Stunning living wall at Maidstone Innovation Centre

Good News Notes: “As part of Big Green Week, which ran from September 18 to 26, Maidstone Innovation Centre has planted a ‘living wall’ that includes more than 10,000 plants. It incorporates a range of species indigenous to the local area, which will bloom all year round, attracting bees and butterflies. The wall covers 90.5 square metres…

Illinois becomes 1st Midwestern state to pass a law to phase out fossil fuels

Good News Notes: “At a time when the Midwest is being battered by more severe storms due to climate change, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a landmark law this month that will transition the state to 100 percent clean energy by 2045, with benchmarks along the way. While the effort has largely escaped national media attention, it…

Boston University to Divest from Fossil Fuel Industry

Good News Notes: “Boston University will divest from fossil fuels, starting immediately, President Robert A. Brown announced on Thursday, a decision reached amid increasing proof that burning fossil fuels is accelerating the harmful effects of climate change—and after nearly a decade of campus activism and protests. “This has been a long journey within the BU…

Reforestation could help save coral reefs from catastrophe

Good News Notes: “The study analysed more than 5,500 coastal areas from around the world and found that nearly 85 per cent of them leached sediment to coral reefs, the second most serious threat facing the world’s reefs behind climate change. Dr Andrés Suárez-Castro from UQ’s Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science said it was…

World’s largest carbon-capture plant Orca opens in Iceland

Good News Notes: “The world’s largest direct air carbon capture and storage plant has started operating in Iceland, run by Swiss company Climeworks. Named Orca, the plant sucks carbon dioxide directly from the air and buries it as rocks deep underground, using technology from Climeworks‘ Icelandic partner Carbfix. Orca has the capacity to remove 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the…

Opec member urges oil producers to focus more on renewable energy

Good News Notes: “The finance minister of Iraq, one of the founding members of the global oil cartel Opec, has made an unprecedented call to fellow oil producers to move away from fossil fuel dependency and into renewable energy, ahead of a key Opec meeting. Ali Allawi, who is also the deputy prime minister of Iraq,…

Heimdal pulls CO2 and cement-making materials out of seawater using renewable energy

Good News Notes: “One of the consequences of rising CO2 levels in our atmosphere is that levels also rise proportionately in the ocean, harming wildlife and changing ecosystems. Heimdal is a startup working to pull that CO2 back out at scale using renewable energy and producing carbon-negative industrial materials, including limestone for making concrete, in the process,…

Durg forest division plans reforestation over 2,500 acres

Good News Notes: “The Durg forest division of Chhattisgarh has launched a large-scale reforestation programme, which aims to cover 2,500 acres of land, on the periphery of a limestone mining area owned by the Bhilai Steel Plant of the Steel Authority of India Limited. Currently, the Durg division’s forest cover is over 248.59 hectares, which is 0.04…

Nonprofit Organizations Offer Free Produce for Food-Insecure Families Across SoCal

Good News Notes: “Organizations are opening a world of produce for food-insecure families across Southern California. Nonprofits like Seeds of Hope and the Pico-Union Project are under an umbrella of groups with Food Forward at the top. Rick Nahmias is the founder of Food Forward, a nonprofit organization that brings fresh surplus fruits and vegetables to people experiencing food insecurity…