What went right this week: polio victory, right to roam and more positive news
Posted 28th August 2020 • Written by www.positive.news • • • • •
Africa was declared polio-free, some fossil fuel companies got dumped and right to roam campaigners claimed a small victory, plus other positive news stories
A right to roam petition was signed by 100,000 people
MPs will have to debate a controversial new law that seeks to criminalise trespass, after a petition against the measure attracted 100,000 signatures. The petition was started by Right to Roam, a campaign group that wants to increase access to the English countryside – 92 per cent of which, they say, is off-limits to ordinary people.
Campaigners argue that the proposed legislation discriminates against the Traveller community and further tilts the law in favour of the 1 per cent that owns half of England.
“We’re very happy to see the public rise up against the criminalisation of trespass,” Right to Roam’s co-founder, Nick Hayes, told Positive News. “We will now be working with representatives of the travelling community to make sure that the debate is fully briefed with the facts and perspectives of the groups that will be most affected.”
Technique reduced bird strikes at wind turbines
They are helping power the clean energy revolution, but a dark side of wind turbines is that they sometimes kill birds. However, a new study suggests that painting just one blade black could reduce bird strikes by up to 70 per cent.
The findings were published in the Ecology and Evolution journal and have been cautiously welcomed by the RSPB. However, experts at the organisation told the BBC that the main priority should be avoiding building wind farms where there was a particular risk to birds.
The authors of the report believe that painting one blade black reduces ‘motion smear’, making spinning blades more visible to birds.
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