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A simple swap for plastic baggies.
Dear Reader,
You might recall a film that came out in 1975 featuring a small island community dealing with a particularly homicidal shark on the July 4th weekend. That film was, of course, Jaws (read our Bluedot story about how sharks are rebounding after too many years of being vilified and killed). Now, according to this story, researchers in Australia are “merging optical technology and geochemistry… [and] gaining far more accurate information on the snub-nosed speartooth shark’s (Glyphis glyphis) age, as well as the health of its environment.” It’s not Dr. Evil’s sharks with laser beams attached to their heads; rather, it’s scientists harnessing technology to save an endangered species.
And there’s more good news, this time for the world’s mangroves. Mangroves are one of our planet’s most vital ecosystems, as Bluedot has written about here, here, and here. And now, Anthropocene Magazine tells us that, after decades of destruction, global mangrove forests are rebounding, according to a four-decade satellite study. Indeed, gains have outpaced losses over the past 16 years, thanks to restoration, natural regeneration, and expansion into new coastal regions.
And finally, here’s some incredible, jaw-dropping Feel-Good news for green sea turtles: “For more than forty years, the green sea turtle appeared on the IUCN Red List as Endangered,” reports the UK sustainable menswear company Rolf Skeldon. “In October 2025, the IUCN formally reclassified the green sea turtle as Least Concern. It did not move one category. It did not inch forward gradually. It skipped two classifications entirely, jumping straight from Endangered to Least Concern without pausing at Vulnerable or Near Threatened. In the history of the Red List, that kind of movement is rare. It represents one of the most significant conservation recoveries ever recorded.” You won’t want to miss this account of how it happened.
What’s happening in your community? Tell Dot about it so we can all share in the good news.
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