International Day of the Girl 2024 -- Girls' vision for the future
11 October 2024 - Observed annually on 11 October, International Day of the Girl is a key global moment on which to celebrate girls everywhere, amplifying their voices, actions and leadership. It is a day that belongs to everyone who cares about girls and their rights. (more)

US: New center to advance use of seaweed in the global economy
11 October 2024 - The UC Berkeley Energy and Biosciences Institute (EBI) has received nearly $13 million to establish a center aimed at advancing the use of seaweed in the global supply chain. Seaweeds provide ecosystem habitats for diverse marine species, offer coastal protection, and act as a repository for atmospheric carbon. An uptick in seaweed cultivation is being driven by their role in integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA), which is a farming method that involves raising multiple aquatic species together in close proximity, with the goal of improving efficiency and reducing waste. Integration of seaweed farming into aquaculture is known to bring added benefits, such as ecosystem restoration, nutrient recycling and improved sustainability. (more)

Research finds good friendships crucial to happiness of young adults
10 October 2024 - If you're a 20-something who is unattached, having good friends is a key to happiness, new research shows. Based on their findings, researchers suggest that young, single adults make it a priority to forge meaningful, long-term friendships. (more)

An 80-year Harvard study reveals the secret to long-term happiness
10 October 2024 - For over 80 years, Harvard's Grant and Glueck study has tracked the well-being of two demographics: 268 graduates from the batches of 1939 -- 1944 and 456 poor men growing up in Boston since 1939. Since pre-World War II, they've painstakingly scrutinized blood samples, performed brain scans, collated surveys, and interacted with these men.To quote psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development: ''The clearest message that we get from this 80-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.'' (more)

Norway: There are now more fully electric cars on Norwegian roads than gas cars
9 October 2024 - The Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council has reported a milestone -- the number of fully electric vehicles on roads has surpassed the number of gas cars for the first time ever. According to the report, in the past 20 years, over one million gas cars have disappeared from Norwegian roads, and to a large extent they have been replaced by electric cars. The same development is likely to also occur for diesel cars. (more)

US: On Navajo lands, ancient ways are restoring the parched earth
8 October 2024 - The Navajo living in Arizona are restoring their watersheds -- and boosting their food sovereignty -- with earthen berms and small dams made of woven brush, sticks, and rocks. These structures, similar to those used by Native peoples long before Europeans arrived on the continent, are not only delivering water to crops, they are also helping to sequester carbon, and reviving this high-desert ecosystem. (more)

UK: Rewilder Derek Gow on turning his farm into an ark for lost species
8 October 2024 - Derek Gow has dedicated his life to animals and biodiversity. After a Shetland ewe captured his heart as a boy, Gow grew up to become a farmer with a passion for ancient breeds. Realising how many of our species were close to extinction -- even on his own land -- he tore down fences literally and metaphorically, transforming his traditional Devon farm into a 300-acre rewilding haven for beavers, water voles, lynx, wildcats, harvest mice, wild boar and more. A project that is still ongoing today. (more)

Denmark returns iconic indigenous cloak to Brazil
7 October 2024 - Indigenous leaders in Brazil have celebrated the return of a sacred cloak that had been on display at a Danish museum for more than 300 years. The 1.8m-long cloak, made of 4,000 red feathers from the scarlet ibis bird, was officially unveiled at a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro. It was attended by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. (more)

US: California's first new national marine sanctuary in 32 years to ban offshore oil drilling along 100 miles of coastline
7 October 2024 - A long-running effort by native tribes and environmentalists to establish the first new national marine sanctuary along California's coastline in 32 years -- the aquatic version of a new national park, where offshore oil drilling would be prohibited forever -- has reached a key milestone. (more)

UK: Project reveals undiscovered ancient woodlands
6 October 2024 - A two-year project across three counties has uncovered more than 1,300 hectares (3,271 acres) of previously unknown ancient woodland. These are woods that have persisted since 1600, packed with a range of forest-loving plant life, fungi, insects and micro-organisations, making up some 2.5% of UK land (609,990 hectares or 1,507,318 acres). (more)

US: Ancestral land returned to Onondaga Nation in upstate New York
5 October 2024 - The Onondaga Nation has regained 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of its ancestral land in upstate New York, a tiny portion of the land members say was unjustly taken by the state beginning in the 18th century. Sid Hill, the Tadodaho, or chief, of the Onondaga Nation, said, ''This is a small but important step for us, and for the Indigenous land back movement across the United States,'' Hill said in a prepared statement. (more)

UK: New bison bridges to be built in Kent woodland
4 October 2024 - New bridges are being built to keep bison and humans apart in a woodland on the outskirts of Canterbury. They're the first of their kind in the UK, and will help tourists to navigate the area while visiting, ensuring that they stay out the way of Europe's heaviest land mammals. The bridges will allow the bison to roam 200 hectares (494 acres) of land, rather than 50 hectares (123 acres) as they do currently, without having to close footpaths to the public. (more)

US: Jobs report blows past expectations, showing hiring surge
4 October 2024 - U.S. hiring surged in September, blowing past economist expectations and rebuking concern about weakness in the labor market. The fresh report marks one of the last major pieces of economic data before the presidential election. (more)

Organic farming in Ibiza grows by 75% between 2020 and 2023
3 October 2024 - A significant rise in organic agricultural land shows the positive evolution of sustainable farming practices on the the beautiful island of Ibiza, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea. This growth is in line with the European Union's ''Farm to Fork'' strategy, which aims for 25% of agricultural land to be organic by 2030. (more)

US: Above Appalachian coalfields is a wealth of forest botanicals now being farmed and conserved by locals
2 October 2024 - 50 percent of the medicinal herbs, roots, and barks in the North American herbal supply chain are native to the Appalachian Mountains, and the bulk of these species are harvested or grown in Central Appalachia, which includes southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, far-southwest Virginia, and east Tennessee. (more)

Northern bald ibis: Back from the brink
1 October 2024 - After the northern bald ibis disappeared from Europe more than 300 years ago, some assumed that 16th century drawings of its gleaming plume and long, arching beak were works of the imagination. The birds, which were once found in three continents, were so revered in the ancient world that they have their own hieroglyph - a depiction of their distinctive outline that represents the word akh, meaning 'spirit'. (more)

New Zealand reclaims record for world's largest Haka on home turf
30 September 2024 - New Zealand has reclaimed the world record for the largest mass Haka, with thousands packing a major stadium on Sunday [29 September] for a resounding performance of the traditional Maori routine. Historically a ceremonial Maori war dance, the Haka was intended as a challenge to opponents and a rallying cry before heading into battle, though today it is also used to celebrate Maori identity and culture and as a way of unifying people at times of grief. (more)

US: Cities are using sheep to graze in urban landscapes and people love it
29 September 2024 - The joy people get from watching sheep graze is partly why they are becoming trendy workers in some urban areas. ...Using sheep for prescribed grazing is not a new landscaping method, but more urban communities are opting for it to handle land management concerns such as invasive species, wildfire risks, protection of native vegetation and animal habitats, and maintaining historic sites. (more)

'It's hugely moving': sea turtle nests in Greece reach record numbers
28 September 2024 - Conservationists celebrate as efforts to save the Caretta caretta loggerhead sea turtle, which has existed for 100m years, pay off. (more)

Meet the 80-year-old Miss Universe Korea contestant proving age is just a number
28 September 2024 - Born almost a decade before the first Miss Universe contest was held in 1952, 80-year-old Choi Soon-hwa could now make history as the pageant's oldest ever participant. Earlier this month, she was unveiled as a finalist in the annual Miss Universe Korea competition. On Monday, Choi will go head-to-head with 31 other contestants for the tiara - and a chance to represent South Korea at the Miss Universe final in Mexico this November. (more)

US: Construction begins on massive solar project on roof of new JFK Airport terminal
25 September 2024 - Construction has begun on a new terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), which will host a 13,000-panel solar array on its roof. The Terminal One solar array will be the largest in New York City and likely the largest at any airport terminal in the country. (more)

A school banned Indigenous students from using their language. A century later, it's teaching Cherokee
24 September 2024 - Between 1882 and 1887, some two dozen children from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians were enrolled in Trinity College's Industrial Indian boarding school. ...The students...were prohibited from speaking Cherokee or otherwise maintaining their traditions. In 1887, the boarding school closed. Trinity College eventually moved to Durham and, in 1924, it became Duke University. Now, the school at which Cherokee and other Indigenous students were forcibly stripped of their culture is being used to help revitalize the Cherokee language. (more)

Birds form surprising relationships with other avian species during migration, study suggests
23 September 2024 - New research indicates that birds are not alone while migrating -- and sharing space with other species may even help them on the journey. (more)

Who's that singing? As fall migration arrives, apps that ID birds by sound have taken off
23 September 2024 - As the annual fall migration begins across the Northern Hemisphere, apps like Merlin, which is put out by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, have caught on among birders and non-birders alike by revealing just how crowded with species our surroundings are. (more)