Good News! 6 Positive Environmental Stories from February 2024

Trees are nature’s best defenders. Planting them is the ultimate way to combat climate change. Studies have shown that reforestation has helped substantially mitigate the effects of climate change in the eastern United States. 

The eastern U.S. was historically covered in vast forests, but from the late 18th century to the early 20th, significant forest cover was lost to deforestation and land degradation. Around 15 million hectares of forest have been restored, highlighting a remarkable ecological recovery. 

Thanks to their climate-regulating benefits, forests can act as natural air conditioners. Because so many eastern U.S. forests were restored, they are helping keep the region cool in the face of rising temperatures everywhere, showcasing how effective reforestation can be.

The third Saturday of February marked World Whale Day, so let’s take a moment to appreciate these majestic creatures and all they do for our oceans. 

With more than 40 species of whales, the blue whale is the largest animal on the planet. Blue whales play a significant role in the marine food chain, helping maintain ocean health. 

Blue whales are endangered on the Endangered Species list, but that doesn’t mean the fight is over. Even though World Whale Day is behind us, let’s remember what these magnificent whales do every day, and let’s work together to ensure they’re here for generations to come. 

Learn more about whales and how you can help our oceans!

For all the dinosaur enthusiasts out there, February was a big month! Turns out, a new dinosaur-like reptile was found in Scotland. This fossil was revealed as a new species of pterosaur known as Ceoptera evansae.

Now, you may be wondering: how does an old dinosaur-like reptile help the world today? While paleontology seems like it only helps us understand the past, it’s an important way to understand our world today. 

Discovering what once lived during prehistoric times helps us understand evolution and even climate change by knowing more about how different periods adjusted to changes in climate. While this discovery may not seem relevant today, it will inevitably allow scientists to understand more about our planet. 

Parenting can be hard on a good day. And parenting in a world where you must teach your kids about climate change and systemic disadvantages presents additional challenges. 

The good news: parents will no longer have to create their own syllabus when covering these important topics. There’s a new platform that can help!

“Future Chicken” is an “eco-tainment platform” that makes it easier for kids to understand pressing issues like climate change — with a huge focus on climate solutions. 

For all the parents out there, Future Chicken airs on Canadian television and streams on YouTube around the world!

The world’s most gentle giants had a spectacular year in 2023. According to recent studies, last year was the first-ever poach-free year for elephants in the Republic of Congo National Park. 

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park is home to the world’s biggest land animals, and they are known to be some of the kindest and smartest animals in the world. That’s right, we’re talking about elephants. 

Although the world seems to love these gentle giants, elephants have been victims of poaching for many years. It turns out that Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park has a lot to celebrate this year after losing zero elephants to poaching last year for the first time in years. 

If you think back to your childhood room, can you remember the coveted plushie you loved more than anything? Even as you got older, that plushie was almost always there like a safety net –– even if you pretended you didn’t care about it anymore. 

Sadly, many of these plushies are discarded after children grow old enough to need them no longer, or they become lost on a trip to the park or forgotten in a restaurant. When this happens, these toys often end up in landfills, and because they are made of synthetic fibers, many of them take years to decompose. Not only is this a sad fate for our childhood plushies, but it’s also incredibly bad for the environment.

To help rescue and rehome our world’s plushies, Loved Before is transforming pre-loved stuffies into sustainable toys for kids to enjoy everywhere. 

This company is on a mission to help children all around the world feel the joy of loving a stuffed animal, and they’re doing it to help the planet.