As May drew to a close, a US district court issued a ruling that the federal government’s attempts to undercut Endangered Species Act protections for the sake of coal mining were illegal. Coal mines had been allowed to rely on a streamlined process that did not require an analysis of the harm they actually cause […]
The post Loophole in Endangered Species Act Is Closed to Coal Miners After Court…
Seeking to preen and pamper its beaches ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics, authorities in 2 Los Angeles districts needed to figure out how to get thousands of pounds of trash out of the LA and San Gabriel rivers. They turned to the best in class; a man who among those whose passion is cleaning […]
The post Dutch Ocean Cleanup Folks Are Clearing LA’s Rivers of Trash in Time for 2028 Olympics…
In what is both literally and figuratively a “landmark” study, research has shown that mangrove forest destruction has not only stopped in the last 20 years, but reversed—the world has more than it did at the turn of the century. Additionally, the degree of age and robustness among intact mangrove forest, known as “closed canopy” […]
The post Mangrove Loss Worldwide Is Now Reversing—with More,…
Before-and-after photos from Herefordshire, England, show how nature’s beauty has returned to a riverside previously obliterated by a local farmer. The farmer used an 18-ton digger to dredge a section of the River Lugg near Leominster, and stripped every tree from a mile-long stretch of one of Britain’s most important salmon rivers. He was jailed […]
The post Nature’s Beauty is Restored After…
Orca sightings in the North Sea are creating excitement for tourists and fishermen—some of whom can’t remember ever seeing them before. Researchers report in 2025 there were five verified sightings off the Northumberland coast in northeast England, after having been rarely seen for decades. This year in April, fishermen spotted a pod of up to […]
The post Orcas Returning to UK Coast in Numbers…
In the legendary Coral Triangle, where the Pacific and Indian Oceans meet, 200,000 square kilometers of tropical seas will be off limits to fishing thanks to bold conservation action by Papua New Guinea. The newly-designated Western Manus Marine Protected Area (MPA) will form part of the newly established Melanesian Ocean Corridor of Reserves, a network […]
The post Papua New Guinea Sets Up…
For areas contaminated by lead and zinc mining across Europe, a class of plants known as “metallophytes” are helping enrich nature while diminishing pollution. The Guardian reported on this kind of ecological double speak, where wildflowers seemingly grow in healthy abundance on semi-mountainous landscapes in the north of the UK, a place that has seen […]
The post Ecosystem of Pansies Thrives on…
New photos show owls and wildlife reclaiming an abandoned coal mine 50 years after it closed. The Chatterley Whitfield mine in Staffordshire, England, last produced coal in 1976. Now, a half-century later, the son of a coal miner who worked there has returned to document nature’s return. The buildings and towers, including the iconic pit […]
The post Owls Found Thriving in Abandoned Coal Mine as…
Conservationists are celebrating the remarkable recovery of an important and unique British flower known as Kentish milkwort after recording a seven-fold population increase during the recent growing season. 1,245 self-sown plants were recorded this year at a crucial growing site, now the largest population of the species in the UK. Teetering on the verge of extinction, […]
The post Rare British…
A green-geared milestone was just set in Australia as a company saw its all-electric haul truck go from the capital of Canberra to Sydney on a single charge. Carrying tons of toilet paper, the final mile deliveries were made with electric vehicles too, keeping emissions down, and suppliers and demanders clear of the suffocating prices […]
The post All-Electric Truck Completes Milestone…
A huge area of the Everglades that was drained in an attempt to convert it to suburbia has been restored to a somewhat native ecosystem after 2 decades of reverse-landscape engineering. Picayune Strand is a big, almost perfect rectangle of south Florida wetland located northwest of Everglades National Park, northeast of Thousand Islands Nat. Wildlife […]
The post Everglades Restoration Project…
Content of several “forever chemicals” in seabird eggs were found to have sharply decreased over the last 55 years by a team of scientists. While first rising exponentially from during the 1960s, the chemicals, classed as PFAS, peaked in the 1990s before decreasing in line with regulatory oversight by North American governments. PFAS are a […]
The post 70% Drop in Levels of Forever Chemicals…
From China’s arid Gansu Corridor comes the story of a rural county welcoming thousands of big city volunteers after a viral call for help. Minqin County is on the front line of China’s struggle against desertification, but it recently received a helping hand thanks to a social media campaign “Plant a Tree in Minqin.” It […]
The post Facing Desertification, Man’s Campaign Draws 30,000 Volunteers…
An important watershed in Oakland is now a thriving Eden of native species thanks to the work of two generations of volunteers. 30 years ago last week, Mr. Michael Thilgen and his neighbors formed the Friends of Sausal Creek nonprofit dedicating to restoring the waterway from its source in the Oakland Hills down to its […]
The post 30 Years of Volunteering Has Kept This California Creek Pristine…
Increased sightings of the world’s two largest whale species offers fresh hope for the future of the endangered ocean giants. More than 40 years since the end of commercial whaling, new research reveals a recent increase in sightings of blue and fin whales in the southeastern Atlantic. Researchers compiled more than 60 years of confirmed […]
The post Increased Sightings of World’s Two Largest…
A researcher discovered a ‘rare’ wildflower that only grows in New Jersey—after studying a plant that everyone assumed to belong to another species. In the Pine Barrens region of southern New Jersey, Temple University researcher Sasha Eisenman helped identify the long mistaken plant as unique to the state—a discovery that could help protect it for […]
The post Scientist Discovers New Species of…
Tiny samples of DNA taken from a wide variety of animal sources can pinpoint hotspots of the illegal wildlife trade, utilizing a new research technique—and eventually lead to dismantling lucrative poaching networks. The study focused on pangolins—with their scales prized for traditional medicine. One of the most poached species, they account for almost a third […]
The post Animal DNA Samples Can…
In a stunning act of corporate responsibility, one of the world’s largest makers of smartphone cases has designed and built a seaborne drone carrier designed to clean up ocean-bound plastic waste. Already deployed off the coast of Taiwan, the Circular Blue looks a little like an offshore oil or gas platform, but rather than pulling […]
The post Phone Case Brand Designs Autonomous Floating…
Early in May, GNN reported how Australia and USA citizens have amassed 85 million acres of private land specifically for conservation. From the Spokesman-Review comes the story of a man in Washington state who’s about to make it 85,000,885 by donating his own patch, to the Kalispel Indian Tribe. Having spent his whole working life […]
The post Man Gathers Up Family Acres Home to Moose and…
Native coastal Australians are experiencing a dramatic reversal of fortunes—from facing jail time over fishing to being trained to lead a whole new fishing industry. Documented in a feature piece at Australia’s ABC News, young people from the Walbunja indigenous community are reconnecting to traditional fishing practices in order to suppress a very yummy plague […]
The post Instead of Arresting…
From Queensland, Australia, comes the story of how a little salt can go a long way to restoring an ecosystem. Near the area of Mackay, tidal gates and embankments built between 50 and 60 years ago to keep out tides of seawater are being removed by the dozen. It’s reestablishing salt marsh and estuarine ecosystems […]
The post Salt Water Restores Native Queensland Ecosystems After Dozens of Tidal…
Last week, volunteers dumped 20,000 oysters into English waters to recreate historic, biodiverse oyster reefs. 260 people came down to Chichester Harbor in Portsmouth to take part in what one of the participating organizations called, “the UK’s largest subtidal oyster reef restoration project.” For centuries, native oysters were part of everyday life across an area […]
The post Over 200…
DNA floating in seawater is now enough to let scientists monitor the health of America’s dolphin populations. Sampling DNA in seawater can show the local presence (or absence) of a species, but until now could give little information about those measures of biodiversity that are the most useful in conservation. But, scientists in the US […]
The post Sampling DNA in Seawater Can Reveal the Health…
A decade after Scotland banned bottom trawling and dredging there are flourishing populations of no less than 1,500 species critical for seabed integrity. The news came via a survey which compared the South Arran Marine Protected Area with nearby fished zones, in which scientists identified twice as many species, and thrice as much abundance of […]
The post Another Trawling Ban, Another Big…
In 2019, the Chinese megalopolis of Shanghai began a full-steam-ahead approach to reducing solid waste generation in the city. In that year, some 26,000 metric tons of waste was produced every day, but after 6 years of intensive investment, messaging, and habit-forming, the household recycling rate is up 10%, with 35 to 45% of all […]
The post Shanghai Achieves 98% Industrial Recycling Rates…
With the flourish of a pen, the President of Greece recently signed into law a new marine protected area at the national level around Gyaros, an uninhabited island in the Cyclades that hosts the world’s largest colony of Mediterranean monk seals. These seals are among the most endangered marine mammals in the world, and despite […]
The post Vital Island Home for Endangered Monk Seals Gains…
In South Africa, a coordinated series of projects has removed dangerous infestations of invasive species from 13,000 acres of important native habitat. Between 2017 and 2025, groups working under the banner of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) embarked on a series of efforts targeting invasive alien species through a combination of […]
The post Conservationists…
In a small slice of good news from a far corner of Europe, native fish are swimming freely on an important river after conservationists removed a wartime concrete obstruction. The Pchinja River runs 80 miles through North Macedonia and into Serbia, but more than 40 miles of its path were interrupted by a mound of […]
The post 44 Miles of Major Balkan River Freed from Wartime Concrete Obstruction…
The Asiatic wild ass, known locally as the khulan (Equus hemionus), has returned to eastern Mongolia and is showing clear signs of re-establishing a population after more than 65 years of absence from the region. For decades, fencing along the Trans-Mongolian Railway (TMR) has restricted movement of khulan and other migratory species. Recent efforts to […]
The post Asiatic Wild Ass Returns to…
Australia now boasts one of the world’s largest acreage of private land set aside for conservation, and the Guardian recently reported that generous and wealthy citizens are to thank for it. Leaving land to conservation purposes in wills, and making bequests of estates has made a big part in amassing 24 million acres of privately-conserved […]
The post 85 Million Acres of Private Land Are Being…