Bundle of positive news snippets to get the weekend off to a bright start.
Major UK retailers Morrisons, Waitrose and John Lewis have said they won't be using glitter in own-brand Christmas products this year. The tiny pieces of plastic can wash into the environment, harm wildlife, and get into the food chain. The move is part of a wider push by retailers to try to reduce festive plastics pollution.
Underground Farms: Using LEDs, hydroponics, data analytics and 100 per cent renewable energy, the 65,000sqm farm (33m below the ground in south London) has been delivering fresh produce to hundreds of restaurants and supermarkets since 2015. And is now set to expand.
Electric vehicles made up 8 percent of car sales in Europe in the first half of 2020, putting them on track to triple their market share this year.
Godwit Breaks Record for Non-Stop Bird Flight: Incredible flight from Alaska to New Zealand, almost entirely over water.
Sweet Relief: honey ‘more effective’ than over-the-counter medicines for colds and coughs, says the British Medical Journal.
Robert Redford's Big Question: It's a sad indictment of America today but the good news is that Redford, and other celebrities, are standing up and saying what they think - and absolutely need to say.
Solar output is expected to lead a surge in renewable power supply in the next decade, the International Energy Agency says, with renewables seen accounting for 80% of growth in global electricity generation under current conditions. The combined share of solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind in global generation will rise to almost 30% in 2030 from 8% in 2019, with solar PV capacity growing by an average 12% a year.
Zero-Waste Shops: Removing throw-away packaging from the shopping equation is a much better strategy than recycling. It's part of the 'reuse revolution'.
Chemists from the Oxford University have found a way to convert plastic bottles, bags, and other day-to-day plastic packaging into a clean source of hydrogen. This hydrogen is then reusable as a clean fuel. This new approach is faster than pre-existing methods and requires less energy to do so.
The slow loris is the least protected and most poorly understood of the primates, which is especially problematic considering their numbers are dwindling across southern and south-east Asia. But thanks to a pioneering project in Java, there’s hope for these fascinating pint-sized, nocturnal, largely solitary creatures, as conservationists are building a network of suspended bridges in the forests to help them survive.