This teacher 3D printed a working hand for his student [vol. 179]
Plus some of the best photos you've seen all year, a big court win, a potential new Nobel Prize category, and more...
Hey fam - the year is really almost over now! Next week will be a big recap of the top stories from 2025, and then I’ll be taking time off until early next year. It’s been an absolute honor to see how much our community has grown, and I’m so excited to ramp up our Community Missions over the next few months.
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.
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 not 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!