WWF Great Wild Walks
1st June
Sherwood Pines, Nottinghamshire
The forests you walk, talk and relax in are under threat from climate change. Will you take action? Unite with WWF at our brand new event in Sherwood Pines forest. Walk 5 or 10 miles and raise funds to save the places you love.
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All hail our jellyfish overlords
Our Broken Planet
What’s brainless, heartless, eyeless and thrives in a warming ocean? Hint: it’s wobbly and it could be coming to a dinner plate near you.
Tori & Khalil investigate the effects of rising sea temperatures, from changing food sources to the perilous state of coral reefs – home to one quarter of all marine species.
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How green are electric cars?
Science Weekly
Guardian
Electric cars might seem like a no-brainer on a warming planet, but there are plenty of people who remain sceptical about everything from their battery life to their carbon impact and the environmental and human rights costs of their parts. Madeleine Finlay consults Auke Hoekstra, known as the internet’s ‘EV debunker in chief’, to unpick the myths, realities and grey areas surrounding electric cars
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Wildlife podcasts
Wildlife Trusts
Find the best UK wildlife podcasts and immerse yourself in the great outdoors. From elusive birds to urban wildlife, the secret lives of trees and what plants and animals to look out for this season - we've got it all covered!
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New Study Reports That Greenland Is a Methane Sink Rather Than a Source
Environmental News Network
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have concluded that the methane uptake in dry landscapes exceeds methane emissions from wet areas across the ice-free part of Greenland.
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Trees Struggle to ‘Breathe’ as Climate Warms
Environmental News Network
Trees are struggling to sequester heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) in warmer, drier climates, meaning that they may no longer serve as a solution for offsetting humanity’s carbon footprint as the planet continues to warm, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers.
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What happens now bird flu has reached the Antarctic?
Science Weekly
Guardian
The moment scientists had been dreading arrived late last year, when H5N1, or bird flu, was found for the first time in the Antarctic. Last week a king penguin on the island of South Georgia became the first in the region to be suspected to have died from the disease. The Guardian’s biodiversity reporter, Phoebe Weston, tells Ian Sample why researchers have said the spread of bird flu through the Antarctic’s penguin colonies could signal ‘one of the largest ecological disasters of modern times’.
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Devon tree planting: Work to recreate lost rainforest
BBC
The National Trust plans to create vast new areas of temperate rainforest in the south-west of England.
More than 100,000 trees will be planted in north Devon to create swathes of humid woodland that will be home to plants facing extinction.
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Fire: Life in the new Pyrocene
Our Broken Planet
Are we living in a new age of fire? What would that mean for people, plants and animals? Take a trip back in time to find out how our planet's history has been shaped by fire, and peer into the future as we ask how nature will adapt to a new era shaped by flame. Tori and Khalil search for answers from nature, science and activism.
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Toxic run-off from roads not monitored
BBC
A toxic mix of oil, chemicals and bits of tyre from roads is polluting English waterways and no-one is regularly monitoring it, the BBC has found.
Heavy rain forces run-off into streams and rivers. Campaigners say it causes "absolutely horrific" damage in places, including just downstream of where The Great British Bake Off is filmed.
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What's the solution to wildlife crime?
Our Broken Planet
Wildlife crime affects us all. Illegal trade happens in every corner of the planet, and its effects can be catastrophic for some animals and plants. But the tragedy goes beyond the loss of single species. It's clear our relationship with nature needs to change.
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Silent fields
a cocktail of pesticides is stunting bumblebee colonies across Europe, study shows
The Conversation
The European Parliament voted against a proposal to curb the use of agricultural pesticides in November 2023. These chemicals, designed to protect crop yield from pest insects and other organisms, can contaminate the water and air and threaten the people and wildlife that maintain the vitality of our landscapes.
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Stop the badger slaughter
48,750 have signed. Let's get to 50,000
AVAAZ
Hundreds of thousands of badgers slaughtered across England - for nothing. And now the UK government wants to expand this senseless, cruel cull to exterminate badgers entirely in some areas. They claim it is to reduce tuberculosis in cattle - but despite millions thrown at killing our furry friends, it’s done nothing to actually reduce the disease.
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A rising tide
Melting ice sheets and sea level rises
Our Broken Planet
How much are sea levels rising by? What does it mean for us and for the generations to come? And what can we do about it? Take your ears on a round-the-world trip, from the icy polar north to the lush tropical paradise of the Marshall Islands, to find out how we got here and ways to fix it. Along the way, we'll ask: -Is Greenland turning into Swiss cheese? -Who is most at risk from rising seas? -Could mangrove forests save the world?
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Pangolins
the world's most trafficked mammal
Our Broken Planet
Pangolins are solitary, elusive and shy creatures native to Africa and Asia - there is nothing else like them on Earth. However, they're facing extinction because their keratin scales are traded by the tonne in many countries.
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A mammoth task: halting the ivory trade
Our Broken Planet
Elephants are the poster child for the illegal wildlife trade. It is estimated that on average, 55 African elephants per day are killed for their ivory tusks.
Humans have coveted ivory for thousands of years, and demand eventually pushed elephants to the brink. International trade in their tusks is now banned, but a new product on the global market could be fuelling the flames for elephants: mammoth tusks.
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Chameleons: from jungle to pet shop
Our Broken Planet
The global trade in exotic pets sees wild animals illegally caught and distributed around the world. Animals are often forced to trade in their homes in tropical jungles for cramped living quarters in towns and cities.
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Climate Catastrophe in the 17th century
History Hits
Revolutions, droughts, famines, invasions, wars, regicides - the calamities of the mid-seventeenth century were both unprecedented and widespread. A global crisis extended from England to Japan, and from the Russian Empire to sub-Saharan Africa. North and South America, too, suffered turbulence. Changes in the prevailing weather patterns, longer and harsher winters, and cooler and wetter summers - disrupted growing seasons, causing dearth, malnutrition, and disease, along with more deaths and fewer births. Some contemporaries estimated that one-third of the world died.
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African elephant populations stabilise in southern heartlands
Guardian
African elephant populations have stabilised in their southern heartlands after huge losses over the last century, according to the most comprehensive analysis of growth rates to date.
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Nottingham Tree Strategy
Online Engagement
The Urban Forest Strategy, Nottingham’s first trees and woodlands strategy, was published in 2012. Since then a lot has changed, Nottingham has signed the Tree Charter 2020, has declared a climate emergency in 2021, pledged to become Carbon Neutral by 2028 and has committed to plant 50,000 trees, so far planting 39,000.
Nottingham City Council’s Green Spaces and Natural Environment Team are seeking citizens to assist in the creation of the new strategy for the future of Nottingham’s trees and woodlands.
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The Tree
Grower’s Guide
Welcome to The Tree Grower’s Guide, a beginner’s guide to identifying and growing trees from seed, and starting a Community Tree Nursery.
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COP28: Landmark summit takes direct aim at fossil fuels
BBC
Nations at the UN climate summit have for the first time taken explicit aim at the use of fossil fuels.
The talks in Dubai came close to collapse but in a dramatic turn-around, nations agreed to "transition away" from coal, oil and gas.
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COP28 draft deal calls for global transition away from fossil fuels
live
BBC
A new draft final agreement has been published at the UN climate summit in Dubai
It calls on countries to transition away from the use of fossil fuels in energy systems but not phase them out, as demanded by many summit participants
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talks expected to extend beyond official summit end after ‘insufficient’ draft text
Cop28 live
Guardian
New draft text released by presidency omits reference to phase out of ‘fossil fuels’
Exhausted delegates get ready as negotiations overrun
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oil producers ‘panic’ over possible fossil fuel phase-out
COP 28
Channel 4
The UK’s former climate chief Alok Sharma has warned that the UN’s COP 28 summit must agree a plan to phase out fossil fuels – or risk pushing the world into climate breakdown.
Reports from Dubai claim that the oil cartel OPEC wrote to member nations this week urging them to block any talk of phasing out the use of coal, oil and gas.
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COP28: Five reasons for optimism on climate
BBC
It's easy to feel overwhelmed by bad news about climate change. Even for those of us used to covering it every day as journalists, it can sometimes seem relentless.
But as delegates try to reach a deal at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, there are some real reasons to be optimistic too. Here's a look at some of them:
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All the drama from the first week of Cop28
podcast
Guardian
Madeleine Finlay hears from the biodiversity and environment reporter Patrick Greenfield, who is reporting for the Guardian from Cop28 in Dubai. He describes the rollercoaster first week of highs and lows, which included an important agreement on loss and damage and a tetchy press conference from summit president, Sultan Al Jaber.
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Is the world about to promise to ditch fossil fuels?
BBC
The UN climate change conference in Dubai is close to a big breakthrough on reducing the gases heating our planet, its United Arab Emirates hosts believe.
Expressing "cautious optimism", the UAE negotiating team believes COP28 is gearing up to commit to phasing down fossil fuels over coming decades.
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Host country of COP28, UAE, to ramp up oil production, BBC learns
BBC
The country hosting COP28 climate talks aimed at cutting fossil fuel emissions is massively ramping up its own oil production, the BBC has learned.
The United Arab Emirates' state oil firm Adnoc may drill 42% more by 2030, according to analysts considered the international gold standard in oil market intelligence.
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Tuesday College Support Volunteer
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
Idle Valley, North Road, Retford, Nottinghamshire
We're looking for passionate volunteers to help share their enthusiasm for nature with young people at Idle Valley
As part of our activities with Rotherham and North Nottinghamshire College, The Trust offers brief sessions on Tuesdays to young people with special educational needs at the Idle Valley Nature Reserve during term times.
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