Southern Brazil’s shrimp explosion, Paris chooses parks over cars, historic female boardroom quota in Germany

| Posted on November 23, 2020 |

Photo: Heloísa Vilicic/Unsplash (CCO)

In today’s edition of Squirrel News, we’re looking at the return of shrimp and other marine life to a newly-protected area of Southern Brazil’s oceans, an innovative new scheme in Paris to remove 60,000 car parking spaces, and Germany’s attempt to close the gender gap in senior management positions.

A bottom trawling ban in Southern Brazil has resulted in an explosion in marine life

The protections currently cover an area of roughly 13,000km2, and are set to be replicated in dozens of other countries.

Source: Oceana

Paris will transform 60,000 car parking spaces into parks and vegetable gardens

The move comes as the city continues to encourage residents to use more sustainable forms of transport.

Source: Goodnet

Germany agrees historic mandatory boardroom quota for women

The German government hopes to close the gender gap by requiring 30% female membership within senior management positions.

Source: The Guardian

The world’s largest fur auction house has announced its closure

Kopenhagen Fur will shut its doors within the next two to three years, with the move seen as a win for animal rights.

Source: Live Kindly

Canada has unveiled a plan to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050

The government has released its comprehensive strategy to reach this goal, following up on promises made in the Speech from the Throne.

Source: Global Citizen

French citizens are embracing people power through assemblies

Towns, cities and regions around France are turning to assemblies of unelected citizens to guide them on everything from climate to coronavirus.

Source: The Guardian

AI is making commercial fishing more sustainable and environmentally responsible

SmartFish H2020, led by Norwegian company SINTEF Ocean, is partnering with fishing companies, tech suppliers and universities to design equipment to reduce the industry’s impact on marine life.

Source: CNN

Kenyan villagers have developed a sustainable alternative to charcoal

Eco-charcoal is cheaper, greener and lasts a lot longer than its traditional alternative, and enables the women to conserve their local forests whilst empowering them to earn their own money.

Source: Diraj

New Zealand is rewarding its best recyclers with gold stars

The initiative has dramatically improved rates of non-contaminated recycling left out for collection.

Source: Treehugger

A 14-year-old Indian girl has invented a solar-powered iron

Vinisha Umashankar’s solar innovation could help prevent air pollution and forest loss, and has won her the Children’s Climate Prize.