Nature and Environment

The climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion started an international protest in London, blocking central areas such as Marble Arch, Oxford Circus and Waterloo bridge. The group is demanding that the government declare an ecological and climate emergency and take action to end climate change. At least three men were arrested for defacing the exterior of the oil company Shell’s offices.

Keeping track of orangutan populations is vital for their conservation, and researchers have new tech to help them. Thermal-imaging drones are being used in the Borneo forests to count the orangutan population there. The tech has been used to measure the luminosity of stars in the past, but now the drones are used to detect the heat coming from the great apes as they rest in their nests. Land clearing and poaching has left tens of thousands of wild orangutans dead, leaving the species critically-endangered.

Climate research carried out by the World Wildlife Fund has found that the UK's carbon dioxide emissions have contributed to a loss of sea ice the size of Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham combined. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that a continued increase in global temperatures will have devastating effects on animals and humans. The WWF is calling on the government to declare a climate emergency.

A video taken on a beach in Tenerife shows the shocking reality of plastic waste that pollutes our oceans and beaches. An estimated eight million pieces of plastic go into the ocean every day, adding to a current estimate of five trillions pieces of plastic floating in the ocean, most of which are smaller than five millimetres in length.