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30 Years of Clean-Up and Monitoring Work at Closed Copper Mine Wins Honors for World’s Top Miner

By
Andy Corbley
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(Left) Island Copper Mine site and pit lake looking east (right) a BHP representaive accepting the award - credit, (left) BHP, supplied to Greg Lawrence DOI... (right) TRCR Awards Subcommittee, released
(Left) Island Copper Mine site and pit lake looking east (right) a BHP representaive accepting the award – credit, (left) BHP, supplied to Greg Lawrence DOI… (right) TRCR Awards Subcommittee, released

In British Columbia, a small award ceremony was held to commend mine operators who continue to monitor and spend on mine reclamation, years after the pickaxes are hung up.

Mining has long been the backbone of Canada’s economy, and BC was the first province to mandate by law that mine plans could only be approved if they had a reclamation operation laid out and budgeted from the start. Reclamation is the industry term for the process of returning brownfield land to productive use, either for farming or forestry, or even for rewilding.

This year, the BC Technical Research Committee on Reclamation (TRCR) presented its Annual Reclamation Award to BHP, the world’s largest mining company, for its work on the former Island Copper Mine near Port Hardy in the north of Vancouver Island.

At one time, the main pit spiraled down over 1,320 feet into the ground—the deepest point touched by the Sun anywhere on Earth. The resource mined there measured over 1 billion tons, with the primary mineral being copper, yet also containing ample tonnage of silver, gold, molybdenum, and rhenium. It was in operation between 1971 and 1995.

At its peak, it employed 900 local residents, and the jobs turned Port Hardy from a Podunk nothing-ville into a flourishing town of 5,000 people. When the orebody was exhausted, BHP conducted extensive environmental studies and assessments for a sophisticated reclamation plan for the gaping hole the company had dug into the ground.

MORE RECLAMATION STORIES: First Permit to Clean Up Old Mine Waste Issued for WA State Under 2024 ‘Good Samaritan Act’

BHP flooded the mining pit with seawater, which formed a stratified lake with oxygen-depleted bottom waters into which the acid rock drainage generated from the chemical and biological oxidation of reactive sulfide minerals in waste rock could be injected and neutralized. This was a novel system at the time.

Since May 2001, BHP modified its approach to increase the oxygen depletion and heavy metal absorption by fertilizing the surface waters of the lake every 7–10 days to stimulate plankton blooms that absorb contaminant heavy metals and oxygen, before sinking to the bottom layer. The removal of oxygen is vital to prevent minerals oxidizing.

CANADIAN MINING: Canada Successfully Exploring for ‘White’ Hydrogen Gas, a Clean Power Source Beneath Existing Mines

“BHP has continued to support its reclamation through ongoing monitoring, adaptive management, and improvements to the site’s water management infrastructure,” the TRCR wrote in a statement.

“These efforts have strengthened environmental protection, enhanced the long-term reliability of the Pit Lake treatment system, improved operational flexibility through remote capabilities, reduced worker safety risks, and increased resilience to extreme weather and power outages.”

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“Every artist was first an amateur.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Good News Network
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– Sincerely Media

Quote of the Day: “Every artist was first an amateur.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photo by: Sincerely Media

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

– Sincerely Media

Good News in History, October 2

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Good News Network
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Marlene Angeja CC 2.0. BY-SA

69 years ago today, a new island, or Ilha Novo, appeared on the edge of the westernmost island (Faial) in the Azores chain after the eruption of Capelinhos, or “little cape,” one of many submerged cone volcanoes in the area. The eruption caused no deaths, however it did wreck many houses and reduce the population of the island by half—most of whom evacuated and immigrated to the US under the Azorean Refugee Act, passed under John F. Kennedy. It did extend Faial’s land area by 3 square kilometers though, and blanketed the surrounding slopes with volcanic ash that spawned lush forests and a tourism boom. READ more… (1957)

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‘Flourishing’ Sycamore Gap Tree Has Ring of New Shoots Already 3-Feet Tall

By
Andy Corbley
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Overlooking the regrowing Sycamore Gap stump on Hadrian's Wall - credit © National Trust Images / Annapurna Mellor
Overlooking the regrowing Sycamore Gap stump on Hadrian’s Wall – credit © National Trust Images / Annapurna Mellor

3 years on from the illegal felling of Britain’s famous Sycamore Gap tree, new aerial images reveal how the stump is flourishing, and the basal sprouts that emerged are growing fast.

For those who didn’t read or weren’t aware, one of the UK’s most famous trees—a 150-year-old sycamore growing in a gap along the Roman-era Hadrian’s Wall—was cut down by vandals in 2023.

It was one of the most photographed trees in England, and a symbol of the North. The vandals’ chainsaw made a clean cut which arborists supposed at the time may have the potential to allow the tree to regrow.

Now the stump, located in Northumberland, has grown a thick ring of new shoots which are between two to three feet tall.

“These flourishing shoots are really encouraging and show that the special measures we’ve taken—including reducing soil compaction around the roots and limiting human disturbance—are paying off,” said Andrew Poad, General Manager for the National Trust at Hadrian’s Wall.

“We’re grateful to all the visitors who, through the care they’re taking, are supporting our efforts to protect the tree and give it the best possible chance to thrive.”

ANOTHER TREE UNDER REPAIR: The Majestic ‘Gloucester Tree’ Reopens to Climbers in Australia After 3 Years of Repair

As the tree regrows, the Trust continues to work with partners and local communities to celebrate the tree’s legacy, which has involved 49 saplings grown from the tree’s seed, distributed to communities across the UK.

With the tree’s deep established roots, biologists estimate it could take as little as 150 years, as ironic as that sounds, to grow back to something like its former size, while hikers could be sitting under the shade of its branches in as little as a decade.

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Chinese Commercial Reactor Achieves Nuclear Fusion with Clean Hydrogen-Boron Fuel

By
Andy Corbley
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ENN Group's EXL-50U spherical device which successfully achieved hydrogen-boron fusion reactions - credit, handout
ENN Group’s EXL-50U spherical device which successfully achieved hydrogen-boron fusion reactions – credit, handout

In a world first, Chinese engineers have achieved brief nuclear fusion with a much cleaner and abundant fuel supply in what an international review team called a “significant and valuable” advance in the field.

Using hydrogen-boron as fuel, a state-backed energy company used a laser and radio waves to generate a plasma within a spherical reactor device known as a tokamak.

GNN has reported often on developments in nuclear fusion made around the world, including discoveries and advancements in the US, Japan, Europe, and China.

Nuclear fusion is a potential new energy source with increasingly real potential to solve the West’s energy needs. It replicates the process of melding two atomic nuclei together which happens at the center of our Sun, a function of physics which releases intense amounts of energy as heat through escaping neutrons.

Theoretically, it has the potential to generate enough energy to power a household for a human lifetime on a single glass of seawater, remarked MIT’s spinout fusion company. It produces no emissions, and unlike nuclear fission, the currently-used method of nuclear power, generates no radioactive waste.

There are many hang-ups and roadblocks. Discussing fusion is discussing one the most complex, albeit understood, challenges in engineering. To name one, the existing fuel source theorized as standard for the commercialization of fusion, a mixture of deuterium and tritium, produces radiation and is extremely expensive.

While deuterium is already produced in bulk seawater processing, tritium cannot be mined, is naturally radioactive, and is found only in trace amounts in nature. In contrast, ENN Group, a leading Chinese clean energy provider, has opted for the hydrogen-boron route.

Inside the tokamak chamber, one hydrogen proton with a boron-11 nucleus are fused to produce harmless helium nuclei (alpha particles) and energy, without releasing high-energy neutrons, i.e. radiation. World Nuclear News reports that private fusion energy companies like TAE Technologies in the US and Marvel Fusion in Germany are experimenting with hydrogen-boron fuel.

Yang Yuanming, the chief engineer who led the fusion project at ENN, explained to South China Morning Post in Hong Kong that in addition to an unorthodox fuel source, their method for generating the plasma—a 4th state of matter that gives off the energy which would be sold as electricity—was also novel.

Typically, to achieve and sustain fusion, the molecules in a reactor need to be heated to hundreds of millions of degrees using the pressure of an intense and contained magnetic field generated by superconducting magnets.

Here, ENN used a dual approach of high-energy neutral beam injection and radio frequency waves to target the exact spot in the hydrogen-boron fuel where the particles are most likely to react.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: 

“Under this mechanism, a large number of ‘fast protons’ are rapidly generated within the system,” reports Dannie Peng at SCMP. “Acting as a catalyst for the reaction, these high-energy particles triggered a chain reaction, pushing the overall fusion reaction rate beyond 100 million times per second.”

A delegation of visiting scientists reviewed the experiment and agreed unanimously it was “a significant and valuable contribution” to the field, and likely to enrich future attempts at commercializing what many, including more than one great science-fiction author, have described as the “last” energy source.

Yang, the chief engineer, shared this latest milestone on social media on Monday morning.

“[We will] strive to get the plasma to 100 million degrees Celsius (180 million degrees Fahrenheit) as soon as possible!”

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Genetic Analysis All But Confirms the Most Unique of Humpback Populations Is Actually a Subspecies

By
Andy Corbley
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An Arabian Sea humpback whale breaches following interaction with another whale in Hallaniyat Bay, Oman - credit, Darryl MacDonald ©
An Arabian Sea humpback whale breaches following interaction with another whale in Hallaniyat Bay, Oman – credit, Darryl MacDonald ©

This breathtaking photograph is of an Arabian Sea humpback whale—the subject of a new genetic analysis that seems to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s a totally different subspecies compared to its cousins in the Pacific or Atlantic.

Existing with a remarkably unique ecology, it’s been clear to anyone with experience that Arabian Sea humpbacks are just different, but until recently it was uncertain whether this was a recent or prehistoric development.

Published in Frontiers in Marine Science, a study leveraging more than 25 years of whale research in Oman supports the recognition of a 4th subspecies of humpback.

Led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in close collaboration with Omani environmental authorities and other key local and international partners, the study compared genetic samples from Arabian Sea humpback whales with populations from across the world’s oceans, including mitochondrial DNA from 2,285 animals.

Results revealed high levels of genetic differentiation between the Arabian Sea population and the 3 currently-recognized humpback whale subspecies of the North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Southern Hemisphere, indicating very limited gene flow between them.

The Arabian Sea population also showed the lowest genetic diversity among the ocean regions examined. The findings support the potential recognition of the Arabian Sea population as Megaptera novaeangliae indica, named for the type species in Iraq.

“Arabian Sea humpback whales have long been an enigma to the scientific community. Their ecology is unlike that of any other known humpback whale population, and this new genetic work represents an important milestone in understanding how that uniqueness developed,” said the study’s lead author Dr. Rita Amaral with the WCS.

“The results clearly indicate the Arabian humpback whales have followed their own evolutionary trajectory for tens of thousands of years and support their recognition as a distinct subspecies.”

Arabian humpbacks are the only group in their race which neither migrate to breed nor feed. They remain in the seas off Oman all year round, and are even genetically distinct from whales as close by as the Indian Ocean. What explains this strange, sedentary lifestyle?

The authors, citing research conducted over the decades, detail that seasonal upwelling of deep oceanic nutrients, driven by the southwest monsoon, creates hyper-productive conditions more typical of those found in temperate climates where whales would typically migrate to feed.

Other humpbacks who’ve thusly migrated to cooler waters then return to the tropics to breed, but that unique upwelling allows the Arabian sea humpbacks to feed at tropical latitudes normally associated with breeding activities.

A study published for the International Whaling Commission in 2018 reviewed Arabian Sea humpback whale singing and found that it too is unique among the species. All males within a population share the same song patterns, which also tend to change progressively over time. Populations that do not overlap or exchange individuals have distinctly different songs, the study wrote, whereas populations in contact share some, or all patterns.

This provides more evidence for a theory on a separate Arabian subspecies, because while overlapping populations of Arabian humpbacks share song patterns, the IWC study found zero overlap between Arabian humpback and Indian Ocean humpback singing, strongly indicating populational isolation.

SUBSPECIES TO GET EXCITED ABOUT: Amur Tigers Are Back From the Brink in China – Thanks to Government Policies

Now, this new study presents genetic analyses that shows the Arabian Sea whale lineages diverged between 43,000 and 113,000 years ago, depending on the group.

The study emphasized that the population’s isolation also makes it especially vulnerable. Arabian Sea humpback whales face threats from entanglement in fishing gear, vessel strikes, underwater noise, and pollution, as well as natural stressors such as disease.

Climate-driven changes to monsoons and ocean upwelling may also affect the availability of sardines and other prey. The paper notes that the population is small, with no evidence of an increase over the past two decades, and warns that they are at risk of extirpation without concerted efforts to manage known threats.

WHALE OF A STORY: Humpback Whale Watching Surges in Brazil Where Population Has Grown 27-fold Since Whaling Ended

“The growing body of research on Arabian Sea humpback whales has given Oman an increasingly clear understanding of both the importance of this population and the pressures it faces,” said Aida Al Jabri from the Environment Authority of Oman, which contributed to the research, in a statement.

“This evidence is now helping us move from scientific understanding towards practical conservation action, including regional cooperation through the International Whaling Commission and Oman’s work to explore greater protection for important marine habitats through international mechanisms such as the International Maritime Organization’s special protection provided by Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas.”

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Stunning Collection of Stolen Greek Artifacts Spanning 5,000 Years Were Just Returned to Greece

By
Andy Corbley
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Greek Ministry of Culture - released
Greek Ministry of Culture – released

Millions of dollars in ancient Greek artifacts were recently repatriated to their mother country by New York authorities after they were identified at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

They include 2 ancient bronze helmets and stomach guards, a marble bust of a Roman emperor, and other pieces dating as far back as 2,700 BCE.

The objects were smuggled into the United States and laundered by dealers and collectors through false provenance, exhibitions, and museum donations, according to a statement from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office which oversaw the seizure and repatriation.

Greece’s Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, accepted the 15 items at a ceremonial handover in Manhattan on September 21st.

“It is particularly important that some of the artifacts we are taking delivery of today will be reunited with finds from the same excavation in the archaeological museum of Iraklio,” Mendoni said in the statement translated by the Greek press. “Some of these were illegally trafficked abroad and are now returning home.”

Listing the items in greater detail, 5 of the 15 objects were bronze and consisted of 2 helmets and 3 mitrai (belly guards) from to the late 7th century BCE which were traced back to looting that had occurred at the sanctuary on the hill of Prophet Elias at Afrati, Crete.

The sanctuary and nearby tombs were extensively plundered by looters between 1964 and 1966, and antiquities from the site were subsequently smuggled out of Greece. The 5 objects were acquired by a collector and later donated to the Met, and are valued at more than $2 million.

One of the helmet boasts breathtaking embossments of flowers, dogs, and a man with winged feet holding a twisted serpent.

Another item was a terracotta beaked jug dating to between 1750–1700 BCE and was looted from a burial assemblage in the Argolis-Corinthia region of Greece. The jug was then smuggled out of Greece through Switzerland and the United Kingdom before being acquired by the Met.

MORE ART CRIMES SOLVED: Man Discovers Attic Filled with Looted Art from Battle of Okinawa–Works with FBI to Repatriate it All to Preserve History

The collection’s oldest item dates to 1,000 years before even the jug: a marble figurine of a woman and the cap of a marble box. The youngest items include 2 bracelets of bronze and gold, and a marble bust of Genius Augusti, the “divine spirit” of a Roman emperor according to Smithsonian.

Though the Met readily cooperated with the investigation—one of several that has removed over $95 million worth of art and antiquities from its collections over the years—Manhattan Assistant DA Matthew Bogdanos wrote, some years ago, that it must be asked why so many looted artifacts are ending up at the famous museum, and why is it that the DA is the only one identifying them.

Bogdanos, who leads the DA’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit, has been a driving force behind a truly monumental effort of late to identify and seize trafficked art in the city.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Italian Police Recover Stolen Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse Artworks Worth Millions

In a statement, the office wrote that it had “now convicted 18 individuals of cultural-property-related crimes; recovered more than 6,400 cultural treasures, including rare books, works of art, and antiquities, valued at more than $490 million; and returned more than 6,150 so far to 39 countries. The extradition of another 7 alleged traffickers is pending.”

A standout within this record was the astonishing recovery of 600 stolen artworks and artifacts, valued at $90 million, conducted in disparate operations through coordination with the Italian police.

SHARE This Great Police Work In The Big Apple With Your Friends… 

“Don‘t let making a living prevent you from making a life” – John Wooden

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Good News Network
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Jordan González for Unsplash+

Quote of the Day: “Don’t let making a living prevent you from making a life” – John Wooden

Photo by: Aaron Burden

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Jordan González for Unsplash+

Good News in History, October 1

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Good News Network
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White House

102 years ago today, former President Jimmy Carter was born The 39th president of the United States from 1977–1981, is one of the few American presidents to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (for his Camp David Accords). He is also the first American centenarian president, perhaps a result of him only serving a single term, or because of his extensive charity work through various housing organizations like Habitat for Humanity. He pardoned all Vietnam draft dodgers and consciousness objectors, and pursued a second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks with the Soviets. READ about his charity work… (1924)

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New Gobi Desert Fossil Rewrites a Chapter of Mammal Evolution

By
Andy Corbley
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Tamirkhan balcarceli (skull and partial hindlimb) - credit, Nicole Wong / © AMNH
Tamirkhan balcarceli (skull and partial hindlimb) – credit, Nicole Wong / © AMNH

A remarkably well-preserved fossil from Mongolia’s Gobi Desert is reshaping scientists’ understanding of mammal evolution during the age of dinosaurs.

The new species, described today in the journal Nature, reveals that a group of extinct mammals known as zhelestids were not close relatives of modern placental mammals as many researchers thought for decades. Instead, they belonged to an entirely different branch of early mammals, overturning a longstanding interpretation based primarily on fossil teeth.

Scientists from the American Museum of Natural History, Stony Brook University, University of Arizona, and Arcadia University contributed to the work.

Zhelestids have been known from isolated teeth and fragmentary fossils for nearly 40 years. Their distinctive teeth, which are more specialized for eating plants than the sharp, insect-eating teeth found in many Cretaceous mammals, led paleontologists to suggest that zhelestids represented an unknown group of hoofed mammals—a suggestion that would prove to be rather far from the mark.

Researchers have debated whether these animals were examples of Cretaceous placental mammals—the group that today includes humans and most living mammals—or a separate lineage that evolved similar features independently. The idea that placental mammals existed during the Cretaceous is supported by molecular clock studies, which suggest that placentals originated long before the end of the Cretaceous, the final era in the age of the dinosaurs.

“This discovery illustrates why fieldwork remains indispensable to understanding life’s history,” said the study’s lead author Andres Giallombardo, who found the specimen as a graduate student on an expedition sponsored by the museum in 2004.

“It was the thrill of a career to find a new species so completely preserved that also solves a longstanding scientific problem, and a reminder that the Gobi Desert, which is well known for fossils, continues to change science.”

Discovered in the eastern Gobi Desert, Tamirkhan balcarceli is the most complete zhelestid found yet and solves the mystery of what this group looked like. Although Tamirkhan possesses the low, rounded teeth characteristic of zhelestids, it also has long, ever-growing incisors and a suite of distinctive skull features found in a group of small, shrew-like insectivore mammals called zalambdalestoids.

An impression of Zalambdalestes – credit, Nobu Tamura CC 4.0. BY-SA

“Tamirkhan’s hind legs are long and slender with distinctive ankles, traits that are unmistakably zalambdalestoid,” said study author Shawn Zack, a paleontologist at the University of Arizona.

Based on these findings, the researchers conclude that zhelestids were not placental mammals or particularly placental-like, but a subset of the zalambdalestoid group. The discovery also shows that the mammal species in the Cretaceous were not as anatomically diverse as might have been anticipated based on the teeth alone. Their distinctive rounded teeth—common to plant-eating mammals—is likely a case of convergent evolution, where unrelated animals evolve similar traits because they adapt to similar lifestyles.

“More than 200 years ago, French naturalist Georges Cuvier famously argued that a single tooth could allow scientists to predict the anatomy of an entire animal,” said study coauthor Maureen O’Leary, a paleontologist at Stony Brook University and research associate at the Museum. “While teeth remain among the most informative fossils available, this work demonstrates that teeth cannot always tell us how the whole animal looked.”

Measuring between 6-7 inches from head to tail, Tamirkhan had elongated hind limbs that gave it an almost rabbit-like appearance. Paleontologists have sometimes informally referred to zhelestids as “Cretaceous rabbits,” because they were rabbit mimics despite their distant relationship to modern rabbits.

The study’s evolutionary conclusions were made possible through a comprehensive mammalian phylogenetic research platform called MorphoBank. First published in 2013, the database has expanded over more than a decade to include an ever-growing number of key fossil species, providing the most comprehensive framework yet assembled for analyzing early mammal relationships.

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Chris Evans Puts His Limelight on a Bonded Dog Pair with Cute Video, Immediately Sees Them Adopted

By
Andy Corbley
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(Left) Greg and Carley, a pair-bonded dog couple (right) Chris Evans in 2023 - credits, Animal Rescue League of Boston via Facebook / Chris Roth, CC 2.0. via Flickr
(Left) Greg and Carley, a pair-bonded dog couple (right) Chris Evans in 2023 – credits, Animal Rescue League of Boston via Facebook / Chris Roth, CC 2.0. via Flickr

Hollywood A-lister Chris Evans recently went out of his way to see if he could convince someone to make room in their home for two dogs who had to be adopted together.

Greg and Carley were residents of the Animal Rescue League of Boston, a shelter that cared enough to notice that the short-haired chihuahua and the shaggy golden retriever could not bear to be parted.

Evans put the spotlight on these two inseparable canines through a series at The Dodo called “Dream Date” that gets Hollywood stars to share treats and stories with dogs that need new homes.

The series has run over 200 entries, and also included Evans’ Avengers co-star Scarlett Johansson, as well as Simon Cowell, Matt Damon, and many more.

Evans played some games—mostly with the retriever Carley (Greg wasn’t so interested) that saw him answer questions about whether he and the pooches had anything in common and whether they might be a good triple match.

He shared some stories about whose forever home is under his roof, like his 10-month-old daughter and her protector—his boxer-mix, Dodger. It’s all in good fun, and Dream Date has had a great track record of getting dogs adopted.

“They’re a bonded pair, which means they have to be adopted together,” Evans said in the video, “a couple of sweethearts, and I hope someone out there gives them their forever home.”

With that kind of referral, it’s no surprise that the two did find a loving home, with a couple who started their own Instagram account: @lifewithgregandcallie.

WATCH Evans’ Dream Date below… 

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Coastal Golf Course Turned into Vital Wetland Habitat for Seabirds

By
Andy Corbley
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Sandilands Nature Reserve - credit, National Trust photo by John Miller
Sandilands Nature Reserve – credit, National Trust photo by John Miller

With an eye towards making room for native wildlife, a pair of golf courses are looking an awful lot more green.

Along England’s coastline, a golf course has been transformed into a wetland nature reserve that’s home to plovers, terns, avocets, and lapwings even before it was open to the public.

Called National Trust Sandilands, this Lincolnshire fairway was bought by the Trust in 2020. Workers dug up space for a new wetland ecosystem stretching across the equivalent of 45 football fields—none of which will ever see a drop of pesticide or public water again.

Golf courses cover vast acreages around the world, and have become infamous as copious consumers of water resources, pollution hotspots, and biodiversity dead zones for the use of non-native plant species and pesticides that harm bees and butterflies.

Paradoxically, they’re also magnets for wildlife attracted to the large stretches of green. While this lent itself to Sandilands becoming a full-fledged nature reserve, other golf courses are merely adopting a greener mindset in managing their green.

Stateside, the CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora, Colorado, has adopted a regenerative model for managing its green with help from the Denver Botanic Gardens. Much of the foliage and decorative elements have been replaced with native wildflowers, while the use of potable water has been replaced with grey water for irrigating the green.

“We’re using recycled treated wastewater… and it’s interesting to note about 33% of Colorado’s golf courses utilize recycled wastewater, and that’s significantly higher than the national average,” said Mitch Savage, CommonGround’s golf superintendent, to Colorado Public Radio.

“It’s something we’re pretty proud of—golf courses aren’t taking away valuable drinking water from residents.”

GOLFING GREENER: Abandoned Ohio Golf Course Being Rewilded into Public Land with Native Fish and Wildlife Returning

The use of native plants and the elimination of pesticides have led to a rise in the number of birds nesting and dwelling between the holes, with 40 species of birds recorded on CommonGround’s green in a single day. Being away from cars, from powerlines, from electromagnetic radiation, tall buildings, and city noise, golf courses are perfect bird havens: something that the National Trust’s team at Sandilands have noted.

“Many of the species we’ll see at Sandilands are endangered or rare and depend on places like this to rest, feed, and breed,” said Sandilands area ranger, Katie Scott.

SPORT AND NATURE: Family-Owned Vermont Ski Resort Offers the Common Man 1,200 Acres of Powder for $100

“Even before the project was officially complete, nature had begun to return. This year avocets and oystercatchers successfully nested and bred, while little ringed plover chicks were recorded on site for a second consecutive year.”

USDA data examined by Bloomberg found that 2.24 million acres in the US are used for golfing, an area larger than Delaware. Applying changes like those on CommonGround could make a massive difference in supporting local wildlife.

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First Ever Recorded Sea Turtle Nests on America’s West Coast

By
Andy Corbley
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Eggs from an olive ridley sea turtle laid near Seal Beach – Credit: City of Huntington Beach
Eggs from an olive ridley sea turtle laid near Seal Beach – Credit: City of Huntington Beach

A bombshell report last week from the LA Times details that a series of olive ridley sea turtles which laid their eggs on beaches in Southern California are the first of their race ever recorded buildings nests on the country’s West Coast.

It didn’t take long for the female—in broad daylight, belly filled to burst with eggs—to climb out of the sea onto Seal Beach, dig a nest, deposit her clutch, and return to the sea.

She left nothing but a small trail in the sand, and a couple of speechless lifeguards.

3 days later and 8 miles further north—on Huntington Beech—another turtle repeated the trick to the surprise of beachgoers.

The animals have large breeding colonies in Costa Rica, Mexico, and Nicaragua, but have never been seen in California.

“I have been expecting to see subtropical species present off the coast of Southern California, which is typical during El Niños,” Lindsey Peavey Reeves, a senior scientist with the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation with 20 years of experience studying Olive Ridley turtles, told the LA Times. “However, I wasn’t expecting to see olive ridley sea turtles nesting in Orange County.”

Huntington Beach Fire Department’s Marine Safety unit quickly called the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Fish and Wildlife Service. One could imagine the conservation that followed. Personnel quickly arrived on site and erected mesh nets to protect the delicate eggs beneath, as well as a cordon multiple yards back to deter the public.

“After that, the hatchlings will crawl to the ocean, where they will become the first known sea turtles to start their lives in California waters,” wrote Corine Purtill, the reporter who had the honor of breaking the story at the Times.

3 days later however, Purtill followed up—detailing that a confluence of weather events last weekend would have certainly destroyed the nests. Extreme high tide plus hurricanes Polo and Odalys would batter Huntington and Seal beaches in tandem, so wildlife officials from both NOAA and FWS rushed to carry out the first turtle egg rescue in California history.

SANDY STORIES: Man Gets Stuck in Lake Michigan Quicksand and Comes Out with New Girlfriend

The terrapins are considered “Vulnerable” by the IUCN, and Purtill writes that 204 eggs were recovered from the 2 known nests and packed into polystyrene coolers packed with sand which were put into cars and drove to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

– credit, US Fish and Wildlife Service

“We had to make some quick decisions,” said biologist Jonathan Snyder of the FWS at the aquarium on Friday. “This is the decision that we made, and I think it’s the best one for species recovery.”

MORE TURTLE TALES: Loggerhead Sea Turtles Break Nest Record in Georgia – The Most in 37 Years

It’s not clear whether the eggs will be viable, but they were placed in climate controlled incubators to mimic the natural sandscape of the beaches. As for why the turtles arrived there in the first place, back-to-back marine heatwaves south of the border are hypothesized as the cause.

Warming sea temperatures may have driven them north to California, or they may have been guided across the Pacific by temperatures the turtles usually find in southerly latitudes right onto the CA beaches. In either case, it shows the animals are adaptable—a vote of Darwinian confidence as the world faces an uncertain future vis-a-vis the climate.

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“Autumn arrives in early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day.” – Elizabeth Bowen

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Good News Network
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Credit: Jonny Clow

Quote of the Day: “Autumn arrives in early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day.” – Elizabeth Bowen

Photo by: Aaron Burden

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Credit: Jonny Clow

Good News in History September 30

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Good News Network
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A page from the libretto, 1886, of The Pearl Fishermen from La Scala in Milan - pub domain

163 years ago, George Bizet’s famous opera Les Pêcheurs de Perles, The Pearl Fishermen, debuted at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris. Set in ancient times on the Island of Sri Lanka, it tells the story of how two men’s vow of eternal friendship is threatened by their love for the same woman, whose own dilemma is the conflict between secular love and her sacred oath as a priestess. The friendship duet “Au fond du temple saint,” generally known as “The Pearl Fishers Duet”, is one of the best-known in Western opera. READ a bit more and listen to the duet… (1863)

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12-yo’s Annual ‘Diaper Drive’ Delivers 30,000 Diapers Off at Arizona Food Bank

By
Andy Corbley
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Sloan at the end of her 5th annual Diaper Drive - credit, Sloan's Diaper Drive
Sloan at the end of her 5th annual Diaper Drive – credit, Sloan’s Diaper Drive

Employees at a food bank in Phoenix were left scratching their heads when they saw an entire Uhaul truck of donated diapers arrive at their location, knowing that a middle-schooler was behind the enormous load.

It was the collected proceeds of 12-year-old Sloan’s 5th annual “Diaper Drive,” an event she has been organizing since she was just 7, and which this year set a target of 22,500 diapers for donation.

Yet the Huggies, Pampers, and Blueys kept pouring in until there was hardly any room even to walk around in her house. By the end of the drive, Sloan had collected 30,000 disposable diapers to donate to Nourish Phoenix, a food and clothing bank that Sloan volunteered at all those years ago.

While stocking food parcels, she noticed a section of the shelves at Nourish Phoenix’s location at 510 on 9th Avenue was bare.

Asking why the empty space, she was told that it was where the diapers were, that they were always among the most requested items, and that they had already run out.

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“If we have the ability to give someone something that they might not have or need, it’s really important to do that,” she said in an interview with ABC 15 as her diaper drive concluded at the close of August

“My little girl: she’s just so special, she has such a big heart, loves helping and giving back,” said Sloan’s proud mother.

WATCH the story below from ABC 15…

SHARE This Driven Teen’s Incredible Impact With Your Friends On Social Media…

This Stone Wall Seems to Have Finally Settled Debate About The Town That Became Paris

By
Andy Corbley
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- credit, Anastasia Choquet / DRAC Île-de-France, released
– credit, Anastasia Choquet / DRAC Île-de-France, released

Excavations in central Paris have turned up a stone wall that may have finally settled the debate regarding the true origins of the city.

City officials described themselves as feeling “dizzy” looking down onto what is essentially Paris’ zero point in time, made all the more dramatic as it still bore the scars of Julius Caesar’s conquest.

Throughout Caesar’s wars in Gaul, an area that would become modern-day France and Belgium, the Roman general kept copious notes: including an account of a battle which many believe occurred in Paris.

According to the conqueror, the Celtic Parisii tribe had built a settlement called “Lutetia” on an island in the middle of a river (the Seine). He laid siege to it in 52 BCE, ordered the bridges burned and the oppidum, the fortified town center, torched as well.

It has long been believed that the Île de la Cité (Island of the City) in Paris had been the site of Gallic Lutetia, but Caesar did not give precise details about where on the river he’d found it, and archeological finds had been made in other areas outside Paris, complicating the picture.

Fast-forward to February 2026, and a team of national archaeologists were performing excavations on the courtyards of the Hôtel-Dieu, the oldest hospital in Paris. Preventative work uncovered traces of ancient dwellings, roads, and medieval occupations.

Smithsonian Magazine reported that in addition to these remains, a stone and wood wall, typical of Gallic fortifications, was identified, and that behind the wall excavators found a 6.5-foot-thick platform made of sand and gravel. Nearby, they found a Gallic spearhead, charred seeds, and the remains of a burned wooden building. The timbers were carbon-dated to between 200 BCE and 10 BCE.

“The architecture of the wall, with these large blocks and this system of intersecting beams, very quickly made us think of a wall of Gallic tradition,” explained Dorothée Chaoui-Derieux, heritage curator and territorial manager of Paris at the Regional Archeology Service in a statement released by the French culture ministry.

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“The presence of traces of fire and ceramic furniture contemporary to Caesar’s time reinforced this hypothesis: what if we finally had material traces of the oppidum of Lutetia, as described in The Gallic War?”

It’s incredible to think how today’s “City of Light” has origins so far back in time—something the Paris mayor thought as well.

“It’s dizzying to find oneself here and to discover what is probably the origin of the city of Paris,” Emmanuel Grégoire, the city’s mayor, tells the Agence France-Presse.

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The wall section, preserved in-situ with the damage from the fires, cannot be kept on site because of the planned hospital expansion. A casting of it is set to be made following the scientific research and study planned there, so that a reconstruction can be made for future placement in a museum.

“For centuries, the location of Lutetia has been debated. Today, with this wall and its context, we may hold the key to the mystery,” said Stéphane Deschamps, also at the Regional Archeology Service.

SHARE This Dizzying Archeological Discovery In The Heart Of France… 

A Strategy of Cash-for-Photos Turns Animal Hunters into Animal Protectors in Indonesia

By
Andy Corbley
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Photo of a rare Flat-headed cat photographed by one of the community observers - credit, Village of Sungai Ajung
Photo of a rare Flat-headed cat photographed by one of the community observers – credit, Village of Sungai Ajung

From that magical island called Borneo comes the story of a bottom-up, pay-per-pic program that’s making a significant impact for the conservation of endangered birds and orangutans.

Across the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, members of 9 different villages can earn supplemental income by taking pictures or audio recordings of wildlife.

A villager may earn as much as $200 a month, but could earn much more if they observe a rare species. Before, locals would often hunt birds with colorful plumage, or exterminate deer and wild boar that poach their crops. Now “we really, really want to protect them.”

That was Imelda, a 72-year-old farmer in Labian, who goes with her friends into the woods daily to see if they can photograph an orangutan—the top prize, though the flat-headed cat pictured above isn’t too far behind. It’s one of the least-understand cats in the world.

The program, funded through 2028, is called KehatiKu, and run through the international conservation consultancy Borneo Futures.

Over 800 local people take part, and their contributions have led to 378,000 confirmed observations, including of Critically-Endangered and Endangered flagship species such as the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) and Abbott’s gibbon (Hylobates abbotti).

“People have started to realize that where previously they caught one bird and it was worth 50,000 rupiah, now they just need to take a photo, send it to us, and they can receive a payment of 5,000 to 10,000 rupiah,” Borneo Futures Indonesia director Nardiyono told AFP.

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Octavius, a 50-year-old farmer of kratom and cacao, said the money helps him afford college educations for his children.

The program has so far received philanthropic funding of $300,000, which has gone to developing a mobile app for villagers to upload their sightings and recordings to, an AI companion to aid staff in identifying the observations, and also to pay the villagers at the end of every month.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Vietnam Swiftly Protects Forests Containing the Last of the World’s Most-Endangered Monkey

“The program is very popular and has resulted in spontaneous wildlife protection,” wrote Erik Meijaard the Managing Director of Borneo Futures, in a presentation of KehatiKu for the IUCN. “We have evidence that now forests and wildlife is valued more for conservation than exploitation.”

AFP reports that next month, 2 more villages will join the program. Between the hundreds of thousands of observations, scientists have been able to estimate population densities, track animals’ ranges, and get better insights into diurnal behavior.

SHARE This Great Idea Already Providing Critical Information To Conservationists…

Norway’s Newest Marine Protected Area Shelters Rich Marine Habitat, Whales, and Seabirds

By
Andy Corbley
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The seascape of Andfjorden - credit, Jan Harald Tomassen/Statsforvaltaren i Troms and Finnmark
The seascape of Andfjorden – credit, Jan Harald Tomassen/Statsforvaltaren i Troms and Finnmark

On September 18th, the Norwegian government established a new marine protected area covering approximately 714 square miles, equivalent to almost 260,000 football pitches.

Called the Andfjorden Marine Protected Area, the area is home to rich and varied nature, both above and below the surface, “it contributes both to our food supply and to unique nature experiences,” said Minister of Climate and Environment Sigrun Aasland.

“The protection will help ensure that future generations can also enjoy the natural values of Andfjorden.”

The protected area covers waters in the northernmost part of Nordland and the southernmost part of Troms, extending into Andøy, Harstad, and Senja municipalities.

It has a diverse range of marine habitats, including coral reefs, coral gardens, and sponge and sea-pen communities. Kelp forests, shell-sand, and maerl beds provide important spawning, nursery, and feeding grounds for many fish species. The area is also home to abundant fish populations and large numbers of whales and seabirds.

The protected area includes several zones containing particularly valuable and vulnerable biodiversity. Restrictions on activities are stricter in these zones than in the rest of the protected area.

– Credit T. Madsen

“This shows that we can protect nature effectively while also facilitating fisheries, space activities,” said Aasland in a statement. “I would like to commend the municipalities, local communities and all users of the area for their excellent cooperation… I am confident that everyone will contribute to ensuring that the new protected area is well looked after.”

The protected area will be managed by a dedicated board of directors comprising representatives from the municipalities, county authorities, and the Sámi indigenous parliament.

Andfjorden is one of 36 areas included in Norway’s Marine Protection Plan from 2004. Following today’s decision, 24 of these areas have now been protected. At the same time, the proportion of protected areas within the territorial waters off mainland Norway will increase from approximately 4.8 to 6%.

The announcement follows a spate of similar designations around the world. GNN has recently reported on marine reserves being added in the Coral Triangle, around Papua New Guinea, Easter Island, and along the Turkish Mediterranean coastline.

SHARE The Story Of This Beautiful Norwegian Seascape Joining Marine Reserves Around the World…

“There will never be any more perfection than there is now, nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.” – Walt Whitman

By
Good News Network
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Credit: Zoltan Tasi

Quote of the Day: “There will never be any more perfection than there is now, nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.” – Walt Whitman

Photo by: Aaron Burden

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Credit: Zoltan Tasi
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