The clocks have gone forward, and we can all feel the benefits of more daylight. Our vulnerable members of society have been vaccinated against Covid-19, and this month – finally – we can meet up with friends and family again.
I don’ t know if it’s because spring is in the air, but I’ve been craving good news recently. Each time I read something positive that’s happening somewhere in the world, my heart gives a little leap. We all need those glimmers in the dark, to give us hope that things are getting better. Here, I offer my fellow Keynsham residents just a few of those rays of hope.
The common crane hasn’t lived or bred in Britain since King James was on the throne. Thanks to a decade-long conservation effort led by the RSPB, there are now 200 birds living in the UK – most of them in the South West.
At 102 storeys, and one of the most iconic man-made buildings in the world, the Empire State Building will soon be completely powered by renewable wind energy.
Two seventeen-year-old boys in Staffordshire are on a mission to rewild the UK with extinct and critically endangered reptiles and amphibian species.
High street store Wilko is the first shop in the UK to launch an in-store face disposable mask recycling scheme. The shredded masks will be taken back to their raw materials, which will be refashioned into products from building materials to furniture.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo is turning the Champs-Élysées into a 1.2-mile green oasis. Currently an eight-lane highway used by 3,000 vehicles every hour, air quality will be dramatically improved.
A campaign supported by Sir David Attenborough to stop trawl fishing off the entire Sussex coast will protect 117 square miles of seabed, and regenerate our amazing underwater seaweed forests.
And finally, the highest number of puffins have been counted on Skokhold Island, off the Pembrokeshire coast, in eight decades. Over 11,000 were counted by Wildlife Trust puffin spotters.
I hope those beacons of light will give a little lift to your day.
This article was first published in the Keynsham Voice – April 2021
Photo by Thomas Fatin on Unsplash