Photo: Yux Xiang / Unsplash (CC0)
In Squirrel News today, a fishing ban on the world’s third-largest river pays off with rapid recovery in biodiversity and fish stocks, the transfer of plastic waste from rich countries to poor has seen a dramatic drop in recent years, and cellulose fibres recovered from horse dung present an alternative for plastic packaging while reducing manure waste.
The Yangtze River in China, in ecological decline for 70 years, is showing signs of recovery thanks to a sweeping fishing ban that has included finding alternate employment for fishermen. One veteran biologist calls it the most positive freshwater conservation story in the world of the last 20 years.
Source: The Guardian
Environmentalists have long expressed concern with the global trade in plastic waste that has allowed wealthier countries to pass on a plastic problem to countries with less waste regulation. The trade began to drop in 2018 when China banned waste importation, and now the trade is mainly between wealthy countries with strong regulations.
Source: Our World in Data
For the same cost, the EU could potentially substitute geothermal energy for almost half of its fossil fuel energy, according to a report from energy think tank Ember. New technology has made accessing geothermal energy viable over wider areas, and home and water heating – the majority of household energy use – can rely on shallower drilling.
Source: Grist
Seattle’s smaller multi-apartment houses with a single staircase built on limited-space lots have become a model for other US cities seeking a solution to housing shortages. Known as the ‘Seattle Special’, it has demonstrated success at balancing fire safety, residents’ concerns over high-rises and the huge need for more housing.
Source: Next City
A new study commissioned has found that the non-Orthodox US rabbinate, while still majority male, has a sizable number of women and increased numbers of people of colour, LGBTQ+ people, and rabbis from interfaith households. In non-Orthodox rabbinical schools, women are now the majority.
Source: AP
Many city residents are facing eviction due to lost income during the federal immigration crackdown. Minneapolis’ city council has now voted to put $1 million towards one-time rental assistance payments to low-income households who have received an eviction notice.
Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Ferromobiles’ are intended to provide low-cost transportation to rural areas underserved by public transport. They are designed to run on rails, and on roads, utilising 5,700 kilometres of abandoned secondary railroad tracks.
Source: Railway Pro
A team of scientists at University College London have developed a process to extract cellulose fibres from horse droppings for use as a sustainable plastic alternative. The procedure is also promising because of its potential to address the huge and growing problem of farm animal waste disposal.
Source: Reuters
Once a crop that supported and fed Kashmiri farmers, lotus growing had almost disappeared due to climate changes and pollution. Now farmers are using traditional by-hand, non-chemical methods to successfully bring back lotus in former growing areas and to work with water level changes to grow it in new places.
Source: Reasons to be Cheerful
Once a whites-only enclave, the grand McMillan Memorial library is one of three in the Kenyan capital that have been transformed for the community.
Source: The Guardian
