no. 122: Published in a newspaper

I wrote my first-ever article that's published in a newspaper!

I talked about this in Tuesday's video, but in case you missed it, I teamed up with GoodGoodGood to write an article for their Goodnewspaper (which is focused on just good news, so we couldn't be more aligned).

I had the pleasure of speaking to a bunch of inspiring "artivists" (artists & activists) to learn about their work and impact, and the article is titled, Can Art Save Our Planet?.

To find out the answer for yourself, pick up a copy!

More on this below, alongside as several dozen other stories of progress. Keep sharing your wins with me, and let's have a great weekend!

Progress from Monday, October 14

It’s Indigenous People’s Day in the US and the new Chumash Sanctuary is now official, covering 4,543 square miles of waters which will be co-managed by Indigenous communities to use their knowledge in properly protecting the area’s diverse marine life (NOAA) 🌊

Closed landfills are finding a second life by using all that empty, open space and transforming into solar farms, turning the low-quality land into a good source of clean energy and income, with massive potential across the thousands of decommissioned landfills across the US (YCC) 🗑️

A new independent report found that global carbon emissions will peak in 2024 thanks to the adoption of renewables and electrification, and while it’s still much slower than we need, this is a solid sign that all of our efforts to protect the earth are working, and we can’t slow down (Peter Lovegrove|DNV) 📉

And today’s community win comes from Plane who started Fire Academy to become a Firefighter and save lives 🧑‍🚒

Progress from Tuesday, October 15

Spider-Man’s webs are now real thanks to researchers accidentally recreating the web fluid while working on a separate project involving silk moth cocoons, which can be shot from a needle, solidify almost immediately, stick to objects, and pick up over 80 times its weight (Tufts University) 🕷️

Real-life heroes have completely transformed Rio de Janeiro's Atlantic Forest in under 40 years thanks to a reforestation project to reduce landslides and provide jobs which has also dramatically improved local environmental education (Constance Malleret|The Guardian) 🌳

By building over 40 wildlife crossings which let animals safely pass over roads, Colorado has reduced their wildlife traffic collisions by about 90%, increasing safety for all lives and saving millions of dollars in damages (Stephanie Butzer|ABC) 🦌

Community win: I just wrote my first-ever article published in a newspaper! I’m quite proud of this piece for the Goodnewspaper, exploring if art can help save our planet, featuring several amazing artists. The paper hooked us up with a big discount to get a beautiful physical copy of the paper for just $1 (and I get a small kickback), so grab a copy if you want even more good news and to help support me a bit! 🗞️

Progress from Wednesday, October 16

A railway in Switzerland is getting lined with solar panels after passing a safety assessment, which will power the local grid and take advantage of the mostly unused space with basically no disruptions as the panels can be easily removed if they need maintenance (Gwénaëlle Deboutte|PV Magazine) 🌞

The iconic Baobab trees found throughout Africa for the past 12 million years, which are undeniably some of the coolest trees in the world, are still thriving per a new study that shows the resilience of this population despite climate challenges (Rachel Nuwer|NYT) 🌍

All remaining lead pipes in the US will need to be removed and replaced within the decade thanks to a new rule by the Environmental Protection Agency that will protect almost a million infants from developmental issues and help eliminate lead’s toxic threat (Amudalat Ajasa & Silvia Foster-Frau|Washpo) 💧

Community win: hollimonster's electric car saved them from flooding and a power outage during Hurricane Helene, by using the car battery to power a pump that got the water out 🔋

Progress from Thursday, October 17

When wave snails were wiped out by a toxic algal bloom, scientists conducted a fascinating experiment by reintroducing much larger crab snails which are genetically diverse and rapidly evolved to resemble the lost wave snails in just 30 years, showing promise for adapting to modern environmental challenges (Institute of Science and Technology Austria) 🧑‍🔬

Train travel is getting even more popular across Europe as people care more about their environmental impact, crave leisurely travel, and don’t want to deal with airports, while high-speed and night train networks are expanding to make this easier (Ignacio Fariza|El Pais) 🇪🇺

The Han river in Seoul, South Korea has had a substantial recovery thanks to the government taking restoration action 17 years ago by creating a natural embankment, doubling the number of trees, and increasing species diversity with a goal of restoring the original ecosystem (Jung Da-hyun|Korea Times) 🌊

And today’s community win comes from Saffron who’s starting to understand their math class 🧮

Bonus stories

⛽️ Providence, Rhode Island is considering a ban on new gas stations to instead focus on expanding electric charging infrastructure

🎶 Fungi that protects trees from pathogens grows 7x faster when sounds are played

🧑‍🚀 Even astronauts are voting in the US general election... from space!

This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. 700,000+ people are in our community replacing dread & fear with hope & action across Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and now YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by emailing jacob@jacobsimonsays.com