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In the headlines...

🇦🇺 Part of a national response to the shooting that killed 15 people at a Jewish festival in Sydney, Australia announced a gun buyback program will start in November.

🐳 Six more beluga whales were moved from the now-closed Marineland in Canada to their new homes at the Shedd Aquarium and Georgia Aquarium, leaving just 11 left to be relocated.

Environment

The Great Barrier Reef is finally showing “signs of recovery” after dramatic declines

The Great Barrier Reef, which has been widely heralded as the Earth’s “largest living structure,” spans over 1,400 miles off the coast of Queensland, Australia — the size of a small country. For the past 15 years, the health of the coral reef has fluctuated dramatically, but a new report from the Australian Institute of Marine Science found “promising signs of recovery,” with coral cover actually increasing in several regions.

From 2025 to 2026, the northern reef’s coral cover increased from 30% to 35.1%, while the central reef’s coral cover increased from 28.6% to 31.6% — both above long-term averages.

Although climate change and coral bleaching remain very real threats, Australian scientists now have verifiable proof that the reef is becoming more resilient over time.

Even better: In early 2026, after a marine heatwave posed mass coral bleaching threats, a huge monsoon arrived just in time. The cloudy, rainy weather cooled the reef, giving the coral time to grow their symbiotic algae and survive another bleaching event.

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You may also like: Satellite imagery and AI help uncover an Ireland-sized addition to global coral reefs​

More Good News

​After 38 years, passenger trains are running between Finland and Sweden again. After several decades on hold, parts of the route have also now been electrified, making it possible to travel by electric train all the way from Helsinki to Haparanda.

​A community fund in an Idaho town is helping farmworkers fight extreme heat and wildfire smoke. The fund first began in 2020 to help farmworkers with COVID-19-related expenses, since undocumented workers could not receive stipends for medical or other necessities.

​A city in Poland unveiled benches made from recycled beverage cartons. Białystok currently recycles 53% of its municipal waste, and the composite material also has potential use cases in construction and transport.

​Scientists have successfully trialed “fridge-free” vaccines in patients for the first time. (May require login) Currently, most vaccines need to be refrigerated or frozen, and around half are wasted every year, primarily because they become unusable when they get too hot or too cold.

​The Columbus Zoo celebrated the first birthdays of its two Asian elephant calves by launching an awareness month. Their birthday celebration will highlight the calves’ growth and development, their role as ambassadors for an endangered species, and conservation efforts to protect the species.

​A nonprofit in Atlanta is helping refugee women find strength and healing in the outdoors. The Refugee Women’s Network comes into these women’s lives in the months and years after resettlement, when government resources are gone, but people are still rebuilding their lives.

Animals

Researchers tracked sea turtles in the ocean with satellite tags. It revealed something they had never known before

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Clean energy

Wind and solar have now overtaken fossil fuels for electricity generation in Germany

New data revealed that wind and solar generated 44% of Germany’s electricity in 2025, overtaking fossil fuels. This milestone puts the country on track to fully phase out coal “much sooner” than originally planned.

Germany introduced its landmark renewable energy law in 2000, and has since seen its share of wind and solar generation skyrocket. At the same time, coal fell from supplying more than half of its electricity to just 21%.

The country first aimed to eliminate coal entirely by 2038, but is now expected to do that even sooner.

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More Good bits

🎧 To listen to ad-free music, Gen Z is reviving a relic.

🫁 This could make animal testing a thing of the past.

🪡 Less endless collections and garments, more mending.

☀️ There’s an upside to all the stuff we’re storing.

🐟 Home sweet offshore wind farm.

🧊 A possible character suggestion for the next “Ice Age” movie.

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