Photo: Getty Images / Unsplash+
In today’s Squirrel News, a huge dome in the UK grows produce using a landfill’s methane gases; in Germany, a tax on single-use containers is proving a successful model for reducing city waste; and a right-to-review rule in England is changing the culture of the NHS and saving lives.
A landfill in Wiltshire, UK, will be the site of a fruit and vegetable growing operation using electricity the site is already generating from methane gas, with the CO2 by-product from electricity production used to boost plant growth. Sustain Wiltshire has plans in the works for 100 domes, all climate-controlled for growing in any season.
Source: BBC
A redevelopment project in London will be part of a loop in which the extra heat generated by a new police data centre will connect to 4000 homes and a commercial centre. It is a particularly efficient and sustainable type of heating system, with warm water transported between buildings to be brought to temperature on-site by heat pumps.
Source: Positive News
When a national law ban on single-use plastics did not do nearly enough to stem the growing tide of packaging waste, Tübingen chose to tax businesses for every single-use container. McDonald’s fought a losing battle all the way to the highest court, and, in the meantime, the city is cleaner, and the use of reusable containers has quadrupled.
Source: Reasons to be Cheerful
Named for a 13-year-old who died of sepsis, the rule allows NHS patients in England to request a review of their care and will extend to the whole UK by 2027. After its introduction, thousands of patients were either moved to intensive care, received drugs they needed or benefited from other changes as a direct result of the reviews requested.
Source: The Guardian
The latest analysis from Carbon Brief shows that greenhouse gas emissions in the UK are at their lowest level in more than 150 years, falling by 2.4% in 2025. Record lows in coal and gas use, with coal at its lowest since 1600 and gas since 1992, were key contributors to the emissions drop.
Source: Carbon Brief
In a world first, the Japanese health ministry has approved brain stem cell transplants for Parkinson’s disease sufferers after a Kyoto University trial showed the treatment safe and successful in reducing symptoms. Its promise long hampered by politics in the US, the therapy should start to reach patients in Japan in just months.
Source: France24
With resources in the US for homelessness shrinking under the Trump administration, cities and nonprofits are starting help desks to provide centralised, coordinated information. Getting informed help in navigating the complex network of social services has become especially important in a time of scarcity.
Source: Next City
Overuse of antibiotics leads to drug resistance, but in Rwanda, nurses in understaffed clinics don’t have time for full diagnostics. In a trial aimed at reversing this trend, digital tablets giving diagnostic support cut antibiotic prescriptions by more than half without adverse effects.
Source: NPR
In Washington State’s Cascade Mountains, scientists found that thinning forests allows more snow to reach the ground rather than the canopy, meaning less evaporation and millions more gallons of water for hydration. Forests managed this way could both prevent devastating wildfires and provide more undergrowth for grazing animals like deer.
Source: Grist
Tours where art can speak to all the senses are making Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum accessible to visitors with disabilities. The blind, visually impaired, and others can listen to evocative soundtracks, trace the texture of paintings and even smell sents related to them.
Source: DW
