In another win for marine life, Peru started the new year by enacting regulations to protect the world’s largest known population of giant manta rays.

In December the French government passed a law banning supermarkets from throwing away unsold food. The law requires stores there to donate unwanted food to charities or food banks.

It was during that blizzard that the Smith family was traveling from the Whitetail ski resort back to their hotel about 20 miles away when dad Perry spotted a white, pink mass by the side of the road in the freezing cold snow.

The restart of the Large Hadron Collider is now under way, with protons circling the machine’s 27km tunnel for the first time since 2013.

Read more:  http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32160755

In 2005, England introduced incentives to farmers to plant more bee-friendly flowers on their land. Similar incentives also exist in the E.U. These agri-environmental schemes have been shown to attract bees a provide them with a good source of food, but the new paper shows for the first time that they are also associated with increased populations.

The Latin American country hasn’t had to use fossil fuels at all so far in 2015, due to heavy rains that have kept hydroelectric power plants going strong. Wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal energy have also helped power the country this year.

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/21/3636823/costa-rica-renewables/

An Asian songbird long thought to be extinct has been rediscovered. … Finding species thought to be extinct is not that common.

Read more: http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/03/05/jerdons-babbler-bird-rediscovered-not-extinct-myanmar-burma?cmpid=tp-ptnr-thinkprogress

The bags, which have solar panels attached to the sides, can be charged while the students walk to school, or play outside, Saha explained to the Hindustan Times. Salaam Balak Trust, an Indian NGO, agreed to partner with her, and so far, about 30 to 40 bags have been given to children free-of-charge, with the help of funding from Cheil India, The Better India reported.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/11/light-bag-india_n_6656444.html