What’s on Guide for October
Nottingham Green Guardians
Until 29th Oct
Our What’s on Guide will help you to find a volunteering activity or seasonal walk to suit you.
Once you have found an activity to join in them remember to let you know you are coming by either;
Registering on our Volunteer Portal
emailing parks.volunteering@nottinghamcity.gov.uk
Send a DM through Facebook
Or register your place for walks through Eventbrite
click here
top of the page
Nature Spotting
Autumn Colours
30th Oct
Attenborough Nature Reserve, Nottingham
We will look for vibrant Autumn colour; identifying trees, leaves and plants that bring seasonal beauty to Attenborough Nature Reserve.
click here
top of the page
The Wildlife Trusts' Big Wild Walk 2024
Wildlife Trusts
Until 3rd Nov
Join a bigger, wilder adventure this autumn.
Step into the wild and explore the nature on your doorstep with your #BigWildWalk.
Challenge yourself to explore the nature on your doorstep or expand your horizons to discover the natural world around you. Get outside this autumn, get fit and protect wildlife.
Set your target distance and get walking from 21st October - 3rd November to protect the wildlife you love.
click here
top of the page
Broadmarsh Green Heart
kickstarting a nature first transformation of our city
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
2nd Nov
Join us as we visit the Green Heart - the unique new natural greenspace in the heart of Nottingham City Centre.
Hear more about how with the backing our supporters and the general public we helped secure new, accessible wildlife habitat in place of the former Broadmarsh Shopping Centre and helped ensure that nature now forms a key focus for a multi-billion pound urban regeneration plan for Nottingham.
click here
top of the page
advert
Miss Fletcher's War
by Guy Jones
Read Through
7:30 pm
21st Nov
Upstairs, The Lincolnshire Poacher, Mansfield Road, Nottingham
click here
Antarctic ‘Greening’ at Dramatic Rate
University of Exeter
Environmental News Network
Vegetation cover across the Antarctic Peninsula has increased more than tenfold over the last four decades, new research shows.
The Antarctic Peninsula, like many polar regions, is warming faster than the global average, with extreme heat events in Antarctica becoming more common.
The new study – by the universities of Exeter and Hertfordshire, and the British Antarctic Survey – used satellite data to assess how much the Antarctic Peninsula has been “greening” in response to climate change.
click here
top of the page
advert
A Child's Christmas in Wales
by Dylan Thomas
A rehearsed reading to be performed the week beginning 16th Dec
Interested in taking part?
Then email us to arrange an audition.
click here
Converting Methane Emissions From Dairy Farms to Biogas Could Save More Than £400M a Year in Fuel Costs
University of East Anglia
Environmental News Network
New research has found methane emissions from slurry stores on dairy farms may be up to five times greater than official statistics suggest - and highlights the huge potential for turning them into a renewable energy source.
click here
top of the page
Advert
Give While You Shop
Raise free funds for Hothouse Theatre and Oh MyNottz by shopping online with Give as you Live, over 4200 retailers to choose from, shop & raise a donation at no cost to you!
Click here
Climate change supercharged Europe floods
Mark Poynting and Greg Brosnan
BBC
Central Europe's devastating floods were made much worse by climate change and offer a stark glimpse of the future for the world's fastest-warming continent, scientists say.
Storm Boris has ravaged countries including Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Austria and Italy, leading to at least 24 deaths and billions of pounds of damage.
click here
top of the page
Yes We Can
Pass the Climate and Nature Act
Zero Hour
Zero Hour is the campaign for the Climate and Nature Bill, formerly the CE Bill and CEE Bill, a plan for a new UK law that addresses climate change, global warming, and the nature crisis in line with the most up-to-date science. The Bill is the only proposed legislation before the UK Parliament that ensures a comprehensive and joined-up approach to the emergency.
Let's tackle climate change and nature decline together.
click here
top of the page
End of an era
Britain finally says goodbye to coal
Guardian Science Weekly
Just before Britain’s last coal-fired power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, powered down for the final time, Madeleine Finlay travelled to Nottinghamshire with energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose for a last tour of the site.
click here
UK to finish with coal power after 142 years
BBC
The UK is about to stop producing any electricity from burning coal - ending its 142-year reliance on the fossil fuel.
The country's last coal power station, at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, finishes operations on Monday after running since 1967.
click here
top of the page
'Windiest part of the UK' could power nearly 500,000 homes
BBC
Power is flowing from the Shetland Isles to mainland Britain for the first time as the UK's most productive onshore windfarm comes on stream.
SSE says its 103-turbine project, known as Viking, can generate 443 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough to power nearly 500,000 homes.
Shetland is the windiest part of the UK, which means it will be rare for the blades, which reach a massive 155m at their tip, not to be spinning.
click here
top of the page
Chemical industry failing to stop emissions of super-strong greenhouse gas HFC-23
new research
The Conversation
Emissions of a super-strong greenhouse gas could be substantially reduced if factories would properly implement existing “destruction technology” in certain industrial production processes. If operated properly, emissions of this greenhouse gas could be cut by at least 85% – that’s equivalent to 17% of carbon dioxide emissions from global aviation.
Our research, published today in the journal Nature, scrutinises emissions of one of the most potent hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) greenhouse gases, called trifluoromethane (HFC-23). One gram of HFC-23 in the atmosphere contributes as much to the greenhouse effect as 12kg of carbon dioxide.
click here
top of the page
From rhino horn snuff to pangolin livestock feed
we analysed half a century of patents to track the wildlife trade’s evolution
The Conversation
The bright blue blood of the horseshoe crab is used around the world to detect bacterial contamination in vaccines. Synonymous with luxury, sturgeon caviar has been patented as an antidote to impotency in China. Rhino horn is used in traditional Asian medicine to treat various ailments, and is also an ingredient in 50 different recipes for snuff.
click here
top of the page
Tackling water shortages with 'Star Wars' tech
BBC
When a severe drought hit the Indian city of Kozhikode, also known as Calicut, in 2016, residents including student Swapnil Shrivastav had access to a limited amount of water each day.
“We were rationed to two buckets of water a day, which we collected from water tanks,” he says.
While he says it’s not uncommon for water supply issues to impact parts of India, it was a tough month for Mr Shrivastav and others in the region. “It was a very humid area; it was unmanageable.”
click here
top of the page
Thousands join ‘Restore Nature Now’ march
Channel 4 News
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have been marching through London, joining more than 350 charities, businesses and direct action groups on the Restore Nature Now march.
click here
top of the page
The UK’s power grid needs upgrading to reach net zero
our new study shows where
The Conversation
To reduce its emissions in line with national and global targets, the UK must overhaul how it produces, uses and distributes electricity.
Millions of heat pumps, electric vehicles (EVs) and solar panels are planned in the UK. These can reduce emissions and lower household bills. However, they will also substantially raise the amount of power neighbourhoods need over coming decades, particularly during peak demand periods like early evening. At other times, when the Sun is shining and electricity use is low, solar panels on homes and businesses could allow neighbourhoods to export electricity to the network.
click here
top of the page
Volunteers to help make city square 'greener'
BBC
A group of volunteers are helping to refresh the Old Market Square by placing 500 plants across the space.
Local businesses and eco-friendly charities have donated more than £1000 to purchase the plants and make the area greener.
People started planting at the Green Hustle event earlier this month, and planted another batch of shrubs this week.
click here
top of the page
As No Mow May ends, here’s why we should keep patches of lawn permanently wild
The Conversation
Over the last century, nearly all of the UK’s wildflower meadows have been destroyed by expanding farms, towns and cities. This loss of habitat has driven nature’s decline, according to research led by birds and nature conservation charity the RSPB.
As meadows and other wild spaces have disappeared in the UK and further afield, massive population crashes have followed: Europe has lost over 600 million birds since 1980, while insects have seen a 76% decline.
If you have a lawn, then you have a chance to help reverse this trend. No Mow May, a campaign led by plant conservation charity Plantlife, asks people to refrain from mowing the grass during May. With over 20 million gardens, the UK has an enormous resource with which to benefit wildlife.
click here
top of the page
Woodthrope Meadows
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
A small woodland and grassland reserve at the side of the busy Mansfield Road.
The Keeping it Wild team carry out conservation maintenance work on the reserve.
click here
top of the page
Standing up for nature:
What can we do to fix our broken planet?
Surveys show that most of us are really worried about climate change and we want something to be done. But what?
This series, we've explored many ways in which nature is changing in response to human activity and the dangers posed to people and planet as a result.
On Google Podcasts
click here
top of the page
Deep down and dirty?
Mining for a sustainable future
A more sustainable future lies within reach. One where human societies are powered by wind and solar energy, leaving behind dirty, climate-changing fossil fuels in the past. Sounds good right?
But with many tonnes of rare earth metals needed to manufacture just one wind turbine, switching to this greener way of life likely means more mining – and lots of it – at least in the short term. But where and how could we get these metals while causing the least possible harm to people and planet?
On Google Podcasts
click here
top of the page
Older Swiss women just set a global legal precedent for challenging their nation’s climate change policy
the conversation
The European Court of Human Rights has issued a groundbreaking ruling in a case between a group of Swiss women and their government. It found that Switzerland is in violation of the European convention on human rights for failing in its duties to combat climate change. The court also set out a path for organisations to bring further cases.
click here
top of the page
Conservation Volunteer
Nottingham Together
As one of our Conservation Volunteers you will be working closely with our Ranger Team to create and maintain different habitats across our parks and open spaces for wildlife.
There are a wide range of activities and tasks throughout the year depending on the season, summer tasks can include controlling invasive species such as Himalayan Balsam, planting or cutting wildflower meadows to make hay and in winter tasks can include hedge planting, coppicing trees.
click here
top of the page
A landslide forced me from my home
and I experienced our failure to deal with climate change at first hand
One stormy evening in February 2024, I heard the sickening sound of trees breaking just beyond my garden in the town of Hastings on England’s south coast. Heading outside to investigate, I soon found cracks opening up in the ground near our property’s border with the Old Roar Gill – a narrow valley containing ancient woodlands, a stream and much wildlife, plants and trees.
click here
top of the page
Ocean Currents Threaten to Collapse Antarctic Ice Shelves
A new study published in Nature Communications
A new study published in Nature Communications has revealed that the interplay between meandering ocean currents and the ocean floor induces upwelling velocity, transporting warm water to shallower depths. This mechanism contributes substantially to the melting of ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea of West Antarctica. These ice shelves are destabilizing rapidly and contributing to sea level rise.
click here
top of the page
With the Planet Facing a 'Polycrisis'
Biodiversity Researchers Uncover Major Knowledge Gaps
A scientific review has found almost no research studying the interconnections across three major threats to planetary health, despite UN assessments suggesting one million species are at risk of extinction, a global pandemic that resulted in over six million excess deaths, and a record-breaking year of global temperatures.
click here
top of the page
Food security threatened by extreme flooding, farmers warn
BBC
Record-breaking rain over the past few months has left fields of crops under water and livestock's health at risk, adding to pressures on food producers.
The flooding and extreme weather linked to climate change will undermine UK food production unless farmers get more help, the National Farmers Union said.
The NFU is calling on the government to do more to compensate flooded farmers and support domestic food production.
click here
top of the page
Europe's biggest wildlife crime: eel smuggling
Our Broken Planet
Europe is at the centre of an illegal wildlife trade operation worth billions of pounds.
Gangs are thought to be smuggling up to 350 million live eels from Europe and shipping them to Asia every single year. Once at their destination, the young eels are farmed to full size and redistributed across the world. But why is the European eel such a valuable commodity? Why has the trade of glass eels been made illegal? And what effect is this having on the species?
click here
top of the page
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.
click here
top of the page
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
click here
top of the page
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!
click here
top of the page
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.
click here
top of the page
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.
click here
top of the page
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’.
click here
top of the page
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.
click here
top of the page