Good News Notes: “The projects were launched in sand and dust hotspots of Mahshahr city during a ceremony held virtually with President Hassan Rouhani in attendance. Over the past two years, reforestation plans have included plantation on 6,500 hectares in the cities of Ahvaz, Karun, Mahshahr, and Hoveyzeh, Kourosh Kiani, Director of provincial natural resources…
Tag: deforestation
Lab grown wood could mean no more deforestation, say scientists
Good News Notes: “Tables and chairs grown in a lab could help to slow deforestation, according to a study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The concept is similar to lab grown meat. Scientists create structures made of plant cells that mimic wood, but without needing to chop down forests in the process. The wood-like…
Voeltzkow’s Chameleon Reappears After a Century of Being Labeled as Extinct
Good News Notes: “Voeltzkow’s chameleon, or the Furcifer voeltzkowi, was thought to be extinct for at least 100 years. Conservationists have rediscovered them in Madagascar, where the species are endemic. German researchers recently published their findings in the German Journal of Herpetology: Salamandra. Earth is on the verge of its sixth mass extinction or the Anthropocene…
Tinder for trees: Reforestation app hooks up investors, growers
Good News Notes: “A new online platform aims to connect people who can plant trees with investors with millions of dollars to spend, its backers said, in a bid to stem deforestation worldwide. TerraMatch, launched on Thursday, aims to boost efforts to protect forests and plant trees, critical tactics in the fight against climate change…
Fighting Poverty Can Also Fight Deforestation, New Study Finds
Good News Notes: “It may be surprising that a universal basic income would also help the environment, but that is exactly what a new study found. A government program to help poor, rural Indonesians through direct cash payments had the unexpected effect of reducing deforestation by 30 percent in participating villages, according to a new study, as Newsweek reported.”…
The World Is Facing A Natural Vanilla Shortage. This Guy Says He Will Fix That By Producing Vanilla From Corn Fiber
Good News Notes: “The legend says that vanilla was introduced to Europe by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, who had seen the Aztec Emperor Montezuma drink his xocolatl (sort of a chocolate drink) with a bit of vanilla. The Mesoamerican flavoring gained massively in popularity in the 19th century, when botanists found a way to hand-pollinate it, which…
Meet Chimbu, the blue-eyed, bear-eared tree kangaroo. Your cuppa can help save his species
Good News Notes: “Tree kangaroos are so unusual that when Europeans first encountered them in Australia in 1872, they were sceptical. Who would believe a kangaroo could climb a tree? But the recent birth of Chimbu – a Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo at Healesville Sanctuary – gives us the chance to watch one of these unique, and very…
Cleveland Botanical Garden’s Rainforest Adventure opens Saturday
Good News Notes: “If you’d love to feel as though you are wrapped up in the sights, scents, sounds and textures of the world’s rainforests – from lush, layered foliage to exotic butterflies in flight – Cleveland Botanical Garden is making that happen. The Botanical Garden’s Rainforest Adventure, opening Saturday and running through Sunday, April…
LA City Council Unanimously Votes to Stop Purchasing Products That Harm Amazon Rainforest
Good News Notes: “The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to create a plan to stop purchasing products that have contributed to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and the killing of indigenous people in Brazil. ‘We need to change the way the city spends its money to let the Brazilian government and the…
Deep in the Amazon rainforest, armed tribesmen battle illegal loggers for their future
Good News Notes: “Know it or not, Laercio Guajajara is fighting for you. The 35-year-old indigenous Brazilian is a member of the Amazon’s Guajajara tribe and the leader of what is essentially a paramilitary group who have made it their mission to expel illegal loggers from the rainforest that has supported their people for centuries. Calling…