By Jerald Pinson, Phys.Org Scrub mints are among the most endangered plants you’ve probably never heard of. More than half of the 24 species currently known to exist are considered threatened or endangered at the state or federal level, and nearly all scrub mints grow in areas that are …
Spinning, whirling fish in south Florida prompt emergency response
By Maya Yang, The Guardian Smalltooth sawfish are behaving oddly, eliciting a first-ever plan to rescue and rehabilitate the species from the wild. The NOAA reports 28 smalltooth sawfish have died in the lower Florida Keys as of 24 March. Photograph: Jupiterimages/Getty Images The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is …
How an English castle became a stork magnet
By Sophie Hardach, BBC Knepp Estate White storks are breeding again in Britain, helped by a rewilding project (Credit: Knepp Estate) Helped by a bold rewilding project, storks are migrating between Britain and North Africa again for the first time in 600 years. How can we make their journey safer? …
‘You wouldn’t put your dog in this river’: Boat Race exposes Thames Water failings
By Robin McKie, The Guardian Participants in Oxford v Cambridge competition were warned to cover wounds due to risks from E coli-polluted waterway. On a bright, unexpectedly warm afternoon, it would have been easy to assume the crowds that gathered by the Thames yesterday for the 169th Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race …
This Technology May Tackle 2 Sustainability Challenges in One Fell Swoop
Sustainable Brands Anaerobic digestion offers a solution to two major challenges: food waste and transitioning to clean energy. We spoke with Shawn Kreloff, founder and CEO of Bioenergy Devco, to discuss the technology’s potential. As individuals, companies, and the government work to be more sustainable, food waste remains a challenge. …
How birdwatching’s biggest record threw its online community into chaos
By Kari Paul, The Guardian In late 2023, Peter Kaestner was about to log his 10,000th bird species seen in the wild. Then Jason Mann showed up. In late 2023, 70-year-old birder Peter Kaestner was within striking distance of a goal that had never been accomplished: seeing more than 10,000 …
Hellmann’s AI-Enabled Tool Reveals Your Fridge’s Meal Potential
By Sustainable Brands Meal Reveal, developed in collaboration with Google Cloud, uses simple fridge scan to help consumers overcome ‘fridge blindness’ and reduce household food waste. Hellmann’s has created a new AI-enabled tool called “Meal Reveal” to help households use up more of the food they have in their fridge with great-tasting …
We’re razing forests for palm oil plantations again
By Hans Nickolas Jong, Corporate Knights After a steady decline, palm oil-linked deforestation shot up for the second year in a row in Indonesia, especially in carbon rich areas. JAKARTA — Deforestation by the palm oil industry in Indonesia increased in 2023 for the second year in a row, bucking …
In search of wildflowers? This whimsical hotline will help you find the best
By Maanvi Singh, The Guardian For 41 years, the charming Theodore Payne Wild Flower Hotline has led people to California’s most bountiful blooms For Californians, it is a rite of spring to seek the yearly wildflower blooms that erupt across arid shrublands, hillsides and desert landscapes in kaleidoscopic colour. For …
Climate change is shifting the zones where plants grow – here’s what that could mean for your garden
By Matt Kasson, The Conversation With the arrival of spring in North America, many people are gravitating to the gardening and landscaping section of home improvement stores, where displays are overstocked with eye-catching seed packs and benches are filled with potted annuals and perennials. But some plants that once thrived in your …