Good News Monday

Editor OGN Daily
7 days ago
3 min read

What better way to start the week than with some upbeat news stories?

Joshua trees pictured against a setting sun — Joshua trees

Joshua Tree Reprieve

Siding with environmentalists, a federal court struck down an attempt to withhold Endangered Species Act protections from the Joshua tree by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying that it “sidesteps climate science.” The ruling "serves as yet another reminder that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must completely grapple with the ongoing and incoming threats from human-created climate change," Casey Bage, legal fellow for WildEarth Guardians, said in a statement sent to ABC News. Known for its twisted stalks and unusual outline, the Joshua tree is native to the arid southwestern U.S. and thrives in harsh desert environments.

wildflowers blooming along the Klamath River — Credit: Matt Mais | Yukon Tribe

Let it Flow

Less than one year after dams and reservoirs were removed, wildflowers are blooming along the Klamath River. Four dams and three reservoirs were removed from the Klamath River as part of the world’s largest dam removal project that wrapped up last year. Already, the surrounding environment is showing remarkable signs of recovery with wildflowers blooming along the now free-flowing 420-mile river near the border of Oregon and California. The return of local flora is thanks to a crew of primarily Yurok tribe members who began collecting seeds from native flowers and trees in 2019, growing them in nurseries, and producing more flowers and seeds to prepare for the “over 2,000 acres that needed revegetation.”

North China Leopard

China is also planning a major new project to re-wild the countryside to help protect the endangered North China Leopard after recent (and very exciting) leopard sightings just 20 km from Beijing. The 10-year initiative will plant 10 million oak trees across the Taihang and Yanshan mountains, creating critical wildlife corridors connecting Beijing, Hebei, and Shanxi provinces, reports Dialogue Earth. Leopards are the most geographically widespread of all cats and have a great ability to live undetected alongside human settlements, says the Aspinall Foundation.

Excited boy touching a piece of Mars at the Natural History Museum in London — Boy touching a piece of Mars | Trustees of Natural History Museum

Unusual Opportunity

Visitors to London's Natural History Museum can now to touch a piece of the moon and the planet Mars at a new exhibition. The museum is opening its first display dedicated to space exploration, with more than 60 objects on view - including a parachute NASA used to practice transporting an asteroid to Earth. Visitors can see fragments of an asteroid and even smell pods that recreate the scents of space.

Global EV Sales

One in four cars sold globally this year will be electric, the International Energy Agency (IEA) is forecasting, as data showed another record month for EV sales. “Despite recent economic headwinds … global sales of electric cars have continued to break records as electric models become increasingly affordable,” said the IEA. “In the first three months of 2025, electric car sales were up 35 percent year-on-year. All major markets, and many others, saw new records for first-quarter sales.”

U.S. Renewables

New data shows that renewables accounted for 98 percent of the country’s new electricity capacity in the first quarter of 2025. “Notwithstanding the Trump administration’s anti-renewable energy efforts during its first 100 plus days, the strong growth of solar and wind continues,” said Ken Bossong, an analyst at the Sun Day Campaign. "Latest data and forecasts suggest this will not change in the near-term.” Trump could in fact unwittingly be helping renewables. According to the Financial Times, the cost of building gas-fired plants in the US has tripled over the last three years, with Trump’s tariffs expected to drive up costs even further.

"An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail." Edwin H. Land

On This Day

19 May 1952: Time magazine features 'Theseus', an electrical learning machine built by American scientist Claude Shannon - arguably the first example of Artificial Intelligence.