Interesting Ideas

King Arthur is said to have transformed into a chough when he died, its red feet and beak representing his bloody end

Decades after disappearing from the jagged cliffs around Tintagel Castle on the coast of north Cornwall, a bird with legendary connections to the area has returned.

The custodian of Tintagel, English Heritage, and local ornithologists have declared that choughs – charismatic corvids with red beaks and feet – are back.

Yes, after I publish this, we’re going to get people jumping into the comments and complaining about us praising or promoting Chinese automakers and the Chinese government. But this is just about reality. The world is changing, fast, and in the auto world, things look set for some massive transitions. ... [continued]

The post Chinese Automakers Are Going To Take Over The World appeared first on CleanTechnica.

It’s hard to keep track of what’s going on in the US electric vehicle market. Several automakers have stopped producing EVs or pulled EV models off the market, while others are in a kind of limbo state. The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is one of those models that has been in ... [continued]

The post The Volkswagen ID. Buzz Is NOT Dead In The US appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Woodland Trust also finds significant north-south divide in tree cover, leaving many people at risk of poor health

Nigel Farage’s constituency of Clacton-on-Sea is a “tree desert”, leaving people more exposed to air pollution, poorer health, lower life expectancy and the impact of rising temperatures, according to a new report.

The Essex town is rated the worst-performing for equal access to trees in England, with the highest proportion of urban residents – 98.2% – living in neighbourhoods with critically low access to trees.

If resolution is passed, governments will recognisetheir legal responsibility to cut greenhouse gas emissions

The UN’s willingness to tackle the climate crisis in a fair and legal way will be tested next week during a critical vote of the UN general assembly in New York.

Every member state is being asked to back a series of landmark findings on climate justice from the international court of justice (ICJ) as part of a new political resolution. If passed, it will mean governments recognise they have a legal responsibility to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, including tackling fossil fuels.

Scientists are focusing on improving apples’ resilience after stressors like wild temperature swings and drought

Terence Robinson still remembers the Valentine’s Day Massacre – of 2015, not 1929.

For the Cornell University horticulture professor, the term doesn’t conjure up Tommy guns and Al Capone’s Chicago. Instead of a gangster, the culprit in Robinson’s massacre was the weather. And its victims were the apple orchards of the north-eastern United States.

I wrote an article yesterday after a real-world situation hit sort of hard after years of writing about, owning, and advocating for electric vehicles. Even when you see issues from a distance and cover them full time, things just hit a bit different when you experience them offline. But then ... [continued]

The post A Hyundai IONIQ 5 Is Much Larger Than A Hyundai Santa Fe From 2001 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Greenpeace finds cocktail of pesticides including seven banned in EU may have been used on seven categories of vegetables and soft fruit

It is a beautiful early summer Sunday afternoon and you have stopped for a pub lunch. A waiter sets down a roast served with carrots, peas, parsnips, potatoes and onion gravy, and then for pudding, strawberries and cream. It feels like the perfect rustic meal to accompany a day in the country.

However, a report by Greenpeace, published on Thursday, has found that the ingredients of the traditional Sunday roast have potentially been treated with a cocktail of more than 100 pesticides. Data from the Fera pesticide usage survey for 2024, showed 102 – including seven banned in the EU – were used on seven vegetable and soft fruit categories.

A warm spell mitigated some of the effects of the strike but colder weather would have taken their own toll

May 1926 is remembered in Britain for the general strike, when the TUC called out millions of workers in support of miners who had been locked out while fighting a pay cut.

The strike, which lasted from 3 May to 12 May, took place during a spell of relatively mild weather with little rain. Transport was disrupted but fine conditions allowed many people to walk or cycle to work. There was a shortage of coal but this was mitigated because there was less need for heating. The TUC, fearing legal action and doubting the strike could be sustained, called it off after nine days.

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed rolling back protections that stop coal-fired power plants from dumping toxic wastewater—including arsenic, mercury, selenium, and lead—from coal ash waste landfills into U.S. waterways. In September 2025, Donald Trump’s EPA gave coal plant companies a pass by delaying enforcement of long-overdue wastewater protections from coal ... [continued]

The post EPA to Allow More Coal Plants Off the Hook for Toxic Waste Dumped in U.S. Waterways appeared first on CleanTechnica.

When the birds started nesting on her land at Useless Bay, Chile, Cecilia Durán Gafo decided she would protect them from people and predators

Five pairs of rubbery feet carry velvet-sheathed black-and-white bodies towards the rope line separating the king penguins from the dozen or so visitors, who look on in awe. As these emissaries shuffle over, a hundred of their cohorts parade on a nearby bank, splashing around in the water and regurgitating food into their chicks’ open beaks.

The king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) makes its home almost exclusively on islands in the Southern Ocean. But it has been coming to this wind-battered bay in southern Chile’s Tierra del Fuego region for hundreds of years, probably because its shallow shores offer protection from marine predators and humans.

Washington, DC — Today, Rep. Rosa DeLauro introduced the Fair Trade for Working Families Resolution, a bill that would ensure U.S. trade policy boosts domestic manufacturing, protects safe, family-supporting jobs, and reduces pollution at home and abroad. The resolution calls for robust environmental standards in trade agreements, strong enforcement mechanisms, ... [continued]

The post Sierra Club Applauds Introduction of Fair Trade for Working Families Resolution appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The Texas Transportation Commission recently authorized Phase II of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program to proceed with approximately $250 million in funding for more public EV chargers in Texas. Phase I provided $53 million in federal funding for 65 electric vehicle charging sites and 15 of them have ... [continued]

The post 588 Or More New Public EV Chargers Coming To Texas appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Transaera is using Nobel prize winning technology to manufacture commercial rooftop heating and cooling equipment that dehumidifies.

The post The Rise In Demand For Cooling Sparks Interest In More Energy Efficient Air Conditioners appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Civil society and industry are calling for a bold binding framework that delivers a fossil fuel exit. Dear President von der Leyen, Dear President Costa, Dear President Metsola, Europe faces an increasingly volatile geopolitical landscape. Russia’s war against Ukraine and rising tensions in the Middle East have exposed the risks ... [continued]

The post Energy Security & Affordability in a New Geopolitical Era: A Future-Proof Post-2030 EU Energy Framework appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Maxey Cut, Cambridgeshire: There’s so much precious wildlife around this old flood-relief channel, including sea trout and eels. But I’ve come to hear the purr of the turtle dove

The morning air is moist and utterly still. Above the flood bank, dappled grey cirrocumulus parts to a clear blue. Birds sound from every side: the cuckoo’s insistent call over a chorus of warblers – the sedge warbler’s machine-gun rattle, the willow warbler’s falling cadence, and, piercing them all, the explosive eruptions of a Cetti’s warbler buried deep in cover.

But it is the turtle dove that I have come to hear: that low, tender purring, almost lost in the greater chorus. When it comes, my heart lifts. I find a lone bird on a telegraph wire, one of its favoured perches. Through the binoculars, I make out a pink-grey breast, a neat black-and-white collar, and rust‑red feathers on the back, each one finely marked with black.

ATLANTA — Today, the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy submitted their post-hearing brief in Georgia Power’s 2026 Fuel Cost Recovery docket, detailing how the company seeks to escape any responsibility for rising energy costs and avoid making any adaptations to relieve the ... [continued]

The post Georgia Power Must Share Burden of Fuel Cost With Ratepayers appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Ever fancied creating your own enormous effigy? One Cornish art collective has reinvigorated the practice – and now they want to draw on the public’s skills, too

This New Year’s Eve, environmentalist and author Lisa Schneidau did something she had never done before. She welcomed in 2026 with giants. “At a certain time of the evening, they started appearing from all over the town. Then everyone flooded out of their houses and congregated into a massive procession of giants and lights and drums and music. It was absolutely extraordinary.”

Schneidau’s fairytale experience happened in Lostwithiel, the Cornish home town of the art collective The Lost Giants (TLG), a group of craftspeople and artists reviving the British tradition of making giants and beasties and goliaths. The giants she celebrated with were made of wooden frames and cloth, papier-mache and card, but were full of life.

To apply for a giant, go to The Lost Giants website

T&E’s reaction to the EU Passenger Package. From 2027, rail travellers missing a connection due to a delay will automatically be able to jump on the next train, according to new EU rules proposed today. They will also have food and accommodation paid for if they miss the last train. ... [continued]

The post EU Plans to Boost Rail Passenger Rights but Proposals Will Not Deliver a Huge Increase in International Train Travel appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Pioneering environmentalist Charles Waterton enclosed his parkland and lake near Wakefield in the 1820s

Over four years in the 1820s, Charles Waterton built a 9ft-high, 3-mile-long wall around the parkland and lake of Walton Hall. The fox- and poacher-proof boundary enclosed what could be the world’s first nature reserve, completed in Yorkshire 200 years ago.

Waterton, an eccentric, controversial and pioneering environmentalist, built nest boxes, special banks for sand martins and innovative bird hides, and offered local people sixpence for every hedgehog they brought into his reserve.