Good News Notes: “An Australian mammal thought to have been wiped out over 150 years ago can now be crossed off our list of extinct animals, following a new study. Researchers compared DNA samples fromeight extinct Australian rodents, as well as 42 of their living relatives, to look at the decline of native species since…
Tag: biodiversity
Ex-Reddit CEO raises $30M to offer ‘reforestation in a box’
Good News Notes: “Over the past 4.5 billion years (give or take a few hundred million), the Earth has cultivated many perfect examples of circular economy principles — including the natural patterns through which water is withdrawn from rivers, springs, streams, lakes (and so forth) through evaporation and returned through rainfalls both gentle and stormy. …
Blue Nature Alliance aims to restore 7 million square miles of ocean in five years
Good News Notes: “The ocean covers more than 70% of our planet, a total of 139 million square miles. An initiative launched on Tuesday aims to protect 5% of it in the next five years. That might sound like a drop, but at 7 million square miles, it’s a larger area than the entire continent…
Rare animal photographed alive for the first time in the wild
Good News Notes: “Camera traps, devices used to capture wildlife using motion sensors, are saving the animals from bushmeat hunters and spotting rare animals in the process. In the West African country of Togo, researchers were able to see images of the Walter’s duiker, a petite African antelope species, for the first time in the…
The human right that benefits nature
Good News Notes: “The history behind one of Costa Rica’s most important environmental commitments reads something like a legal fairytale. It started nearly 30 years ago, with a young boy who wanted to stop the pollution in his neighborhood and ended with a constitutional reform. The impacts of the boy’s efforts are still causing ripples…
Voeltzkow’s chameleon unseen for over a century re-discovered in Madagascar
Good News Notes: “Every day, the biodiversity of Planet Earth diminishes by an astonishing amount. According to a comprehensive 2007 survey conducted by 2,500 experts representing 130 countries at the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, we are currently experiencing the biggest extinction wave since the vanishing of the dinosaurs, with between 18,000 and 55,000 species disappearing every year. So it’s with great…
Study: Birds Are Linked to Happiness Levels
Good News Notes: “A new study reveals that greater bird biodiversity brings greater joy to people, according to recent findings from the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research. In fact, scientists concluded that conservationis just as important for human well-being as financial security. The study, published in Ecological Economics, focused on European residents, and determined that happiness correlated with a…
Global reforestation drive grows fast as governments grasp benefits
Good News Notes: “The world’s largest reforestation push, now almost a decade old, has beaten its 2020 target, as countries use their pledges to tackle national priorities including job creation, food security and climate change, researchers said on Wednesday. The Bonn Challenge – launched in 2011 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and…
Hunted to extinction, England’s first wild beavers in 400 years allowed to stay
Good News Notes: “After a 400-year wait, sharp teeth are once again gnawing through trees and building dams on English waterways. Hunted to extinction in the 16th century, wild beavers are making a comeback after a five-year study demonstrated their positive impact on the environment. Local landowners had expressed concern that they could spread disease…
This Photographer Is Working To Document Species Before They Go Extinct
Good News Notes: “Joel Sartore, a photographer based in Lincoln, Nebraska, has worked with National Geographic for over 30 years, and has led the Photo Ark for the past 15. The mission of the Photo Ark is to document the 15,000 species that are in captivity, many of which are on the edge of extinction. Sartore…