environment news
St Vincent volcano: Island covered in layer of grey as La Soufriere erupts
The Caribbean island of Saint Vincent has been coated in a layer of grey, caused by ash from the volcano La Soufriere mixing with rain. Before it started erupting on Friday, La Soufriere had been inactive for decades. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes, but efforts to shelter them from the eruption …
Saving the kelp forest that stars in My Octopus Teacher
The Bafta-winning Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher focuses on a film-maker who befriends an octopus. But the unsung star of the show is actually the kelp forest off the coast of Cape Town that he dives in – one of the world’s richest ecosystems. The makers of the documentary are part of a campaign to …
Saving green turtles… by cooling their eggs
The future of Australia’s green turtles is under threat by climate change – but not how you might think. Warmer sand temperatures are leading to way more females being hatched than males. Ade Adepitan travels to breeding spot Heron Island, in the Great Barrier Reef, to find out how conservationists are helping to save the …
Deep sea mining to help make electric vehicles
As the world begins to move away from petrol and diesel-power cars, there are questions over how the metals needed for batteries in electric vehicles will be sourced. One possibility is to mine the deep ocean floor. A number of companies are lining up to exploit the minerals found there, but campaigners warn it could …
Light pollution: How lockdown has darkened our skies
One of the positive impacts of lockdown is that there has been a big reduction in light pollution. A nationwide star count found a 10% drop in the amount of people who could only see 10 or fewer stars, an indicator of severe light pollution. Light pollution can impact human health and wildlife by disturbing …
Then and now: Rising temperatures threaten corals
They are found all over the globe, from tropical waters to the freezing polar regions. However, corals only form reefs in the warm, shallow seas of the tropics. The most famous of these is the 2,300km-long Great Barrier Reef, located off the north-eastern shores of Australia. Source link
Should airports be allowed to expand?
By Roger HarrabinBBC environment analyst image copyrightGetty Images Airports around the UK want to expand and increase flights, despite a government commitment to cut emissions. Are their plans bad for the environment, and will they interfere with the UK’s ambition to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050? Why do airports want to expand? Airports are …
‘Astronauts aren’t just men – we’re astronauts too’
A seven-year-old aspiring astronaut has spent lockdown building and “launching” a homemade rocket into the sky from her Leicester home. Elizabeth treated fans on her social media accounts to a “static fire” of her cardboard rocket from her parents’ living room before rolling the rocket out to a launch pad in the garden. Elizabeth shares …
Suez Canal: How are they trying to free the Ever Given?
By Reality Check & Visual JournalismBBC News image copyrightSatellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies An operation to free a giant container ship stuck in the Suez Canal is continuing, with warnings it could take days or even weeks. The Ever Given, operated by the Taiwanese company Evergreen Marine, is the length of four football pitches and …
Why cutting down trees can be good for the climate
A massive tree felling operation has been going on in the vast Kielder Forest of Northumberland for the last few weeks. Thousands of trees have been cut down as part of a project that claims to be improving the environment and tackling climate change. The BBC’s chief environment correspondent Justin Rowlatt reports on work to …
Increased use of on-court technology may reduce classic disputes