My four strange but true New Year green stories

With the New Year a few days away, now is a good time to look back at four of this year’s amazing but true green stories.

Ron Fox, of Noreus Ltd on the University of Keele Science Innovation Park, (www.noreus.co.uk), picks his favourite recent environmental tales.

1. Old railway lines should be renationalised and turned into footpaths and cycleways to give the public better access to green spaces and the glorious British countryside. That’s the view of the Liberal Democrats who have commissioned a study which showed that more than 8,400 miles of track could be put back into community ownership. Data collected by Sustrans, the charity that operates the National Cycle Network, suggested that 5,453 miles’ worth of public rights of way could be created in England and up to 8,472 miles across Britain. The scheme would seek to reuse much of the land affected by the Beeching cuts in 1963, when 2,363 railway stations and 5,000 miles of loss-making track were closed by the former chair of British Railways, Dr Richard Beeching. It also led to the loss of 67,000 British Rail jobs. “I think this is a very innovative idea which will be both good for the environment and for people’s health,” said Ron.
2. The increasing pollution in the world’s oceans is having a bad effect on sharks – the acid is taking a bite out of their teeth. A team of German scientists at Heinrich University Düsseldorf has found that carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by cars, power stations and factories is corroding the dermal denticles that cover the sharks’ bodies. Their research has found corrosion and small holes in the roots and crowns of these tiny, tooth-like scales that are structurally similar to teeth and are used for cutting flesh. Experts have discovered that the seas are about 30 per cent more acidic than they were before the industrial revolution. They have already raised the alarm about how the acidifications of the oceans are hampering coral reefs, sea urchins and other small marine organisms that rely on calcium carbonate to build their shells. Now the German team has found that falling pH levels, which is a measure of how acidic or alkaline a solution is, are affecting sharks’ teeth. Sharks are already facing pressure from overfishing and pollution. More research is being done to see if nature may be able to repair the damaged teeth of living sharks.
3. A Swiss pilot, who has flown his solar energy aircraft over the Alps, is claiming a world altitude record for a manned electric flight. Rafael Domjan reached 9, 521 metres aboard his propeller-driven experimental SolarStratos aircraft in his five- hour-and-nine-minute flight. The record, which is yet to be confirmed, overtook the previous 9,235 metre record set in 2010 by a Solar Impulse, a giant solar energy plane developed by Swiss solar aviation pioneers Andrew Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard. Domjan, aged 53, has been developing the SolarStratos to prove that clean technologies can not only equal but surpass the potential of fossil fuels. He eventually aims to take the two-seater aircraft, which has a 25-metre wingspan covered in solar cells, into the stratosphere. Progress towards clean, electric-powered flight has been slower than forecast because, despite technological advances, lithium batteries remain too heavy to supply energy for more than a short flight.
4. The Pope is a solar panel ‘action hero’ says the actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. He said as soon as he became Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV ordered the Vatican to put solar panels on top of the building. Schwarzenegger, who as governor of California oversaw the introduction of green policies in the American state, was commenting at an environmental conference in the Papal summer residence. The actor said the Vatican would soon be one of the first states to be carbon neutral. Thanking him for his remarks, Pope Leo called on Catholics to undergo an ecological conversion that transforms both personal and communal lifestyle.

Ron added: “If you want any green energy advice, call me on 0845 474 6641 or contact us here. In the meantime, have a happy New Year.”

Caption: On the right lines – Ideas to turn disused railway tracks into footpaths and cycleways. Picture: John Butterworth