This week's good news: IRA turns 1, Texas sues Big Oil & cathedral-like trees!
Hey, good personal news, my sister Jessica (and soon-to-be brother Dave) are getting married TOMORROW!
I'm in Chicago for the week, celebrating their love, and feeling extra good about all of this week's good news.
These 20 stories about the environment are really, really great. But our personal stories are pretty great too. If you ever have a win from your life to share, drop it in a comment below so we can all celebrate with you!
And now, what you came here for...
The good from Friday, August 11
Scientists discovered a new ecosystem deep in the ocean by an undersea volcano with thriving snails, worms, and bacteria despite no sunlight, proving there’s still so much more to be discovered.
đź‘‘ *The US IRA was passed a year ago and has generated over 170,000 clean energy jobs, 1 million EVs sold, and a bunch of tax credits, incentives, and basically free money if consumers switch to electric, which Rewiring America created a calculator to see how much you could save!
Red Admiral Butterfly populations have increased by a staggering 400% this year in the UK, likely because these insects tend to prefer warmer temperatures.
The US announced two winners of billions of dollars to accelerate direct air capture to literally pull CO2 out of the air, and while this isn’t a great climate solution on its own, it can work together with reducing emissions to hit our climate targets.
The good from Monday, August 14
The Ocean Cleanup just removed 11,353 kilograms of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, more than ever before, as they transition to their biggest remover yet called the System 03!
đź‘‘ Both Democrats and Republicans supported a bill in Pennsylvania to set up a grant program for schools to cover up to half the cost of installing solar panels which will drastically reduce their energy bills and emissions.
India’s greenhouse gas emissions intensity, or the emissions for every unit increase of GDP, has decreased by an impressive 33% over the past 14 years, thanks to renewable energy generation and bigger forest cover.
Chicago is giving $15 million in grants to low-income residents to upgrade and decarbonize their homes to make them more energy efficient at no cost to them.
The good from Tuesday, August 15
👑 16 young people from Montana sued the state for violating their constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment,” and against the odds, they just won! This is an unprecedented and huge victory for the first-ever youth-led climate lawsuit that went to trial in the US, will force Montana to consider emissions and climate impacts for projects & permits, and sets the stage for the dozens of other climate lawsuits in progress.
Airless tires that were first designed by NASA for lunar rovers made of a springy metal material called shape memory alloy are entering consumer development and could end tire punctures and massively reduce the 1.5 billion car tires discarded every year.
Researchers discovered a group of endangered Gray Wolves in California with one adult female and four pups that have never been documented before, as more return to the state they haven’t been to in a century.
The winners of the Nature in Focus Awards came out which are the best photographs out of 24,000 entries and each one is more mesmerizing than the last, I mean, we live on the same planet as all of this... How cool is that?
The good from August 16, 2023
There’s no sugarcoating the devastation that the recent fires in Hawaii have caused, but the good news is that people have come together to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for those affected throughout Maui & Lahaina. My friends put together a toolkit to help you donate and get information and footage to make a video of your own and spread the word, so if you're able to help these families, please do!
A project called Redwoods Rising is creating resilient old-growth redwood forests for the future, undoing decades of damage and ensuring these iconic, cathedral-like trees prosper in the centuries to come.
Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, is restricting fishing in areas for a minimum of 10 years to halt the decline of the critically endangered Cape Penguin, which should protect their nesting grounds and colonies.
đź‘‘ The state of Texas is suing oil giant Shell for damaging the environment by causing a fire on May 5th full of thick black smoke that contaminated the air and water and broke state laws, bringing more accountability to Big Oil.
The good from August 17, 2023
The first wild-born White Tailed Eagle in 240 years was just born in England!
A huge boom in renewable energy production has come to Texas thanks to tax incentives from the IRA including 28 wind power installations and an estimated $15 billion increase to the state’s GDP and 100,000 new jobs by 2030.
Regenerative farming is on the rise, which uses environmentally friendly techniques that regenerate tired and depleted soil, produce more nutritious food, and reduce greenhouse gases.
There’s a flourishing movement of 1,000 "Indigenous Guardians" across Canada who are demonstrating sustainable living on their traditional lands and waters and leading effective conservation efforts.
Bonus actions
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See you next Friday,
Jacob
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