Interesting Ideas

First we heard its call, then a large, plump bird materialised beneath a bush, walking purposefully towards us

Few things beat breakfast in the bush. We were in the Mallee forest near Lake Gilles, about five hours north-west of Adelaide, and more or less halfway across Australia.

But although I am famous for enjoying my food, I love birds even more. And so when my guide Steve Potter detected a repetitive whistling call in the distance, our coffee and cornflakes had to wait.

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.

Families turn to dirty fuels such as firewood, bringing fears over air pollution and fragility of energy transition

In the ramshackle lanes of a south Delhi slum, Afshana Khatoon crouched wearily on her haunches and began lighting a small pile of firewood.

She had only just returned from six hours spent trudging through the urban forests and dry parks of India’s capital looking for kindling to turn into a makeshift stove. As the unforgiving summer heat soared above 40C, she had walked for miles, piling the sticks and fallen branches into a bundle on her head while sweat ran down her face.

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.

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.

The other day at a retail store, a man who worked there was standing near the cash registers as I walked by. He was wearing plastic body armor so I asked him why — he said it was for his e-bike when he rides to and from work. With gas ... [continued]

The post 15,000 E-Bike Rebates Provided By Ava Community Energy appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Alsym Energy partners with Juniper to bring 500 MWh of sodium-ion energy storage systems to California and other states.

The post Alsym Partners With Juniper For 500 MWh Of Sodium-Ion Grid-Scale Battery Storage appeared first on CleanTechnica.

One of our readers, “trackdaze,” dropped some pretty crazy stats on our lap last week in response to my article about BYD’s April sales totals and trends. In addition to its sales in China, BYD exported 135,098 vehicles in April — all fully battery electric or plugin hybrid vehicles, of ... [continued]

The post BYD Exported More Vehicles In April Than Tesla Sold Worldwide* appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The German Ministry of Transport recently announced it will invest €1 billion to develop more commercial electric truck charging infrastructure in Germany. The funding will be spread out over four years. Electric vehicles have a distinct advantage over internal combustion engine vehicles. Their motors are much more energy efficient. Internal ... [continued]

The post €1 Billion To Be Invested In German Electric Truck Charging appeared first on CleanTechnica.

This article is a reply to a question my nephew, who works as an executive in one of Canada’s largest car dealerships. His question came after reading my first article on this series about Chinese EVs coming into Canada and right after vehicle release and shipment announcements from BYD and ... [continued]

The post Explainer: How The First 3 Chinese EV Makers Are Complying To Canadian Automobile Compliance Policies appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Court cases in Kenya point to a growing market for ants as exotic pets in Asia and Europe that has implications for conservation and biosecurity

In the biblical text Book of Proverbs, King Solomon describes the harvester ant as a model of wisdom and industriousness: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!”

Almost 3,000 years later, the thriving international parallel market for a distinct species of the ant native to east Africa has been thrust into the global spotlight after a series of convictions in Kenya for ant smuggling.

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.

Chinese companies like Jinko Solar are heading for the exits as US policy determinations make doing business in America unprofitable.

The post Chinese Companies Cancel Billions In US Investments appeared first on CleanTechnica.

We have written several times about Tesla’s massively missed targets for robotaxi rollout, including an article yesterday highlighting some of the problems making the service inadequate and low volume. However, a reader noted that there has been progress that we haven’t reported on. The reader, Ole Laursen, pointed us to ... [continued]

The post Tesla’s Unsupervised Robotaxi Count IS Growing appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The recent GeoExPro interview about Eavor’s next-generation geothermal Geretsried project lands less like an update and more like a stress test result. Eavor was one of the more serious next-generation geothermal companies I had assessed, but that was never the same thing as saying it had solved geothermal. It had ... [continued]

The post Eavor’s Geretsried Pivot Raises Hard Questions About Next Gen Closed-Loop Geothermal appeared first on CleanTechnica.

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.

In early February 2026, Florida experienced a rare and historic multi-day freeze — it broke cold weather records across the state. From the Everglades agricultural area to central and southern parts of the state, Florida farmers faced plummeting temperatures, crop damage, and significant operational challenges. The cold weather in February ... [continued]

The post Florida Farmers Struggle — And The Reasons Why Are Complex appeared first on CleanTechnica.

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.

After publishing on a wave energy proposal for offshore data centers, I received a useful challenge. A reader pointed to CorPower Ocean as a counterexample. That was worth taking seriously. CorPower is not a render-first startup selling a fantasy of floating artificial intelligence infrastructure in the deep Pacific. It has ... [continued]

The post Wave Energy’s Hardest Problem Is Not The Waves. It Is Maintenance. appeared first on CleanTechnica.