In today’s edition of Squirrel News, Europe gets its first wild river national park, Britain plans to expand its free childcare programme and Puerto Rico establishes its first fully solar-powered town.
‘Historic moment’ for nature as Europe’s first wild river national park announced in Albania
One of the last wild rivers in Europe will now be protected as a national park, shielding over a thousand animal and plant species from human interference.
UK plans to expand free childcare for up to 30 hours a week
In a bid to help parents struggling with the costs of raising a child and to help them reenter the workforce, Britain will start offering free childcare to eligible working parents of children aged under five.
San Diego aims to help end housing segregation and crisis at once
Redlining, the practice of restricting mortgages to people of a certain race and background, is to blame for much of the housing inequality in San Diego. A new initiative aims to solve the issue by subsidising high-rise and mid-rise housing.
Tokyo residents return record amounts of lost money
Under Japan’s lost goods law, you could keep 5% and 20% of the sum if the money is retrieved by the owner. As a result, larger and larger amounts of lost cash are returned every year.
Novo Nordisk to cut insulin prices, following Eli Lilly’s lead
The Danish pharmaceutical company plans to reduce its insulin price in the US, following rival company Eli Lilly’s move. Novo Nordisk will cut the price by 60-75% depending on the brand of insulin purchased.
In Devon, the Exmouth Leisure Centre heats its pools using the byproduct heat from a small, local data center. Over the course of its normal operations, the pool’s water helps cool the center while saving it thousands in electricity costs.
Machine learning helps scientists keep track of huge amounts of reef data
Conservationists can now use machine learning technology to sort and analyse massive amounts of data gathered from reefs. This can help save them hours of sifting through information to find insights and other valuable information.
First Puerto Rico town fully powered by solar energy
After sustaining damage during Hurricane Maria, the townspeople of Adjuntas decided to build more resilient infrastructure. The result was the country’s first cooperatively managed solar microgrid.
The initiatives working to help men feel less isolated
From cooperative sheds in the UK, to discussion groups and communal barbers, these organisations aim to help men dealing with loneliness and depression.
Sweden pairs migrants with seniors to help integration and fight loneliness
Sällbo, a shared living project, has the elderly and recent immigrants all living in the same building. Both parties are required to socialise a number of hours a week, to help build communication and understanding.
#31: The ‘Solar Punks’: Bringing power to the people
Dan Edelstyn and Hilary Powell set out their plan to turn their London street into a community solar power station. In our new podcast episode, Dan tells us why they use art and filmmaking to promote their project and how they’re inspiring more and more neighbourhoods to follow their model.
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