It wasn’t all about COP26.
While the global climate summit in Glasgow was a behemoth news beast in November, there were a lot of other environmental tales across Tayside and Fife to keep us busy this year.
So let’s take a moment to look back at some of the most memorable stories we covered in 2021.
Tackling the scourge of dirty camping
Earlier this year, we published a series of articles exploring the issue of dirty camping. As Covid-19 made holidays abroad more difficult, people flocked to Scotland’s great outdoors to get away from it all.
But the problem for locals in rural Perthshire, Angus and elsewhere came when those visitors left to go home — but left their rubbish behind.
With versions of lockdown still a factor of life in early 2021, residents of communities such as Pitlochry feared the worst.
They called on authorities to do more to tackle the issue.
But as the summer came to a close, locals said there had been signs of improvement this year, thanks in part to new rangers on the beat.
The Aldi hedge
Broughty Ferry woman Jeannie Cooper took it on herself to try and save a hedgerow from Aldi bulldozers.
The budget supermarket won planning permission to build a store near Tom Johnston Road, Dundee.
Jeannie – who has enjoyed walking the wooded area for nearly 20 years – thought she was a one-woman army.
But she was far from alone.
After our article highlighting her fight, fellow environmentalist Anna Kellner started a petition to save the hedge. Within months, more than 54,000 people signed the petition.
At time of writing, nearly 75,000 people have joined Jeannie’s fight.
Aldi said it would produce “further detailed designed” and “carefully evaluate the planting schemes” when the store is built, which is expected next year.
Puffin island
Our reporter Aileen Robertson headed out with staff this summer to the Isle of May to see the work being done to protect the puffin population there.
Mark Newell, field manager for the UK Centre for Ecology, gathers data about puffin numbers and health.
For three months of the year, Mark and a handful of scientists live on the island with around 200,000 noisy seabirds.
Despite a bad year in 2008, puffin numbers have been largely stable — a stark contrast to what is seen elsewhere.
A Fair City that may power itself
We spent time with the team trying to make Perth a self-sufficient energy powerhouse.
The Powering Perth plan could help slash carbon emissions in the city.
Entrepreneurs linked to the Binn Farm Eco Park in nearby Glenfarg want to link their growing array of renewable power sources to customers in the Fair City.
The privately-owned grid would be completely separate to the power provided on the UK-wide National Grid.
Fife skyline changes forever
Views in Fife will not be the same after the Longannet chimney was torn down in the last weeks of 2021.
In the end, it took just a matter of seconds for the tower to come down after a controlled explosion in December.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pushed the button to bring down the 600ft chimney.
A sad spate of guillemot deaths
Experts raced to understand why hundreds of seabirds – predominately guillemots – were found dead or emaciated along Scotland’s shore.
Climate change was touted as a possible cause, with Dr Mark Newell hypothesising a blue-green algae found in the North Sea might be to blame.
Guillemots were later found along the coasts of Norway and the Netherlands as well.
Bottle deposit scheme knocked back… angering local litter pickers
A bottle return scheme has been in the pipeline for years.
Its aim is to encourage more people to recycle and was first announced in September 2017.
But it saw another delay earlier this year.
Local litter picker Wendy Murray said the push back was “demoralising”.
“The amount of plastic picked up by volunteers across Angus is at an all time high,” she said.
“We all know the damage it is causing to wildlife and the marine environment.
“It is critical that the government acts quickly to put plans and dates in place for its implementation.”
No date has been set yet for the scheme’s launch.
A contentious solar farm
Residents on the outskirts of Dundee mounted a campaign to halt plans to build what would be one of Scotland’s largest solar farms.
The site, at Berryhill Farm, will see land the size of 300 football pitches transformed with 152,000 solar panels.
It is the third time plans for a solar array at the site have been brought forward.
Solar 2, the firm behind the latest project, is still awaiting planning permission from Angus Council before going ahead.
And of course… COP26
In the build-up to the UN climate conference in Glasgow, we hopped into an electric van and toured the north of Scotland, finding out what environmental concerns people of the streets had.
Along with our colleagues at the Press & Journal, we drove from John O’ Groats to Glasgow, ending the 10-day trek by showing Green co-leader and Scottish Government minister Patrick Harvie our findings.
Was COP26 a success? Some early agreements gave signs of hope, with pledges on deforestation and reducing methane among the biggest achievements.
The conference, however, ended on something of a sour note when late intervention from China and India saw a watering down on the wording on a deal to tackle coal use.
Was enough done at the conference to avert the worst impacts of climate change? Most experts think not.
Thoughts turn now to COP27 – set to take place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, late next year.
But many environment stories will break far closer to home than that in 2022.
And like 2021, we’ll be there to cover them.
