Welcome back!

It’s that time of the month again when we’re stretching the last of our money waiting for payday and are still trying to pin down our friends to Halloween plans despite it occurring on a Tuesday and so not super great for a party. I know there’s been a bit of eco-related worries due to the freaking heat wave we had this October, but how about we let those fears slide away for a few minutes? We have a recording of an Eco-Hope talk from the 26^th you can watch, we have this video of Dr Joe Galani talking about how to use up all your pumpkin leftovers, and we have this: monthly good news, the dedicated space to very good, very happy things that happened in the world this month.

So let’s put your worries way way way over there for a few minutes and get really excited about chicken feathers.

• Over 70% of consumers to shop more with greener retailers
• Over 100 business leaders call for new policies to accelerate net zero at Cop28
• New Look decreases their scope 3 emissions by 22%
• Podback coffee pod recycling scheme reaches over 1 million households in the UK
• Hotel Chocolat launches two new bars to raise funds for ‘gentle farming’
• Chicken feathers can replace ‘forever chemicals’ in renewable hydrogen fuel cells
• University of Birmingham team find safer way to recycle lithium batteries
• Sports retailer launches buyback scheme as part of its circular economy offering
• Transition to clean energy is ‘unstoppable’ says IEA
• EasyJet has installed new tech on all its aircraft that will save over 88,000 tonnes of CO2 each year
• The UK government is investing £200 million into zero emission truck fleet
• Queens University, Belfast, commits to achieving net zero by 2040
• EU bans glitter made from non-biodegradable and insoluble plastic
• A study claims that Tai Chi can curb Parkinson’s Disease symptoms for years
• Google launches a new tool to predict floods – that has already aided in early evacuations in Chile
• London Marathon operations aim to hit net zero by 2030
• World’s largest offshore windfarm powered up for the UK grid
• Vilnius, Lithuania, crowned Europe’s ‘green capital’
• California makes emissions transparency a legal obligation
• Male contraceptive receives a $4m boost from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Hull is set to allow a ‘right to grow’ scheme on unused council land to let people grow their own produce
• Somerset wetlands becomes England’s biggest super national natural reserve
• Wales bans snares and glue traps for hunting
• Libraries in the UK to become ‘warm hubs’ again this winter
• EU to crackdown further on microplastics after glitter ban
• California’s Delete Act has been signed by the state governor; the act will allow residents to request their personal data to be deleted by all data brokers in the state
• Redonda has come back to life after being an ecological disaster
• Cheaper, more effective malaria vaccine wins WHO approval
• 10,000 mature, native oysters were released into a newly created reef in the UK
• World’s first ‘green container ship’ docked in the UK this month, powered by food scraps and landfill
• US issues first ever fine – $150,000 – for space junk after a TV company left an old satellite orbiting Earth over 100 miles away from where they were supposed to retire it
• The living wage is set to go from £10.42 to over £11 in April, equating to an extra £1,000 a year for those on fulltime contracts

So, how are we feeling? Better? Excited about chicken feathers? Uninterested in reaching for those pesky worries? Great! Now go make a space in your diary for our Climate Café Nature Walk on November 2^nd and buy yourself a treat.

See you next month ✌️

By Bethany Climpson, Sustainability Engagement Assistant