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As the most popular parks get more crowded, where do you go to escape the masses? We share Guardian readers’ stories

• Do you have a beloved national park, monument, forest or wilderness that is underappreciated? Send an email to publiclands@theguardian.com
  

11.31pm BST

Welcome to our national park live blog! Memorial Day weekend is a time when Americans get outside to enjoy the nation’s glorious parks – but it’s increasingly clear that the most popular are struggling to handle the strain. Places like Zion and Yellowstone are overwhelmed with visitors.

We asked two dozen experts – from Ryan Zinke to Leslie Marmon Silko and Joan Naviyuk Kane – to suggest their favorite alternatives to the thronged favorites. Now we want to hear from you.

Do you have a beloved national park, monument, forest or wilderness that is underappreciated? We’d love to hear about it. Please send an email to publiclands@theguardian.com with a few lines explaining why your chosen destination is special, and what someone should see or do when they get there.

Starting Friday at 9am ET, we’ll be checking the inbox and posting a selection on this page throughout the day. We can’t wait to hear from you.

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A little-known plan to create more monuments to African American history is underway. For some, it’s been a long wait

Nearly two decades ago, Jim Hunn was wandering around a cemetery in Boyle County, Kentucky, when a small headstone caught his eye. He stared at the name etched on it: Jordan Wallace. Hunn can’t explain exactly why, but he felt an instant attachment.

“I got a feeling when I saw it,” he said.

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Magpies living near airports are less likely to flee from the sound of passing planes, new research shows. But it's unclear whether this makes them more or less likely to actually get hit. Mike Weston, Associate Professor, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Ten million electric vehicles in Australia will provide enough storage to power the country for a day - helping fast-track the transition to 100 per cent renewable energy.

Perth-based building-integrated solar PV company has debuted on the ASX after successful $A5m initial public offering.

Jaguar to spend $4m on network of 150 charging stations ahead of release of its first EV in Australia in October.

Adani's attendance at a Hanoi “energy roundtable,” facilitated by the Australian government, signifies the desperate challenge it faces getting Carmichael coal project off the ground.

Clean energy accelerator program signs up record number of innovative start-ups, with some great ideas on how to charge EVs, cut waste to landfill, and help consumers get cheaper, cleaner power.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

California regulator ARB's planning on how to set post-2020 emissions caps and new offset requirement in the state's carbon market could have negative implications for future GHG reductions, several experts said at a hearing on Thursday.

UPC to advance biggest solar development in NSW and country’s biggest wind farm in Tasmania after bringing in a major new investor.

California carbon prices edged higher following Wednesday's announcement that the second quarterly WCI auction had sold out.

More speculators partook in RGGI's quarterly auctions in 2017 while compliance-oriented entities increasingly turned to the secondary market for their allowance needs, according to the programme’s annual report published Thursday.

WHO database lowers Beijing’s particulate ranking from 40th worst in world to 187th, as coal plants flagged as key culprit

Beijing is slowly shedding its image as the world’s most polluted city. In 2013, it ranked as the 40th worst city for the particulate PM2.5 in the World Health Organisation global database. Four years on, thanks in part to a crackdown on polluters, it stands in 187th place.

Air pollution in the 62 Chinese cities tracked by the WHO dropped by an average of 30% between 2013 and 2016. China’s air pollution problems are often blamed on the country’s rapid industrial growth but the problems probably date back to the 1950s.

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South Africa’s cabinet on Thursday approved the government’s proposed carbon tax bill, bringing the long-delayed legislation a step closer to becoming reality.

New research highlights the role of sea turtles and dugong in the dispersal of seeds and maintenance of seagrass meadows, an important marine habitat and the primary food source for both animals. Samantha J Tol, PhD Candidate, James Cook University Alana Grech, Assistant Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University Paul York, Senior Research Scientist in Marine Biology, James Cook University Rob Coles, Team leader, Seagrass Habitats, TropWATER, James Cook University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The seal named Relashio was close to death when he was rescued.

The seal named Relashio was close to death when he was rescued.

Vast troughs are identified in one of the last places to be explored on Earth - under the ice at the South Pole.

Vast troughs are identified in one of the last places to be explored on Earth - under the ice at the South Pole.