Sometimes the news is just doom and gloom, especially when we are talking about tackling climate change. To combat this, we’ve created a list of our favourite positive news from the world of eco from the past four weeks.
Think of this as a little pick me up…
A rewilding project in England aims to give 20% of the land back to nature
The UK has a huge population for its natural resources. That means that a lot of land has been given over to development or agriculture.
Rewilding is a conservation strategy that aims to boost the biodiversity of ecosystems by reintroducing native plant and animal species.
WildEast aims to biodiversity the eastern regions of the UK. It encourages all commercial and privately owned land (even back gardens) to give 20% to nature to help encourage wildlife and create one of the world’s biggest and best nature reserves.
Think more bees, more butterflies, more birds, and more wildflowers.
You can pledge to join in on the project via their website.
Biodiversity net gains have been increased
Following on from WildEast’s project, the new Environment Bill has been passed which will require developers from 2023 to deliver a minimum of 10% of something called biodiversity net gain (currently just in England).
Biodiversity net gain means that new developments must leave the natural environment in a measurably better state than it was beforehand, in this case, 10%.
We’ll start to see more diverse habitats, woodlands, and meadows as part of new building projects in the very near future. This is particularly exciting for urban areas such as town and city centres.
Sharks spotted in the River Thames
The River Thames was declared “biologically dead” in 1957. A recent report led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has revealed a number of species are thriving in the 215-mile river including various shark species. Don’t worry though, this isn’t going to end up like Jaws.
The water quality has also improved and in 2025, the Thames is gaining a “super sewer” which will hopefully reduce pollutants even more.
This increase in wildlife again means we will hopefully see more and more native marine life along the Thames. Nature seems to be winning again!
Nearly 200 countries adopt the Glasgow Climate Pact
It’s been hard to miss COP26, which saw many world leaders, climate experts, and changemakers gather in Glasgow.
The two-week meeting culminated in nearly 200 nations signing a Climate Pact. This notably means that these nations are aware of the climate emergency, and recognises that a 1.5°C rise compared with a 2°C rise will have a lower impact on the planet.
Although the agreement still includes more compromises than we would like, this Pact calls for greater action and greater financing for adaptation than its predecessor, The Paris Agreement.
We’ll be interested to see how this one develops.
Students in the Netherlands complete a 1,800-mile road trip in a campervan that has zero emissions
An innovative group of 22 students have created a campervan, Stella Vita, that is the world’s first solar-powered vehicle of its kind. And of course, they took Stella on a road trip!
The project aims to promote sustainable travelling solutions and to help us to see the future of sustainable travel.
Here’s hoping holidays in vehicles like Stella aren’t far off.
Zero-waste store on wheels expands its delivery zone
Ella Stone who was furloughed in 2020 set up a top-up truck in her neighbourhood to provide a convenient way for people to refill grocery items. A year later, her business now employs 8 staff and has recently expanded its delivery area across areas of North and East London.
To keep environmental impact low, Ella’s business encourages people to coordinate deliveries with their neighbours. A lovely way to work together to reduce waste!
We’re increasing the trees we plant with the Rainforest Alliance
This Black Friday, and the weeks on either side we are planting 5 x more trees with every purchase.
Ordinarily, we plant 1 tree for each purchase via our site but for 2 weeks will be increasing this to five.
Planting trees is a fantastic way of reducing our carbon footprint as well as rebuilding vital habitats.
See, we told you, it’s definitely not all doom and gloom. We loved sharing some positive stories with you from organisations big and small.
Got some positive eco news to share? We’ll be summarising positive news on a monthly basis so please do comment below if you’d like to be featured.
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