Happy Good News!!

Wildcats could be released in England for first time in hundreds of years &?AI-Generated Images Show What Climate Change Will Do To Our Cities by the Year 2100

Happy Monday, Earthfriend!???

Enjoy the recent news happening all around the world!?

Wildcats could be released in England for first time in hundreds of years

After being hunted to extinction, the European wildcat is now the UK’s rarest native mammal. They are larger than the domestic cat, which are bred from the wildcats of Africa. After the Vincent Wildlife Trust found the brambly woodland of Devon and Cornwall the most suitable place for the fluffy predators to be released, the local Wildlife Trust has begun taking steps in earnest to see if they can reintroduce them.

The charity is hiring a wildcat officer, who will be tasked with finding out whether releasing the mammals is feasible. Once widespread across the UK, the cats are found only in the remote reaches of Scotland. This small population is judged no longer viable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN), with 30 wild animals showing a high degree of hybridization with domestic cats.

Peter Burgess, from the Devon Wildlife Trust, is partially responsible for the successful beaver trail on the River Otter,?which boasts a thriving wild population of the once locally extinct rodents. He is now looking at how wildcats could be reintroduced by the Wildlife Trust in Devon.

“Preliminary feasibility studies have shown that there is really strong potential for them in the south-west of England,” he told the Guardian.?“Now, we are bringing it to the next level, looking at any impact they would have on the ecosystem, and seeing if there is support in the local community.”

The cats would be released from a “stud book” of genetically strong wildcats, which could one day produce kittens to be released. This has been created by both zoos and private breeders. Some farmers are concerned wildcats could disturb their livestock or eat their sheep, but experts say this would not happen as wildcats like to hide and rarely take anything larger than a small rodent.

Derek Gow, a farmer turned rewilder based in Devon, is helping with the project and hopes it means wildcats could be back in the landscape by 2025

“I’d like to think we had free-living cats in England again by 2025.Once we?have the feasibility information we will look at how we produce cats which we can support in going out into the wilderness. It’s a relatively straightforward process. To be clear, everything will be done responsibly within the IUCN guidelines,”?Gow said.

If you want to learn more about these?Wildcats releases in England for the first time in hundreds of years,??please click?here.

AI-Generated Images Show What Climate Change Will Do To Our Cities by the Year 2100

Well, this is not good news as such, those images might convince even the last sceptics of the enormous threat climate change is to our lives everywhere in the world.?Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time. It is a global problem that requires immediate attention and action. In order to raise awareness about the issue,?Uswitch’s green energy team?has created images of world-famous destinations to reveal how they could look if we do not reach our Net Zero target by 2050.

Climate change will affect different parts of the world in different ways. Some regions will experience more extreme weather conditions, such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts. Others will see a rise in average temperatures, which can lead to heat waves and wildfires. The effects of climate change are already being felt by people all over the world, and the situation is only going to get worse if we don’t take action to reduce our carbon footprint.

Climate change will also impact tourism and the economy in different parts of the world. For example, countries that are dependent on winter tourism, such as Switzerland and Austria, will see a decline in visitors as snow becomes increasingly rare. This will have a ripple effect on the local economy, as businesses that depend on tourism will suffer. Similarly, rising sea levels will result in flooding in coastal areas, which will damage infrastructure and disrupt transportation. This will lead to increased costs and a decline in productivity.

Scientists have been warning us about the dangers of climate change for years, and yet we’ve done nothing to prevent it. It’s not too late, but we need to act now.

If you want to view more AI generated images, please click?here.

Wax worm saliva breaks down plastic bags, scientists discover

Enzymes that rapidly break down plastic bags have been discovered in the saliva of wax worms, which are moth larvae that infest beehives. The enzymes are the first reported to break down polyethylene within hours at room temperature and could lead to cost-effective ways of recycling the plastic.

The discovery came after one scientist?Federica Bertocchini, an amateur beekeeper, cleaned out an infested hive and found the larvae started eating holes in a plastic refuse bag. The researchers said the study showed insect saliva may be?“a depository of degrading enzymes which could revolutionize [the cleanup of polluting waste]”.?Polyethylene makes up 30% of all plastic production and is used in bags and other packaging that make up a significant part of worldwide plastic pollution. The only recycling at scale today uses mechanical processes and creates lower-value products.

'Plastics stay in the environment for a long time. It eventually breaks down into small particles, therefore becoming the source of micro and nano plastic particles. Wax worms are the larvae of wax moths, a species called Galleria mellonella. Considered pests by beekeepers, the caterpillars feed on beeswax, pollen and honey, occasionally also eating bee larvae.

The idea would be to produce the worms' saliva enzymes synthetically, which the researchers succeeded in doing, to break down plastic waste. Bertocchini said the use of billions of wax worms to do the job has drawbacks including generating carbon dioxide as they metabolize the polyethylene.

A handful of microorganisms were found to break down plastic but only slowing and requiring pre-treatment, complicating the practicality of harnessing it. Plastic consumption has soared worldwide over the past three decades, with hundreds of millions of tons annually ending up as waste and less than 10 percent of that being recycled.

If you want to know more about Wax worm saliva rapidly breaking down plastic bags, scientists discover, please click?here.