Conservation

Paris to Make Seine Swimmable Again After a Century

Paris to Make Seine Swimmable Again After a Century

Paris is referred to as the City of Light and the City of Love, and, until 1923, it was also a city of swimming. That year, swimming was banned in the Seine due to excess sewage being drained into the river following heavy rainfall, rendering the iconic river unsafe. An exception to the ban was […]

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    EU Backs First Major Nature Restoration Law in 30 Years

    EU Backs First Major Nature Restoration Law in 30 Years

    Following a tense debate, the European Parliament has voted in favor of a Nature Restoration Law that establishes legally binding targets to restore degraded natural areas in the European Union (EU). It is the first major piece of legislation to protect biodiversity in the EU in 30 years. Members of Parliament (MEPs) said the restoration […]

    Beavers to Be Reintroduced to English Wetlands After 400 Years

    Beavers to Be Reintroduced to English Wetlands After 400 Years

    Native to England, Wales and Scotland, the Eurasian beaver was hunted to extinction in the 16th century, according to The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. But they have been slowly returning to England and conservationists say they are now being reintroduced to the Nene Wetlands nature reserve in Northamptonshire, England, for the first […]

    Electric Buses Are Coming to Grand Canyon National Park

    Electric Buses Are Coming to Grand Canyon National Park

    The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has designated $27.5 million toward replacing buses at Grand Canyon National Park. The Grand Canyon National Park Shuttle Bus Fleet Replacement will add 10 new electric buses along with 20 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses. According to the National Park Service, about 6 million people visit […]

    ‘A Geography of Arks’: Extending Park Networks Across 1% of Earth Could Save More Than 1,000 at-Risk Species

    ‘A Geography of Arks’: Extending Park Networks Across 1% of Earth Could Save More Than 1,000 at-Risk Species

    A new study by scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS), Durham University and Princeton University asserts that bolstering the protections of current conservation areas is as important for keeping biodiversity intact as establishing new protected areas, a press release from Durham University said. The researchers found that, of the approximately 5,000 species studied, […]

    Low-Water Landscape and Garden Designs for Water-Wise Yards

    Low-Water Landscape and Garden Designs for Water-Wise Yards

    Since the beginning of the 21st century, the western United States has been experiencing some of the driest conditions on record, and according to the UN, more than 75% of the world could be facing drought conditions by 2050. Bottom line: as climate change continues to cause water stress, we need to find ways to […]

    Amazon Deforestation Drops 33% in Lula’s First Six Months

    Amazon Deforestation Drops 33% in Lula’s First Six Months

    From January to June of this year — the first six months of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s presidential term — deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon has fallen 33.6 percent, new government satellite data shows, as The Associated Press reported. Lula’s stricter environmental rules led to 1,023 square miles of cleared rainforest during that time frame, […]

    Plastic-Eating Fungi Thriving in Human-Made ‘Plastisphere’ May Help Tackle Waste Globally

    Plastic-Eating Fungi Thriving in Human-Made ‘Plastisphere’ May Help Tackle Waste Globally

    A diverse microbiome of bacteria and plastic-degrading fungi lives in salt marshes on the coast of Jiangsu, China. It was identified by an international team of scientists who counted 55 bacterial and 184 fungal strains that are able to break down a biodegradable polyester called polycaprolactone (PCL), often used in polyurethane production, a press release […]