no. 163: What went right in August?
Hopeful stories you haven't heard... including a redemption arc for poachers, a river cleaning competition on canoes, a new moth named after the discoverer's wife, and much more!
Hey fam,
Somehow, August is (just about) over. Just four months to go in the year…
Here in NYC, the nights are starting to get a bit colder and the autumn decorations are slowly popping up. Probably a bit too early, but after the intense heat all summer, I think people deserve their pumpkin spice. I’ll be clinging onto the extra day light while I still can.
Enjoy some great stories from this week, and have a great weekend!
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From poachers to protectors (watch)
🐢 Roni Nelson Batista Ramos used to hunt turtles to feed his family on Cabo Verde in West Africa, but has completely changed his ways to now be their biggest protector…
A Mongabay interview revealed he’s one of a dozen former poachers now working for conservation organizations to protect the endangered animals. But despite these folks not even realizing this could be how they make a living, it’s working really well.
The turtles had been used for food, medicine, or the black market until increased awareness of their threat led to a big conservation push and new laws criminalized the killing of threatened species. In 2007 there were 1,253 illegal catches of female turtles on Boa Vista island, which dropped to just 20 in 2024! And over the same 16 years, loggerhead turtle nests increased by more than 700%, making it the third largest nesting population in the world.
Five out of the seven known sea turtle species roam these islands, so these folks have a tough but important job, and their success is helped by organizations like the Turtle Foundation using drones with night vision, getting dogs to help sniff out concerning scent trails, and involving the local communities to get the best information possible while creating these guardian jobs.
And while their threats are far from over, if these people completely changed their outlook to save their fellow species, maybe others can too…
Tuesday, August 26 (watch)
🛶 15 teams are competing to clean up the Tisza river in Hungary by getting on canoes and collecting as much trash as they can in a competition called the Plastic Cup which started in 2013 and has since removed over 450 tons of plastic waste (Geetanjali Krishna|Reasons to be Cheerful)
🌳 Leaders in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize just came together to announce a tri-national nature reserve in the Maya Forest which will become the second biggest in Latin America behind only the Amazon, as the nations now have the tricky job of figuring out how to properly set it up (Sonia Pérez D., Megan Janetsky|AP)
🚄 The fastest train in the US is about to launch going up to 160 miles per hour on Amtrak’s NextGen Acela, connecting Washington DC, New York, and Boston, on 28 bigger trains that will bring some long overdue high speed rail options (Amtrak)
🎥 Community win: Clare Bennett is crowdfunding to make a documentary about her mom who started rock climbing at 65 years old to help her Parkinson’s Disease, encouraging people to keep moving forward no matter what.
Wednesday, August 27 (watch)
🦋 A beautiful moth has been reclassified as its own species after 150 years by genetic testing from scientist Peter Huemer who then named it after his wife on their 42nd wedding anniversary, saying it’s the prettiest species out the 200 that he’s found. Is that not the most romantic gesture possible?! (Meghan Cook|GoodGoodGood)
🐝 Empty alleys are transforming from dumps into colorful insect havens by locals filling them with pollinator-friendly plants, in a project started by Flora Beverley to get more local nature when she was injured and unable to get to the countryside (Emma Snaith|The Guardian)
💐 Community win: s_pemble2019 took leftover bouquets from the wedding venue they worked at and left them on random porches for a lovely flower surprise when the strangers woke up.
🌞 Balcony solar panels that plug into a regular wall outlet are gaining traction in the US following popularity in Europe, that are smaller and cheaper than rooftop solar and can often be self-installed in minutes which could be the future of clean energy at home (Isabella O’Malley|AP)
^ This has great timing as the biggest-ever celebration of the sun called Sun Day approaches on September 21st with events all over the US! I’m a Sun Day partner, and you can join in the celebration by finding a local event near you:
Top stories from August (watch)
🚄 High speed rail finally came to the US with the nation’s fastest train now going 160 miles per hour from DC to Boston.
🐙 40 new species were discovered in a huge underwater canyon in Argentina including a sea star that looks like Patrick from Spongebob.
💥 8 coal plant towers were beautifully destroyed in the biggest-ever simultaneous demolition.
🔭 Scientists used a new method to spot probably the most massive black hole ever found.
⚡️ New York became the first state to require most new buildings to soon be fully electric, saving money, health, and the environment.
🌞 Researchers made a new solar cell that works with indoor light which could replace small batteries.
🐢 Former sea turtle poachers transitioned to working for conservation organizations in Cabo Verde to successfully protect endangered species.
💰 Fast fashion giant Shein was fined €1 million by Italy and €40 million by France to increase accountability for misleading environmental claims.
🦋 A man discovered a stunning new moth species and named it after his wife for their 42nd anniversary.
⚡️💐🏝️ And our community: installed the trifecta of a heat pump, EV, and solar, dropped leftover wedding flowers on stranger’s porches, brought a garbage can to their local beach to save 30 bags of litter, and so much more.
What’s your favorite story from the month…?
What else?
🐭 These 13-year-olds are saving mice.
🛡️ The Miccosukee tribe is protecting Florida.
👽 Space solar panels to generate Europe’s energy?
This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, and Bluesky. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by emailing jacob@jacobsimonsays.com. Main illustration by Andrea Miralles. See you next week for more!