Real, messy hope delivered to your inbox daily, from Good Good Good.

In the headlines...

💸 Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed legislation to gradually raise Virginia’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2028.

🛝 Austin, Texas’ Parks Foundation and Parks Department announced the development of the city’s first-ever All Abilities Playground, including children with disabilities and special needs.

Organizations doing good

A new $43 million ‘nature library’ helps people ‘check out’ the great outdoors

In Adams County, Colorado, the county’s “Anythink Libraries” use their seven locations to help relieve anxiety around outdoor activities. It offers free “TryIt Kits” with fishing poles, tents, and backpacks, as well as workshops where library cardholders can interact with bees, goats, and park rangers.

Its newest addition, a 33,000 square-foot Nature Library, will offer even more opportunities for people to connect with nature, removing cost and other barriers.

Once it opens this summer, it will feature 35,000 nature and ecology books, weekly programming, and new gear for visitors. It’s also designed with the planet in mind, with thoughtful sustainability features.

Why is this good news? We often think of nature as a “free” resource and activity, but sometimes gear, costs, transportation, knowledge, and other barriers prevent people from enjoying it. With its focused purpose, this library will help lower those barriers for more people.

→ Read more​

More Good News

​WNBA star Angel Reese returned to her hometown to host a STEM program for student athletes. Reese partnered with video game publisher 2K through its philanthropic arm, the 2K Foundations, to host the six-week program for girls at Crossroads Middle School in Baltimore.

​At a school in the mountains of Sudan, orphans of wartime are learning to be peacemakers. Large numbers of children arrived at Our Father’s Cleft after the country’s third civil war broke out in April 2023, and it’s now home to 180 children and young adults and is educating some 300 more.

​In Lexington, Kentucky, 36 randomly-selected residents took part in one of the country’s first civic assemblies. The assembly helped propose charter reforms that will appear on the city’s next election ballot.

​After Dallas removed its rainbow crosswalks, local residents and businesses vowed to install permanent LGBTQ+ art exhibits. Projects include new murals, rainbow light displays, and branded rainbow banners on light poles.

​A construction crew of humans and robots installed 100 megawatts of solar capacity in California's Mojave Desert. The large-scale solar farm now has enough energy to power 15,000 to 25,000 homes per year.

Animals

This French Polynesian paradise combines tourism and sea turtle conservation. They’ve protected over 120,000 hatchlings

→ Read more​

Environment

New study finds that tropical rainforest biodiversity has rebounded over 90% in the last 30 years

A new study in Ecuador analyzed more than 8,500 species and found that biodiversity in tropical rainforests recovers much faster than anticipated.

In fact, biodiversity can rebound to over 90% of its original levels within just 30 years, as long as the land is no longer used for development or agriculture.

Scientists found that animals play a crucial role in rapid forest recovery, with birds and mammals dispersing seeds and aerating the soil as pollinators fertilize plants.

→ Read more​

More Good bits

🚀 Bill Nye, the “Save NASA Science” guy. (Reels)

💼 Avoid politics at work? You may want to rethink that strategy.

🌊 Paddleboarding is saving a dying language.

🔋 EV batteries last a while … and can last even longer. (TikTok)

🐶 Get a gardening buddy who does all the digging. (Gifted link)

*Some of these recommendations may include affiliate links, which means if you buy anything from this email, we may get something in return at no extra cost to you. (Thanks for your support!)