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Our weekly round-up of good climate news!
Dear Reader,
Amen to another Friday of Feel-Good news — our weekly reminder that, no matter what the headlines are screaming, there is plenty of innovation and imagination out there making our world better.
Today we start with this fun, illustrated celebration of our humble but powerful sun — and all that it’s doing for us. “I sometimes think that we forget too easily what this technology actually is, and just what an incredible new foundational accomplishment it is for human civilization,” writes a reporter for Climate Action Now. “Solar panels are simultaneously a humble, friendly, low-impact, zero-pollution power system suitable for your balcony or backyard, and a personal conduit to unfathomable cosmic power.” The article goes on to cite the myriad ways in which solar power is transforming our world — reading it feels like a ray of, well, sunshine on your face.
Meanwhile, It has been more than seven decades since anyone in Kazakhstan had a confirmed sighting of a wild tiger. Which is why it’s great news that researchers in the country just released a tiger into its historic range. “On July 31, 2026, an adult female Amur tiger called Umit, which means ‘hope’ in Kazakh, leapt from her cage on the back of a pickup truck, as she was released into the wilderness …,” Mongabay reports. An adult male tiger and two cubs are awaiting approval for release.
And speaking of animals, you may have heard of goats being employed to mow lawns and clean-up crews of sheep tending agrivoltaics. But have you heard of goat-cows? They’re well-known in the community of Taboada, a parish of 2,500 residents in Spain, where these goat-cows are minimizing the risk of wildfires by doing what they do best. “They eat almost everything, it’s impressive,” the coordinator of the Vincios land collective told Reasons to Be Cheerful. What exactly is a goat-cow? Despite the name, goats play no role in the creation of goat-cows; but like goats, these bovines are smallish in size, have a wide-ranging diet, and are able to climb mountainous terrain. These days, they’re working alongside goats and sheep, munching on the undergrowth that fuels wildfires.
And guess what! Maybe all those pollinator gardens we’ve been planting are working, because for two years, Monarch butterfly populations have been rising. Journalist Vann R. Newkirk, a lifelong Monarch lover, investigated what’s behind the increase (noting that although this boost in population is certainly a good thing, we must remember that it’s bouncing back from an all-time low). He helped monitor three individual butterflies, each with a tracker the size of a grain of rice glued to its back to help researchers track their routes and better understand what threatens their survival. But while we can be cautiously optimistic at the World Wildlife Fund’s declaration that “despite challenges, conservation efforts are making a difference,” we should keep in mind that one of the Monarch’s biggest threats right now is our appetite for avocados. The Mexican forests where Monarchs arrive following their trip from Canada sit right amidst prime avocado growing territory. And because avocados have become so popular (and therefore profitable), the cartels have become involved, and Newkirk tells us that they “now extort local growers, smuggle many of their avocados across the border, and even operate plantations directly.” But let’s stay focused on the good news that Monarchs are (fingers crossed) bouncing back. We can help them continue to do so by tending our pollinator gardens and curbing our appetite for avocados.
Positively,
Dot
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