Good News, Planet Earth! - July 2020
Let’s take a look around the world to learn from each unique nation. As we move into the future, each community will work to solve global problems in different ways. Each country has its own strengths and weaknesses. Rather than competing to be the best or believing that one is superior, global progress comes from working together, helping each other, and learning from others. Every country is still developing; let’s hope to develop more health, happiness, love and success for as many lives as possible, and learn from any peaceful changes that are made towards this future.
How Costa Rica Slowed, Stopped, Then Reversed Deforestation in Their Rainforests
By Andy Corbley – Jul 30, 2020
Photo : La Isla Tortuga - Atanas Malamov
A few decades ago, Costa Rica had the highest rates of deforestation in Latin America, but they’ve now regrown nearly every lost tree through the most successful forest management model on the planet
Their success was made possible through their Payment for Environmental Service (PES), a simple strategy of valuing forests by paying for their restoration and conservation
Basically, through PES conservation strategies, citizens and businesses pay into a fund that rewards landowners for maintaining healthy forests, rather than cutting them down for their valuable tropical agriculture products like coffee, cacao, or bananas
60% of the country is now forested once again, with $33 million put into the Costa Rican Forest Fund every year to ensure forests are treated well by landowners
Countries around the world now use the PES system due to its proven success
This Good News is a great example of how, in order to save the health of our world, value needs to be placed on the natural environment for providing services to our planet, such as biodiversity or a more stable climate, to incentivise people to care for our environment, rather than destroy it, for financial gain.
Pakistan Meets the UN Climate Goals One Decade Before Deadline in Continuation of Green Economic Legacy
By Andy Corbley – Jul 20, 2020
Photo : Mehak Wajid Ali, CC
In 2030, the world’s countries will be evaluated through the United Nation’s 18 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which urges nations to urgently take action against climate change
Pakistan, one of the most vulnerable nations to climate change’s effects, has already met the criteria for SDG 13 a decade early
Pakistan has launched major initiatives that have contributed to this success, such as the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Project which gave thousands jobs as growers and protectors of Pakistan’s forests, and the Green Pakistan Index which ranks and rewards towns and cities based on waste management, drinking water, sanitation and tree plantation
Pakistan also has a Protected Areas Initiative which aims to provide the finest ecological management plans possible to 15% of the country through community conservation funds
The previous government had planned to build a series of coal projects, but the current government replaced these projects with indigenous zero-carbon hydroelectric projects that are capable of producing much more energy than the coal projects would have
This Good News shows that a country with limited resources has the ability to take the lead on the world stage simply by making environmental health an urgent priority.
Downtown Sydney Is Now Powered By 100% Renewable Energy Thanks to Historic Deal
By McKinley Corbley – Jul 8, 2020
Photo : UN Climate Change @UNFCCC
Australia’s largest city, Sydney, home to over 250,000 people, now sources all of its energy from a couple solar farms and the biggest wind farm in New South Wales
This historic deal made through a power purchase agreement costed AU$60 million, but is expected to save AU$500,000 each year, purge about 20,000 tons of CO2 (70% of its total output) by 2024, save ratepayers money, and support jobs on local solar and wind farms
This Good News shows that a large city is already capable of running on 100% renewable energy by making an investment that’s worth it for the sake of our planet’s wellbeing.
How an Indian Architect Is Sucking Carbon Emissions Out of the Air and Turning It into Stylish Tiles
By Good News Network – Jul 7, 2020
Photo : Great Big Story
Indian architect Tejas Sidnal developed a new revolutionary way to serve housing needs while also cleaning the air
His startup, Carbon Craft Design, with their AIR-INK device, captures carbon emissions from polluted air, combines it with marble, and presses this mixture into tiles
India has the world’s third largest housing industry, so these sustainable tiles help meet the demand for building materials in an environmentally friendly way
This Good News is a good example of an innovation that creatively cleans the environment while simultaneously producing much-needed materials for our increasing population.
Photo : Swansea University
Germany officially announced the implementation of a ban on the sale of single-use disposable plastics and styrofoam, which will go into effect on July 3, 2021
This plan was part of their effort to move away from throwaway culture, and by the end of 2022, eight coal operations will be closed and replaced with renewable energy operations
This Good News shows that a large country is now capable of committing to entirely removing single-use plastics and styrofoam from their system, which will allow other countries to learn from and follow Germany’s lead as we move away from this throwaway era.
