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In the headlines...

💵 Cook County, Illinois teamed up with the state to erase more than $2 billion for over a million people, thanks to a nonprofit that buys debt for pennies on the dollar.

💧 Sierra County, New Mexico passed its first moratorium on data centers, citing concerns over potential water and environmental impacts.

👏 For the first time since 1970, the city of Seattle went the entire month of June without a single homicide.

Today’s Top Good News Story

Rooftop solar saved New England residents over $130M in electricity costs during recent heat wave

A new report analyzed the heat wave that hit New England in early July and estimated that during the week of June 28 through July 4, distributed solar projects contributed more than six gigawatts in electricity and saved New England ratepayers $130-149 million.

On July 2 alone, the report found that solar arrays saved $39 million to $54 million, and solar contributed more power to the grid than the region’s nuclear fleet that afternoon.

One of the authors of the report, which came from the Acadia Center, said it was a clear economic case for the benefits of solar. The center also found that last year, solar energy saved $1.26 billion to $1.37 billion.

Why is this good news? In the middle of a heat wave, demand on the energy grid is extraordinarily high, and this proves that investing in solar is a good way to provide cheap, reliable electricity when and where people need it the most.

→ Read more​

More Good News

​While navigating her own divorce, Jen Hamilton is donating 100% of new merch proceeds to other women in need. The nurse, turned influencer and best-selling author, is using her own challenges to help others.

​Staff at an Ohio animal shelter made a paralyzed kitten a custom wheelchair using Hot Wheels. Gelato was deemed too tiny to fit into any of their existing mobility devices, so veterinary assistant lead Mallory Smith got creative.

​Two critically endangered black-and-white ruffed lemurs were just born at the Central Park Zoo. The twins, Maso and Tonga, join six other lemurs born through the zoo’s Species Survival Plan since 2008.

​A new 3,000-panel solar power farm in Colorado is cooling the land and turning a profit as local farmers raise crops and livestock. The microclimates of the solar array also keep fresh berries and vegetables from scalding in the summer heat.

​Neighbors in Pasco County, Florida have spent nearly two years documenting wildlife crossings to help local sandhill cranes. Wildlife monitoring led to an uptick in “Sandhill Crane Crossing” traffic signs, which protect the birds from speeding drivers.

​People’s photos are helping scientists record marine life in real-time in the Canary Islands. Through the citizen science project, more than 5,000 species of living organisms have been identified.

Animals

Robert Irwin isn’t giving up on this species on the brink of extinction: ‘There’s still hope’

→​​ Read more​

Politics

More women are running for governor in the US than ever before

There are 85 women major-party candidates running for governor across 36 states this year, significantly exceeding the previous record of 69, set in 2022. Fifty-one of those women are Democrats, another record, and 34 are Republicans.

At the congressional level, 580 women are currently major-party contenders for the U.S. House, just three people away from the 2018 and 2020 record of 583 women candidates.

The number of women Democratic House candidates has already reached an all-time high of 387, and the remaining candidates are Republican.

→ Read more​

More Good bits

🥹 ​​Tom Holland’s sobriety journey is changing lives.

🐢 Saving cats from trees and turtles from storm drains.

👨🏾‍🍳 The internet’s new favorite foodie: The “Midnight Chef.”

🐦 Protecting baby animals can be ugly work.

🦧 This orangutan was rescued as a “toddler.” Now she’s free. (YouTube)

🌻 A new eco-coffin has entered the chat. (Reels)

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