Why did Rembrandt's $20M lion masterpiece vanish? (a surprisingly good reason)

Hey fam,

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?

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Good news I found this week

5. Nuclear bomb (anti-)world record

Photo by t Penguin on Unsplash

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

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

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.

Alerce: An ancient alerce, an iconic Chilean conifer protected by law. It can store large amounts of carbon, making it a key ally in mitigating the climate crisis. © Marcelo Salazar|The Nature Conservancy

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!

2. The AI sorting trash

Photo by banah on Unsplash

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

Credit: Petra Kleis|Imagine5

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.

Photo by Line Kjær on Unsplash

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!

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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.