It seems that a lot of the news I see and hear recently is all about the bad things happening in this day and age. However, constantly hearing about the negative in our lives can not be healthy. So I want to share some of the good in our world with other people and try to point out the ways the earth is slowly getting better as well.

The Great Barrier Reef shows most coral cover in over 30 years.
The Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef in the world, has suffered from harsh and widespread bleaching in the past years due to increasing ocean temperatures. However, in the past year ⅔ of the reef has recorded the highest levels of coral cover since monitoring began 36 years ago.
AIMS CEO Dr. Paul Hardisty said in a media release that “The 2020 and 2022 bleaching events, while extensive, didn’t reach the intensity of the 2016 and 2017 events and, as a result, we have seen less mortality…These latest results demonstrate the reef can still recover in periods free of intense disturbance.”

States in Mexico have started banning bullfighting.
Although bullfighting is a longstanding tradition, embedded into Mexican culture, many have drawn attention to the cruelty and inhumanity of the custom. In the past eight years over four states have banned the sport, including the Mexican capital, Mexico City. This put a stop to the largest bullring in the world and is the start to ending the animal cruelty witnessed in the rings.

The world’s largest container line has rerouted to avoid blue whales.
The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) recently took a huge step to help protect blue whales and other cetaceans by rerouting to avoid the waters off the coast of Sri Lanka. These waters are filled with endangered blue whales who live, feed, and rest on the surface of the Indian Ocean.
Sharon Livermore, the director of marine conservation at the International Fund for Animal Welfare said, “By ensuring these small changes, MSC is making a significant difference for these endangered whales. Whales often die as a result of collisions and its population is at risk. Ship strikes are both a conservation and welfare problem, and even one whale death is one too many.”

Nepal’s tigers are coming back from the brink of extinction.

On July 29 of this year, also known as National Tiger Day, Nepal shared some amazing news. Since 2009 the population has nearly tripled in size, increasing an amazing 190%. This escalation in the population is the result of partnerships with local communities to protect key habitats by working to put a stop to poaching, as well as illegal wildlife trade. They also worked to connect many different habitats with wildlife corridors. A wildlife corridor is a stretch of land that cuts through developed areas and supports the natural processes that would normally occur in a healthy environment. These results show that communities and governmental organizations combined effort and faith can help reverse animal extinction. One can hope others take note and help turn the tide on the thousands of animals under threat of extinction.

Patagonia’s founder has donated the entire company to fighting climate change.
Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia’s creator, has recently given away his ownership of the company. He started Patagonia 49 years ago, in 1973, and it has grown to become a multibillion-dollar company. The company’s stock, which is worth about 3 billion dollars, will be transferred to two specially made organizations, Holdfast Collective and Patagonia Purpose Trust. Holdfast will make sure that the company’s annual profit will “Protect nature and biodiversity, support thriving communities and fight the environmental crisis.” The rest that goes to the Patagonia Purpose Trust will be used to create a “more permanent legal structure to enshrine Patagonia’s purpose and values.”
“Hopefully this will influence a new form of capitalism that doesn’t end up with a few rich people and a bunch of poor people,” Chouinard said. “We are going to give away the maximum amount of money to people who are actively working on saving the planet.”
Nowadays, many wealthy people are putting their money into places where it will grow into more money or personal spending, as many people often do, but on a massive and detrimental scale. Chouinard’s refreshing use of a successful business provides hope that others will follow their example.