Hello, May

Hey fam,

This week I'm DC for their first-ever Climate Week, moderating a panel on data visualization & storytelling. I'm staying for a few more days to attend a conference called Trending Up, focused on "creating for a cause" or helping creators use our platforms to drive meaningful change. Something I try and do every time I post!

I'll report back on anything exciting to come from the many conversations I'm sure to have :)

Stories in today's edition include a big recap of some progress from the month of April, an "attribution science" study linking emitters to extreme weather damages, 14 inspiring women protected mangroves in Mexico, and much more...

Read on to replace some dread with hope & action 💚

Friday, April 25

💜 The world’s largest landfill used to be on Staten Island in New York which has transformed into Freshkills Park, 3 times of the size of Central Park, and they just started a plan to replace invasive plants with 50,000 native violet flowers over the next two years to reintroduce monarch butterflies, bees, and other pollinators to the land (Priya Sahi|SIlive)

🪫 Some tech might not need batteries anymore thanks to a special glass inspired by photosynthesis which essentially creates power from a unique dye interacting with light, creating enough energy for low-power electronics like remotes and keyboards which should last longer and reduce e-waste (Brian Kahn|Bloomberg)

💰 A promising new study uses something called “attribution science” to make the direct link from a specific emitter to an extreme weather event and its damages and costs, which can help the more than 100 climate lawsuits being filed each year to finally make the world’s worst polluters pay for the damages they’ve caused (Austyn Gaffney|NYT)

🐝 robyn_critt22 (from our community) has been building pollinator gardens with their school club while removing invasive species and doing cleanups.

Monday, April 28

🤝 14 women in Yucatán, Mexico came together 15 years ago to learn how to protect their local mangroves, forming ‘Las Chelemeras’ group to restore over 60% of their forest and 90% of water flow today by making their own digging tools and mangrove nurseries, changing muddy land back into vibrant biodiverse forests (Astrid Arellano|Mongabay, Lorena Arroyo & Gladys Serrano|El País)

⛴️ An electric ferry which almost flies above the water goes twice as fast as traditional diesel ferries while using much less energy via a set of underwater wings that reduce drag called hydrofoils, with the P-12 model cleaning up the air and saving refueling costs in Stockholm with plans to expand around the world (Nicolás Rivero|Washington Post)

🗣️ 89% of people want their governments to take stronger climate action per a massive survey of 130,000 people across 125 nations, but this huge majority often believes people around us don’t feel the same way known as “pluralistic ignorance”, meaning it’s critically important to keep sharing to create a social tipping point that leaders can’t ignore (Damian Carrington|The Guardian)

🧑‍🌾 KolorByKaylyn (from our community) started composting in their garden to improve the soil and reduce food waste.

Wednesday, April 30

I was interviewed and asked about "flipping the script" on climate anxiety, action, and news reporting. Check it out!

Thursday, May 1

🧑‍🔬 Self-repairing buildings that automatically fix damage are no longer a far-off fantasy thanks to a team of scientists from Montana State University who developed a living material from fungus roots called mycelium and bacteria cells that repairs itself for at least a month with a goal to someday replace concrete (Georgina Jedikovska|Interesting Engineering)

🛤️ Empty space in train tracks is getting filled with solar panels in a project that was just unveiled in Switzerland with panels that are easily removable meaning they can be placed on active tracks without worrying about maintenance delays, and if rolled out across the rail network will power 300,000 Swiss homes (Luigi Jorio|Swiss Info)

🚫 A court just upheld The Hague’s ban of fossil fuel advertisements and shut down a pending lawsuit, with the court saying that the health of citizens is more important than commercial interests of advertisers and polluters, hopefully marking the first of many cities around the world to solidify this law (Euronews Green)

🌊 kemy (from our community) used a branch to unclog a stream filled with litter and properly threw it away.

A recap of April, 2025

🌊 Over 800 marine species were discovered in the deep ocean in a huge global search for unknown life including the first footage of a colossal squid in its natural environment (Ocean Census)

🚫 The EU agreed to ban harmful forever chemicals called PFAs from children’s toys (Le Monde)

🦌 The world’s largest wildlife crossing started laying down soil in California (Will Conybeare|KTLA)

🌪️ A 12-year-old invented a more accurate way of detecting tornadoes using drones that sense infrasound below what humans can hear (Adele Peters|Fast Company)

💰 Big Oil giant Chevron was ordered to pay $744.6 million to repair illegal damages done to Louisiana's wetlands (Jack Brook|AP)

🤝 1500 acres of stolen land was returned to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation to become a preserved park (Violet Miller|Chicago Sun Times)

🐀 The world record for the most landmines detected by a rat was broken by Ronin, a true life-saving hero, and certified by Guiness at 124 explosives (APOPO, Guinness World Records)

🚢 The world’s first global shipping emissions limit was approved by the UN after 10 years of negotiations (Jennifer McDermott & Sibi Arasu|AP)

🗽 New York City’s mandatory composting kicked into gear, starting fines for violations (Julian Nazario|NBC)

🌊 Portugal became the first nation to pass a law banning deep sea mining (Oceanographic, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition)

🥼 A new study linked specific emitters to extreme weather damages using attribution science which should help with accountability lawsuits (Austyn Gaffney|NYT)

And our community:

🌱 Set up a free seed library in their lawn

🧶 Opened a store selling unused fabrics

💒 Donated their leftover wedding food to a fire station

And so much more...

What's your story from this month? Drop it in a comment or reply to this email and let me know!

Bonus!

⚡️ Electric trains are even better than we thought.

🐛 A new caterpillar was found wearing bones as camouflage.

⛏️ This billionaire's mining plan was blocked.

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This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. 900,000+ people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, and Bluesky. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by emailing jacob@jacobsimonsays.com.