Myra Newby
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Extreme weather special
Well, it's true and it's sad to see what's happening. But, you know, from people fixing the world, we are seeing some promising ideas. Just to give you an example, there are two companies that are currently collaborating to use smart technology to be able to find wildfires as soon as they start and then deploy drones, for example, to be able to contain the fire immediately.
Global News Podcast
Extreme weather special
and help before more people can get to the scene. But the thing that makes this really interesting is that they're also using sound, and yes, I do mean sound, but kind of high, powerful acoustic wave technology to quickly and safely suppress the fires without causing any damage.
Global News Podcast
Extreme weather special
So this could help when people don't have direct access to water, but also help to avoid the need for the use of harmful chemicals to put them out. But really, like you said, Alex, it's about not just finding and putting out these fires. It's also about preventing them from happening in the first place.
Global News Podcast
Extreme weather special
Now, in places like North America, there's something called the Wild Horse Fire Brigade that uses native wild horses to reduce and maintain grass and bushes, which are fuel for these wildfires in forests. So it's kind of like starving a wildfire before it even begins. And something similar is happening in Spain, but not just with horses, also with cows.
Global News Podcast
Extreme weather special
Our reporter Craig Langren went to Madrid to find out more about these four-legged firefighting friends. And while he was there, he met someone who works with the animals, Rafa, who told him that he had seen the impact of a wildfire when he was just a kid.
Global News Podcast
Extreme weather special
Yeah, yeah. I mean, we're seeing and hearing about different things. So, for example, sponge cities in places like Singapore and Mexico, which is basically working with nature to help absorb, store and purify excess rainwater. But here in the north of England, there's also a project run by the conservation organisation RSPB or RSPB.
Global News Podcast
Extreme weather special
the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, that's working to prevent flooding in a very unusual way by re-wiggling a river. So just to explain here, over 100 years ago, farmers in the area, Swindle Valley, where this is happening, they wanted to stop their fields from being flooded. So they carried out this back-breaking work of straightening a river.
Global News Podcast
Extreme weather special
But this made the issue even worse, as Annabel Rashton from the organisation explains.
Global News Podcast
Extreme weather special
Now, there's still a very small section of the Strait River that shows you what it looked like before. But the rest of the river? Well, it took a turn for the better. The river now meanders like a snake with lovely clear water flowing freely. How did they transform it?
Global News Podcast
Extreme weather special
So they dug up the old path the river flowed through, and then nature pretty much did the rest. Think of it like restoring something to its original settings. And so I think it's really, Alex, about people working within their environments with what they have, but also working with nature to try and stop these disasters, wildfires, floods from happening.