Good News Notes: “Starting today, customers in the US can donate $1 to plant one tree by telling Alexa-enabled devices, “Alexa, grow a tree,” Amazon announced today. Customers will be able to keep track of how many trees they’ve planted in their Amazon Pay account. Amazon also said that it’s donating $1 million to the environmental charity it’s…
Category: animals
Indigenous communities transform a Mexican desert landscape into forest
Good News Notes: “In Tepejillo, on one of the many hills in the southern Mexican municipality of San Juan Bautista Coixtlahuaca, extreme erosion has transformed the earth into bare rock, making it difficult to imagine that the area used to be home to a forest or, even more incredibly, a civilization. “These forests supported a…
St. Thomas, Ont. woman makes $1M donation to reach city’s animal centre and dog park budget goal
Good News Notes: “St. Thomas City council is expected to approve a new animal centre and dog park Tuesday after a massive donation from a local businesswoman. After the city required private donations or fundraising of $1 million to reach the $2.5 million goal set out in the strategic plan, Sara Teare stepped up and…
Back from the dead? Elusive ivory-billed woodpecker not extinct, researchers say
Good News Notes: “In terms of elusiveness, it is the Bigfoot or Loch Ness monster of the bird world, so rare and undetectable that the US government declared it extinct last year. But the ivory-billed woodpecker is, in fact, still alive and pecking in the forests of Louisiana, a team of researchers has claimed. A series…
Koala IVF could help save species from extinction
Good News Notes: “Freezing koala sperm could become a key part of a strategy to save koalas from extinction by 2050. University of Newcastle scientists Lachlan Howell and Ryan Witt say koala “biobanking”, could be harnessed with IVF technology to help the endangered species reproduce. An estimated 64,000 koalas were killed when 5.5m hectares were ravaged by…
Facing disastrous floods, they turned to mangrove trees for protection
Good News Notes: “As sea levels rise, eroding embankments and pushing water closer to their doorsteps, the residents of the hundreds of villages in the Sundarbans — an immense network of rivers, tidal flats, small islands and vast mangrove forests straddling India and Bangladesh — have found their lives and livelihoods at risk. In the…
Cuyahoga County announces $950,000 in awards to plant 3,400 trees in urban areas
Good News Notes: “Cuyahoga County has announced $950,000 in awards to fund 27 tree-planting projects this year as part of the county’s Healthy Urban Tree Canopy Grant Program. The projects, two of which are funded by the Cleveland Tree Coalition, will result in the the addition of more than 3,400 trees, bringing the total from the grant…
Second graders write adorable letters and make drawings for animals awaiting adoption
Good News Notes: “If shelter dogs could speak or write, what would they say? Forty-two second-graders at St. Michael’s Episcopal School in Richmond, Virginia, imagined those stories and created heartwarming letters and drawings on behalf of 24 dogs and one cat awaiting adoption at a local shelter. “Hi my name is Sleigh Ride! Do you…
Sightings of vaquita porpoises kindle hope for endangered species’ rescue
Good News Notes: “A group of scientists sighted at least nine vaquita marina porpoises in the upper Gulf of California in late 2021, leading the chairman of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) to declare that there is still hope for the critically endangered species. During a five-day period in October and November, scientists on…
‘Lost’ Bat Rediscovered After 40 Years
Good News Notes: “A bat previously believed extinct is now back from the dead. Researchers announced March 8 that they had spotted Hill’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hilli) for the first time in 40 years. “Rediscovering Hill’s horseshoe bat was incredible – it’s astonishing to think that we’re the first people to see this bat in so long,” Bat Conservation…