Portugal panorama
Weekly News

Portugal powers country on renewables, Adidas makes 1M shoes out of ocean plastic

This week’s optimistic environmental news:

  • Plastic Bag Bans Actually Work, Study of European Waters Shows – “There are significantly fewer plastic bags on the seafloor ever since a number of European countries introduced fees on the items, according to a 25-year study from the UK government’s Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS). Researchers found an estimated 30 percent drop in the number of plastic bags in waters around Norway, Germany, northern France and Ireland.”
  • In March, Portugal Made More Than Enough Renewable Energy To Power The Whole Country – “The group says renewable power produced in March was equal to 103.6 percent of electrical demand on mainland Portugal… Fifty-five percent of that energy was produced through hydro power, while 42 percent came from wind.”
  • Adidas sold 1 million shoes made out of ocean plastic in 2017 – “TheGerman sportswear giant launched last year three new versions of its UltraBoost shoe made out of plastic found in the ocean in partnership with Parley for the Oceans.”
  • How Finn the yellow lab helped save an island of penguins – “Two conservation groups—Chile’s National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) and Island Conservation—successfully removed the population of invasive European rabbits that was destroying native vegetation and fragile nesting habitat for the Humboldt penguin and Peruvian diving-petrel on two islands of the Humboldt Penguin National Reserve. But they couldn’t have completed the task without the help of a four-legged, keen-nosed friend, Finn — a yellow Labrador trained to sniff out burrows of the invasive rabbits.”
  • Conservationists use astronomy software to save species (video here) – “Dr Wich worked with astrophysicist Dr Claire Burke, also at Liverpool John Moores University. She told BBC News that her work in identifying the most massive galaxies in the Universe from the light they emit helped her devise software that could identify different types of animal from the pattern of the heat they give off.”

About Patrick Metzger

Patrick is the founder of The New Climate. He is a writer, product manager, and musician. He grew up in Chattanooga, TN and now lives in Beacon, NY.