Angus Hervey

This week's Fix the News has so much encouraging news in it, things I usually don't see elsewhere. Yes, there is much to be angry and anxious about. But there is so much good going on around the world that it is worth it, imo, to pay attention to the positive: fixthenews.com/p/338-ten-th...

“It’s like an investment in your retirement fund. Over time the benefits emerge and they are more than the sum of their parts." Florida’s 25-year $27B Everglades restoration is paying off. New research shows the recovering wetlands absorb about 14M tonnes of CO₂ a year. news.fixthenews.com/uOlivXt

For a snapshot of how the solar revolution is changing daily lives in Africa, check out this recent piece on Agbon, Benin. In a nutshell: solar panels are everywhere, getting cheaper and spreading faster than anyone predicted. Next challenge: scaling solar to the grid. news.fixthenews.com/MQ8KvvD

20 years ago China became the top global emitter, and prioritised economic growth for another decade before pivoting towards proactive "green growth" leadership. Now the dismantling of its coal infrastructure is accelerating with 147 plants slated for closure. news.fixthenews.com/OMZiFaj

Most nations would still say 'impossible', but Uruguay did it: built a power grid that runs almost entirely on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. Its architect says the same playbook could work anywhere—if governments have the courage to change the rules. archive.md/OtHh2

All across the world humans are busy at work, solving problems. For a team of scientists on Hawaii that means figuring out what 60 very endangered species of native land snail actually eat, so their captive breeding program can bring the molluscs back from the brink. news.fixthenews.com/K3LeXDT

Physics papers, impenetrable for most, but crucial for many real world applications. Discovery of a flaw in a major physics paper by a new computer verification model is thus both alarming and exciting. How many other papers are flawed? What new insights will this bring? news.fixthenews.com/gl4daHZ

A tricky day, overdue deadlines, worries of the world. Having your lunch stolen by seagulls could be the thing that pushes you over the edge. Fortunately, scientists have discovered a deterrent. Arming your lunch with googly eyes significantly reduces seagull attack. news.fixthenews.com/Z1lobzP

This car part represents a historic closing of the loop in the automotive recycling chain. Its new alloy, turning contaminated scrap into strong structural parts, solves the longstanding issue that recycled aluminium from auto scrap has been too weak for structural uses. news.fixthenews.com/f4FRi0Y

Healing properties of psychedelics are now given plenty of press, but over-harvesting of the organisms that produce them? Not so much. A recent gene-hack may alleviate this situation: scientists engineered tobacco leaves to produce 5 major psychedelic compounds. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Humanity's zoological inventory now includes 24 new crustacean species. The discovery came as part of a project to learn more about the ecology of an area of the deep Pacific that may soon be mined for the valuable green tech minerals recently detected on its seafloor. news.fixthenews.com/9lIobPw

The global electrification megatrend is making waves in the shipping industry. With China targetting shipping emissions, CATL - the world’s largest battery producer - has jumped on subsidies to expand rapidly into the marine sector, with 900 batteries deployed to date. archive.md/GDYMy

The land that once saw the sun as Helios traversing the sky in his chariot, is now capturing an olympian share of its rays, with the construction of Europe’s largest solar hub on the site of former coal mines in northern Greece. news.fixthenews.com/WchqvoC

The 100+ million kms travelled each year by Copenhagen's buses will henceforth be powered by electricity with the city's green fleet hitting 100%. And its not just a win for CO₂ reduction, better air quality will also be a huge health benefit for the city's residents. news.fixthenews.com/U8vDWl5

As savings go, €110 million a day is pretty impressive. That's how much solar power has been saving EU countries since the outbreak of war in the Middle East, according to analysis from trade body SolarPower Europe. Nice. news.fixthenews.com/Rj5A6yE

In 2024 Arctic seals lost one of their most important legal protections. Last month they got it back. The US federal court reinstated nearly 160 million acres off Alaska’s Arctic coast as 'critical habitat', recognising seals' need to roam far and wide for resources. news.fixthenews.com/AyIYGrj

Wetland restoration might sound 'nice-to-have', but its benefits ripple out way beyond the ecological. Viet Nam's Climate Resilient by Nature project is a great example. Its Mekong Delta restoration is improving agriculture and tourism whilst providing flood protection. news.fixthenews.com/LMxTrAm

Fossil fuel dependence has become the burden that no country wants to bear. France's response to the recent price spike has been to fast-track a national electrification plan to reduce reliance on fossil fuels from 60% to 40% by 2030, funded partly by fuel tax revenues. news.fixthenews.com/9aTZWJX

Krilling in the name of. Extracted as a potent source of omega-3 fatty acids, krill's depletion in our oceans is threatening planetary health. The Antarctic Krill Pledge is now turning this trend, with British supplement maker Time Health the first manufacturer to sign. news.fixthenews.com/ptLh6EI

Can a seabed stripped by bottom trawling ever recover? Yes. Five years on from a ban across more than 300 km² of seabed off southern England, mussel beds are re-establishing, fish populations are increasing, and kelp forests that had declined by 96% are now reviving. news.fixthenews.com/Hf67umj

A new area of safety has been locked in across the continent of Africa. The African Road Safety Charter creates a formal obligation for signatories to strengthen road laws and invest in safer roads and emergency care, in line with international road safety frameworks. news.fixthenews.com/y2FapXb

Nutrition has a clearer path to young tummies in Norway. In 2021 an Oslo study found that 8 in 10 food and drink adverts aimed at children promoted unhealthy options. Insight spurred action: the nation now has a ban on marketing unhealthy food and drink to under 18s. news.fixthenews.com/WGubTPY

"Paraguay's poverty rate cut from 19.6% to 16% in a year". Great, but what does that actually mean? It means that around 213,000 Paraguayans have been lifted out of poverty as rising incomes among lower-income households outpace living-cost increases. Yay. news.fixthenews.com/AtdMzcM

The Phillippines have put their money where their mouths most need it: $1 billion to sustainably transform agriculture across the nation. The new initiative is designed to boost agricultural productivity, promote diversification, and enhance the climate-resilience. news.fixthenews.com/0PvuKDC

The lives 100s of millions of people across the planet are diminished by the parasitic presence of hookworm. But help is at hand. A new vaccine is demonstrating strong protection against the parasite, heralding a healthier life-path for incoming generations. news.fixthenews.com/nQxLQJS

What happens when you stop charging 14 million people for bus travel? Ho Chi Minh city is about to find out, having initiated a $280 million annual plan to make all intra-city bus travel free. Their hope: reduce traffic and emissions, and a 30% uptick in ridership. news.fixthenews.com/3JqnHTV

10% of the world's oceans now protected, Everglades restoration sequestering carbon, Sussex seabed bouncing back from bottom-trawling. Three satisfying swells in a sea of uplifting stories in the this week's Fix the News. fixthenews.com/p/334-mother...

It's one thing to know, another to prove it. In Ecuador’s Amazon, Indigenous ecologists are drawing on data and tech to lock in proof of their local knowledge. The result: court-grade evidence capable of defending forests from mining companies. news.fixthenews.com/5GAzpW4

Remember that cloud of IMF debt hanging over the African continent for all eternity? Well, Mozambique recently joined Nigeria and Namibia on a growing list of countries that are seeing the sky again, having cleared their $701 million IMF liability in late March. news.fixthenews.com/d49uU1U

The nightjar is one of Britain’s most elusive birds with silent, moth-like flight, and its eerie "churring" song has been a rare sound during its decades on the endangered list. Now however, it's making itself seen and heard again, thanks to dedicated habitat recovery. www.bbc.com/news/article...

One Year. 24,000 teachers. Rwanda is writing a new future into it books with bold investments in education. Step 1: 22,000 new classrooms. Step 2: certified teachers to lead them. 600 trainers trained them for a year of weekends and holidays to get the job done. news.fixthenews.com/CB8Ag7S.

After decades of poaching, Virunga National Park has witnessed a marvel many thought would never be seen again: an elephant herd swelling to 700 strong. And with their revival comes ecosystem restoration, as the populous pachyderms reshape the landscape for the better. news.fixthenews.com/VKkSVZO

Tired of the Trump administration's take-down tactics, US renewable energy firms are stepping into the political ring. Backed by wealthy investors, a new wave of lobbying by the sector aims to reshape support by emphasising jobs, domestic manufacturing and lower costs. news.fixthenews.com/cd6nU2B

"War drives Asia back to coal". If this take on recent events grabbed your attention, look again. Higher electricity prices and faster permitting are actually accelerating solar adoption across the region, boosting a structural shift away from fossil fuel dependence. news.fixthenews.com/UuUZSOf

Behold: bison hard at work repairing ecosystems. Yep, rehabilitation of a species that was nearly erased from Europe, is actually helping rebuild richer, more resilient landscapes. There's even stats to prove it: plant biomass and diversity up by about 30% in a decade. news.fixthenews.com/MBy57lp

There were 7 humpback sightings in the waters off Vancouver Island in 2003. Today that annual count has risen to 115. Rallying from near extinction, local sea otters now number 8,000+. This striking ecological return includes the rebuilding of entire food webs. archive.md/FIebq

Brazil has forged a new tool for keeping its forests intact. Banks must now check if rural loan applicants have any deforestation on their farms using satellite imagery. Where land has been cleared loan approvals can only be given with proof of deforestation permits. news.fixthenews.com/L7YagQo

Multiple categories, one winner: EVs. These are the coveted trophies of the 2026 World Car Awards, and whilst they were taken home by different manufacturers, there was a very significant clean sweep: electric vehicles won every major category. news.fixthenews.com/wtugOPN

Four hours max. That's usually how long donated hearts can survive outside the body. That very tight window is set to expand thanks to a new preservative fluid that triples the heart's out-of-body survival time to 12 hours, meaning a huge uptick in transplant access. news.fixthenews.com/AVVtY54

Earth's oceans are a crucial a battle front in humanity's clash between short-term extraction and long-term ecosystem care. Care is slowly advancing. Global ocean protection expanded by 5 million km² in the past 2 years, taking us past a milestone: 10% now protected. news.fixthenews.com/1759lBV

As war-driven fossil prices ripped through global markets, Britain's clean energy buildout provided the nation with an impressive buffer. Wind and solar cut gas generation to just 2.4% of their power mix in late March, helping prices fall to their lowest since October. news.fixthenews.com/3Alnv6S

Where are we at with women's rights? Despite visible global backlash, 68 countries have enacted 113 reforms strengthening workplace protections since 2023. These legal reforms have been locking in "hidden" progress that will produce real-world gains for years to come. news.fixthenews.com/uPbuQqj

Once a ravaged landscape of shafts, pits and scars, now a wildlife-rich oasis. Portugal's defunct Paul de Toirões mine is being restored to a functioning ecosystem, as natural grazing, habitat regeneration and species reintroduction reverse decades of industrial damage. news.fixthenews.com/b9AIQQu

What's the cost of corn? Define cost: cost to the consumer, cost of fertilisers, cost to the soil from fertiliser use? Well, all these costs could potentially be slashed using genes from ancient corn varietals including one that pulls its own nitrogen out of the air. news.fixthenews.com/1iYm4RT

Zero-emission buses are the new norm in Europe. In 2019 they counted for just 12% of new city bus sales. In 2025 they hit 60%. Battery-electric models are leading the shift, with some countries already at 100%. Oil shocks are only accelerating the transition. news.fixthenews.com/L4w62yH

The tiny British island of Jersey is famed for its cows, but not so well-known for hosting one of the most biodiverse marine habitats in Europe. From September these precious waters will be shielded from trawling and dredging under a bold new marine protection plan. news.fixthenews.com/BbFAiPt

Thirty-three to thousands — red crown lifts above the marsh, Hokkaidō breathes. Japan’s red-crowned crane, once limited to just 33 individuals in the Kushiro Wetland in Hokkaidō, is rebounding after decades of conservation and volunteer feeding efforts. news.fixthenews.com/NQ3WB7E

Here's a fun graph. You can barely see the green line at the bottom of the left hand bar. It represents the mere 1% of Nepalese new car sales that were EVs in 2019. Six years later the brown slice is on its way out, with EVs claiming 80% of the new car market. What a leap!

The Trump administration's attempt to derail a $1 billion Biden-era salmon recovery plan has faltered in the face of a recent federal judge ruling. The decision to restore the plan signals renewed legal momentum for ecosystem restoration and Indigenous treaty rights. news.fixthenews.com/6FQFgPS