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shadowkatEnvironmental Good News from the US Resistance and Around the Globe
[Disclaimer: As always, good news is often in the eye of the beholder.]
1. The United Nations confirmed that the ozone layer is on track to make a full recovery by mid-century, crediting swift action and international agreements for sharply reducing the use of ozone-depleting chemicals and slowing the annual growth of the Antarctic ozone hole.
https://www.france24.com/en/environment/20250916-un-says-ozone-layer-is-healing-hole-could-disappear-within-decades?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
2.California officials and industry insiders say the state is sticking with its goal of developing 25 gigawatts of floating offshore wind energy by 2045 despite expiring federal tax credits and Trump administration hostility.
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-09-18/despite-federal-setbacks-california-is-staying-the-course-on-offshore-wind?_hsmi=381366794#:~:text=The%20Trump%20administration%20canceled%20nearly,efforts%20to%20support%20wind%20development
3.The Iowa Utilities Commission approved a settlement that authorizes the largest utility-scale solar project in the state’s history.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18092025/inside-clean-energy-iowa-solar-potential/?_hsmi=381366794
4.In August, global electric vehicle sales increased 5% month-over-month and 15% year-over-year.
https://rhomotion.com/news/global-ev-sales-grow-by-5-m-o-m-and-by-15-y-o-y-in-august-2025/?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
5.A landmark legal settlement will require a plastics facility in Pennsylvania to clean up the tiny plastic pellets — known as “nurdles” — that were found to be spewing out of its stormwater and wastewater pipes.
https://grist.org/solutions/plastics-settlement-pennsylvania-raccoon-creek-nurdles-styropek/
6.In the first six months of this year, the world built 64% more new solar energy capacity than it did in the first half of 2024.
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/global-solar-power-energy-installations-booming?amp%3Butm_medium=email&%3Butm_campaign=canary&_hsmi=381366794
7.After Trump administration cuts forced the popular climate.gov website to shut down, experts re-launched it independently to help boost climate literacy.
https://www.dw.com/en/fired-climate-scientists-crucial-extreme-weather-data-cut-us-president-donald-trump-v3/a-73977766
[It's a lot harder to regulate and censor the internet than it is radio or broadcast television channels. I'm grateful for that at least.]
8.A new nature preserve in Ohio will protect 3,000 acres of Appalachian foothills.
https://www.statenews.org/section/the-ohio-newsroom/2025-09-11/a-new-ohio-nature-preserve-protects-3-000-acres-of-appalachian-foothills?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
9.EU lawmakers have given a final green light to a law that aims to slash the mountains of food wasted in Europe each year, and curb the environmental impact of fast fashion.
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-to-slash-food-and-fast-fashion-waste/a-73933529?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
10. EV Realty, a San Francisco-based charging site developer, broke ground on what will be one of California’s biggest fully grid-powered, fast-charging depots for electric trucks so far.
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/ev-charging/ev-realty-funding-build-truck-depot-california?amp%3Butm_medium=email&%3Butm_campaign=canary&_hsmi=381203897
11.For the first month on record, wind and solar power generated more than a third of Brazil’s electricity in August, accounting for 34% of the country’s electricity generation.
https://apnews.com/article/brazil-wind-solar-power-electricity-renewable-energy-13eef596389803e8b801f26e7888fb97
12.The Chicago River is about to welcome swimmers back for the first time in over a hundred years.
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/chicago-river-follows-the-seine-to-become-biodynamic-and-swimmable-once-again/?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
13.A new report from advocacy group E2 finds the clean energy sector added nearly 100,000 jobs in 2024, outpacing job growth in the rest of the U.S. economy despite a slowdown from previous years.
https://cleanjobsamerica.e2.org/?utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-84LZ1xHgvbu51Zvahr09bMxnYQDjMqJjYOQg2nlCeHW7q5gQOhuwsNzCxMdZKZKtfIMLpkhNGr1oTiKRplkCJZuGKgIA&_hsmi=381366794&utm_content=381366794&utm_source=hs_email
14.Late last month, Colorado students were handed a major victory after succeeding in their campaign to convince the State Board of Education to integrate more education about climate change into its science standards for K-12 public school students. "Our main goal in advocating for changes in climate standards was that it could encourage students to feel hopeful about their future instead of just despair," said youth leader Aisha O'Neil, who founded the Good Trouble Climate Network coalition of schools and students advocating for this change.
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/students-change-colorado-science-standards-include-climate-change/
15.A rare, endangered night parrot that was thought to be extinct was rediscovered after 100 years of no sightings.
https://www.earth.com/news/elusive-bird-night-parrot-pezoporus-occidentalis-thought-extinct-100-years-rediscovered/
16.Texas has had a record-breaking year for solar development, in spite of federal policy shifts.
https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/texas-solar-capacity-decline-utility-scale-21041695.php
17.In a rare victory for wildlife, Game and Fish unanimously rejected pressure from ranching and oil interests to cut key migration routes used by the Sublette pronghorn herd in Wyoming’s Red Desert.
https://westernwatersheds.substack.com/p/pronghorn-keep-their-path-wyoming
18. Global solar deployment hit 380 GW in the first half of this year, a 64% increase from the same period in 2024.
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/solar-installations-global-china-rising/759194/?_hsmi=379174355
19. California’s first solar-covered canal is now fully online!
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/california-first-canal-array-project-nexus?amp%3Butm_medium=email&%3Butm_campaign=canary&_hsmi=379902241
20.Tesla released an upgraded version of its grid-battery product that will allow developers to build bigger energy-storage projects faster. (Don't care for the company, love the climate-positive innovations.)
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/batteries/tesla-just-launched-the-megablock-a-big-easy-to-deploy-grid-battery?amp%3Butm_medium=email&%3Butm_campaign=canary&_hsmi=379902241
21. Nearly two dozen Arizonans gathered outside Arizona Public Services headquarters to protest their decision to roll back their clean energy commitments.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04092025/arizona-public-service-clean-energy-roll-back-protest/
22. The nation’s first onshore wave energy site began operating at the Port of Los Angeles.
https://apnews.com/article/eco-wave-los-angeles-renewable-electricity-7679b1ef04048250c4a66c148c82b809?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
24.Solar power has overtaken gas to become Hungary’s second-largest energy source.
https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/solar-overtakes-gas-to-become-hungarys-second-largest-electricity-source?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
25. Washington became the first state in the nation to ban all chemicals that release formaldehyde in cosmetics and personal care products.
https://ecology.wa.gov/about-us/who-we-are/news/2025/formaldehyde-releasers-rule
26. Brazil has seen a 65% drop in the area of the Amazon rainforest burned by fire, thanks to more careful communities and heavy rain.
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/brazil-records-65-percent-drop-in-amazon-area-burned-by-fire-lowest-since-monitoring-began/
27. Arc, the Los Angeles-based electric boat company, announced a $160 million contract with a leading U.S. marine company to build 8 hybrid-electric tugboats.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/10/arc-gets-its-first-major-order-for-electric-tugboats-worth-160m/
28. PA State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta walked 105 miles to bring attention to the Republicans’ brutal slashing of public transit funding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqJ0qCoq_8s
29.A new study published in Science finds that bringing bison back to their ancient stomping grounds in Yellowstone Park is breathing new life into grassland ecosystems, with benefits cascading across the food web.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250828-bison-herds-reawaken-yellowstone-s-prairies?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
30.India’s clean electricity generation rose 20% in the first half of 2025, hitting a new peak.
https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/markets/india-cuts-fossil-electricity-output-as-clean-generation-hits-new-peak/ar-AA1LGDYt?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
31. Solar power is growing in Pakistan at an “unprecedented” rate.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/08/21/g-s1-82369/solar-power-panels-boom-pakistan?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
32.MrBeast, Mark Rober, and other YouTubers raised over $40 million to fund clean water projects.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/mrbeast-mark-rober-raise-over-142815826.html
33.Thanks to good weather and rapid growth, solar power generation in Britain this year has already surpassed 2024’s total.
https://www.ft.com/content/9e49fa5a-d43e-4c32-80ff-68a3ce1ede5e#TeamWater%20reached%20its%20$40%20million%20goal%20-%2018864952&sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
[It's behind a paywall.]
34. In Utah, the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation is reclaiming the Bear River Massacre site by restoring the land’s natural ecosystem.
https://utahnewsdispatch.com/2025/09/02/rebirth-after-massacre-how-this-tribes-river-restoration-could-also-help-the-great-salt-lake/
35. Mexico’s jaguar population has increased by 30% since 2010, a “surprising and encouraging” development.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-08-27/mexicos-jaguar-population-is-up-30-since-2010-but-still-at-risk?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
36.A mapping tool that aims to provide forecasters and communities with flooding information has expanded to cover 60% of the U.S. population.
https://water.noaa.gov/#@=-96.401081,38.1465724,3.7986598&b=topographic&g=obsFcst,1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!0!0!0!0!0,0.5,1!1!1!1!0,0,0,true&ab=0,0,#D94B4A,1,1,1,#cccccc,1,0,0,#B243B1,1,0,0,#98E09A,1,false&a=hydrologic,0.35,false&s=0,0,0.9,0.9,false&n=false,#72afe9,0.9,0,0.9,0,0.9,false&p=false,0.75,0,7,0,1,2025,9,21,0,false&d=0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,#006EFF,1,#006EFF,1,#006EFF,false&q=
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mapping-tool-flood-forecasts-more-than-half-us/?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
[The New York City - MTA also has one.]
37.The government of New South Wales, Australia confirmed its creation of a great koala national park, adding 176,000 hectares of forest to existing reserves and creating one of the state’s largest national parks.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/07/nsw-locks-in-great-koala-national-park-and-brings-in-immediate-ban-on-logging
[Disclaimer: As always, good news is often in the eye of the beholder.]
1. The United Nations confirmed that the ozone layer is on track to make a full recovery by mid-century, crediting swift action and international agreements for sharply reducing the use of ozone-depleting chemicals and slowing the annual growth of the Antarctic ozone hole.
https://www.france24.com/en/environment/20250916-un-says-ozone-layer-is-healing-hole-could-disappear-within-decades?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
2.California officials and industry insiders say the state is sticking with its goal of developing 25 gigawatts of floating offshore wind energy by 2045 despite expiring federal tax credits and Trump administration hostility.
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-09-18/despite-federal-setbacks-california-is-staying-the-course-on-offshore-wind?_hsmi=381366794#:~:text=The%20Trump%20administration%20canceled%20nearly,efforts%20to%20support%20wind%20development
3.The Iowa Utilities Commission approved a settlement that authorizes the largest utility-scale solar project in the state’s history.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18092025/inside-clean-energy-iowa-solar-potential/?_hsmi=381366794
4.In August, global electric vehicle sales increased 5% month-over-month and 15% year-over-year.
https://rhomotion.com/news/global-ev-sales-grow-by-5-m-o-m-and-by-15-y-o-y-in-august-2025/?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
5.A landmark legal settlement will require a plastics facility in Pennsylvania to clean up the tiny plastic pellets — known as “nurdles” — that were found to be spewing out of its stormwater and wastewater pipes.
https://grist.org/solutions/plastics-settlement-pennsylvania-raccoon-creek-nurdles-styropek/
6.In the first six months of this year, the world built 64% more new solar energy capacity than it did in the first half of 2024.
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/global-solar-power-energy-installations-booming?amp%3Butm_medium=email&%3Butm_campaign=canary&_hsmi=381366794
7.After Trump administration cuts forced the popular climate.gov website to shut down, experts re-launched it independently to help boost climate literacy.
https://www.dw.com/en/fired-climate-scientists-crucial-extreme-weather-data-cut-us-president-donald-trump-v3/a-73977766
[It's a lot harder to regulate and censor the internet than it is radio or broadcast television channels. I'm grateful for that at least.]
8.A new nature preserve in Ohio will protect 3,000 acres of Appalachian foothills.
https://www.statenews.org/section/the-ohio-newsroom/2025-09-11/a-new-ohio-nature-preserve-protects-3-000-acres-of-appalachian-foothills?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
9.EU lawmakers have given a final green light to a law that aims to slash the mountains of food wasted in Europe each year, and curb the environmental impact of fast fashion.
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-to-slash-food-and-fast-fashion-waste/a-73933529?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
10. EV Realty, a San Francisco-based charging site developer, broke ground on what will be one of California’s biggest fully grid-powered, fast-charging depots for electric trucks so far.
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/ev-charging/ev-realty-funding-build-truck-depot-california?amp%3Butm_medium=email&%3Butm_campaign=canary&_hsmi=381203897
11.For the first month on record, wind and solar power generated more than a third of Brazil’s electricity in August, accounting for 34% of the country’s electricity generation.
https://apnews.com/article/brazil-wind-solar-power-electricity-renewable-energy-13eef596389803e8b801f26e7888fb97
12.The Chicago River is about to welcome swimmers back for the first time in over a hundred years.
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/chicago-river-follows-the-seine-to-become-biodynamic-and-swimmable-once-again/?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
13.A new report from advocacy group E2 finds the clean energy sector added nearly 100,000 jobs in 2024, outpacing job growth in the rest of the U.S. economy despite a slowdown from previous years.
https://cleanjobsamerica.e2.org/?utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-84LZ1xHgvbu51Zvahr09bMxnYQDjMqJjYOQg2nlCeHW7q5gQOhuwsNzCxMdZKZKtfIMLpkhNGr1oTiKRplkCJZuGKgIA&_hsmi=381366794&utm_content=381366794&utm_source=hs_email
14.Late last month, Colorado students were handed a major victory after succeeding in their campaign to convince the State Board of Education to integrate more education about climate change into its science standards for K-12 public school students. "Our main goal in advocating for changes in climate standards was that it could encourage students to feel hopeful about their future instead of just despair," said youth leader Aisha O'Neil, who founded the Good Trouble Climate Network coalition of schools and students advocating for this change.
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/students-change-colorado-science-standards-include-climate-change/
15.A rare, endangered night parrot that was thought to be extinct was rediscovered after 100 years of no sightings.
https://www.earth.com/news/elusive-bird-night-parrot-pezoporus-occidentalis-thought-extinct-100-years-rediscovered/
16.Texas has had a record-breaking year for solar development, in spite of federal policy shifts.
https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/texas-solar-capacity-decline-utility-scale-21041695.php
17.In a rare victory for wildlife, Game and Fish unanimously rejected pressure from ranching and oil interests to cut key migration routes used by the Sublette pronghorn herd in Wyoming’s Red Desert.
https://westernwatersheds.substack.com/p/pronghorn-keep-their-path-wyoming
18. Global solar deployment hit 380 GW in the first half of this year, a 64% increase from the same period in 2024.
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/solar-installations-global-china-rising/759194/?_hsmi=379174355
19. California’s first solar-covered canal is now fully online!
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/california-first-canal-array-project-nexus?amp%3Butm_medium=email&%3Butm_campaign=canary&_hsmi=379902241
20.Tesla released an upgraded version of its grid-battery product that will allow developers to build bigger energy-storage projects faster. (Don't care for the company, love the climate-positive innovations.)
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/batteries/tesla-just-launched-the-megablock-a-big-easy-to-deploy-grid-battery?amp%3Butm_medium=email&%3Butm_campaign=canary&_hsmi=379902241
21. Nearly two dozen Arizonans gathered outside Arizona Public Services headquarters to protest their decision to roll back their clean energy commitments.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04092025/arizona-public-service-clean-energy-roll-back-protest/
22. The nation’s first onshore wave energy site began operating at the Port of Los Angeles.
https://apnews.com/article/eco-wave-los-angeles-renewable-electricity-7679b1ef04048250c4a66c148c82b809?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
24.Solar power has overtaken gas to become Hungary’s second-largest energy source.
https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/solar-overtakes-gas-to-become-hungarys-second-largest-electricity-source?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
25. Washington became the first state in the nation to ban all chemicals that release formaldehyde in cosmetics and personal care products.
https://ecology.wa.gov/about-us/who-we-are/news/2025/formaldehyde-releasers-rule
26. Brazil has seen a 65% drop in the area of the Amazon rainforest burned by fire, thanks to more careful communities and heavy rain.
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/brazil-records-65-percent-drop-in-amazon-area-burned-by-fire-lowest-since-monitoring-began/
27. Arc, the Los Angeles-based electric boat company, announced a $160 million contract with a leading U.S. marine company to build 8 hybrid-electric tugboats.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/10/arc-gets-its-first-major-order-for-electric-tugboats-worth-160m/
28. PA State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta walked 105 miles to bring attention to the Republicans’ brutal slashing of public transit funding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqJ0qCoq_8s
29.A new study published in Science finds that bringing bison back to their ancient stomping grounds in Yellowstone Park is breathing new life into grassland ecosystems, with benefits cascading across the food web.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250828-bison-herds-reawaken-yellowstone-s-prairies?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
30.India’s clean electricity generation rose 20% in the first half of 2025, hitting a new peak.
https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/markets/india-cuts-fossil-electricity-output-as-clean-generation-hits-new-peak/ar-AA1LGDYt?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
31. Solar power is growing in Pakistan at an “unprecedented” rate.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/08/21/g-s1-82369/solar-power-panels-boom-pakistan?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
32.MrBeast, Mark Rober, and other YouTubers raised over $40 million to fund clean water projects.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/mrbeast-mark-rober-raise-over-142815826.html
33.Thanks to good weather and rapid growth, solar power generation in Britain this year has already surpassed 2024’s total.
https://www.ft.com/content/9e49fa5a-d43e-4c32-80ff-68a3ce1ede5e#TeamWater%20reached%20its%20$40%20million%20goal%20-%2018864952&sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
[It's behind a paywall.]
34. In Utah, the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation is reclaiming the Bear River Massacre site by restoring the land’s natural ecosystem.
https://utahnewsdispatch.com/2025/09/02/rebirth-after-massacre-how-this-tribes-river-restoration-could-also-help-the-great-salt-lake/
35. Mexico’s jaguar population has increased by 30% since 2010, a “surprising and encouraging” development.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-08-27/mexicos-jaguar-population-is-up-30-since-2010-but-still-at-risk?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
36.A mapping tool that aims to provide forecasters and communities with flooding information has expanded to cover 60% of the U.S. population.
https://water.noaa.gov/#@=-96.401081,38.1465724,3.7986598&b=topographic&g=obsFcst,1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!0!0!0!0!0,0.5,1!1!1!1!0,0,0,true&ab=0,0,#D94B4A,1,1,1,#cccccc,1,0,0,#B243B1,1,0,0,#98E09A,1,false&a=hydrologic,0.35,false&s=0,0,0.9,0.9,false&n=false,#72afe9,0.9,0,0.9,0,0.9,false&p=false,0.75,0,7,0,1,2025,9,21,0,false&d=0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,#006EFF,1,#006EFF,1,#006EFF,false&q=
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mapping-tool-flood-forecasts-more-than-half-us/?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
[The New York City - MTA also has one.]
37.The government of New South Wales, Australia confirmed its creation of a great koala national park, adding 176,000 hectares of forest to existing reserves and creating one of the state’s largest national parks.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/07/nsw-locks-in-great-koala-national-park-and-brings-in-immediate-ban-on-logging
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