The Know Daily - Wednesday 12th April 2023

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Three National Trust rangers have moved into a lifeboat house off Blakeney Point in Norfolk to monitor a colony of rare seabirds throughout the breeding season. Little terns are one of the UK’s rarest seabirds and their population has dropped by 40% since the 1980s, according to the National Trust. Over eight months, the rangers - assisted by around 30 volunteers - will ward off predators and count nest numbers to help the threatened birds.

🔌 Falling fossil fuel emissions

The world will likely use less fossil fuels to produce electricity this year, according to a new report by energy analysts Ember. This would be the first ever annual drop in the use of coal, oil and gas to generate electricity, outside of a global recession or pandemic.

Tell me more.
The report predicts that in 2023, the growth of wind and solar energy will be higher than the rise in global demand for electricity. As a result, fewer greenhouse gases will be released from burning fossil fuels.

Wind and solar now produce 12% of electricity, with solar growing by 24% around the world last year - enough to meet the annual demands of a country as big as South Africa.

What else does the report say?
The electricity produced last year was, in effect, the cleanest ever made. However, the rise in demand for electricity outpaced the growth of green sources, meaning that the use of coal increased, along with the associated emissions. Indeed, recently released data from the US shows that atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases continued to rise rapidly in 2022.

But this year, green sources are expected to meet all the growth in electricity demand.

What’s driving the change?
The report’s authors attribute the expected change to a boom in renewable energy led mainly by China. In 2022, around 50% of new wind power and 40% of new solar power came from China - the country that is also the world’s biggest user of coal power.

While some experts agree that 2023 could be a turning point in the transition to cleaner energy, they have also stressed that a rapid transition to net zero is needed to avoid the worst of global warming.

📱The phone theft problem

New data has shown that a phone is reported stolen in London every six minutes and that UK-wide phone thefts have jumped by 31%.

Wait - every six minutes?
Yep. Data obtained by the BBC shows that there were 91,000 reports of phone thefts in London in 2022 - an average of 248 a day. Just 2% of these stolen mobiles were later recovered.

A Met Police spokesperson said that phones are “easy to snatch”, particularly when owners take them out to text or look for directions. The force has urged the public to “especially be on the lookout for mopeds and bikes”.

What’s the bigger picture?
The news comes amid wider concerns about low clean up rates for burglaries and thefts. In August 2022, The Telegraph reported that police had failed to solve a single theft in more than 80% of neighbourhoods in England and Wales over the past three years. And the official inspectorate has found that austerity and a shortage of trained detectives has led to “unacceptable and unsustainable” low charge rates for these crimes.

So what should I do if my phone gets stolen?
If your phone is stolen, it’s most likely that the thief will wipe it to sell it on as fast as possible. There’s also a chance that they might try to access your data. Setting up a Find My Phone service means that if your phone is stolen, you not only have a better chance of locating it but are also able to wipe your data remotely, which may help ease privacy concerns.

If you’re an iPhone user, you might want to disable access to Airplane Mode from the lock screen, as that will prevent any potential thieves from blocking communication with your device if stolen in the future. You’ll still be able to use Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode to exit the lock screen.

As well as informing the police if your phone gets stolen, make sure you let your network provider know too, to avoid any unwanted charges.

Check out Which? magazine’s full list of tips.

👟 Fancy footwear: A pair of trainers worn by basketball legend Michael Jordan at the 1998 NBA finals fetched more than $2.2m (£1.8m) at auction - making them the most expensive shoes ever sold.

💰 “Rocky road” warning: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that the UK will be one of the world’s worst performing major economies this year - more so than sanctions-hit Russia - before growing by 1% next year.

🐦 Twitter tell-all: Elon Musk described running Twitter as “quite painful” and “a rollercoaster” in a last-minute interview with the BBC last night. He confirmed that legacy verified blue ticks would be removed from accounts by the end of next week.

👑 Coronation chaos: The Mirror is reporting that the upcoming King’s Coronation has been “plunged into chaos” due to a “catalogue” of major issues from overrunning rehearsals to seating plan problems “owing to Prince Harry and Meghan”.

📺 You’re doing amazing, sweetie: Kim Kardashian is set to star in American Horror Story - she’ll join Emma Roberts for the 12th season of the popular TV series, which helped launch Lady Gaga’s acting career. Kardashian announced the news with a cryptic Instagram post.

Trivia answer: B) Wii Sports topped The Gamer’s list with a whopping 82.85 million units sold - although Super Mario Bros did come in as Nintendo’s second best-selling game of all time.

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