11 actual good news stories this week
Hey fam,
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.
You're a light in the darkness!
(I don't have a substack, so that's weird.)