Season 28 of life

Hey fam,

Yesterday was my 28th birthday!

My 27th year brought more fulfillment and excitement than I would've ever guessed. I had the incredible fortune to travel, learn so many new things, talk to thousands of likeminded people, and make the world a little brighter.

Huge thanks to everyone for being a part of my little time here in the world <3

This week we cover wind turbines becoming tiny homes, the coolest livestream of bald eagles, accountability court cases, a river becoming a living entity, a blood moon, and so much more...

Friday, March 7 (watch here)

🏠 Giant wind turbines are being turned into tiny homes when decommissioned after about 20 years of use, which is so solarpunk and looks pretty cozy, is probably still bigger than most New York City apartments, and at least 10,000 more of the same model exist around the world showing great opportunity (Kamrin Baker|GoodGoodGood)

🦫 England is about to release beavers into their rivers for the first legal time since going locally extinct in the 16th century, in an effort to replenish the countryside and restore these keystone species that reshape their environment through dams that help prevent floods (Phys)

🌱 Over 14,000 seed samples were delivered to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault from 21 genebanks around the world including 15 samples from Sudan despite an ongoing civil war, eggplant from the Philippines, velvet beans from Malawi, and many more to protect crop diversity and the future of our foods (Paige Bennett|Ecowatch)

🚮 thefirstsonoflight (from our community) started a Harry Potter type point system at their school to reward cleaning up trash and litter on their campus.

Monday, March 10 (watch here)

🦅 An amazing livestream of a bald eagle nest just witnessed the birth of a third eaglet, with parents Jackie and Shadow becoming celebrities as 100,000 people tuned in to witness the hatching thanks to the Friends of Big Bear Valley nonprofit setting up the stream to educate the public, and I highly recommend checking it out and suggesting a name when they open submissions (FOBBV)

🚘 London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone has been a massive success at improving health by cleaning up the air per a new study showing before this policy, which charges the worst polluting cars to enter the city, it would have taken an estimated 193 years to bring air pollution down to legal limits, but now it should be achieved this year (Matthew Taylor|The Guardian)

🔬 Thousands of people protested in a Stand up for Science rally under the Lincoln Memorial in DC and 30 other cities to assert that science isn’t political and remind the world how important it is for safety and progress, with researchers and students who would rather be in the lab instead taking to the streets to sing, chant, and stand in solidarity (Alan Burdick|NYT)

🦋 christymariebp (from our community) and their mom have raised and released thousands of monarch butterflies.

Tuesday, March 11 (watch here)

🏕️ Some of the most amazing lands in the UK have been off-limits for campers but a new partnership will open 15 up in a rewilding exchange where people get to explore and stay in the nature-filled areas in exchange for helping with projects like reintroducing beavers, removing invasive species, and monitoring wildlife (Jane Dunford|The Guardian)

🧑‍⚖️ A court case aimed at blocking lawsuits that hold Big Oil accountable for deceiving the public was just rejected by the US Supreme Court, meaning these states can continue efforts to hold companies accountable for the local harms they’ve caused through illegal and deceptive practices (Nate Raymond|Reuters)

🏄 Another method of giving old wind turbines a second life has emerged by turning them into surfboards, in an innovative approach to helping reduce waste as the typical turbine lifetime is about 20 years, and I don’t know much about surfing but it looks like they work to me (Kamrin Baker|GoodGoodGood)

🍋 Cry (from our community) managed to keep baby lemon trees alive despite temperatures well below freezing.

Wednesday, March 12 (watch here)

🦜 28 critically endangered orange-bellied parrots were raised by experts and just released into the wild in Tasmania, bringing the number of these adorable birds up from 17 to over 200 in this year’s migration, as efforts continue to keep increasing their numbers by protecting their habitats from threats (Bec Pridham|ABC)

🇵🇷 A judge ruled that Puerto Rico’s lawsuit from 2022 can move forward which brings accountability to the world’s worst polluters for their coordinated deception to mislead the public, fund disinformation campaigns, and conceal the harms they’re creating, adding to the growing list of accountability court cases (Tina Casey|Cleantechnica)

🌊 For the first time, England recognized a river as a living entity, granting the 35 mile-long River Ouse (“ooze”) the right to flow and be free of pollution in a push to protect the local ecosystem’s health and cultural heritage, hopefully setting precedent for others to follow (Amy Houghton|TimeOut)

🍌 Lily Summer from our community is helping people, businesses, and schools compost their food waste instead of throwing it out.

Thursday, March 13 - my birthday!! (watch here)

🌚 A blood moon is happening late tonight which is a full lunar eclipse where the moon, Earth, and sun are in perfect alignment turning the moon a brilliant red color for about an hour that can be seen with the naked eye, which is a pretty decent birthday gift from the universe… (Caela Barry|NASA)

👴 Average life expectancy around the world has dramatically increased by more than double in just over 100 years, which is pretty astounding if you think about it, with 32 years in 1900 rising to 73 today thanks to better living standards, nutrition, sanitation, and healthcare advancements (Bastian Herre|Our World in Data)

🦒 After 444 days of pregnancy, an endangered reticulated giraffe calf was born in a big step for protecting the species, with the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance letting the public name this healthy baby boy where anyone who gives a donation gets to vote between Dagg, Thorn, or Kujali (Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance)

🥳 I’ve posted videos about what’s going right in the world nearly every weekday this past year and our community has grown so much, so let me say a huge thank you to everyone who’s been a part of this journey for making my 27th year the most amazing and fulfilling yet.

We’re making the world a little brighter and building a better future, together.

I can’t wait to see what 28 holds :)

Bonus!

👊 10 sparks that "terrify the 1%" (and help build better systems).

🌌 Scotland gets the latest dark-sky sanctuary.

🛝 One man's trash is another kid's playground.

🏡 A tiny home that generates 2x the energy it consumes.

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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.