The world’s first ‘vertical forest’ turns 10-years-old this year 🌳
#EuronewsGreen 📹 by @mario___dangelo
Completed in 2014, Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) converts an average of 20,000 kg of carbon each year, while reducing noise pollution from the street-level traffic below.
10 years on, this eco-skyscraper has been a true success story in green architecture, and has inspired greener architecture projects around the world.
Located in Milan, Bosco Verticale - a pair of residential towers situated in the heart of the Porta Nuova district - is home to over 21,000 trees, shrubs and perennial plants.
The two high-rises are entirely self-sufficient, using renewable energy from solar panels and filtered waste water to sustain the buildings' plant life.
Follow @euronewsgreen
Natural solution: why nature is our best water manager to tackle climate change
Making room for rivers, restoring wetlands, and regreening our cities… 🏞️🌾🌳
Could these nature-based solutions hold the key to better water management? 💧
Watch our Crash Course to find out 👉 t.ly/5z3V0
#WaterMatters w/ EU Environment
#WaterWiseEU
Ukraine struggles with extreme heat and power outages.
Russian missile attacks have destroyed much of the country's electricity generation capacity, preventing the use of air conditioners.
"We drink more water and go out more because our apartments are much hotter. We want to be outside, in nature," says Halyna Vyaltseva, a resident of Chernivtsi.
She is among those who spend the hot days in the city's parks.
"I think this is not the biggest problem for us now, and we will survive it. We enjoy what we have," says Svitlana, a displaced person from Kyiv.
Can you name the largest shark species in our oceans? 🦈
#EuronewsGreen 📹 by @maalu_i
Here’s a hint: Less scary than you might think, the largest shark species are gentle giants.
Classified as endangered by the IUCN, these beautiful creatures are mostly threatened by industrial fishing and marine pollution.
The 2010 BP oil spill had a devastating effect on the large population that called the Gulf of Mexico home.
Unlike most sharks, they are filter feeders, and can process more than 6,000 litres of water an hour through their gills.
ANSWER: Whale shark (Rhincodon typus)
Follow @euronewsgreen
Stemming the rising plastic tide: the teams competing to clean up Hungary’s rivers
Can we free our rivers of plastic pollution? 🏞️
“It's not rocket science, it’s just very logical legislation and then action,” says the head of Hungary’s Plastic Cup competition. 🛶 🏆
Watch more 👉 bit.ly/3xOPztf
#WaterMatters w/ EU Environment
#WaterWiseEU
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has followed through on her promise to take a swim in the Seine 👀
The river is set to host Olympic swimming events this summer, but there have been concerns about the safety of doing so. Recent tests have found unsafe levels of bacteria on certain days in the river. This has put question marks on whether it will be able to host Olympic athletes.
Paris Olympic organisers have said that if heavy rain affects the Seine's flow during the Games, the triathlon would no longer feature the swimming portion - and the marathon swimming competition would be relocated to the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in the greater Paris region.
Experts say it’s hard to predict if the events in the Seine will go ahead or not right now.
To clean up the river, Paris invested €1.4 billion in building infrastructure to catch more stormwater when it rains - the same water that contains bacteria-laden wastewater that enters the river during periods of heavy rain and makes it unsafe to swim in.
In May, Paris officials inaugurated a giant underground water storage basin next to the Austerlitz train station aimed at collecting excess rainwater and stopping wastewater from entering the Seine. The basin can hold the equivalent of 20 Olympic swimming pools of dirty water that will now be treated and is the centrepiece of major infrastructure improvements that the city has rushed to finish in time for the Games, but to also ensure that Parisians have a cleaner Seine in years to come.
Would you fancy swimming in the Seine? 👀
French sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra took a symbolic dip in the famous river on Saturday in a bid to ease concerns about water quality before the start of the Paris Olympics.
Oudéa-Castéra, dressed in a body suit, dove into the famous river after an initial slip and swam a few metres near the Alexandre III bridge, where the Olympic open water swimming competition will be held.
“We held our promise,” she said to BFMTV, referring to an earlier pledge to swim in the Seine before the Games begin on July 26.
She was accompanied by Alexis Hanquinquant, the Paralympic flag bearer for France.
Ever since swimming in the Seine was banned in 1923 due to pollution levels, French politicians have promised to make the river swimmable again. Former Paris mayor and later president Jacques Chirac famously vowed in 1988 that the river would be clean enough to swim in by the end of his term, a promise that went unfulfilled.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also plans to swim in the Seine on Wednesday to prove its cleanliness.
In February, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to take a dip, too. But he added: “I’m not going to give you the date: There’s a risk you’ll be there."
Hanquinquant, a para-triathlete, joined Oudéa-Castéra in Saturday's swim, experiencing first-hand the conditions he will face in competition on the 1 September.
Despite a €1.4 billion clean-up plan, concerns remain over the river's suitability for swimming events.
Late last month into July, unsafe levels of E.coli were found in the river for a third successive week.
This caterpillar has evolved to hide in plain sight 🐛
#EuronewsGreen 📹 by @_.inhale._exhale_person.xo
After hatching, the common Baron caterpillar emerges equipped with small branches extending from its body that help it to blend into its surroundings.
Moving from leaf to branch in search of food in the mango and cashew trees, its plant-like texture lends itself perfect camouflage when it crawls over stems of veined leaves.
Follow @euronewsgreen
Are marine heatwaves killing our oceans?
Did you know that our oceans are also affected by heatwaves? 🌡️
"Heat stress impacts everything in the ocean, just like it impacts everything on land," explains Samantha Burgess from Copernicus. 🌊
👉 Find out more on the Ocean Calls podcast:
🎧 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3JREjzD
🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3Xg9Uhq
🎧 Deezer: https://bit.ly/3JT9bjo
🎧 Castbox: https://bit.ly/3I81LYb
#OceanCalls w/ EU Maritime & Fish
Dozens of dead whales were found stranded on a beach in Orkney Islands on Thursday.
British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) received a report on Thursday morning of a mass stranding of up to 100 long-finned pilot whales on the Scottish Island of Sanday.
Of the 77 beached whales, only 12 were reported to have survived, after medics around Scotland were mobilised to offer support.
Thursday's mass stranding follows a similar incident in July 2023 on the Isle of Lewis, where 55 pilot whales were found stranded and only one survived.
Molly Brown of BDMLR, said that the cause of the stranding was unknown, but whales are sociable and may have followed after one became stranded.
"We have 77 animals stranded and only 12 are alive at the moment, the tide is on its way in. The whales are hopefully going to be refloated on the tide," Brown said.
Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme have planned to begin post-mortem investigations.
Animals at Prague Zoo were given ice by the tonne on Wednesday to provide much-needed relief from the summer heat.
The initiative is a response by the zookeepers to help the animals keep cool in the hot temperatures.
The ice was strategically placed around the zoo, creating cool spots where animals could find refuge from the heat.
Penguins, polar bears and other animals accustomed to cooler climates will particularly benefit from the scheme.
Zoo officials said ice will be distributed throughout the summer to help the animals keep cool.
Our water footprint: understanding Europe’s hidden water use
From food to cars and clothes, many products we use have a huge water footprint. 💧👣
For instance, more than 17,000 litres are used to produce just 1kg of chocolate. 🍫
Watch our crash course to learn more 👉 bit.ly/3S17JyR
#WaterMatters w/ EU Environment
#WaterWiseEU
Beat them or eat them: What should we do about invasive species in the ocean?
Do you remember the very first time you saw the ocean? 🌊
Amjad Almatni, a young Syrian activist, shares with us the magic of experiencing this breathtaking moment for the first time. ✨
👉 Find out more on the Ocean Calls podcast:
🎧 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3JREjzD
🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3Xg9Uhq
🎧 Deezer: https://bit.ly/3JT9bjo
🎧 Castbox: https://bit.ly/3I81LYb
#OceanCalls w/ EU Maritime & Fish
After 14 years as Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte cycled off into the sunset this week.
Well until October when he will take up his new post as NATO chief.
He shook hands with his successor Dick Schoof on Tuesday in the Hague before unlocking his bike and cycling away in classic Dutch style.
Schoof was formally installed alongside fifteen other ministers who make up the country’s right-wing coalition.
The anti-immigration party of firebrand Geert Wilders took the largest share of seats in elections last year.
It has taken 223 day for the four parties - Wilders’ anti-Islam Party for Freedom, outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s centre-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, the populist Farmer Citizen Movement and the centrist New Social Contract party - to form a government.
The formal agreement, titled “Hope, courage and pride,” introduces strict measures on asylum seekers, scraps family reunification for refugees, seeks to reduce the number of international students studying in the country and scale back the country’s climate ambitions.
Opposition from other coalition partners prevented the controversial Wilders from taking the helm.
So, for the first time since World War II, the Netherlands is now led by a prime minister who is not aligned with a political party.
Before serving as chief of the country’s top intelligence agency, Schoof was the former counterterror chief in the Netherlands and ex-head of the country’s Immigration and Naturalisation Service.
Protecting Europe’s waterways: the polluted Spanish lagoon that’s fighting back in court
“Everybody is Mar Menor.”
Europe’s biggest saltwater lagoon in Spain has the legal status of a person. 🌊
Which means it can defend itself against pollution and other threats.
Watch more 👉 bit.ly/3RRfMhj
#WaterMatters w/ EU Environment
#WaterWiseEU
Floods, thunderstorms and landslides hit northern Italy over the weekend.
Firefighters said on Sunday they carried out about 80 rescue operations, evacuating dozens of people in Piedmont.
Between Montanaro in Turin and San Benigno Canavese, two adults and a 3-month-old baby girl were rescued after being stuck in their car due to the rising waters of the Orco torrent, firefighters said.
According to civil defence, several villages were isolated due to the overflowing of rivers, storms and landslides in Val d'Aosta.
Meanwhile, storms in southern Switzerland caused a landslide that left two people dead and one missing, and a bridge over a small river collapsed, police said Sunday.
Scientific observers work with fishers shaping future of Malta's marine ecosystem
Fishing regulations may be crafted in distant offices, but the knowledge they rely on starts at sea with scientific observers. 🔬
Discover how they help preserve our marine ecosystem. 🌊
Watch the full report 👉 bit.ly/3XHra34
#Ocean w/ EU Maritime & Fish
