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Good news this week from around the world.
Dear Reader,
Our weekly dose of Feel-Good news takes us to Syria, Iraq, and Baltimore, where incredible eco-action is taking place.
Let’s start in the former warzone of Syria, where locals are restoring their forests after years of conflict, logging, and wildfires, according to this story. “The project has mobilized local residents, schoolchildren, the Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmets), and volunteer groups to plant trees and rehabilitate damaged land.” Volunteer Walid Al-Hassan told a reporter that “Planting trees has become a ‘message of hope’ for me, reflecting the deeply rooted desire of Syrians to rebuild their community and environment. … Reforestation days have turned into social gatherings, bringing youth and families together in volunteer activities with a profound national and humanitarian purpose.” Sounds glorious, doesn’t it?
Over to Iraq, which now has its first-ever solar module assembly production line, thanks to Italian company Ecoprogretti. PV Magazine tells us that “The turnkey facility has been developed for the project engineering department of the Al-Abbas Holy Shrine, an Iraqi institution responsible for a range of developmental, service, cultural, and educational programs,” located in Karbala, capital of the Karbala governorate in central Iraq. “The modules will be supplied to different projects and market segments, including hospitals, schools, solar parks, and projects intended to provide electricity to the city of Baghdad and other areas of Iraq.” The facility has assembly robots, an annual capacity to make 200 megawatts of solar (with plans to scale to 600 megawatts). It will serve Iraq’s growing solar market, which sounds like a win to Dot!
We all know the value of urban forests: They lower surface temperatures and cool neighborhoods, reduce stormwater runoff and flooding, absorb carbon emissions, and remove pollutants from the air. The folks at the Baltimore Tree Trust know this, too, which is why they’ve planted more than 23,000 trees in 199 neighborhoods around the city.
And some bonus Feel-Good news! Read this story for a wild ride through the whys and the hows of vaccinating wild animals, including a repurposed “coyote getter,” designed to kill them but reimagined to save them from disease instead. While there’s plenty of work to be done, the energy and ingenuity that already goes into protecting wild animals from often devastating disease is a Feel-Good story indeed.
Positively,
Dot
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