In order to encourage residents to save water, the Swedish island of Gotland launched a competition this summer to find Gotland’s Ugliest Lawn https://gotland.com/gotlands-fulaste-grasmatta/. Homeowners were asked to post photos of their dried-out lawns, taking ironic pride in the impact of both the hot summer and a hosepipe ban. Mimmi Gibson, the acting marketing and brand manager at Region Gotland, said that "the ugliest lawn contest would remind islanders not to waste water, and to talk about ways they can adapt their gardens to suit the existing conditions and the climate crisis.” More here

Selfridges is aiming for 45% of its interactions with customers to be based on resale, repair, rental or refills by 2030. After launching its Project Earth initiative two years ago, the “Reselfridges” scheme will now, the retailer says, form “the backbone of the business” across its four stores. More here

In a move highlighting UK regulators’ stricter stance on greenwashing, the Advertising Standards Authority has has taken action against Persil for a TV spot that promoted its 50% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles and claimed to be “kinder to our planet”. “The advertising watchdog said Persil had failed to make clear its “kinder to our planet” claim and penalised it for lacking evidence that proved the full life cycle of the liquid was more sustainable than its previous product,” reports The Drum. Full story here

Carbon Brief reminds us that it’s 50 years since the publication in Nature of John Sawyer’s landmark paper “Man-made carbon dioxide and the greenhouse effect”. “Sawyer’s calculations turned out to be only a slight overestimate of how the world would warm in the decades after his paper was published.” More here

Launched at the weekend, the Polinations project has turned Birmingham’s Victoria Square into “an urban oasis, hosting free events, workshops and performances including live music, dance, spoken word and drag”. It seeks to uncover the origin stories of many of the plants that are now familiar in UK gardens, telling stories of “journeys, movement, dispersal, and new roots’. More here

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