The Know Daily - Monday 19 February

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Chat Moss - an ancient peat bog in the north-west of England - has been bought by an environmental trust in a bid to restore the natural landscape. The land had previously been drained for agricultural use, meaning the exposed peat soil has been emitting large amounts of CO2. By re-wetting the bog, the trust hopes to restore biodiversity in the area and enable wildlife to thrive there again.

🚶‍♀️ A “mass trespass” on Dartmoor

Hundreds of Right to Roam campaigners are set to stage a mass trespass on Dartmoor to highlight the “absurdity” of the current law in England.

What will the trespass involve?
The protest at Vixen Tor on 24 February - which organisers say will be the largest mass trespass in a generation - will see campaigners cross a section of private land to get to a piece of land that has right of access, but which can only be reached by trespassing. 

According to the campaign group Right to Roam, there are around 2,500 of these ‘access islands’ in England, with the upcoming action intended to highlight the “piecemeal” nature of the current system. 

So why is the system like this?
It’s all to do with the way England’s partial right to roam was created, explained The Independent. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act (2000) gave people a right to roam over certain landscape types – including mountains and moorland - but much of this “access land” is fragmented and surrounded by private land. 

This means that while 8% of land in England is designated “open country”, researchers estimate that around 2,700 hectares are surrounded by land with no public right of way, said the BBC.

What do campaigners want?
They are calling on the government to implement a Scottish-style right to roam law, which gives a “right of responsible access” to the countryside, with exemptions. 

Last year, the UK Labour party pledged to introduce a Scottish-style law in England if it won the next general election, but it U-turned on the policy in October after some landowners’ groups voiced concerns, noted The Guardian.

One such group - the Country Land and Business Association - told the BBC that “millions of acres of land” are publicly accessible and that “nobody is forced to trespass”.

💸 The down-low on “doom spending”

Amid growing inflation, rising rents and the stress of finding a well-paying job, young people are increasingly turning to “doom spending” to cope. 

Go on…
According to a recent report in Bloomberg, Gen Zers and millennials in the US have been spending generously on luxury items despite difficult economic conditions.

In a poll by personal finance company Credit Karma, 27% of Americans said they “doom spend” to deal with concerns about the economy and foreign affairs - a trend which is particularly pronounced among millennials (43%) and Gen Zers (35%). 

The reason? Younger generations are figuring their financial futures are “doomed no matter what”, said Business Standard.

Haven’t humans always been like this?
It’s a good point. Numerous studies have identified how emotions such as anxiety or anger can drive us to overspend - particularly when advertisers “leverage psychology” to compel consumers to make purchases.

So while the term “doom spending” may be new, the habit is not. 

So where does the term come from?
Unsurprisingly, the internet. Writing in The Guardian, journalist Alaina Demopoulos explains how Gen Z - a generation “saddled with money woes” - has developed its own language when it comes to financial literacy. 

Gen Z has “rebranded the historically dry topic of money management with cute viral terms”, she writes - pointing out that terms such as “loud budgeting” and “soft spending” have also entered the lexicon very recently. 

We’ve definitely fallen into the emotional spending loop ourselves from time to time - which is why we wanted to reshare our guide on ways to curb the habit.

🪧 Navalny protests: Hundreds of protesters gathered in the Russian cities of Moscow and St Petersburg this weekend following the death in prison of 47-year-old Alexei Navalny, “a chief critic of President Vladimir Putin”.

✍️ Cheating scandal: A group of overseas students who were wrongly accused of cheating in English tests for visa renewal are suing the Home Office.

📵 School phone ban: Ministers have confirmed plans to ban students from using mobile phones in English schools, amid concerns over their role in bullying and impact on learning. 

👟 Trump trainers: Donald Trump has launched his own line of $399 gold trainers, a day after he was fined nearly $355 million for fraud. 

🏆 Baftas best bits: Oppenheimer dominated last night’s Bafta awards, while Barbie went home empty-handed despite being the most successful box office film of 2023.

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Trivia answer: A) Moana 2 will be hitting the big screen in November, following the immense popularity of the first instalment. 

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