NATURE
DONE BY HAND.
NATURE
The diggers couldn't get there. So they fixed the bog by hand.
Ten days, wooden dams, no machinery. Pools are already forming.
SOURCENatureScot
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ALL THE SLOP
Every serving. No expiration date. Page 3 of 3.
NATURE
DAMS OUT. SALMON IN.
NATURE
The dams came down. More than 20,000 salmon came back.
Four dams gone. 21,052 adult Chinook counted upstream across two seasons. Eighty-eight percent of their documented historic range reoccupied — early, and encouraging.
SOURCEScientific Reports
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HUMANS
800 VILLAGERS. 350,000 OBSERVATIONS.
HUMANS
They used to hunt the wildlife. Now the photos pay better.
About 800 villagers across nine Borneo villages get paid for verified photos, video and audio of wildlife. Two villages have since banned hunting themselves.
SOURCEBorneo Futures
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WEIRD JOY
EIGHT LESSONS. NEARLY 2,000 SCHOOLS.
WEIRD JOY
Kindergarten PE now includes learning to ride a bike.
An eight-lesson learn-to-ride curriculum is now in nearly 2,000 US elementary schools. Balance bikes first, pedals when you are ready, gym class credit either way.
SOURCEAssociated Press
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HUMANS
$650 AND JEOPARDY AT 7.
HUMANS
The rent was too high. Then she met her 77-year-old roommate.
Affordable rent, useful help, and Jeopardy at 7.
SOURCEGood Good Good / HomeShare Vermont
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NATURE
208 TURTLES, HAND-DELIVERED.
NATURE
Seven “turtle women” sent 208 hatchlings back to the Amazon.
235 eggs in. 208 tiny turtles out.
SOURCEMongabay
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HUMANS
SAME BLOOD DRIVE. DIFFERENT DOORS.
HUMANS
The church and mosque next door keep giving blood together.
They started as new neighbors. Fifteen years later, the annual blood drive is still on the calendar.
SOURCEMemphis Islamic Center
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NATURE
THE LAND CHANGED HANDS.
NATURE
7,500 acres just switched sides.
An English grouse-and-sheep estate is being reworked around peat, wildlife and long-term restoration instead.
SOURCEThe Guardian
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NATURE
ONE BIRD BOUGHT THE LAND.
NATURE
One weird bird helped build 19 nature reserves.
A bird nobody had scientifically recorded helped trigger a conservation network protecting habitat across Ecuador.
SOURCEThe Guardian
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HUMANS
THE BOAT ADAPTED.
HUMANS
The wheelchair stays on shore. The sailor doesn’t.
Sometimes inclusion looks like a hoist, a custom boat and a wide-open sea.
SOURCEReasons to Be Cheerful
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WEIRD JOY
A SHED FULL OF GLOW.
WEIRD JOY
The glowworms came back. A garden shed was involved.
After a century away, tiny green lights are blinking again in North Yorkshire.
SOURCEThe Guardian
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WEIRD JOY
HE BOUGHT THE MARQUEE.
WEIRD JOY
Rick Steves bought his hometown movie theater so it wouldn’t die.
A century-old neighborhood movie house just got a very determined new owner.
SOURCEKNKX Public Radio
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WEIRD JOY
SNAKES, APPARENTLY, HAVE FRIENDS.
WEIRD JOY
The baby rattlesnakes are cuddling. Please adjust your worldview.
Livestream cameras in California, Colorado and Pennsylvania captured live rattlesnake births, dozens of newborns and baby snakes cuddling adults for protection. Apparently even rattlesnakes have a snuggle phase.
SOURCECal Poly / Project RattleCam
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NATURE
THE WATER IS COMING BACK.
NATURE
We drained the swamp. Now we’re un-draining it.
A 23-square-mile tract of drained North Carolina peatland is being rewetted, replanted and restored to hold water, reduce fire risk, rebuild habitat and stop releasing so much stored carbon. Sometimes progress is admitting the ditch was a bad idea.
SOURCEAssociated Press
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WEIRD JOY
TINY TRACKERS, BIG MIGRATION.
WEIRD JOY
The warblers have backpacks now.
Researchers are fitting tiny songbirds with Tic Tac-sized geolocator backpacks that record light and atmospheric pressure across entire migrations. Serious science has once again required an extremely small backpack.
SOURCESmithsonian Migratory Bird Center / The Conversation
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HUMANS
DINNER. YOUR PRICE.
HUMANS
100 restaurants said: pay what you can.
A one-day idea from Mexico City restaurant Masala y Maíz grew into a global event with 100 restaurants in 14 countries signed on, while staff kept their normal wages and tips. The radical business innovation: trust people.
SOURCEPaga Lo Que Puedas / Masala y Maíz via Good Good Good
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WEIRD JOY
AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT LOG.
WEIRD JOY
The internet gave the baby porcupine an emotional support log.
Point Defiance Zoo welcomed its first prehensile-tailed porcupine baby in 121 years. Then the internet spotted the tiny porcupette clutching a log and named it an “emotional support log.” For once, the comments improved the story.
SOURCEPoint Defiance Zoo & Aquarium / Good Good Good
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HUMANS
HUNTING SKILLS. NEW MISSION.
HUMANS
The hunters switched teams.
In Nigeria’s Omo Forest Reserve, former hunters are using the tracking skills they once used to hunt wildlife to find snares and help stop poaching instead. Redemption arc: operational.
SOURCEReasons to Be Cheerful / Ogar Monday
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WEIRD JOY
COWS ON FIRE DUTY.
WEIRD JOY
Spain hired tiny cows to fight wildfires.
In Galicia, small, agile Cachena cattle and other grazers are being used to chew down fire-prone vegetation. A regional pilot is even using GPS virtual fencing to steer cattle toward areas that need clearing. Cow-based infrastructure has entered the chat.
SOURCEReuters / Xunta de Galicia
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HUMANS
ALL THREE STEPS, THEIRS.
HUMANS
The women took the whole podium.
At Colorado’s Aspen Backcountry Marathon, Brier Youngfleish won the race outright — and women finished first, second and third overall. The overall podium was all women. That’s the whole post.
SOURCERunner’s World / Aspen Backcountry Marathon
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HUMANS
SPIN CYCLE, STORY TIME.
HUMANS
The laundromat has a library now.
Laundromats are becoming tiny literacy hubs, with children’s books and family reading spaces turning wash-cycle downtime into reading time. Apparently the spin cycle comes with a library card now.
SOURCELaundryCares Foundation / Reasons to Be Cheerful
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