In today’s edition, we’re talking about new data that reveals most people expect their lives to improve, Scotland taking a step towards becoming the first UK country to criminalise ecocide, and the operating room compact enough to fit in a backpack.
Ask people how the world is doing, and you’ll mostly hear a negative approach. Ask them about their own lives, however, and the story changes: despite broad pessimism about global progress, most people believe their personal situations will improve in the future, according to new data.
Scotland is set to become the first country in the UK to officially recognise ecocide as a criminal offence. The newly proposed bill targets those responsible for severe or irreversible damage to the natural world. If enacted, the legislation could bring prison sentences for individuals and substantial fines for corporations.
UNESCO’s new 10-year strategy puts Indigenous rights and knowledge at its centre, especially the concepts of free, prior and informed consent in the creation and management of reserves. The plan calls for the inclusion of ancestral wisdom in research and sustainable livelihoods, as well as formal recognition of Indigenous territories within the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
An age-old construction method is finding new fans in India’s modern cities. Architects are reimagining traditional materials like mud plaster, sal wood, bamboo, and lime for contemporary apartment buildings, which can keep buildings about 10°C to 15°C cooler than outside temperatures.
The compact backpack unfolds into a sterile, fully equipped surgical environment, ready to perform life-saving operations almost anywhere. In conflict zones or disaster areas where hospitals are out of reach, it can create a safe operating space within minutes. The mobile ORs have already been used successfully in Ukraine and Myanmar.
With coal on the decline, Australia’s energy transition is speeding up: the nation’s grid operator says a move to 100% clean power is firmly on the horizon and could serve as a model for other countries pursuing net-zero electricity.
The first large-scale liquid air energy storage plant is set to go online in 2026, hoping to rival lithium batteries and hydropower as a way to store renewable energy and to lessen our reliance on fossil fuels.
Over a five-week period, the animals are expected to clear about 25 acres of terrain, part of a new initiative aimed at cutting back on fossil fuel-powered mowing and finding more sustainable ways to maintain the resort’s 300 acres of ski trails.
The state, alongside the Los Angeles County Fire Department, operates 35 “fire camps” where inmates become certified wildland firefighters. The Youth Offender Program focuses on inmates under 25. Although it was originally launched as a 2023 pilot, the scheme is now set to continue indefinitely.
Data suggests that men are less likely than women to seek medical help, resulting in men often dying younger and facing higher risks of conditions like heart disease, suicide, and certain cancers. Across Australia, a growing number of grassroots initiatives are meeting men where they are – in barbershops, on the football field, and within local communities – to start conversations about health.
