Over the weekend, I escaped into the woods with my partner. Waking up to birds chirping and trees swaying (and absolutely no honking or screaming) is not what I’m used to in NYC, so it was the perfect reset.

I also got to try out all sorts of fun activities, including cyanotype or sun printing!

We used leaves and flowers plus the power of the sun and some chemical reactions to create artistic prints. It turned out so well that I’m gonna figure out how to recreate it at home! If you’re interested in learning how too, let me know.

And now, enjoy some stories of progress from this week, and have a great weekend!

The scientist using mushrooms to eat toxic pollution

After growing up near a river that caught fire from oil spills and then seeing fungi growing in abandoned factories, scientist Danielle Stevenson connected the dots and started experimenting with mycoremediation (or bioremediation). This uses the natural process of fungi mycelium breaking down and absorbing toxic or dangerous chemicals to clean up polluted lands & waters, and turn them into something safe & useful for the community. Is this the future of cleaning up toxic areas…? (Lauren Oster|Smithsonian, Richard Schiffman|Yale e360)

Watch the full video I made on this for more! (I originally covered this story last year, but thought it was worth re-telling for most of you who haven’t seen it yet.)

Five new species worth knowing

Over 300 new species are discovered every week on average, and here’s five new standouts that are worth learning about:

A spider impersonating a fungus

In 5th we have a spider that impersonates a fungus, which is the first documented case of this type of biomimicry in the world. It was found in the Ecuadorian Andes, and the researchers actually thought it was a cordyceps mushroom until they touched it and it moved.

Fiery flowers

In 4th is this striking orange and yellow flowering plant which was discovered in Laos and had some hollowed out twigs with ants living inside them.

Two very similar songbirds

In 3rd is actually two yellow migratory songbirds found on two different Japanese islands which are quite similar physically but have different birdsong. After testing it was confirmed that they’re genetically distinct too, yet both are likely both vulnerable, partly since island species often go unnoticed.

Cave-dwelling crab with unusually long legs

Our runner-up is this cave-dwelling crab with unusually long legs in Malaysia, which likely belongs to a new genus and gives another reason why these caves must be protected from mining.

A glassfrog from a “hidden world”

Last but not least is this glassfrog that looks like it knows something we don’t. It was found in a “hidden world” along with many other unknown species in Ecuador back in 2017 but it’s now officially described, and likely evolved around 4.5 million years ago.

Which is your favorite?

What else is going right?

🎟️ Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, was found to be an illegal monopoly by a jury, meaning penalties and a potential breakup are on the horizon.

🍟 Norway has banned junk food ads to protect children’s health.

🚌 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s most populous with 14 million people, is making busses free for all.

🦬 Bison that have been released back into the wild in Romania have increased the plant biomass by 30% through grazing, trampling, and spreading seeds.

🌞 Watch out, solar panels. They developed roof tiles that have solar cells build right into them!

Have a win to share? Join our community chat and let us know!

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

We’re over a quarter of the way through 2026… do whatever you want with that information :) Now that we’ve passed 10,000 subscribers (!) and started our community chat, I have a quick question to help this newsletter grow and improve.

The goal for The Hopemakers is to become a self-sufficient group of action-takers making the world more solarpunk. Meaning there’s enough value in this newsletter that by consuming more solutions reporting & inspiring stories, you’re also funding our Community Missions which directly contribute to & amplify real-world solutions.

I always want to keep the core of this community free, but if you have a spare 5 seconds, please let me know how I can provide more value that’s worth paying for:

Your answer is greatly appreciated, and feel free to email me any other thoughts you have!

This week’s underrated stories

6. The leading environmental law nonprofit is winning in court

This story is from a paid social media collaboration with Earthjustice. I only partner with those that I truly believe in & want their story to be told. Which is why I’m including it here for more content that you’ll enjoy :)

Sometimes I feel hopeless but then I remember that…

The government tried to open up 400,000 miles of protected waters to commercial fishing, but failed when they got blocked in court.

And then they tried to cancel 600 grants worth $34 million for farmers using sustainable agriculture, until they failed when they got blocked in court.

And then they tried to stop New York City’s congestion pricing despite the data showing its massive success, until, you guessed it, they failed when they got blocked in court.

Plus a toxic facility in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley had to suspend operations, a polluting oil storage tank expansion was forced to stop, a freeze of high-speed electric vehicle charging stations along highways was unfrozen, and hundreds of other lawsuits are currently underway to hold all of these lawless government activities accountable.

Each of these cases plus 150 more are brought by Earthjustice, representing all of their clients completely for free while fighting for the planet. And they’re winning!

Because the best way to counteract our despair and the relentless attacks on our environment is with legal expertise that won’t back down.

By supporting Earthjustice we can help them hire more lawyers and file more lawsuits that protect our home and lives, so join me here and together we can turn our dread into action and victory!

5. 100 old dams were removed

Last year across the US, 100 unsafe dams were removed, each one outdated, falling apart, and no longer serving a practical purpose. This is reconnecting a record 4,893 miles of rivers, allowing fish to swim freely for spawning while lowering flooding risks during storms. (Jessie Thomas-Blate|American Rivers)

4. Coral colony found in the deep sea

A coral colony bursting with life despite living in complete darkness was discovered a few kilometers down in the deep ocean off the coast of Argentina. Researchers are studying around 40 unidentified animals that could be new species, while also testing new ways to safeguard the health of this ecosystem that have never been tried before, like special artificial coral that attracts animals and acts as a home base. (K. R. Callaway|Scientific American)

3. UK money will feature native species

The UK’s banknotes are getting redesigned to feature native wildlife instead of historical figures. This serves the dual purpose of introducing new designs to reduce counterfeits while also raising wildlife awareness, and the featured species to be chosen later this year. (Angela Symons|Euronews)

2. How the world’s best sea otter rescue program happened

Two partnerships in one week?! Yes, it’s true. This is a paid partnership just for social media with the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I include these disclaimers to be fully transparent with you, but again, I’m only including this here because it aligns with my normal free content and I’m sure you’ll love it!

After fur traders hunted Southern sea otters to near extinction for their thick pelts, the few remaining in remote areas (around 50 were left in California) were given legal protections as a threatened species.

Then in 1981, a concerned citizen brought a young pup that washed up on the beach to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, three years before it even opened.

Despite the best efforts of the nine staff members, the little one didn’t make it, yet they were determined to keep trying to find new ways to rescue orphaned pups. While researching the remaining wild population’s threats and behaviors, they tried helping an abandoned pup by introducing him to a mother who just lost her own.

And it worked! In time revealing that otters raising otters were more successful than humans raising otters, so they continued this surrogacy program, introducing orphaned pups to non-releasable mothers and bringing 300 back into the wild so far through this and other rescue methods.

Which is not only heartwarming but is also saving many more lives as the otters keep sea urchin populations in check, not letting them gobble up massive underwater kelp forests that are home to many ocean species and reduce the impact of storms on the coast.

These keystone species continue to bounce back and help others, but they are still vulnerable to a number of threats facing our ocean.

So if you love otters as much as I do and want to see them continue to grow and thrive, please join me in signing up for Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Ocean Action newsletter: they’ll alert us at key moments to use our voice on behalf of sea otters and the ocean!

1. Our community took action

🪡 reenee214 is working with a tailor to learn how to repair their own clothing instead of tossing it away for new pieces.

🙌 Liaya is going to finish their AA and apply for university at age 41, now that their kid is grown.

🫵 How about you?

+ Bonus stories

• Reintroduced toucans are dispersed endangered seeds over the Amazon.

• An epic spoof on Lululemon called “Mumumelon” is showing the popular clothing brand (one of my favorites) how they can operate without reliance on fossil fuels.

• Speaking of, at least 46 nations are planning to join a fossil fuel phase out summit later this month.

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

Happy April! Bring on the fleeting rainy days, blooming flowers, and new beginnings.

By the way, we just hit 10,000 subscribers of this newsletter!

I’m blown away as this community continues to grow. We’re elevating underrated stories & underreported solutions, we’re making our own positive impact through monthly community missions, and we’re reframing dread & fear into hope & action.

As promised, I opened up a subscriber-only chat on here so we can share good stories we find while celebrating each other’s wins.

Join the chat, and let’s keep building a better future together!

10 good things you probably forgot happened from March 2026 (recap)

🤝 7.5 million acres of lands and waters or about 7% of California will finally be given back to Indigenous Tribes 175 years after it was promised.

🏞️ No company placed any bids on an Alaskan oil and gas lease sale, showing no interest in destroying the 1 million acres of pristine land.

🎸 A basic income program for 2,000 artists became permanent in Ireland.

🌞 Virginia became the second US state to legalize plug-in balcony solar panels with 24 others working on similar laws for people to easily generate their own power.

🦑 38 new deep sea species were discovered off the coast of Japan, each one more bizarre than the last.

💰 A “millionaire’s tax” passed in Washington state as their first income tax at 9.9% for earnings over $1 million.

🐧 Vulnerable Humboldt penguins won in court again, blocking a huge mine in Chile which would have jeopardized their home and existence.

🇺🇦 Even in the middle of a war, Ukraine has rewilded 45,000 acres of land and waters around Lake Kartal with plants, fish, and birds returning in record numbers.

🧲 A plan to replace 10,000 gas stoves that leak asthma-causing pollutants with induction stoves that heat using magnets is starting in New York City public housing.

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 And our community made a free seed board outside their home, went back to college at 35, sprouted 30 keystone species oak trees, and much more…!

This week’s stories of progress

5. What happens when your ideas actually make it out of the group chat

I originally shared this story last year, but it’s one of my favorites, and I thought you all deserved to hear about it again! Jo Leen Yap took an idea from a Facebook Group into real life, using old fire hoses to create bridges that connect tree canopies, allowing dusky langur monkeys to safely cross the road. And it’s working even better than expected! (Instagram)

4. The farthest a human being has ever traveled

Four astronauts are so sick of us that they hopped on a rocket ship and are flying farther away than any human in history! This is NASA’s Artemis II mission heading to the far side of the moon 252,000 miles away, to test equipment for future missions. Unlike this one, those missions coming later on will actually land on the moon for the first time after more than 50 years. (NASA)

3. Sperm whales work together for births

A new study found that sperm whales actually help each other out in ways we previously didn’t know. Researchers observed two female-led groups helping a baby calf being born, lifting and holding the newborn near the water’s surface. No one really knows why, but it’s maybe it’s so they could get a better view of that Artemis II rocket ship taking off? ;) (Jackie Flynn Mogensen|Scientific American)

2. Electric planes start delivering mail

A fully electric plane that recharges in about half an hour is now flying along mail routes in Scotland by using existing runways in a test to see if the mail service can use electric flights to deliver in the UK. (Press Release)

1. Our community took action

🫜 marcaleigh from our community is hurting the feelings of our corporate overlords by growing and making their own food from local ingredients to share and barter.

Let’s keep building towards a solarpunk future, together!

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

It’s our last newsletter of March 2026! I might be biased since this was my birth month, but as the days keep getting warmer and sunnier, I feel more and more energized and ready to charge forward. How about you?

I usually start with something of note in this intro, but for today, let’s dive right into the good stories I found this week.

Have a great weekend, and ring in April in style!

What’s going right in the world?

7. Indigenous tribes get Land Back after 175 years

7.5 million acres of lands and waters will be returned to Indigenous tribes across California thanks to new plans giving back 7% of the state, about the same amount that was promised to them back in 1850 but never honored. This will bring long overdue justice while allowing tribal stewardship to begin to right many wrongs against people and the land. (Noah Haggerty|LA Times)

6. 38 new deep sea creatures just dropped

In the deep ocean off the coast of Japan, 38 new deep sea species were discovered and confirmed by the The Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census. Highlights include a glass sponge with symbiotic worms, new squat lobsters, and parasitic barnacles… and these researchers are continuing to uncover many more mysteries within the depths of the ocean. (Ocean Census)

5. Wales to require rooftop solar on new builds

Starting early next year, Wales is set to become the first UK nation to require new buildings to have their own built-in renewable energy generation. In nearly all cases, this will mean rooftop solar, and the policy will make energy cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable across the country. (Matthew Lynas|PV Magazine)

4. A contest launched to find out: how should we great aliens when they arrive?

Jordan, Carter, and Taylor launched a writing contest asking “when aliens arrive and we can only greet them with one letter, what should it say”? And they’re offering $2,000 for the best submission that’s physically mailed in, claiming they’re just doing this because they think it’s fun. I do agree! (Dear Aliens)

3. Cockroach Lord is giving them a fighting chance

Cristian AKA “Cockroach Lord” discovered 15 species of the hated-on insects and named many of them after Lord of the Rings characters like “Hobbitoblatta”, as he advocates for their research and protection given their essential role in breaking down dead organic matter to decompose into the soil. (Andrew Zinin|Phys)

2. One family is saving endangered Amazonian plants

Ramón and his family are saving endangered plants in the Amazon without any outside help by venturing deep into the jungle to find seeds, bring them to their “living laboratory” seed bank, grow the plants, and replant areas of the forest that were cleared away by logging and drought. (Gonzalo Solano|AP)

1. Our community took action

📚 katelynnehansen8115 went back to college at age 35 and is absolutely smashing their second semester.

🐝 Anna from our community is helping a group of volunteers raise $6 million to buy the 440-acre Sibling Prairie in Detroit and permanently preserve one of the last of its kind still remaining.

🧑‍⚖️ I teamed up with my partners at Climate Power to figure out what US law has saved the most lives. Take a guess, and then watch for the answer!

+ A few more bonus stories

🌊 San Francisco’s sea walls are alive!

🦋 Some populations of monarch butterflies are on the rise.

🥗 Having plant-based meals be the default at hospitals is working to cut emissions.

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

I had a conversation with a potential collaborator this week and she mentioned how cool my job was, getting to meet amazing people and tell such interesting and meaningful stories. I honestly hadn’t thought about it in a little while, but she made me remember how fortunate I am to do this for a living, and tell stories that not only uplift important people but also help all of you learn and get inspired.

In my never-ending search for people that are working on something cool and important that we probably haven’t heard of, I was thrilled to get a DM and email from a student working on something (literally) pretty cool…

Here’s their story!

This group of students is creating a solar-powered autonomous rover that can survive in one of Earth’s harshest environments.

Getting scientists to Antarctica is difficult, expensive, and dangerous while they gather data on one of Earth’s least understood places. Once they are there, most research expeditions use big and expensive equipment like diesel-powered vehicles, heated shelters, and of course food and necessities.

But, “what if researchers didn’t always have to be there in person?”

A team of 60 students from 20 different nationalities set out to answer that by developing a rover that operates without humans needing to be on site, making important missions safer, cheaper, longer, and have less of a negative impact on the environment.

But with treacherous terrain and unpredictable weather, this isn’t easy to pull off. So students from over a dozen majors at Eindhoven University of Technology spanning engineering, software, sustainability, and design all came together to create this rover called Gentoo, and make their vision of a zero-emission Antarctica a reality.

They’re still testing and refining the design, but maybe this is the future of scientific expeditions in the most extreme areas of our planet?

What’s going right in the world?

7. Millionaires gotta pay up in Washington

A “millionaire’s tax” just passed in Washington state after a day-long debate, creating a 9.9% tax on earnings over $1 million. This applies to less than 0.5% of residents yet will be the state’s first income tax to “rebalance the system” and raise billions of dollars to fund education, healthcare, and tax credits for small businesses and low income families. (Anna Griffin|NYT, Washington State Budget & Policy Center)

6. Plug-in solar comes to state #2

Virginia just nearly unanimously passed a bill to legalize plug-in balcony solar panels. They’re set to become the second state after Utah to remove complicated barriers for approvals and wiring to instead just let people buy and set up their own panels on their patio or yard, offsetting household electricity costs. (Elizabeth Ouzts|Canary Media)

5. Train upgrades in California

After the Caltrain commuter rail in California upgraded 51 miles of track from diesel to electric, they’ve shaved off up to 23 minutes on rides that are quieter and smoother, while substantially reducing pollution. This has more than doubled weekend ridership, once again proving that the people want more trains! (Benton Graham|Grist)

4. First tribal nation to clean a superfund site

The Quapaw are now the first tribal Nation in the US to clean up a superfund site, taking over after the government failed to clear remnants of a lead and zinc mine. They achieved this by seeding, mulching, and composting the land until the soil was restored and healthy enough to grow food, and they even got the EPA to cover their expenses. (Todd Price|The Guardian)

3. Wildlife bridges keep working

Canopy bridges that connect treetops and allow animals to safely cross over roads are continuing to prove their effectiveness in re-connecting forests, saving lives, and helping threatened species cover more ground. According to research, it turns out this helps the animals avoid isolation which in turn keeps populations genetically healthier (Luis Partiani|Mongabay)

2. NYC says out with gas, in with induction

10,000 gas stoves in New York City public housing are getting upgraded to induction which heats up using magnets, if a test of an initial 100 succeeds. They’ll be swapping out the old stove that leak asthma-causing pollutants for new ones that plug into a standard wall outlet and have a built-in battery that can cook 150 cups of soup in a power blackout. (Laruen Dalban|Inside Climate News)

1. Our community took action

🎨 Jeanna is making amazing art out of cardboard, thrifted supplies, and materials that would otherwise be thrown away.

🌳 Frankie planted 30 oak trees that are now sprouting, which will be keystone species in their area and live for 500 years while helping countless lives.

What did you do this week that we should know about?

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

It’s my 29th birthday today (March 13)! I’ll spare you the intro filled with “wisdom” I’ve gained in my 29 years circling the sun and just say that it’s the pleasure of my life to be able to spend the majority of my time finding stories of progress and sharing them with you, our amazing community.

So much more to come this year and beyond!

Before we dive into this week’s stories… Have you watched our latest Community Mission episode yet?? The majority of you haven’t, and I don’t want you to have FOMO:

For this episode, I wanted to know if I could find a grocery store that isn’t completely owned by monopolies but still has the food I actually need. And after a lot of searching, I found (and partially bought) the perfect spot.

Check it out and if you have any feedback, I’d love to hear it!

What’s going right in the world?

11. Permanent basic artist income

Ireland’s basic artist income program is officially becoming permanent following a pilot that saw a big return on investment (€1.39 for every €1 invested)! It’s set to be the first permanent project giving €325 per week for 2,000 eligible artists like musicians, painters, and writers, with applications opening up in May. (Angus Harron|BBC)

10. My new scuba diving heroes

A mother-daughter duo named Jan and Sophie were diving off their family boat when they swam across a rolling meadow of coral spanning 3,973 square meters, or about half a soccer field, believed to have started from a single polyp. This would likely make it the largest known coral ever documented on the Great Barrier Reef. So they joined thousands of community scientists in adding it to the Great Reef Census, giving much-needed data for scientists to better understand how corals are adapting to the changing conditions of our warming oceans. (Citizens of the Reef)

9. “Deforestation is no longer inevitable”

According to a new chart from Our World in Data, deforestation is no longer inevitable, as large areas of Asia, Europe, Central America, and North America are increasing their forest coverage. Since the largest reason for destroying forests is making room for cattle, eating less meat really can make a difference. (Max Roser|Our World in Data)

8. The return of the giant tortoise

180 years after the Galápagos Island’s Floreana giant tortoise was wiped out from sailors, pirates, and invasive species, 158 individuals have now returned home thanks to a captive breeding program of tortoises found on a nearby island confirmed via genetic testing to be descendants. (Rachel Nuwer|Scientific American)

7. No Alaskan drilling bids

No company placed any bids on an Alaskan oil and gas lease sale, where the US government tried to put over 1 million acres up for grabs in the first of six auctions in Alaska, with this failure showing no apparent interest, proving even more why the land should be protected. (Lisa Friedman|NYT)

6. Dogs sniffing out crime

A new method for detecting wildlife trafficking crime has been developed over four years where a tiny air sample is taken from shipping crate vents and trained dogs use their incredible sense of smell able to identify species with 98% accuracy, outperforming machine detectors with a method that could easily scale. (Georgia Moloney, Anne-Lise Chaber|The Conversation)

5. Ukraine is re-wilding

Even in the middle of a war, Ukraine has restored and rewilded 45,000 acres of land and waters around Lake Kartal! They’ve achieved this by removing dams, clearing up channels, and installing pipes that manage water runoff with the Danube river, reversing decades of decline as plants, fish, and birds are returning in record numbers. (Rewilding Europe)

4. Penguins win in court

The vulnerable Humboldt Penguins have done it… they’ve been victorious again in a Chilean court, leading to another rejection of a $2.5 billion iron and copper mine. Citing inadequate environmental permitting as it would threaten the lives of these penguins, the appeals court and I agree they’re worth way more than $2.5 billion. (Noticias Ambientales, Fabian Cambero and Alexander Villegas|Reuters)

3. How to end single-use packaging

The city of Tübingen, Germany started charging businesses 25 to 60 cents for single-use to-go packaging in 2022 to make it inconvenient enough for reusable packaging to take over, and it seems to be working, with a 400% increase in reusable containers, raising millions to further subsidize the better alternatives. (Michaela Haas|Reasons to be Cheerful)

2. The power of a good neighbor

After a food bank in North Carolina installed rooftop solar last year, their neighboring thrift shop was inspired enough to follow their lead, now installing enough to cover 40% of the building’s power to save about $1 million, showing the power of the neighborhood peer effect. (Elizabeth Ouzts|Canary Media)

1. Our community took action

🌱 shelishakram6250 made a free seed board outside their home to give away herbs, flowers, and vegetables, meeting over 100 of their neighbors in the process!

📚 Shona got a new little free library installed by their neighbors which is waterproof and already stocked with good books.

🤝 Ok, I promise this is the last promo, but I’m very proud of our latest Community Mission, so if you haven’t checked it out yet, this is your last reminder to :)

+ You should also know…

🔌 BYD can now charge an EV battery from 10% to 97% in just nine minutes?!

🦜 A livestream of the world’s largest parrot.

🎬 A new prize is funding “sci-fi films that inspire rather than terrify”, AKA solarpunk instead of cyberpunk. Can’t wait to watch!

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

Grocery stores have many problems, but after combing the internet and social media for the main things that people complain about, I narrowed it down into three categories:

1. Monopolies own pretty much every product in your typical grocery store, caring more about profit than people or nutrition.

2. It’s hard to find what you’re actually looking for, particularly for an affordable price.

3. There is SO much waste. Food waste, packaging waste, energy waste… you get the idea.

So I set out to find an answer. There must be a place that exists where I can buy food without any of these three problems… right?

Well, I searched all over Brooklyn to answer that question.

Watch the latest episode to find out!

Community Mission #2 Impact Report

Your subscriber contributions made this video possible! If you’re not a supporter yet, join the fam to be a part of our next video coming in a few weeks (spoiler alert: it includes the cutest animals in the world).

Here’s the full breakdown of episode 2:

Read more

Happy March! This newsletter normally gets sent out on Fridays, but today it’s coming to you Monday instead as I needed a little extra time to get all these stories together for a great February recap (and I was traveling along California’s Big Sur, taking a few days off to soak up the sun and some truly incredible nature).

I’m as surprised as you are that it’s March already. I might be biased since this is my birth month, but I think March is great. Flowers start to bloom, the weather gets a bit warmer, and we get extra sunlight (at least over here in the US).

What do you hope to accomplish in the first and only March 2026?

A recap of some underrated progress from February 2026

10. Turning parking spots into parks

Vienna is working on at least 350 projects turning asphalt parking spots into public green spaces to swap in bike lanes, community gardens, and areas for people to walk and hang out, which is similar to New York’s outdoor dining now finally becoming permanent which benefits local restaurants and everyone dining there. (Dave Braneck|DW, Laura Ratliff|Timeout)

9. Rare Siamese croc bounces back

One of the world’s rarest crocodiles called the Siamese crocodile found in Laos has recovered from the brink of extinction thanks to community-based conservation where local groups trained to monitor nests, protect eggs, and help with release efforts of several hundred individual crocs and many more on the way. (WCS)

8. Time for some overdue AI assessments

The UN has voted to approve a 40-member global panel on the impacts and risks of AI, with scientists now diving deep into the technology to bridge the knowledge gap and assess real world impacts, with 117 nations voting in favor and only 2 voting against. (UN News)

7. The darkest skies on Earth are staying dark

One of the darkest places on Earth is located in Chile’s Atacama desert, but it was set to be disrupted by a power plant proposal. Thankfully, public backlash convinced a company to withdraw the plan, saving the skies for astronomy, local ecosystems, and the nearby community. (Dark Sky)

6. No more burning old clothes

The EU has made it illegal to burn or destroy unsold clothes and shoes in an effort to force companies to rethink business models, and ultimately push towards a circular economy without waste. (European Commission)

5. One of California’s biggest Indigenous Land Back deals

A 10,000 acre Indigenous Land Back deal took place in California, which is apparently one of their biggest, where the Washoe Tribe bought back land they’d been forcibly removed from near Lake Tahoe by teaming up with organizations and grants to help them raise the necessary funds for the purchase. (Dani Anguinao|The Guardian)

4. Old airport becoming a solarpunk city

A former airport in Toronto is transforming into a futuristic neighborhood called YZD. This place will be focused on walkability, green spaces, and reusing airport materials in a solarpunk design that looks pretty epic. (Soo Kim|Newsweek)

3. Medical travel covered for children

This one is simple, yet awesome. England announced they’ll cover the travel costs for any children getting medical care to help families focus on treatment instead of worrying about the expenses to get there. (UK Gov)

2. Pausing data centers

New York became at least the 6th state to propose a data center pause called a moratorium lasting for three years. This is to give them enough time to study the impacts, and ultimately prevent these centers from driving up electricity costs and polluting the areas they’re built in, for little in return. (Molly Taft|Wired)

1. Our community took action

💧 star.k1d_ convinced their parents to stop buying single-use plastic water bottles and switch to reusable jugs and metal bottles instead.

🐦 Lisa turned old fencing in backyard bird houses with their husband and kids, for their home and neighbors.

🫜 Jayjay submitted a proposal to create a local community garden.

🧵 drunken_archer has been using their sewing skills to patch up clothes for those in need at shelter.

And much more!

If you’re reading this, you’re in our community too! What have you done recently to make the planet better?

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

Somehow, there’s only one week left in February! They say time flies when you’re having fun, but I feel like time flies no matter what these days.

Earlier this week, I had the immense pleasure of attending a workshop where I learned how to make algae yarn. It was epic! And pretty simple. We basically combined a few common(ish) ingredients into a squeeze bottle, squirted out long curvy threads of yarn, and let is solidify and then dry out. Not sure what I’ll make yet with my new threads, but I’m thinking maybe a bracelet?

And I’m now off on a quick ski trip and then some exciting work opportunities. Stay tuned for something I’ve never done before…

Hang tight for that. But today, before we dive into all the good news of the week, I wanted to start things off with the story of how a man walking through an alley led to an international rescue mission that saved an entire extinct snail species.

It started in the capital of Bermuda where a local resident named Bruce was moving flower pots in an overgrown alley when he spotted some tiny snails and sent a picture to his son Alex, who couldn’t believe it.

Coming over straight away, they realized this was the Greater Bermuda snail, last seen about 40 years ago and confirmed many times to be extinct after nonnative predators and habitat change wiped them out.

If the odds weren’t small enough yet, they were probably only one of five people in all of Bermuda who would’ve known what the snail was, since they’d been involved in past conservation work.

So an international program commenced with Bermuda, a Canadian researcher, and the UK’s Chester Zoo setting up a safe breeding program.

But hardly anything was known about the species, in part because snails are some of the least studied animals in the world, probably because people find them slimy and gross, yet they adapted existing techniques and learned the optimal conditions for breeding so well that they even helped create a guide for the species.

And eventually, it was just announced on Reverse the Red Day that six populations were reintroduced to their natural habitats, numbering over 100,000 as they returned home and started to restore their damaged ecosystem, in one of the biggest conservation success stories.

Which really proves that you’ll never know what you’ll find until you start looking!

Underrated good news I found this week:

The world’s longest underwater time lapse

Spanning 1,000 days from May 1st, 2023 - January 28, 2026 off the coast of Miami, the world’s longest underwater time lapse was set up by Colin and Jared from Coral Morphologic. I reached out to them to hear their full story, and it’s a beautiful one.

A family snorkeling vacation planted the seed for Colin’s love of coral, and when his best friend Jared was in a low point of his life, he sent over equipment to set up a home aquarium that Jared says regulated his emotional wellbeing and ultimately saved his life. So with both of them on board, they started cloning coral for research and collectors, then telling the stories of these fascinating animals that have been around for 500 million years. Through time lapses, livestreams, projections, and audio recordings, they’re working to connect humans to these important creatures and learn from them, while ensuring they’re protected. This impressive time lapse is just one of many initiatives they have to give us a sense of wonder and awe of marine life.

If you wanna learn more, check out the video I made about their story!

Action: Watch the livestream 🐟

Protecting one of the darkest places on Earth

A dark sky area in Chile’s Atacama Desert was about to be ruined by a power plant, until public concern and engagement backed by science got the company to withdraw their proposal, saving this dark sky area for astronomy, ecosystems, and nearby communities. (Dark Sky)

10,000 acres of tribal Land Back

One of California’s largest tribal Land Back deals just took place where the Washoe Tribe bought 10,000 acres of land they had been forcibly removed from near Lake Tahoe, working with organizations, grants, and private donors to raise enough money to purchase their land and conserve it. (Dani Anguinao|The Guardian)

Testing battery-powered cargo ships

China has started testing battery-powered electric cargo ships, in an attempt to clean up shipping with swappable batteries that get extra charge via on-board solar panels, which if all goes well could improve some shorter distance operations. (The Maritime Executive, MI News Network)

+ Bonus stories

🥘 Miranda from our community started rescuing surplus foods from rural food banks, cooking them into fresh nutritious meals, and delivering them to food insecure individuals.

💨 These people are building wind power from scratch!

🔥 The EU has banned the practice of burning excess clothing and shoes, hopefully a first step towards a more circular economy.

Have a good story we should know about? Drop it in a comment!

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

Last weekend, I went on a ski trip in upstate New York. With the wind chill, the “feels like” temperature was -28 degrees F (-33 degrees C). In other words, I was colder than I’ve ever been in my life. It’s been almost a week and I think I’m still cold. But on the bright side, the mountain was pretty! I always find that being on the top of a snow-covered mountain is a peaceful and powerful reminder of how impressive our planet is.

I didn’t take any good pictures because my fingers would have frozen in an instant, but…

If you are looking for some stunning pictures: 60,636 photos of the magical life on our planet have been whittled down to the best 24, each more magnificent than the last, for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, People’s Choice Award. (Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London)

And we’re all able to vote for the winner.

The contest started in 1965 as a magazine competition to support wildlife photography, which was pretty new at the time, and create public interest in the natural world to ultimately benefit these animals and boost conservation.

An international panel of experts and London’s Natural History Museum judged the entries from 113 countries anonymously to create the shortlist, giving every photographer from amateur to professional an equal chance.

Some are beautiful, some are powerful, and all of them are impressive captures of a tiny moment in time on our chaotic planet Earth.

And while it’s hard to pick a favorite, whichever gets the most public votes will go on to be displayed in the final exhibition.

So which is your winner?

Action: Place your vote!🗳️

Underrated good news I found this week:

10. The airport turning into a futuristic town

A former airport is being turned into parks and a futuristic neighborhood in Toronto, Canada, called NZD. I had the pleasure of visiting a similar project a few years ago, which was the transformation of Berlin’s Tempelhofer Feld (a giant airport into an equally giant park), and it was pretty epic biking all over it. NZD will prioritize walkability, public transit, and futuristic design reusing airport materials in this transformation, and the renderings look very solarpunk. (Soo Kim|Newsweek)

9. England to pay for kid’s transportation to cancer treatment facilities

England just announced they’ll cover the travel costs for any children with cancer aged 0-24 getting medical care, helping families focus on treatment instead of worrying about travel expenses in a new £10 million yearly program (UK Gov)

8. Africa’s 2025 solar boom

The continent of Africa is having a big solar boom per new data, as they just finished their fastest-ever year of solar energy growth. This push was led by South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, and Algeria, with a 54% increase in rooftop and big utility-scale installations plus battery storage. I spy much more potential ahead! (Global Solar Council)

7. The Walk for Peace comes to an end

The 100 day and 2,300 mile Walk for Peace by 19 Buddhists monks and their rescue dog Aloka has reached Washington DC. As they approach their final destination, they were greeted by thousands of people from all walks of life sharing their vision and advocacy for peace. (Tiffany Stanley & Deepa Bharath|AP)

6. Smashing particles together to warm homes

The world’s largest particle accelerator called the Large Hadron Collider, which crashes particles together at nearly the speed of light (99.9999991%), is now reusing hot water from its cooling systems to heat local homes and businesses. This impressive place has led to some great scientific discoveries and they’re now using the hot water byproduct for good instead of just wasting it. (Kate Kahle & Anna Cook|CERN)

5. Mandatory bird bricks

Scotland voted in a law that requires new buildings to include Swift bricks which have a hole and are hollow inside to let birds rest and nest in them, in an effort to reverse declining populations for birds like swifts, making them the first but hopefully not the last UK nation to pass the law. (Patrick Barkham|The Guardian, BBC)

4. Plug-in balcony solar

24 US states are working on legislation to allow smaller plug-in solar panels on balconies and porches without needing approval from utilities or fancy electric work, following Germany’s huge adoption of over 1 million homes installing these thanks to their simplicity, low cost, and quick energy savings. (Claire Brown|NYT)

3. How to save a frog

The Valcheta frog which is so rare that it’s found only in one stream in northern Patagonia(!) has had a remarkable recovery thanks to conservationists working with locals to improve their habitat which unintentionally helped other native species, while breeding a population of 60 into 5,000, and removing invasive predators. (IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group)

2. Stopping data centers

New York has become at least the 6th state in the past few weeks to propose a pause called a moratorium on data centers for the next three years. This is part of a bipartisan push to give time to study the impacts, and stop these centers from driving up electricity costs while polluting the areas they’re built in for little in return. (Molly Taft|Wired)

1. Our community took action

📸 Lauri has been sharing their forest photos from the past 6 years for free to inspire and encourage more rewilding.

🧵 drunken_archer is using their sewing skills to patch up clothing for those in need while volunteering at shelters.

🐤 Lisa turned old fencing into backyard birdhouses with their husband, while their kids painted and gifted the rest.

+ Bonus stories!

🚗 Only seven new petrol-powered cars were sold in Norway last month as the EV revolution continues.

🎿 A skier handed a petition to the Winter Olympics to end fossil fuel advertising, signed by over 21,000 people!

🫜 A coal mine has turned into a garden.

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

How’d your first week of February go? It’s still (below) freezing here, but the sun is shining a little more and it’s boosting my mood.

But I’m also pretty excited as I got to experience something special at the beginning of the week.

A $17.8 million Rembrandt masterpiece of a lion was up for auction at Sotheby’s in NY, and it vanished. The piece is called Young Lion Resting, and was likely inspired by a real lion. It was the only Rembrandt drawing of an animal still in private ownership, with the other 5 lion drawings in museums

I was invited to Sotheby’s to witness the stunt before it got auctioned off. But why did they make the lion vanish?

Well, sadly, lion populations have collapsed by about 90% from 200,000 to only 20,000 left in the wild thanks to habitat loss. And for more context, since the iconic film The Lion King came out, their wild populations have been cut in half.

So this vanishing stunt was actually staged to bring awareness to the fact that despite our love for these beautiful animals that appear everywhere from popular movies to sports teams to toys, in real life they’re suffering, and hopefully this can inspire people to act before it’s too late.

But the especially good news is that in a pretty unprecedented move, 100% of the proceeds from the auction are going to a wild cat conservation organization called Panthera, to ensure future generations can actually see real lions instead of just logos and drawings. Again, that’s an astonishing $17.8 million!

Witnessing this in person was powerful, and I believe that if we act now, we can change the course of history.

But what do you think?

Good news I found this week

5. Nuclear bomb (anti-)world record

The world hit a new record for the longest time without a nuclear explosion since they were invented! The record has now passed eight years, four months, and 21 days without a detonation, which was actually accomplished on January 14. Let’s hope continues to grow for a long, long time. Yes, I was also surprised that this wasn’t higher, but this article explains that there’s been a massive amount of testing over the past 80 years. (Joshua Keating|Vox)

4. Tax the rich, says the rich

400 super rich people just called for higher taxes on super rich people, as millionaires and billionaires across 24 countries sent an open letter to world leaders demanding they address the massive and growing wealth divide destroying the planet, society, and democracy. (Graeme Wearden|The Guardian)

3. Crowdfunding nature protections in Patagonia

This massive tree born in 1,000 BC was living in an area of Patagonia set to become a power plant, until a man brought thousands of people together to buy it.

Spanning 383 times the size of New York’s Central Park, an undeveloped stretch of nature was put up for sale in Chile’s Cochamó Valley, threatening ancient forests, roaring blue waterfalls, and some of the best views on Earth full of rare wildlife like Darwin’s frog and huemul deer.

Wilderness guide Rodrigo Condeza couldn’t let that happen, knowing this sale would disrupt a corridor connecting millions of acres of protected lands for hydroelectric plants, luxury vacation homes, paved roads, and transmission towers.

His nonprofit Puelo Patagonia tried to figure out how to buy the area to protect it with an initial price tag of $150 million. But despite having almost no money, they countered with $50 million, and negotiated back and forth for a year until they agreed on $63 million.

So then they jumped into action, forming a coalition of conservation organizations and rallying thousands of people around the world. Together, they passionately spread the world until they passed their funding target with enough to buy the property in December 2025 and have millions left over to responsibly manage the land and figure out the best path forward!

Action: Support their protections🏞️

2. The AI sorting trash

In an actual good use of AI, newer systems are sorting through dozens of tons of waste per hour to identify valuable materials in garbage and recycling, with the goal of pulling materials like rare earth minerals from e-waste to substantially reduce the need for mining. (Ryan Dezember|WSJ)

1. The Danish Millionaire buying farms to re-wild them

It started when Jacob Jelsing’s research helped develop successful drugs like Ozempic, leaving him with much more money than he ever wanted. Then, he learned how much farming was polluting the nearby fjords with fertilizer, which was destroying fish populations and contaminating drinking water.

And when the government finally unveiled a plan to clean this up, although it did take some steps forward with a carbon tax and reforestation efforts, the plan was watered down thanks to lobbying, and relies on farmers giving up their land voluntarily in exchange for subsidies.

Feeling let down, he and his wife Camila decided to set up a new company called Earthbreak. Their mission is to buy up land used for farming and rewild it, letting nature take over to restore its biodiversity.

Since about 60% of Denmark’s land is used for farming, they have a long way to go, but their determination to use their fortune for good is admirable and maybe more people should follow in their footsteps…

Bonus stories!

🧑‍🌾 Jayjay Buxton from our community is planning to start a community garden in their town once their submission gets approved.

🌞 The world’s first floating vertical solar plant came to Germany in a new concept to cleanly generate power?! (Felix Pauschinger|DW)

🎨 Another big auction raised $1.2 million for public television thanks to Bob Ross. (David Chiu|People)

🖼️ An art contest for students is giving out prizes for pieces that raise awareness for ocean protections. You can enter!

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

The first Bean is Aaron, who’s in a remote corner of Australia looking for birds when he spots a small shrub with bright pink flowers that looks like an explosion of feathers frozen in time. He snaps a few photos with his phone and once he regains service, uploads it to a community science app called iNaturalist where anyone can upload pictures they take of the natural world.

Then, our second Bean Anthony enters the picture, who’s a botanist that actually named this very flower species 10 years ago, but only based on dead samples since no living ones existed. Scrolling through the app, Anthony instantly realized that Aaron, who shares his last name but no other relation, just re-discovered the Ptilotus senarius.

Then, a local landowner was willing to gather a sample, send it into the lab, and it was just officially confirmed, promoting the species from “extinct” to “critically endangered” which unlocks legal protections to help bring this beauty back to its former glory.

And it all started with just a snap of a smartphone photo, as citizen science continues to rise in popularity and be a useful data resource for scientific discoveries.

So, what cool piece of nature have you spotted lately?

Hey fam, I know there’s a lot going on in the world right now. They want us to be overwhelmed by all the bad stuff so we don’t take action, but we can’t let them.

In the midst of all the chaos and negativity, this newsletter serves as a reminder that good things are still happening. And it’s up to us to keep those good things going.

Take care of yourself, enjoy time with loved ones, and remember the better future we’re fighting for.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

What’s still going right in the world?

Community backlash caused at least 25 data centers to be cancelled last year

Another 99 are also currently being contested by local residents, as more people push back against these. Largely the pushback is due to the centers causing an increase in electricity prices, pollution, and water shortages, without much in return, and without the creators of them seeming to care. (Robinson Meyer|Heatmap, Ece Yildirim|Gizmodo)

70% of cancer patients in the US now survive at least five years after their diagnosis.

This is the highest rate ever recorded by the American Cancer Society! And it largely thanks to better research, detection, and treatment, with lower levels of harmful activities like smoking. (Jackie Flynn Mogensen|Scientific American)

Activism is actually help fight the loneliness epidemic

According to several folks of all ages talking with The Guardian who joined social movements to help improve the world but found a strong sense of community, larger purpose, and stronger connections in the process (Whitney Bauck|The Guardian)

This teen is building backyard bird boxes

Need another reason to get a pet?

When Aamir Tinwala was 12, he begged his parents for one until they let him get a bright yellow cockatiel.

Aamir trained Koco and loved her so much that he began to research her species, and then other wild birds where he lived in Texas, learning how they pollinate plants, disperse seeds, and control insects. But after finding out that North American bird populations have decreased by 30% since 1970 thanks to urban expansion, he knew he had to do something.

So he used online tutorials to teach himself how to build a wooden bird shelter, also called a nesting box or birdhouse. He placed it in his backyard for traveling birds to stop in and safely rest, before deciding to do it again and again, building 750 so far while teaching his neighbors how to build their own.

Now in High School, his Backyard Bird Project has grown around the US and the world, connecting people with native wildlife while providing resources to create boxes tailored to specific regions based on local bird sizes and preferences. And what began as some wood and nails in his garage, has evolved into an inspiring movement of people who realize they can make a difference even from their home.

Would you put a bird nesting box in your backyard?

January 2026 recap

How is this month over already?! I made a video recap on 10 good things that happened over the past four weeks, which includes:

• The High Seas Treaty signed by 145 countries to protect ocean biodiversity in international waters finally entered into force.

• Despite last-minute lobbying, Amsterdam banned public ads from damaging products like fuel and meat.

• While the UK banned junk food ads on TV before 9pm and completely online to combat childhood obesity.

• A community scientist rediscovered a flower deemed extinct for 58 years by uploading a photo while looking for birds.

• Stingless bees became the first insects to get the legal right to exist, thrive, and be represented in court if harmed in regions of Peru.

• The tallest vertical farm in the world opened in Singapore, growing lettuce in a made-to-order model.

• The first documented case of a cow deliberately using a tool happened by this icon named Veronika.

• And our community crocheted blankets for foster children and the homeless, made food and hygiene bags for families in need, accomplished their dream of graduating college,

• And more :)

But wait, there’s more…

🚫 a_insta_v from our community saw a town in Illinois veto an AI data center close to schools, with many of those folks now joining their town in fighting against another.

🪧 Protests are on the rise and more people get involved in pushing back against the US government’s illegal and immoral actions. (Lex McMenamin & Andrew Witherspoon|The Guardian)

🥯 Some bagel shops and other similar businesses are saving money with plug-in batteries, meant to maximize grid prices and use cleaner energy. (Maria Gallucci, Jeff St. John|Canary Media)

Let us know what other stories or actions are worth knowing about this week!

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

Exciting news! Hours after sending this newsletter out, and perhaps right while you’re reading this, I’ll be filming our next Community Mission.

What are those?

Well, each month, we find and help a person who’s working on an awesome project that deserves more attention. I make a video about their work to elevate it, and use funds raised by your paid subscriptions to The Hopemakers newsletter to help build something that their project needs!

These are just getting started, but I’m confident we’ll build them up to be fantastic documentaries, with real-world impact driven by our community here (AKA, you!).

Check out the last episode or submit a project you think deserves our help right here, and stay tuned for more info coming very soon…

Here’s what’s going right:

The pastor transforming guns into garden tools

When Mike Martin was working as a young adult pastor, his friend was shocked into questioning why he owned his weapon after the tragic Sandy Hook shooting, so Mike went with him to a blacksmith, dismantled it, melted it down, and forged the metal into a rake and shovel.

He found so much healing by the physical act of destroying the violent device to create something useful and peaceful, that he started a nonprofit called RAWtools and set up a collection program exchanging donated pieces for a free tool or a grocery card.

By dismantling over 6,000 guns across Colorado, Philadelphia, North Carolina, and New York, he started noticing a physical release of tension as survivors witness their weapons get destroyed and reborn as equipment, art, toys, jewelry, and even a shovel that helped plant trees in honor of lost victims.

And through hosting collection events in safe spaces like churches or synagogues and listening to locals, the process sparks a bigger conversation around solutions to violence while turning trauma and grief into hope and healing.

Would you want something like this in your community?

Action: Check out RAWtools🔫🪏

The scientist who made frog saunas to save a species

Anthony Waddle grew up in Las Vegas and was obsessed with tadpoles and animal trivia, which makes sense as he became the first in his family to get a PhD and moved to Melbourne to study conservation.

But there, he encountered a deadly fungus called Chytridiomycosis that’s caused the extinction of around 90 amphibian species while threatening hundreds more.

Since many frogs prefer temperatures above what the fungus can tolerate, researchers had tried to install heated ponds or increase sun exposure in the past without success… until Dr. Waddle led a team that used bricks inside a greenhouse to act as “frog saunas” for endangered Australian green and golden bell frogs.

And unlike other experiments, this time, the allure of the warm saunas during winter was irresistible enough to attract and help the little guys clear their infections and even build future immunity.

While it’s not a catch-all solution, it is a glimpse of hope that the incredible ingenuity of scientists can overcome some of the trickiest problems we face.

What do you think of out-of-the-box solutions like these?

Action: Support Save The Frogs!🐸

What else?

🌊 The High Seas Treaty to protect international waters has finally entered into force after two decades of deliberations, enforcing a legal framework for 143 countries that have signed so far to protect our massively diverse ocean biodiversity lying in waters outside of a country’s borders. (High Seas Alliance)

💨 The largest offshore wind farm in the US can resume construction alongside at least two others, after judges overturned the government’s quote, “arbitrary and illegal” suspension of these clean energy projects each set to power hundreds of thousands of homes. (Spencer Kimball|CNBC)

🐮 Veronika has become the first scientifically documented case of a cow using tools, checking off all three rules to qualify: 1. The tool is an extension of the animal’s body, 2. It allows the animal to do something it otherwise couldn’t, and 3. The animal changes the orientation of the tool to do its job. (David Grimm|Science)

🪳 You can name a roach after your partner (or ex) for Valentine’s Day at the Bronx Zoo.

🥯 A popular Brooklyn bagel shop got plug-in batteries to save money on electricity. (Maria Gallucci, Jeff St. John|Canary Media)

🎓 kelly.j.davis from our community fulfilled their dream of graduating college with a degree in environmental soil and water. Excited to hear what they’ll accomplish next!

We build a better future together… so what’s your story?

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

So, this couple planted 3 million trees on an abandoned farm to rebirth a forest. And it’s as badass as it sounds.

Sebastião Salgado was an award-winning photographer and journalist, and after documenting the atrocities in Rwanda in 1994, he returned home to Brazil to take over his family’s land. But the tropical forest paradise he grew up on had been cut down and destroyed for a cattle ranch.

Devastated, he didn’t know what to do until his wife Lélia suggested they replant the forest.

So they decided to try; with the help of a forestry engineer alongside hundreds of friends, neighbors, and students they planted 10,000 trees in the first year, seeing the return of insects, birds, and fish.

They made many mistakes over the next few decades like planting trees too close together, while seedlings died in the degraded soil, and they battled money issues. Yet they overcome them all to continue their rewilding mission through their organization Instituto Terra, opening a native seedling nursery, starting an educational center, and successfully turning the property into a thriving nature preserve.

And while Sebastião sadly passed away last year, he leaves behind a reforested stretch of land that’s helped millions of animals and plants, plus a legendary legacy of literally leaving the Earth better than he found it while inspiring countless people along the way.

What if everyone with degraded land followed their epic lead?

Underrated stories of progress

This River Cowboy is herding away littered tires

When Russ Miller man saw a tire stuck in his local river, he knew it would stay there forever unless someone did something about it, so he hatched a plan.

He got his friends to go in and help him gather hundreds of tires, but since they didn’t have enough boats, he stuffed empty milk jugs inside to help them float. He then herded the tires off to be properly disposed of, earning the nickname River Cowboy.

And decades later, he’s still paddling through all types of rivers through Kentucky while pulling out almost 4,000 tires so far, inspiring others to join cleanups, and spreading awareness of the little-known tire waste issue where an astonishing 3 billion tires are made each year while 800 million become waste.

While legal disposal is difficult, costly, or nonexistent in some areas, figuring out what to do with them next is even harder, meaning millions get illegally dumped.

But thankfully, some states like Connecticut have a new extended producer responsibility law, making the manufacturer pay and collect tires (and other things like mattresses and batteries), while environmentally friendly designs or reuse solutions get incentivized.

Which to me seems like the natural standard every product should have, because if you make and sell something, shouldn’t you also think about what happens after it’s used?

Action: Learn about EPR

She’s turning war rubble into building materials

When a Ukrainian woman saw landfills overflowing with war debris, she wondered if it could help rebuild people’s homes.

Her name’s Anna Prokayeva and she was living in Kharkiv when people were looking for reconstruction materials to start rebuilding their homes and lives.

And with over 1.5 billion tons of war debris generated from Russian bombings, she launched an initiative with her organization Zero Waste Kharkiv where local volunteers sorted through huge piles or rubble where their village hall used to stand, searching for usable building materials.

This group of seven people over the age of 50 worked every weekday for a month, sorting and transporting the remains into what they called a “circular construction yard”.

Anna even had her bring her two year old son when daycare was closed, but that didn’t stop her from giving 13,000 recovered bricks to local residents, filling potholes and craters, creating insulation for walls, and repurposing all the war wreckage they can find, sending nothing to landfills or incinerators.

And while these brave people are turning rubble into homes, maybe cities around the world should rethink their waste and join in the push towards a circular system without landfills?

Action: Learn about Zero Waste Europe

+ What else is going right?

🥘 They published a cookbook of ancestral Indigenous recipes. (Noor Mahtani|El Pais)

🏔️ A man just became the first double-amputee to climb the highest peak on all 7 continents, to boost disability awareness and inspire others to conquer their metaphorical mountains, with 46-year-old veteran Hari Budha Magar finishing with Antarctica’s Mount Vinson. (Good News Network)

🥬 The tallest vertical farm in the world just opened in Singapore, which operates in a made-to-order model with retailers to avoid waste, has a redesigned lighting system using 30% less energy, and automatically detects crops issues to grow several types of lettuce on far less land than traditional farming. (Shabana Begum|Straits Times)

🚫 The UK banned junk food ads on TV before 9pm and completely online (with exceptions), to combat childhood obesity, which is hopefully the beginning of a trend of banning all harmful, misleading, and immoral ads like fossil fuels or vaping ones. (Mark Sweney|The Guardian)

🧶 torrintaigh from our community started crocheting blankets for the homeless and foster care children.

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

New year, same good ol’ newsletter. But as a refresher, The Hopemakers is dedicated to finding little-known solutions, progress, and people who are building a better world and deserve more attention & support.

People like Philippe Gaboriau, who was examining the stunning pearly white interior of oyster shells when an idea struck him to give them a second life.

Particularly because France loves oysters, consuming an estimated 150,000 tonnes each year (!) with 95% ending up in the landfill or incinerated, wasting the material and polluting the air.

So Philippe teamed up with other innovators to create a company called Alegina, developing a process of using secondhand machinery to grind, wash, and transform the shells into a raw material that becomes paving and porcelain.

Teaming up with a master ceramicist, the team uses the sturdy yet striking raw material to shape realistic ceramic shells and tableware to use in fine dining restaurants, porous paving stones to absorb and drain groundwater, and even ocean inspired jewelry. Turning this waste product into something practical and useful in a circular economy model.

It might be a little gimmicky, but maybe this is the future of rethinking what trash can become?

This week’s underrated people, progress & solutions

6. Minimum wage gets a bump

Somehow, the US federal minimum wage is still $7.25 per hour. But as the clock ticked to midnight and the year moved on to 2026, 19 states and 49 individual cities raised their minimum wages to at least $15. Impressively, many of these initiatives happened thanks to voters passing the measures on the ballot, where elected officials failed to push through. (Dave Jamieson|Huffpost)

5. The first insect to get legal rights

People, corporations, mountains, rivers, whales… the growing list of things with legal rights to personhood, protection, and/or representation keeps growing. Now, stingless bees have joined the party, earning the right to exist, thrive, and be represented in court if harmed. This is largely thanks to researcher Rosa Vásquez Espinoza teaming up with Indigenous people to document these key pollinators that create medicinal honey and pollinate about 80% of the Amazon rainforest’s plant species. Two regions in Peru have granted these rights amidst a push to bring them nationwide. (Damien Gayle|The Guardian, Sarah Kuta|Smithsonian)

Action: Sign to help the bees 🐝

4. France banned harmful PFAs

A ban on harmful forever chemicals called PFAs in cosmetics and clothing has entered force in France. Meaning the law has officially started, preventing the production, import, or sale of products containing the chemicals if there’s an existing alternative. This is an effort to protect the planet’s soil & water, and human health. (France 24)

3. Students made a modular car you can fix at home

This might be the last car you’ll ever need…

After being frustrated with so many products that now have planned obsolescence, meaning they’re designed to not last very long so we’re forced to buy replacements, students from three universities in the Netherlands decided to build a vehicle that can transform the automotive industry.

They literally called it ARIA, standing for Anyone Repairs It Anywhere. Made of separate components, users only need to replace an individual part if something goes wrong, by using the manual, normal standardized parts, and the built-in toolbox and app that walks you through the process to really make it possible to fix at home.

The fully electric prototype is made of panels that can click off, six modular and fully removable batteries which is almost unheard of in the industry, and deliberate design that puts the power and control back in the hands of the people. Their ultimate goal is to inspire the EU’s Right to Repair legislation to move beyond just tech and appliances to include vehicles as well, while reducing waste and saving us money.

And I mean, better public transportation is the best solution for getting us around, but maybe if you need a car then the future will be this model of modularity and self repair?

2. They’re 3D printing surfboards

When a surfer fell off his board which slammed into rocks and got damaged, he realized how much of the inner foam pollutes the ocean he relies on and loves, so he set out to create a 3D printed alternative made from plants.

Patricio Guerrero grew up surfing in California and was fascinated with 3D printing since he was a kid, so he decided to combine his interests and create a better surfboard. Teaming up with college friends Nathan and Pol to create Swellcycle, he first experimented with melting down trays and hospital packaging to feed into a 3D printer, building the boards layer by layer, unlike the traditional process of shaving down and sanding a big block of oil-based polyurethane plastic that breaks down into microplastics and wastes about 40% of the starting material while shaping.

But while the 3D printing made the right shape, the real trick was to make it perform well. So after hours of testing, demo days, enlisting the help of professionals, and switching materials to a bioplastic made of corn starch and sugarcane, they’ve been able to make the boards lighter, stronger, and better. And best of all, instead of tossing away the boards to sit in a landfill, these can be ground up and used to make new products in a circular model that avoids waste.

1. Our community took action

🥫 hello.ickyniki started volunteering at a soup kitchen and has met a bunch of wonderful likeminded people in the process.

🏃 arte_y_locuras has been running a 5K every few weeks to benefit causes helping children in need.

🍝 isilzha579’s area has a local group giving out hot meals and gently used clothes and necessities every two weeks.

+ Bonus stories worth checking out

🦫 Four rescued capybaras are in the middle of a public naming competition (and we can all vote)!

🚶 A group of monks and their rescued dog Aloka are walking from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, D.C. in the Walk for Peace.

📰 The Guardian’s Young Country Diary series is open for submissions, where children aged 8-14 can get their short nature stories published!

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more.

Remember that all of this progress starts from regular people like you and I making the decision to step up and solve a problem.

Love you. Thank you. Happy New Year.

A fraction of all the good that happened this year

January

🐻‍❄️♳🦌 An Arctic drilling lease sale failed when no company placed any bids, Thailand banned plastic waste imports, and 16 new wildlife crossings were announced across 16 US states.

February

🦬🍄‍🟫🏔️ 540 buffalo returned to their ancestral homeland, scientists invented a 3D-printed fungi battery that decomposes when out of power, and the Taranaki Maunga mountain in New Zealand was unanimously recognized as a legal person.

March

📚🪧📉 The 200,000th Little Free Library was created, protests broke out across every National Park site to protect our public lands, and the UK’s emissions fell to the lowest level since 1872.

April

🧸💰🌊 The EU banned harmful PFAs in toys, Chevron was forced to pay $750 million for illegal damages, and over 800 marine species were discovered in a global search for unknown life.

May

💸🧑‍🔬🌺 The US ended hidden “junk fees” or misleading prices from hotels and events, community scientists recorded 3.3 million wildlife observations, and Hawaii added a tourism fee to protect their natural resources.

June

🤝👗🐋 The biggest Indigenous land back deal ever in California was completed, France adopted a bill that bans ultra fast fashion ads, and a real princess from Tonga called for the recognition of whales as legal persons who can defend their rights in court.

July

💦🧑‍⚖️⚡️ Flint, Michigan finally finished replacing 11,000 lead pipes to clean up the city’s drinking water, the highest court in the world ruled that countries must to prevent activities that harm the environment, and Poland generated more power from clean energy than coal for the first time despite being Europe’s most coal-dependent nation.

August

💥🌞🐢 8 coal plant towers were beautifully destroyed in the biggest-ever simultaneous demolition, researchers made a new solar cell that works with indoor light to replace small batteries, and former sea turtle poachers transitioned to working for conservation organizations in Cabo Verde.

September

🐘✈️🛍️ The last captive elephant in Argentina was released into a sanctuary as the nation closes down their zoos, a solar-powered plane broke a record by reaching 9,521 meters on a 5 hour flight over the Swiss Alps, and a secondhand shopping mall in Sweden with donated items turned 10 years old.

October

🇮🇹💡🌊 Italy became the first European country to make harmful deepfakes illegal and punishable by prison, new data showed the world’s biggest electricity source became renewables, the UN High Seas Treaty to protect international waters reached enough countries to become legally binding next year.

November

🎟️🧸🏞️ The UK made it illegal to resell live event tickets for more than the original cost, all children in New Mexico started getting free childcare, 2.2 million acres of land was returned in one of Australia’s biggest Indigenous land back deals.

December

🌊🎥🌸 Norway paused deep sea mining through at least 2029, Ecuador’s Indigenous Otavalo community made an anime to preserve their fading language and customs, and nature’s inherent right to exist is remaining after Ecuadorian citizens voted against a proposal that would rewrite their constitution.

Our community’s actions

I have thousands and thousands of screenshots of your comments from this year, but here’s a highlight of just a tiny percentage of the community wins you’ve shared!

Together, we’ve:

🏡 Turned a property into an open-source homeless shelter, 📞 overcame phone anxiety to call elected officials, 🥕 built a veggie greenhouse out of salvage yard windows, 📚 made a tiny community library, 🦋 planted milkweed for monarch butterflies, 🐶 made homemade puppy food, 👕 did a no-buy year for clothes, 🌱 threw clay seed balls onto unused land, 🧂 started a free ingredients library, ☎️ regularly contacted elected representatives, 🧵 sewed a quilt from old memorable clothes, 🌱 set up a free seed library in a lawn, 🧶 opened a store selling unused fabrics, 💒 donated leftover wedding food to a fire station, 🪏 built a free gardening library, 🙌 started a weekly Good Deeds Club, 📙 created a neighborhood Book Trailer, 🪴 saved 2,000 pounds of clay for ceramics students, 🏋️‍♀️ convinced a gym to switch to plastic-free detergent, 🥦 started a veggie garden with apartment neighbors, 🔌 installed the trifecta of a heat pump/EV/solar, 💐 dropped leftover wedding flowers on stranger’s porches, 🗑️ brought a garbage can to their local beach to save 30 bags of litter, ✏️ started a program for students to donate unwanted items on move out day, 🧑‍🌾 replaced invasive plants with native pollinator gardens, 🥗 accidentally started a food bank, 💰 raised money in a school club to build water wells in Africa, 🍴 held a successful grassroots fundraising dinner… and so. much. more.

That’s all, folks.

🗣️ Before you go, say it with me: we build a better future together, and 2026 will be our year!

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more!

2026 will be a whole new level of replacing dread & fear with hope & action, and I’m so glad to have you all by my side. Talk to you next week for the last time this year :)

This hero secretly designed and 3D printed a functional hand for a student born without one.

Four years ago, elementary school teacher Scott Johnson saw his kindergarten student Jackson wearing a rubber hand, which was mostly for appearance. And since he teaches 3D printing, he wondered if he could create a more functional replacement, turning to an online community called e-NABLE where volunteers help make free or low cost limbs and devices for those who need them.

Collaborating with an engineer from Denmark on design files, Johnson got to work in secret, only telling his wife so no one got their hopes up in case he couldn’t pull it off.

But after a year of trial and error, the prosthetic prototype was printed mostly out of a bioplastic made from corn costing about $25, and operating as a simple machine powered by the bending the wrist.

Now in 4th grade, Jackson says the hand “felt like it was just right” as he uses it to pick up items and even try writing, with the designs kept on file to print out replacement parts or bigger sizes as he grows.

While his teacher continues to inspire his other students and lead by example, winning the 2025 Kentucky Teacher of the Year award. So is this the future of accessible prosthetics?

Teachers are notoriously impactful on young lives, but never forget that we can all step up and make a difference, no matter how hard the obstacle seems at first.

What went right this week?

5. One of the biggest court wins of the year

*Honored to note that this story was produced in collaboration with Earthjustice for social media. I was compensated for my time & efforts, and I’m including it here to provide another great story that you may like :)

In 2009, an extraordinary stretch of water by Hawaii was turned into The Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, spanning five times the size of all US National Parks combined that expanded in 2014 to be home to seven wildlife refuges, the oldest coral island in the world, and diverse aquatic life from 22 endangered species to millions of seabirds.

But suddenly, the Trump administration stripped the monument of long-established protections and opened it up to commercial fishing, which catches huge amounts of fish, harms vulnerable species due to unintended bycatch, and wreaks havoc on the food chain, threatening the unique environment for countless species that feed and nest there.

Protecting the monument is also significant to Pacific Island Indigenous communities who were voyagers and wayfinders in these waters.

So a nonprofit called Earthjustice took action and sued the administration for the illegal policy change, arguing they didn’t notify or allow for public comments, and the federal court in Honolulu agreed, ruling that commercial fishing must immediately stop.

Best of all, this victory is just one of over a thousand cases that Earthjustice has won, as they represent their clients for free to fight back against the attacks on the places and life that we love.

Action: Donate to Earthjustice 🌎🧑‍⚖️

4. The best photos of the year

This hard-to-believe mesmerizing microscopic photo of Australian net-casting spider silk that twists and loops was taken by Martin J. Ramirez and crowned the overall winner of the Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition. I genuinely can’t stop looking at it. (The Royal Society)

While this one of a dancing gorilla skipping through a forest by Mark Meth-Cohen won the Comedy Wildlife Awards. (Comedy Wildlife Awards)

3. Starting a Climate Nobel Prize?

A new Climate Nobel Prize category has been proposed by the search engine Ecosia along with a €1 million commitment to set the new award up and start honoring the people, communities, and movements protecting life on earth while advancing solutions and actions. So far this is just a proposal, but they’re in touch with the team and claim they’re confident that if it gains enough traction, it will become a reality. (Ecosia)

2. Indigenous Landback deal near Yosemite

900 acres of ancestral land bordering Yosemite National Park have been given back to Indigenous tribes, 175 years after it was taken. The Pacific Forest Trust returned the land back to the Sierra Miwuk Nation who will now get to work using their cultural wisdom to restore biodiversity and resilience to the reclaimed area. (Pacific Forest Trust)

1. Our community took action

⛪️ rebecca_angel_music’s church switched over to 100% solar power.

🌞 My parents finished installing their rooftop solar!

✍️ saturnveravenus started writing the book they’ve been procrastinating for almost a year.

+ Your top nonprofits to support

When this time of year rolls around, a lot of us are in a giving mood. So I asked you all (on Instagram) what your favorite nonprofits are. Here are a few of the top results:

• Jane Goodall Institute: a community-focused conservation organization honoring the legacy of this icon.

• National Alliance on Mental Illness: providing education, support, and advocacy for those struggling with mental illness.

• Doctors Without Borders: giving medical & humanitarian aid to those in need.

• Your local parks, libraries, community centers, and food banks! I’m supporting my local Prospect Park Alliance.

• Bonus: we’re not a nonprofit, but if you value this work, you can also become a paid supporter of The Hopemakers. Thanks for making this all possible!

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more!

After more than six years of folding origami animals for fun, 14-year-old Miles Wu took it to a whole new level.

He recently designed an origami pattern that can hold 10,000 times its own weight to be used for emergency relief structures following disasters.

Based on a pattern called Miura-ori, his creation took 54 hand-folded variations and 108 trials until he figured it out, testing all sorts of different papers, angles, and iterations. And in the end, his design won him a $25,000 prize to try and scale up the trifecta of having a structure be small, strong, and easily deployable at the same time.

Up next for the young talent? Prototyping this structure to use in the real world, followed by many more years of origami-related research.

If this isn’t proof that picking up fun and quirky hobbies is important, then I don’t know what is!

Top stories of progress from this week…

10. Manta & devil rays get protections

70 species, including all ten species of manta and devil rays, were granted the highest level of protection by unanimous vote from more than 100 governments, banning their international trade and hopefully flipping around their decreasing populations. (Alexa Robles-Gil|NYT, Rob Hutchins|Oceanographic)

9. London hits a huge school lunch milestone

100,000 free school lunches have now been given out in London thanks to their program addressing rising costs while making sure kids don’t go hungry. The initiative started in 2023 and has given each child 435 free and healthy lunches on average. (BBC)

8. New speed limits to save whales

When the star of one of the most stunning photos ever taken by Rachel Moore of a humpback whale named Sweet Girl was struck by a boat that ended her life, a campaign for change erupted. 50,000 people demanded new boat speed limits to avoid future collisions in French Polynesia, which finally just passed, showing the power that our voices and art can have. (Rachel Moore, Charlie René|Radio1 (french))

7. Indigenous anime released

Ecuador’s Indigenous Otavalo community are using anime to preserve their language and customs which are fading away due to globalization. The effort is aimed at defending their culture and spirituality with stories aimed at attracting youth. This first anime piece is called We’re Aya and while I don’t understand what they’re saying in it, it’s beautiful to watch! (Gonzalo Solano|AP)

6. A fairy lantern plant found on a picnic

While visiting a picnic site in Malaysia, Gim Siew Tan spotted a peculiar plant with whitish-peach flowers that turned out to be new to science. Now, it was just classified as a species of fairy lantern which lives underground and only emerges to briefly flower. Coolest of all, it hasn’t been spotted anywhere else in the world! (Shreya Dasgupta|Mongabay)

5. Switching to 100% renewable power in NYC

*This story was produced in collaboration with my partner Climate Power. I was compensated for my time & efforts creating it for social media. I only collaborate on authentic ideas I truly believe in & want more people to know about, so I’m including it here to provide another great story that you may like :)

I didn’t know this was possible to do yet, until I was sent a site called Power to Choose. They explain that in 1990, the state of New York opened utilities up to third-party competition, letting consumers choose who provides our energy, which means while the delivery of electricity is set, we can pick from dozens of Energy Services Companies to generate and provide the energy.

I put this to the test, and it’s an official government website so it’s not the most beautiful thing in the world, but I entered my zip code, got 62 different energy offers with 47 of them having renewables, and more than half of those being only clean sources like solar, wind, hydroelectric, and even tidal-ocean. The price comparisons are shown, as well as information on each provider so we can do necessary research on the company and their sources, and there’s a record of any past complaints.

But what’s the actual point of doing any of this?

Besides potentially saving money, clean energy investments are at risk because of powerful people trying to stop them, despite a huge amount of proof that they’re the future of energy for lowering prices, cleaning up the planet, and creating good jobs. So the more of us that show we care and go out of our ways to willingly switch over, the more we can prove to decision makers this is what we want.

Action: Check out Power to Choose⚡️

4. Transforming vacant lots into flower farms

40-year-old Quilen Blackwell started a nonprofit called Southside Blooms which is transforming Chicago’s vacant lots into flower farms while hiring at-risk youth. So far, they’ve transformed six lots while employing 25 people aged 16-25 to grow and sell the flowers, winning Quilen and the team a $100,000 prize and the honor of being named the 2025 Hero of the Year by CNN. (Kathleen Toner|ABC)

3. Norways stops deep sea mining before it starts

Norway just paused deep sea mining through at least 2029 which, could have started next year until parliament voted to overturn this decision. They’re following the lead of 40 countries that have banned the destructive activity to protect their waters and diverse ocean life. (Elizabeth Claire Alberts|Mongabay)

2. Texas solar passes coal

For the first time, Texas, which is home to the largest power network in the US, is set to generate more energy from solar than coal over the full year. After they built record levels of panels and battery storage, it’s looking like the fast and cheap future of energy is renewables, even in unlikely places. (Gavin Maguire|Reuters)

1. Our community took action

🤝 craftsbypetalouda started doing an act of kindness whenever they feel angry or hopeless to turn those feelings around and help their community.

🎓 maisha_ebooks finally got accepted into their environmental graduate school program to make a difference for the earth.

🧣 closetgoblin_shop hosted a clothing swap to exchange free winter clothes while collecting cans to donate to their local food pantry.

Do you have a good story to share?

Leave a comment

+ Bonus stories worth checking out

🛰️ Space-based solar energy might be coming soon. Scientific American explains the pros and cons.

🛑 Can AI data centers be stopped? 230 environmental groups are demanding it.

🐝 Stingless bees earned the world’s first legal rights for an insect, born in the Peruvian Amazon and now having the right to exist, thrive, and be represented in court.

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more!

Conservationists use behavioral data to understand and protect species, particularly now that many insects are quickly declining. So 20 organizations in four countries came together across borders to find a way of getting real-time data on the travel patterns of the iconic butterflies.

But since they weigh less than a gram, a tracker would have to be as light as just two grains of rice, which didn’t exist when Mark Garland raised the idea back in 2015. Yet a new chip development, a tiny custom solar panel, and community scientists made this radio tag possible.

Connecting through an app called Project Monarch Science, anyone with a smartphone can detect signals within 300 feet of the animals, meaning the more people that download the app, the more accurate the data will become.

More than 400 tracked butterflies have been deployed so far, as they migrate from Canada and the Northern US down to Mexico, while researchers collect and study the unprecedented data to determine what comes next.

It’s only happening because of a bold challenge and incredible teamwork, but maybe this can help us truly understand these insects?

And now, enjoy seven of this week’s underrated stories of progress:

7. Saving a dying Indigenous language

With only 8 fluent speakers left of a “critically endangered” Indigenous language called Nyiyaparli, a smartphone game called Nyiyaparli Widi was developed to attract kid’s attention and keep this Australian First Nations language alive forever. It’s early success has won it five international awards as they plan to add more words and languages to preserve these important native cultures. (Charlie McLean, Mietta Adams|ABC)

6. Nature keeps its constitutional right to exist

Nature’s inherent right to exist is remaining in Ecuador after citizens voted against a proposal that would rewrite their constitution. Nearly two-thirds of voters opposed the change, meaning they are keeping the world’s only constitutional recognition of the rights of nature to exist and regenerate. (Katie Surma|Inside Climate News)

5. Animals evolved to kiss 21 million years ago

You read that right! Mouth on mouth kissing dates back about 21.5 million years, per a new study. Scientists found that kissing probably evolved first in large apes, and they aren’t sure why yet, but leading theories suggest it helped assess health and compatibility of a partner, or it was a part of the grooming process. Despite what we may think, humans aren’t even close to the only kissers out there. 😘 (Victoria Gill|BBC)

4. Fungus is the new mosquito repellant?

A tweaked fungus that produces an irresistible smell to mosquitoes could be a new form of insect repellant. This more natural option could replace or enhance current methods by attracting the bloodsucking insects into a trap that’s 90-100% effective in lab experiments without needing toxic chemicals. (Jason P. Dinh|NYT)

3. A famous chopped down tree lives on

The famous Sycamore Gap tree that was illegally chopped down in 2023 will now live on with 49 saplings known as “trees of hope”. These were grown from seeds of the original tree, now being planted on important sites around the country to be symbols of remembrance, resilience, and empowerment. (Mark Brown|The Guardian)

2. Free buses work

Two years after Iowa City made their buses free to ride, the program was so successful at increasing ridership and cleaning up the air that they’ve extended it for at least another year, helping more people get around the city faster. They covered the bill with a 1% increase in utility taxes while raising parking car rates from $1 to $2. (Cara Buckley|NYT)

1. 🤝 Our community took action

🔪 bun_superior convinced their college to switch to reusable dissection models instead of disposable specimens.

💪 _trisha.m_ turned 17, got their first job, and is overcoming hardships to continue charging forward.

What went right in your world this week?

Leave a comment

+ Bonus stories worth knowing

🌾 Agricultural drones appear to be the future of farming.

🪧 A huge climate protest temporarily shut down one of the world’s biggest coal ports.

🔫 This nonprofit is destroying guns and turning them into gardening tools.

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more!

She moved to Oakland following the “Great Flood” and opened one of the first black-owned record shops in California, recorded protest songs in her 30s, became an activist raising funds for the Black Panthers, and worked in local government.

And if all that wasn’t enough, her real claim to fame came when she started uncovering untold stories of African American citizens during World War 2, moving into a temporary position at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front Park at 84 years old, then becoming a permanent National Park Service employee and leading public programs until she retired at 100.

Now thriving at 104, Betty is an incredible example that it’s never too late to get involved, find your calling, and make a positive difference.

Is there something in your life you’ve wanted to do but feel it’s too late to start? Let Betty inspire you to ignore that excuse, and do it anyways!

NYC has a wind turbine?!

*This piece was a paid opportunity created with my partner Climate Power. I only collaborate on authentic ideas I truly believe in that I want more people to know about, and I’m including it here to provide another great story that you may like :)

I was walking around Brooklyn one day when I saw a single, lonely wind turbine. I thought was the only one in New York City… But it turns out I was very wrong!

Watch this video I made to learn more about wind power in NYC, and discover the #YestoWind campaign getting more offshore wind across the northeast.

10 of the best stories from November 2025

🎟️ The UK is helping fans not get ripped off by making it illegal to resell live event tickets for more than the original cost.

🦑 30 new deep sea species were discovered like the carnivorous death ball sponge, zombie worms with no mouth or gut, and a massive sea star.

🧸 All children in New Mexico started getting free childcare.

🏞️ 2.2 million acres of land was returned in one of Australia’s biggest Indigenous land back deals.

🌞 A new South Korean law started requiring all parking lots with 80 or more spaces to install solar panel canopies.

🦀 100 million crabs crawled over the Christmas Island in their annual mating migration while rangers suppressed invasive ants and blocked off roads.

💨 A double-headed wind turbine which will be the world’s largest moved forward off the coast of China.

🛒 A completely free grocery store inside a Baltimore library soared past 15,000 families served.

🕷️ The world’s biggest spiderweb with 100,000 spiders was discovered in a cave, made by two different species working together despite typically not getting along.

🤝 And our community accidentally started a food bank, raised money in their school club to build water wells in Africa, and held a successful grassroots fundraising dinner.

What about you? Let us know your favorite story from November, and see you in December :)

Leave a comment

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more!