Nature and Environment
Fires broke out on Saddleworth Moor, West Yorkshire, after the hottest winter day on record. Temperatures hit 21.2 degrees celsius in Kew Gardens, south-west London. The West Yorkshire fire and rescue service said it had up to 40 firefighters fighting the blaze on Tuesday night as an area of around 1.5 square kilometres was burning.
Two rare radiated tortoises hatched at Chester Zoo are the first of their kind in seven years. The golf-ball-sized cuties are from a species that has been pushed to the edge of extinction in their home environment of Madagascar, with hunting, poaching and trading reducing their numbers by 30 million in 30 years. Their mum, 50-year-old Smoothsides, laid the eggs last October.
Shorts weather is short-lived.
It follows a spell of dramatic weather conditions.
High speed winds are causing chaos in northern New York State and southern Ontario, with the winds pushing a wave of ice over the banks of the Niagara river. Ice mounds 25 to 30 feet high are also piling up on lakefronts. Hundreds of thousands of homes, schools and businesses were left without power as the extreme weather knocked over power poles and trees.
The Met Office have forecast a potentially record-breaking final week of February, with temperatures hitting the mid-teens across the country. But don't get too used the sunshine,the unseasonably warm weather is not likely to last long. By Thursday, it’s expected to return to normal for the time of year.
More than three quarters of rubbish was plastic.
Air pollution is a major public health risk, ranking alongside cancer, heart disease and obesity. Millions of premature deaths are linked to air pollution each year, up to 36,000 of those early deaths are in the UK. Here are some small changes you can make to help reduce your exposure to air pollution.
Students went on strike from school to march on Westminster and across the UK, demanding more action from politicians to tackle climate change. The protest was inspired by other similar demonstrations around the world and forms part of the School Strike 4 Climate movement started by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Students across the world are walking out of school on Fridays to protest inaction over climate change. Many are inspired by Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist who held the first school strike for climate outside the Swedish parliament. Thunberg is becoming known for her direct and clear manner, pointing to political maneuvering and economic growth as reasons that leaders are unwilling to take action to get climate change under control. She said to a room of world leaders at the Cop24 Climate Conference, “You are not mature enough to tell it like is. Even that burden you leave to us children. But I don't care about being popular. I care about climate justice and the living planet.”