Photo: Jason Hawke 🇨🇦/Unsplash (CC0)
From a bold approach to re-thicken the Arctic’s ice to fewer deaths from poor air quality and new breakthroughs in the fight against cancer: here’s our recap of the best and most importantant constructive news and stories from the past month.
Sea ice is melting fast, but attempts to rethicken it are showing early signs of success. Research teams in northern Canada are drilling holes in sea ice and pumping 50,000 tonnes of ocean water up on to its surface. This freezes almost immediately, thickening the 1.5-metre-deep ice by about 50cm and protecting the ice at the start of the melt season.
Source: The Guardian
Coastal mangrove systems protect millions of people from storms and extreme weather events, while also soaking up large volumes of planet-warming gases. For many years, these trees have been disappearing in large numbers as they were cleared to make space for housing and fish farms. However, new data show that since 2010 the world has been gaining more mangroves than it’s been losing.
Source: BBC News
Summer heatwaves can be dangerous even at night, hurting people’s sleep and ability to concentrate. A study of the effectiveness of heat-reflecting paint on African homes has identified an easy method to make homes 3-4°C cooler.
Source: The Guardian
Despite the current US administration boosting coal over clean energy, solar power is hitting new milestones in the US and remains the leading source of new power. According to global energy thinktank Ember, solar supplied 12.8% of the nation’s electricity in May, surpassing coal for the first time.
Source: The Guardian
A World Bank programme to provide electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030 has hit almost a fifth of its goal, two years after its formation. Mission 300 involves the expansion of power grids, as well as decentralised solutions such as extensive solar installations.
Source: Club Of Mozambique
In some farming communities, access to solar-powered refrigeration has boosted incomes by as much as 50%, letting growers preserve fresh produce for longer and sell it at better prices. The technology is helping farmers overcome unreliable electricity supplies, rising fuel costs and extreme weather, while getting more food from field to market.
Source: Euronews
China’s move to low-emission vehicles is delivering public health benefits as well as record-breaking sales. A new study estimates that cleaner air resulting from the adoption of “new energy” vehicles has helped prevent 262,000 premature deaths linked to vehicle pollution.
Source: Good News Network
The figures come from a study by Imperial College London which also found that toxic air pollution in London had reduced sharply, with nitrogen dioxide levels down 41% and fine particulate pollution down 28%. The city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, welcomed what he called “overwhelming evidence” that his ultra-low emission zone was saving lives.
Source: The Guardian
In 2000, roughly one in five adults in India smoked tobacco, and nearly half of all adults were consuming some form of the substance, including products that are sniffed or chewed. Since then, rates of both have roughly halved across all genders and age groups.
Source: Our World In Data
Since 2015, roughly 65,000 people in Canada have died from opioid toxicity, and the number of fatalities in the US for the same time period is fast approaching 750,000. However, according to new data, access to free naloxone prevented approximately 76-80% of potential deaths in the province of British Columbia.
Source: CBC
Landmark new research shows that children vaccinated at age 12-13 against human papillomavirus in the UK have close to no risk of dying from cervical cancer before the age of 30. From 2020-2024, no cervical cancer deaths were recorded in women aged 20 to 24 – the first time that has happened over a five-year period.
Source: BBC News
For decades, there has been little choice for breast cancer patients. Now scientists have developed a genomic test that can spot who needs chemotherapy and who doesn’t. The breakthrough enables doctors to determine which patients can safely skip it, paving the way for a new era of personalised medicine.
Source: The Guardian
Burn experts in Canada are celebrating after the first use of exosome therapy on a human proved successful in treating a patient’s severe burns. The therapy is an advanced regenerative treatment that uses tiny, fluid-filled sacs called exosomes to encourage cellular repair and tissue healing.
Source: CTV News
Colombia is the only Latin American country where FGM is currently recorded, mostly in Embera communities in the western departments of Choco and Risaralda. After a two-year-long campaign, a bill to ban the practice was passed unanimously, and now awaits approval from Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro.
Source: Al Jazeera
The global standards will apply to sectors such as ride-hailing and food delivery, giving workers rights on pay, safety and social benefits. Although it still requires ratification by governments, it establishes, for the first time, a set of protections that apply regardless of employment status.
Source: Reuters
602 barriers, including weirs, culverts, sluices and dams, were demolished in 2025, according to Dam Removal Europe. That is 11% more than the previous year. 2,324 miles of rivers were reconnected, as the EU continues its mission to restore 15,500 waterway miles to their natural state by 2030.
Source: The Guardian
Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth, home to the world’s largest colony of northern gannets, has been deemed a Site of Scientific Interest for three quarters of a century. Now conservation charity RSBP Scotland has purchased the island to protect the bird colonies there in partnership with the Scottish Seabird Centre.
Source: BBC
The majority of Americans have visited a park in the last year, but they are often overlooked by cities in favour of building housing. The Trust for Public Land has identified that parks are a financial net positive for their communities, earning back $3 for every $1 invested.
Source: Grist
Data gathered from 1200 French farms suggests that regenerative agriculture was roughly three times better at resisting drought and heat than conventional industrial methods. The study suggested that this could be the difference of 130 million baguettes.
Source: Euronews
The London Tree Ring project started out in 2023 as an attempt from the countryside charity CPRE London to create an “M25 for nature”. Since starting work two years ago, it has worked with dozens of local groups as well as landowners, councils and volunteers, to plant showcase sites that improve the capital’s biodiversity.
Source: The Guardian
A sustained tree-planting programme that Costas Verdes – a Costa Rican nonprofit – started in 2011 has planted more than 100,000 native trees across 34 beaches, reviving wildlife habitats and combating decades of deforestation from cattle farming. The project has transformed deforested Pacific coastlines into thriving ecosystems through community-driven environmental efforts.
Source: The Guardian
The Masaka Youth Desk is rebuilding trust between young residents and their city as a place where young people can bring complaints and ideas directly to city officials. Although it’s a small unit within the city administration, it’s increasingly influential, created to strengthen communication between young residents and local government.
Source: Reasons To Be Cheerful
“Schule ohne Rassismus – Schule mit Courage” is Germany’s largest school network, walking 10th and 11th-grade students through workshops on racism, bystander intervention and sexualised violence. The event known as a “Day of Courage” is far from a one-off awareness campaign: it’s part of a wider effort to embed anti-discrimination into everyday school life.
Source: Reasons To Be Cheerful
GoodVision is offering eye tests to anyone who requests one completely free of charge, as well as kits where people can construct their own glasses afterwards. The organisation is now present in 12 different countries, and hopes to close the gap between the 550 million people needing glasses across India and the 250 million who can’t access them.
Source: Deutsche Welle
A devastating war in Northern Uganda over a decade ago left many survivors severely traumatised. Started by one survivor who recovered with the help of dogs, The Comfort Dog Project rescues and trains street dogs to be therapy dogs. As the dogs have often suffered trauma from neglect and mistreatment, the relationship is mutually beneficial.
Source: BBC
