no. 109: My brother got married

Hey friend,

Happy Friday!

Last week, my brother got married over a truly magical weekend. It's certainly not everyday that you get to be a part of a combined Hindu/Jewish wedding.

Hundreds of family members and friends converged on a stunning vineyard in California to celebrate all weekend long, and it went beautifully (despite being a toasty 105 degrees). I may have cried a few times witnessing their love "becoming official". Weddings really are filled with so much love and happy tears and are a perfect reminder of some of the good happening in this world.

My best man duties included a speech, three choreographed dances, carrying the rings, and emceeing the reception... and wish I could be back there doing it all again!

The wedding combined with the monthly recaps I put together makes this week's newsletter a bit shorter than normal, but I promise that it's still filled with plenty of hope.

Oh and by the way - if you have questions, clarifications, or comments on any of these stories, don't hesitate to send them over. In fact, I'd love to hear from you to help guide a new longer form series that's in development that dives deeper into the stories you care about the most.

If anything comes to mind while reading, just hit reply and let me know!

And now, on with the show...

The top 4 from Wednesday, July 10

4: New York City’s making landlords put trash from most homes into bins instead of just piling it up on the street with a rolling start in November, and they’re testing out shared dumpsters to fight the rat population and clean up litter (Liam Quigley|Gothamist)

3: An EU-funded study found putting data centers in space would be economically and environmentally beneficial by powering with solar energy and eliminating the need for cooling costs and resources, if less emissive rockets could be developed (Nina Kienle|WSJ)

2: Days after the British elections, the new Labour government lifted a ban of new onshore wind farms in England to lower energy prices, boost jobs, and help meet climate goals (Helena Horton|The Guardian)

1: Deforestation in Colombia hit a 23 year low thanks to somewhat fragile peace talks and the government paying farmers to conserve nature, moving towards president Petro’s promise of zero deforestation by 2030 (Phys.org)

Bonus: a startup made an EV battery charge from 10 to 80% in under 5 minutes, nearly the average gasoline fill up time (Rodielon Putol|Earth)

The top 4 from Thursday, July 11

4: Indigenous people are building bridges that connect forest canopy, allowing wildlife to safely cross without collision risks with at least 30 bridges already being used by 8 different primate species (Suzana Camargo|Mongabay)

3: The first solar panel-covered canal in the US is nearing completion in Arizona which will simultaneously generate more energy without needing more land while limiting algae growth and water evaporation (Eric Wesoff|Canary Media)

2: A new analysis of 10,000 protected areas found that conservation and economic development increase together the majority of the time in a win-win, especially if the protections can help lift communities out of poverty (Warren Cornwall|Anthropocene Magazine)

1: Grocery stores in Germany are building off of circular economy principles around reusable bottles to popularize the concept of bulk refilling where customers bring their own reusable containers to eliminate unnecessary packaging (Ajit Niranjan|The Guardian)

Bonus: Copenhagen is now rewarding tourists that use planet-friendly traveling like biking, taking trains, and helping clean up the city by offering free access to museum tours, boat rentals, and food in exchange (Ceylan Yeğinsu|NYT)

The top 4 from Friday, July 12

4: A pair of lions just swam a record-breaking 1.5 kilometers through a dangerous African river in search of mates, and I’m a little biased towards this story because one of them is a local legend named Jacob said to have 9 lives after surviving a poacher’s snare (Lisa Cox|The Guardian)

3: Hawaii just banned deep sea mining in its waters to stop irreversible damage of marine ecosystems before it even begins, especially since better e-waste recycling could provide the minerals we need (Yusuf Khan|WSJ)

2: The solar panel industry is using sophisticated weather forecasting and trackers to tilt panels to protect against extreme weather like hail and prevent damage and last longer (Dan Gearino|ICN)

1: Denmark is enacting the world’s first government-led plan to consume less meat by supporting plant-based cooking, training vegetarian chefs, and implementing an emissions tax on agricultural greenhouse gas pollution from livestock (Sanne Wass|Bloomberg & Ajit Niranjan|The Guardian)

Bonus: A wind fence has been designed of twisty vertical turbines that looks pretty cool and 5 fences would generate enough to power an average US home (Wes Stenzel|TCD)

Extra extra

🦩 Flamingos (and much more) have returned to the Everglades.

🚲 This 170-person crew keeps NYC's 15,000 public e-bikes stay charged.

♻️ Can we actually recycle solar panels?

🔥 Not all fire is bad, and these indigenous people know it.

One last thing!

I'm about to launch a new show that's a deeper dive into these stories of progress and how they succeed. Let me know (by commenting or replying) which you'd like to learn more about and any questions you have!

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