For the first and only time: a new plastic treaty & France promotes biking
Happy June! Somehow, it's already the 6th month of the year.
And happy pride month!
It was a jam-packed week of good news, both around the world and in my life. I had a great time being in my childhood friend's wedding last weekend, and my brother proposed to his girlfriend (now fiancé) while I hid in the trees and snapped pictures.
Any good news going on in your life? Let us know in a comment at the end of this post!
And now, here's a whole heck of a lot of good:
The Good From Friday, May 26, 2023 (watch here)
🐱 Five incredibly cute critically endangered Scottish Wildcat Kittens were born and are all healthy and will be raised for about a year before being released into a Scottish national park.
🧑🏫 A group of 200 of the world’s leading scholars and researchers from 55 countries are joining forces to study and fight misinformation.
⚡️ Minnesota has passed a trifecta of climate wins: A $2 billion dollar electrification package, a $1.3 billion dollar boost for public transit and e-bikes, plus a 100 percent clean energy mandate by 2040!
🔋 Ample is getting some recognition for their modular battery swapping after 8 years of development (which they actually showed me in person last week) that can effectively fully charge any EV in just 5 minutes.
🫀 Beyond Meat’s beyond steak has received the American Heart Association’s Heart-Check Mark, meaning it qualifies the plant-based meat product as a heart-healthy food, signifying it as a great option for both the planet and yourself.
The Good From Monday, May 29, 2023 (watch here)
⛴️ More than 5,000 new marine species have been discovered in an English expedition in the Pacific including strange shellfish, carnivorous sponges, sea cucumbers, worms, and urchin-like spiny invertebrates.
📊 Investments in clean energy will surpass fossil fuel spending for the first time ever this year according to a new report from the IEA & for every dollar invested in fossil fuels, about 1.7 dollars are now going into clean energy!
🌊 33 countries are working together to increase undersea farming and scale up the growth of ulva, a nutrient-dense superfood that they’re calling sea-wheat that could act as a stable crop and prevent a future hunger crisis.
🐻 72 grizzly bears were set to be killed just outside of Yellowstone national park due to a previous ruling regarding the protection of livestock, but a court just ruled that this violated federal law and overturned it, thus the bears will be saved!
🧑🌾 An inspiring woman named Crystal Diaz is one of several fighting food insecurity on small island nations that import up to 99% of their food, so she founded an app called PRoduce to fight food insecurity.
The Good From Tuesday, May 30, 2023 (watch here)
🇺🇳 The UN is meeting in Paris to create a legally binding global plastics treaty that ends plastic pollution with 2,000 participants from 200 countries.
🚲 France is dedicating 2 billion euros to creating better bike infrastructure and promoting cycling instead of driving throughout the country.
🌼 A yellow wildflower found only in York, England became extinct in 1991 due to the use of weedkillers, but it was just brought back by successfully germinating 98 of the 100 seeds that were left at the Millennium Seed Bank.
✈️ Delta Air Lines has been served with a new lawsuit for “false and misleading” claims of carbon neutrality based upon inadequate offsets, hopefully bringing more accountability and transparency to airlines.
🧽 Hainan, China is the first “sponge city”, filled with natural spaces like parks, lakes, and wetlands that absorb and store rainwater, instead of the standard gray infrastructure found in most cities full of concrete walls.
The Good From Wednesday, May 31, 2023 (watch here)
Instead of new stories, I dedicated today to recapping the best story from each day this month! Check it out here.
The Good From Thursday, June 1, 2023 (watch here)
🐼 The first and only albino giant panda was last spotted in 2019 but just spotted again and appears to be happy, healthy, and thriving in the wild
🏴 Every single one of the 140 distilleries in Scotland has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2040.
🔋 There’s enough clean energy in the US power grid queue right now to fully decarbonize the grid by 2035.
🧑⚖️ The first US climate lawsuit will still occur next month thanks to a judge in Montana rejecting the state’s bid to dismiss the youth-led case entirely
💨 New research has revealed that offshore wind farms have become havens for marine life that live on the seafloor by providing a suitable hard structure for larvae to settle and grow into adults.
Which story was your favorite this week? Let us know in a comment below!
Until next time,
Jacob