Good News Tuesday
- Editor OGN Daily
- 12 hours ago
- 3 min read
Some tasty bite-sized chunks of good news to perk up the day.
Dragon's Eye
The National Geographic Traveller (UK) has announced the winners of its 2025 photography competition. The winner of the landscape category (pictured) is an aerial view of Iceland's Hveravellir geothermal area, captured by a drone, revealing a stunning landscape where nature’s raw power is on full display. The camera hovers over a geothermal pool that mimics the form of a dragon’s eye, its deep, sapphire-blue centre acting as the ‘pupil’ of this mythical creature’s gaze. The surrounding rings of the pool shimmer in hues of vibrant orange, yellow and earthy browns, a direct result of the mineral-rich deposits formed over centuries of geothermal activity. These concentric bands of colour give the illusion of an ancient and mystical eye embedded within the earth, further enhanced by the barren, rocky terrain around it. Discover more of the competition's winners.
Nature’s Pest Control
Cotton farmers are turning to nature’s own pest control. Developed by entomologist Robert Mensah, a simple mix of yeast, sugar, and water lures in ladybirds and lacewings (predator insects that feast on crop pests). The method has since spread from Australia to Benin, Ethiopia, Vietnam and India, protecting farmers’ health while cutting pesticide use, says The Guardian.
Big Oil Halted in SA
South Africa’s courts have brought Big Oil’s offshore plans to a halt. A high court has blocked Shell and TotalEnergies from drilling off the country’s Wild Coast, citing failures to consult fishing villages and coastal communities. The ruling, hailed as a major victory for fishers, builds on a series of legal victories where judges have prioritised cultural and environmental rights over fossil fuel expansion, reports The South African.
Markets Matter
Big banks are pivoting from fossil fuels to green energy, says the IEA, and now the playbook continues its shift as Bloomberg reports that hedge funds have started shorting oil stocks. Simultaneously, commodity traders are switching their attention from oil, gas and metals to buying, storing and selling energy back into grids, especially in Europe, where capacity is set to rise sevenfold by 2030.
Greening Paris
Paris has removed the paving in front of its city hall and transformed it into an urban forest - the technical term for this is a “Reverse Rose Garden”. This is just one of the numerous initiatives the French capital has undertaken in recent times to improve the quality of life for its residents. Indeed, looking forward, Paris has an Urban Forest Plan to cover half the city - aiming to reduce temperatures, increase flood resilience, and lower carbon emissions.
Solar Surge
As of mid-August, the United Kingdom has generated more electricity from solar than it did all of last year. Meanwhile, in Germany, wind and solar are generating 57.5 percent of the electricity, twice as much as they did in 2020 - and this in the world’s second most important industrial power, and third largest economy.
"Worrying gets you nowhere. If you turn up worrying about how you’re going to perform, you’ve already lost." Usain Bolt
On This Day
26 August 1920: The Nineteenth Amendment became part of the Constitution of the United States, giving women the right to vote.
Today's Articles
Reuters Institute: Global survey of why people avoid the news. The answers and the reasons are revealing.
Mood Boosting Video
Fishing Maestro: Kingfisher in slow-mo action on Ireland's River Shannon.