Wildlife Success Stories, USA looks set to ditch Orange Hitler, and Net Zero ramps up worldwide
I will be sharing good news for climate, wildlife, and the environment in general each week, avoiding (and highlighting) greenwashing, and sharing some petitions you can sign to get us more good news in weeks to come.
With the world getting ever more stressful I have decided its about time to start posting some of the good news that comes across my screen. I've never much liked the "Good Climate News" outlets because they seem to have very little understanding of the topic and generally just end up sharing greenwashing, but with a critical eye I will be sharing good news for climate, wildlife, and the environment in general each week.
America Turning Away from the Hitler Path
Joe Biden was a really mixed bag and clearly far too old. The Inflation Reduction Act, whilst watered down, was some of the biggest and most successful climate legislation ever, but his "all of the above" approach to energy meant green lighting far too many fossil fuel projects as well as the all important renewable energy we should be aggressively transitioning too. He's also clearly too old to beat Trump, who has said he'll trash every bit of climate legislation he possibly can.
Thankfully, Kamala Harris and her new VP pick Tim Walz are both being heralded as genuinely climate heroes by groups that were concerned about four more years of Biden.
Derek Harrison
Dharna Noor
They also both seem genuinely lovely, especially compared to the far-right fascistic sociopaths Trump and Vance, and seeing their speeches has brought me a lot of joy at a time when I thought I was done being optimistic about the USA.
Benefits of Net Zero Transition Harder To Ignore
Whilst the right and far-right continue to compete for attention with claims of just how much of the climate transition they want to stall to benefit their fossil fuel sponsors, studies are starting to prove the net zero transition in terms of benefits to every day people, in ways that make it far harder to ignore.
The research calculates that meeting sectoral climate targets out to 2037 could result in at least £164bn worth of benefits in six UK urban centres, from Belfast to Manchester. The UK-wide figure is likely to be far higher, say the authors, because this analysis only covers a handful of regions and does not account for all the co-benefits, including the impact cutting emissions would have on climate change.
Josh Gabbatiss
Even as the climate crisis comes knocking down more of our doors, many people still see this as an altruistic but expensive endeavor. We've all been lied to long enough it's understandable, but the more we can explain to people how much better off we'll all be with clean energy reducing our energy bills, powering amazing affordable public transportation, reducing reliance on struggling healthcare systems, and generally making you better off, the more we'll see people voting for those who actually want to do the right thing.
Nature Friendly Farming Boosting Wildlife
We knew it would be the case, but sometimes you need some scientific studies to prove the obvious to people.
Butterflies, bees and bats are among the wildlife being boosted by England’s nature-friendly farming schemes, new government research has found.
Of course! As subsidy systems switch from "area based subsidies" where you get paid for whatever is going on, to systems that prioritize beneficial things that boost wildlife, it will be better for wildlife.
Helena Horton
This does not negatively impact food production when done properly, in fact it general improves it. Retaining water helps with drought. Increasing tree cover reduces crop damage and soil erosion. More hedgerows means more nitrates in the soil to reduce fertilizer inputs, and provide more grazing for livestock which have medicinal benefits that reduce medication inputs. It's a win win for everyone.
Vaccinating Badgers More Effective Than Culling
A four year program in Cornwall shows that badger populations treated with a vaccination against TB (bovine tuberculosis) do far more to reducing infections in livestock than trapping and killing badgers in the thousands. This pointless inhumane and expensive practice has been pushed as a culture war despite no evidence suggesting it actually helps anything, but now we have evidence that proves its ineffective compared to more human solutions.
Jonathan MorrisBBC News, South West
The amazing peope at Cornish Wildlife Trust, Cornish Badgers, ZSL badgers shows better reduction in bovine TB rates than badger culls. As of 2024, the United Kingdom has culled 210,000 badgers at a cost of £58.8 million, so going forwards let try and get the government to recognize this cruel waste of money neds to stop. Sign this petition.
Advertising Standards Agency Says No To Sustainable Aviation Fuel Greenwashing
SAF is an omnishambles of greenwashing and lies, and now the UK advertising standards agency agree. "when burned, the ASA found that the sustainable aviation fuel used in the flight produced the same level of CO2 emissions as traditional jet fuel".
Christopher Jasper,
The Labour government believes the growth of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) could provide the key to a greener airline industry, a dangerous lie which will allow airport expansions across the country to go ahead pushing emissions higher than ever. The emissions are just as bad and the land-use requirements are horrendous, so we need to keep reminding the government that SAF is not a solution. We need to reduce flights and provide alternative transportation, not relying on promises of companies enjoying the subsidies to make pretend.
China Slashing Carbon Emissions
China is annually deploying more renewable energy at home that the rest of the world combined, and that is slashing their carbon emissions ahead of their already aggressive targets. They've just had a 1% fall in Q2 2024, which is expected to be the start of a downward trend that continues indefinitely.
Lauri Myllyvirta
China is an extremely problematic place, but it's amazing to see the energy transition happening across the world, and shows that it's always more political than it is technological.
UK Water Companies Getting Fined
Ofwat, the water regulator, has finally been allowed to do its job with a change in the country's management, and their first act has been to issue fines of £168,000 to three water companies.
Julia Kollewe
This is not as much money as it will cost to fix all the damage done, but there are limits on the fines that can be levied and Thames (some of the worst offenders) got a 9% annual profit fine when the maximum was 10%. Not sure why it wasn't 10% but hey, this is something. Nationalisation needs to happen ASAP but it is good to see something finally being done to solve this issue.
Want me to keep these updates coming?
I'm thinking of making it a weekly thing, giving you more timely updates of good and relevant things happening now in between the longer form evergreen Unf**king the Climate series. Good things are happening, we just need to do a lot more, and this will hopefully be a place where we can see progress and see the next steps needed.
Let me know in the comments what you think, and if you can share some positivity that will help me and everyone who sees it out a lot.
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