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In the headlines...

❤️ Tributes from co-stars and peers in the industry poured in for Hayden Panettiere, who died on Sunday at age 36.

🇦🇺 In a “world-first” deal and a milestone for gig economy workers, Uber Eats and Doordash delivery drivers in Australia will earn a minimum wage, at least $31.30 an hour.

🇱🇧 Lebanon’s parliament voted to abolish the death penalty, and if it goes on to be approved by the cabinet, it would be the first country in the Middle East to end capital punishment.

Climate action

A new movement is turning school playgrounds into green spaces and community centers

The nonprofit Trust for Public Land has helped hundreds of schools across 26 U.S. states transform their playgrounds from an expanse of unshaded blacktop into shady, green oases both for students and the community.

It’s part of the nonprofit’s larger vision to ensure everyone in the country can get to a quality park within a 10-minute walk of their home.

Beyond adding color with murals and painted basketball courts, and other natural elements — like climbing boulders and tree stumps — the redesigns all have climate change in mind, with green spaces, rain gardens, and more to mitigate climate impacts and keep temperatures cooler. ​​

Even better: Trust for Public Land isn’t coming in and redesigning the spaces on their own. Students survey each other and work together to decide what they want on their playground, and administrators, custodians, recess monitors, and afterschool caretakers weigh in, too: “The users are the designers.”

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You may also like: Good News: Tiny urban green spaces can cool cities and save lives​

More Good News

​A new report found that a late summer monsoon led to “signs of recovery” in the Great Barrier Reef. Cycles of disturbance and recovery threaten to turn the reef’s colorful coral gardens into algal-dominated seascapes — then back again — and these cycles are becoming more volatile as our world warms.

​Independence County in Arkansas voted unanimously to pass a five-year data center moratorium. The latest and longest to pass in the state, the county also passed a three-year moratorium on wind turbines, pushing back on projects approved behind-the-scenes without input from residents.

​Niger restored five million hectares of grassland without planting any trees. 33 African countries committed to the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative to jointly restore 129 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, an area larger than Germany and France combined.

​Europe’s largest battery is now online in Scotland. “Coalburn 1 will enhance the flexibility and resilience of the UK electricity system, support the integration of more renewable power, and contribute to lowering costs for consumers.”

​A new vaccine could eliminate a major cause of a deadly diarrheal disease. While it’s made the headlines in the U.S. recently, around the world, diarrhea is a constant, deadly threat — over 1 million people die from illnesses related to it every year, nearly half children under age 5.

​Restoring habitats and mitigating floods, “horizontal levees” could protect coastal cities and wildlife from rising seas. Most levees look like steep, barren embankments or riprap-clad seawalls, designed to prevent flooding by adding extra feet of height — this new kind of levee has the same impact, with wider benefits.

Animals

Humans used to kill lions in this African village. Now, they get health benefits in exchange for saving big cats

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good progress

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon reached its lowest level in 13 years

New satellite data revealed that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is at a 13-year low, with 1,110 square miles deforested between August 1, 2025, and July 31, 2026, 36% lower than the previous 12-month period.

It’s also 55.6% lower than the average area deforested in the last decade.

The country has pledged to eliminate all illegal deforestation by 2030, and has continually made progress toward achieving that goal.

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More Good bits

🪩 Pitbull fans set a world record — and it wasn’t a waste. (Instagram)

🗺️ To prevent Alzheimers, read a map.

🍎 We go together like apples and solar panels.

✏️ And for the first time in forever … teachers are less alone. (Reels)

🌳 Rainforests can recover faster than we expected.

🚲 Leave the bike riding to the men? I don’t think so.

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