The Know Daily - Thursday 12 June 2025

_{Read in 4m 27s ∙ Listening to ABBA ∙}

The Trees for Streets project is teaming up with councils and communities across England to plant 250k trees over the next 10 years. Locals can sponsor, water, and care for the trees, turning streets into greener, healthier spaces. It’s a simple way to make cities nicer and the air cleaner one tree at a time. Find out if you can volunteer in your area here.

👗 Fast fashion: an explainer

£5 dresses, weekly trends, and overflowing wardrobes – fast fashion makes it cheap and easy to keep up. But the true cost isn’t just financial.

What actually is fast fashion?
Fast fashion is the business model behind clothes that are designed, produced, and sold at lightning speed. Think runway-inspired looks landing in high street stores in just weeks. The goal? To keep consumers buying by offering endless new styles at rock-bottom prices.

How’d we get here?
Fashion used to run on two main seasons a year. Advances in supply chains, low-cost overseas labour, and social media-fuelled demand have created a system where clothes are now made quickly and cheaply, instead of by season.

How does the environment come into it?
Overproduction, waste, and pollution. Globally, we buy more than 80 billion pieces of clothing a year and a large portion of that ends up in landfill. The fashion industry is responsible for up to 10% of global carbon emissions and is one of the largest polluters of freshwater, from growing raw material like cotton, through to dying and washing finished products. On top of that, many garment workers face low wages and unsafe working conditions.

What’s being done about it?
Globally, change is happening. This week, France's Senate approved planned changes to its laws regulating ultra-fast fashion, including banning adverts by Chinese companies like Shein. And earlier this year the EU agreed on extended producer responsibility schemes encouraging brands to rethink waste across the supply chain. In the US, a report on textile waste last year was seen as a "wake up call to take bold action", which could include extensive national recycling strategies.

And what can I do?
Change doesn’t mean giving up fashion altogether, it’s about being more intentional.
👖 Buy less, wear more. Rewear, repair, and restyle what you already own.
🛍️ Shop second-hand or vintage – Depop, Vinted, charity shops, and clothing swaps are goldmines.
🧵 Support slow fashion brands that focus on quality, ethics, and sustainability, like Sézane or The Knotty Ones.

💰 Budgets broadcast: Rachel Reeves has revealed her long-awaited spending review, setting budgets for government departments.

• The bigger story: The Chancellor has said spending on the NHS will rise by 3%. She also confirmed £39bn for social and affordable housing, helping both residents and bringing an end to "costly" asylum hotels by 2029. However, some government departments, including the Home and Transport Offices, will face cuts on their day-to-day spending. This also includes the Foreign Office where some aid funds will be redirected towards defence.

📱 Digital debate: The European discussion on children's access to social media has begun, with France, Spain and Greece promoting the idea of a "digital majority", the age at which kids can access social platforms.

👩‍⚕️ Health update: Starting in July, women aged 25 to 49 in England will be invited for cervical screening every five years (instead of three) if their HPV test comes back negative.

⚽️ Terrific turf: Scientists are trying to create the perfect grass ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

😹 A-posh-trophe: A joke about punctuation has been awarded first place in Beano’s Britain’s Funniest Class competition.

🌕 Marvellous moon: Last night our skies saw the rare phenomenon of the “strawberry moon” coinciding with the major lunar standstill, its version of a solstice.

⛱️ Trending travel: The “race-cation” has become one of this year’s biggest travel trends as challenge chasers seek scenic spots to don their running shoes.

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Trivia answer: A) Serpentine and the LEGO Group have unveiled a tactile play installation situated in London’s Kensington Gardens.

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