Thousands of discarded Christmas trees are being used to protect the Lancashire coastline from rising sea levels. Volunteers buried trees along a two-mile beach near Lytham St Annes to create sand dunes, which act as natural barriers against storm surges. The Lancashire Wildlife Trust leads this initiative, funded by the Environment Agency, to combat the 80% loss of sand dunes since the mid-1800s due to urban development. These dunes provide sea defense and habitats for rare wildlife like sand lizards, reintroduced after 60 years. The project intensified as sea levels rose, with the UK seeing a 19.5 cm increase since 1900, two-thirds in the last 30 years.