عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

British Magician Uses Magic Skills to Protect Environment

Megan Swann, President of The Magic Circle, demonstrates a magic trick at their headquarters, in London, Britain, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/John Sibley
Megan Swann, President of The Magic Circle, demonstrates a magic trick at their headquarters, in London, Britain, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/John Sibley
TT
20
TT

British Magician Uses Magic Skills to Protect Environment

Megan Swann, President of The Magic Circle, demonstrates a magic trick at their headquarters, in London, Britain, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/John Sibley
Megan Swann, President of The Magic Circle, demonstrates a magic trick at their headquarters, in London, Britain, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/John Sibley

Magic tricks performed by Megan Swann are not just for fun, they hold a vital message, according to Reuters. When she was born in 1992, the traditionally male-dominated world of magic had only just started allowing women to join the Magic Circle magicians' society.

Now at 30, Swann is not only the youngest and first female president of the society, but she's using her position and magic to raise awareness about climate change and the environment.

Swann studied wildlife conservation at university, growing increasingly despondent at the huge issues facing the natural world, and the lack of action.

“One of the key things I realized from my degree was how important environmental education is. We have so many of the solutions to solve these problems, but we don't use them,” she said. So, Swann began creating tricks with an environmental message to perform at schools.

“I use magic as a communications tool. It's a way to capture attention and share a message in a fun way,” she said. Swann, who got her first magic set at five years old, said one of her favorite tricks involves three ropes representing plants, animals and insects. They start at equal length to show nature in balance.

“As I talk about the issues the world faces, mainly caused by us humans, they become different sizes... I then talk about what we can do to help restore the ropes back to their original, equal length,” she explained.

Most Viewed

 
Varieties

Tourist Coins Pose Giant Problem at N. Ireland's Famous Causeway Site

Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
TT
20
TT

Tourist Coins Pose Giant Problem at N. Ireland's Famous Causeway Site

Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)
Tourists are pictured at the Giant's Causeway, a Unesco World Heritage Site, near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, on July 8, 2025. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP)

Northern Ireland's Giant Causeway draws close to one million visitors a year but their habit of wedging tiny coins in cracks between the rocks -- to bring love or luck -- is damaging the world-famous wonder.

Now authorities are urging tourists to keep their coins in their pockets to preserve the spectacular landscape.

Some 40,000 columns mark the causeway, Northern Ireland's first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Geologists say the natural phenomenon was created by an outpouring of basalt lava 60 million years ago.

Legend has it that the causeway was formed by Irish giant Finn McCool.

In recent decades, visitors have pushed thousands of coins into fissures in the rocks.

The gesture is "a token of love or luck", according to Cliff Henry, the causeway's nature engagement officer.

But the coins rapidly corrode and expand, causing the basalt to flake and leaving "unsightly" rust-colored streaks, Henry told AFP.

He pointed to streaks on a rock and gingerly prized out a US cent with a set of keys.

"We get a lot of euros and dollar cents. But coins from literally all over the world -- any currency you can think of, pretty much -- we have had it here," he said.

A report by the British Geological Survey in 2021 revealed that the coins were "doing some serious damage" and something had to be done about it, he noted.

Signs are now in place around the site appealing to tourists to "leave no trace".
"Once some visitors see other people have done it, they feel that they need to add to it," causeway tour guide Joan Kennedy told AFP.

She and her colleagues now gently but firmly tell tourists to desist.

At the exit from the causeway, a US couple said they were "distressed" to hear of the damage the metal caused.

"Our guide mentioned as we came up that people had been putting coins into the stones. It's really terrible to hear that," said Robert Lewis, a 75-year-old from Florida.

"It's kind of like damaging any kind of nature when you are doing something like that, putting something foreign into nature. It's not good," said his wife, Geri, 70.

As part of a £30,000 ($40,000) conservation project, stone masons recently removed as many coins as they could -- without causing further damage -- from 10 test sites around the causeway.

Henry said the trial was successful and is to be expanded across the causeway.

"If we can get all those coins removed to start with that will help the situation and hopefully no more coins will be put in," he said.

"If visitors see fewer coins in the stones and hear appeals to stop the damaging practice, the problem can maybe be solved.

"We know that visitors love and cherish the Giant's Causeway, and many form deep personal connections to it, so we want this natural wonder to remain special for future generations."