Tag: Urban environments
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Solar power and smart farms: welcome to utopia
Can we build utopia? For hundreds of years, we have been captivated by the dream of a perfect society. Now, amid the climate crisis, is it time to build an “ecotopia”?
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England faces ‘jaws of death’ in water crisis
Today is World Water Day. The head of England’s Environment Agency says we are set to run out of water in 25 years. Wasting it must become as wrong “as blowing smoke in the face of a baby”.
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The simple invention that could save the world
Is focus the key to success? Yesterday was World Toilet Day — and it was no laughing matter. Bill Gates has spent seven years and £155 million reinventing loos. They may save thousands of lives.
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Exposed: how toxic air reduces intelligence
How can we solve the air pollution crisis? A study has linked pollution to “huge” reductions in cognitive ability. Worldwide, dirty air also leads to millions of early deaths every year.
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Toxic air linked to millions of early deaths
How worried should we be about air pollution? A worldwide study has found that over 90% of the planet’s population breathes polluted air. In some extreme places, the fumes could be fatal.
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Flying cars lift off in fight for the future
Would you rather zoom through a vacuum at the speed of sound or soar through the air in your own car? The world’s most powerful entrepreneurs are battling to invent the future of transport.
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Give half the world to animals, say scientists
Could we save the planet by turning 50% of it into a nature reserve? As climate change grows and wildlife numbers plummet, this is the radical idea being discussed by scientists in London.
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‘Here is what elite sport should really be’
Have we just witnessed the pinnacle of sport? The Winter Olympics brought us a world where have-a-go heroes stand beside athletes of astounding ability and where sometimes the underdog wins.
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‘Explosive fire growth’ in Southern California
Are wildfires natural? As fires hit Los Angeles and tens of thousands are evacuated across Southern California, officials are blaming climate change for the state’s unusually dry conditions.
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Google’s landscraper and the city of tomorrow
Should we build horizontal skyscrapers? Google’s new London HQ is set to be one of the world’s first “landscrapers”, or very long buildings. Some would like these to replace high-rises…
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World ‘losing night’ due to light pollution
Should we be less afraid of the dark? A new survey shows that light pollution is increasing, posing risks to us and our environment. Campaigners are trying to reverse that trend.
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‘Build bicycle-only cities!’ says architect
Should we ban cars? It has been 200 years since the first ever bicycle was invented, changing human transportation forever. Now, one man is calling for a city called “Velotopia”…
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More than 1,200 killed in South Asian floods
As rolling coverage of Storm Harvey continues, millions more lives have been affected by devastating floods in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Why have you heard so much more about the first?
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Mudslides wreak fatal havoc in Sierra Leone
Almost 400 people have been killed after deadly mudslides wreaked havoc near the capital of Sierra Leone. Some are now blaming the government, but was this all inevitable?
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Anti-tourism protests spread through Europe
“Tourism-phobia” is raging across Europe’s summer hotspots as locals from Venice to Barcelona protest against the effects of millions of visitors. Is tourism an untrammelled good?