And we’re back!

To remind you of how things work here, Monthly Good News is your monthly reminder that not everyone is terrible and perhaps – just perhaps – humanity is redeemable. Yes, even after this month.

If you missed September’s round up, you can find it here, and if you’ve already read through that then let’s get started! Here is a whole load of excellent positive very good things that have happened in October – plus a few I missed from the summer.

July

• 100,000kg of plastic has been removed from the biggest Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch
• Disused Berlin airport to be turned into a 10,000 person eco community

August

• Germany launched the world’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train
• A ‘bubble barrier’ is currently at work in the Netherlands to stop plastic pollution
• Scotland’s largest ever community buyout will double the land of the Tarras Valley nature reserve

September

• Canada could hit targets of 100% zero-emission electricity by 2035
• Cheetahs have returned to India after 70 years of being extinct
• Denmark has pledged to pay ‘compensation’ for climate change to communities that have experienced losses caused by climate disruptions
• Australia’s most polluting coal plant will shut a decade earlier than planned

October

• A Normandy apple orchard is removing more CO2 from the atmosphere when making their brandy than they’re emitting
• Lloyds Banking Group has pledged to stop funding new fossil fuels projects
• UK cycling levels have increased 54% from pre-pandemic
• Endurance swimmer who coined ‘Speedo Diplomacy’ as a form of climate protest will be swimming the Red Sea to highlight the vulnerability of coral reefs ahead of COP27
• The people of the Gaza Strip are returning to their beaches after a successful coastal clean-up initiative
• The world’s first floating city, a solution to overcrowding and rising sea levels, is underway in the Maldives  
• A music venue harnessed heat from dancers to store for later use
• Greece’s renewable power sources managed to cover 100% of the country’s power usage for 5 hours and plans to go further
• An “aspirational” plan has been put in place to reduce aviation emissions to net zero by 2050
• Since France banned short-haul flights where there was a viable rail alternative, campaigners are pushing for the UK to follow suit, which could potentially cut the UK’s domestic aviation emissions by a third
• UK launches a fishing net recycling scheme
• ‘Asphalt art’ – murals painted on roads – are becoming more popular as crashes with pedestrians are found to have been cut 50% in locations with the artwork
• Sea urchin grown in a lab for the first time could help coral reefs survive in future
• Naturally occurring lake bacteria could remove plastic pollution from lakes
• A 51% increase in native bird populations have been seen in parts in New Zealand

Yes, Cheetahs are being rewilded, there’s something called ‘Speedo Diplomacy’ and the Maldives are making a floating city. A city. Which floats. Don’t you feel a bit better now?

Anyway, go get yourself a coffee, or a nap, or maybe a cheesy Halloween costume for you to wear this weekend, and share this post with someone you know who could really do with the positive pick-me-up.

Have a spooky end to your month, and I’ll see you next month for a rundown of all the good things that happen this November.

✌️

By Bethany Climpson, Sustainability Engagement Assistant