April for Moon mission

  12-03-2026 22:21 via bbc.com
  Nasa says technical problems that have delayed the rocket are fixed and it is ready for launch.
  
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• ‘Kast is more like Trump’: Chile’s environmentalists prepare to do battle for the country’s future

  12-03-2026 13:00
  Fears are growing that the new far-right president will slash environmental protections in favour of foreign investment In Chile’s most northerly region, Arica y Parinacota, Andrea Chellew, 62, relies on tourists for her cafe. They usually travel from the coastal city of Arica to the unique biosphere of the Andean highlands, which rise well above 5,000 metres and host nature reserves and wetlands.At 3,000 metres (9,800ft) above sea level, along Highway 11, she lives by the trade route that
  
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• Nasa spacecraft weighing 1,300lb re-enters Earth's atmosphere

  12-03-2026 12:23 via bbc.com
  Much of the Van Allen Probe was expected to burn up in the atmosphere, though Nasa said there was a "low" risk of people being struck by surviving components.
  
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• London, San Francisco and Beijing achieve ‘remarkable reductions’ in air pollution

  12-03-2026 10:00
  Cycle lanes, electric cars and other interventions have helped 19 global cities slash levels of pollutants by more than 20% London, San Francisco and Beijing are among 19 global cities that have achieved “remarkable reductions” in air pollution, analysis has found, having slashed levels of two airway-aggravating pollutants by more than 20% since 2010.The analysis found interventions such as cycle lanes, uptake of electric cars and restrictions on polluting vehicles had helped to driv
  
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• Greedy beaver caught twice in monitoring trap

  12-03-2026 07:11 via bbc.com
  Rangers in Northumberland say the beavers are doing well after they were caught and checked over.
  
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• March for Romans was a time to sow conflict as well as crops

  12-03-2026 07:00
  Rome did not only organise its agriculture in tune with the rhythm of the seasons, it also fought its wars that wayMarch is named for the Roman god Mars. He was among other things the god of agriculture, and the month was marked by ceremonies to protect new crops from bad weather.Mars was the god of war too, and better weather also meant the start of the campaigning season. The roles sometimes merged. In one of the oldest Roman ceremonies, the “leaping priests” of Mars, 12 young men
  
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• Country diary: Primroses turn a churchyard buttery yellow, heralding spring | Sarah Lambert

  12-03-2026 06:30
  Bainton, Cambridgeshire: Villagers gather each year on Palm Sunday to celebrate these scented flowersBeside the lichen-encrusted churchyard wall, a robin sings from the dark heart of a yew, its clear notes rising above the gruff calls of nesting rooks. Along the path, a bank of buttery primroses glows beside the bright stars of lesser celandine, offering early forage to the first pollen-dusted solitary bee. Across the gravestones, small points of colour are beginning to appear. St Mary’s c
  
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• ‘The last frontier’: how red globules of nickel ore are suffocating an island’s precious wilderness

  12-03-2026 06:00
  In the race to meet the demands of the energy transition, biodiversity hotspots such as Palawan in the Philippines are being increasingly mined for critical elementsHow nature is being sacrificed for mining across the world – a data visualisationMoharen Tahil Tambiling lowers himself from the fishing boat into the water and gingerly picks his way over the reef circling the bay. At low tide here in Brooke’s Point on Palawan, a long, rugged island in the south-west of the Philippines a
  
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• Why Namibia's green energy dream could be a red flag for penguins

  12-03-2026 01:04 via bbc.com
  A near pristine desert and coastal wilderness in Namibia could soon host a huge hydrogen production facility.
  
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