As the frequency of tropical storms and flooding increases, there is an increasing concern that these will damage Hawaii’s beautiful coral reefs.  The US based conservation group, the Nature Conservancy has taken out a $2 million insurance policy for these reefs.  

The policy itself costs the Nature Conservancy a $110,000 premium to cover most of the Hawaiian Islands, from the Big Island to Kauai, until the end of 2023.  It is designed to insure against severe storms, and it will be possible to claim from it when winds reach 50 knots, with higher wind speeds spurring bigger payouts.

Over 6,500 residents in a small village in India are now fully supplied by renewable solar energy. India is the third largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world and plans to meet half of their total energy requirements with renewable energy by 2030. Whilst there is still a long way to go, this village is an amazing sign in the potential of solar energy.  The government also buys back any unused energy giving more money back to the people.

 Bison were recently reintroduced to the wild in Canterbury woods as part of a wilding initiative between Kent Wildlife Trust and Wildwood Trust, to help fight the climate and biodiversity crises.  After being close to extinction in the 1930s, this will drastically help both the natural biodiversity of the woodlands as well as the bison species themselves. 

Over 2.5 billion kilograms of pesticides are used every year across the world. The pesticides are used to kill pests and protect crops.  However, they also have an adverse effect on natural wildlife such as bees. Bees are extremely vital to our planet’s ecosystem, and the pesticides contain dangerous chemicals that can badly damage a bee’s nervous system and prevent them from pollinating flowers. As 80% of the world’s wild flowers are pollinated by bees and a third of the food production depends on them we have to protect them. New research suggests that ants could be a natural pesticide and have a hihger efficiency than the common pesticide. They are inexpensive as well as helping to protect crops from pests and aerate the soil and increase oxygen intake. 

Surgeons at a West Midlands hospital in the uk performed the first carbon neutral surgery which demostrates a hope for sustainable medical practices in the future of health care. The NHS makes up approximately 6% of the UK’s carbon emissions which shows the importance of this operation. The operation was 5 hours and the surgeons offset their carbon footprint through travelling sustainably, using LED lighting and much more.