What is GivingTuesday? The annual day of charitable giving is coming up
24 October 2024 - Since it started as a hashtag in 2012, GivingTuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, has become one of the biggest fundraising days of the year for nonprofits in the U.S. In 2022 and 2023, GivingTuesday raised $3.1 billion for chartitable organizations, according to estimates from GivingTuesday. This year, GivingTuesday is on December 3. (more)

An archaeology student finds 7 stunning Viking silver arm rings, Danish museum says
22 October 2024 - An archaeology student unearthed seven 'spectacular' Viking-era curled silver arm rings earlier this year north of Denmark's second-largest city, a Danish museum said on Monday [19 August], adding the finding has ties to Russia, Ukraine, and the British Isles. (more)

Good, free, fun: The simple formula that has made Duolingo a daily habit for millions
21 October 2024 - Perhaps no app has mastered user loyalty quite like Duolingo, the gamified language-learning platform 34 million people a day can't put down. Here, CEO and co-founder Luis von Ahn tells the BBC why their insistent owl works so well. (more)

In Photos: Year's largest supermoon turns night to day across world
21 October 2024 - Last night's biggest, brightest and best supermoon of the year rose worldwide after its intense light turned night to day. ...Skywatchers were out in force at local dusk across the globe to see the full moon appear in the east. (more)

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, the Nobel laureate who united astronomy and physics
20 October 2024 - Nobel laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was one of the first scientists ever to merge the fields of physics and astronomy. Best known for the Chandrasekhar Limit, his work helped explain the life cycles of stars and the formation of black holes and neutron stars. (more)

Colombia launches $40 bln investment portfolio for energy, climate transition
19 October 2024 - Colombia has launched a new investment portfolio to help it transition away from fossil fuels and adapt to climate change, which it hopes will attract some $40 billion. The portfolio will help fund eco-tourism, a fair energy transition, and conservation and restoration of ecosystems. (more)

India: Why this techie gave up a high-paying job to transform education for Odisha's tribal children
18 October 2024 - Though at the peak of his immigrant dream in 2014, Sambit Kumar Das (48), now founder of Ek Asha Trust, wasn't quite content. Life was lucrative. But there was a gaping hole. That same year, a string of cathartic experiences, each almost feeling like a nudge from fate itself, compelled Das to quit his salaried role in the United States. He chose the hinterlands of Odisha as his destination to create an impact. (more)

In pictures: October hunter's moon illuminates the sky
17 October 2024 - This year's hunter's moon is also a supermoon, which happens when the moon is closer to the Earth than normal. The celestial phenomenon happens a few times during every lunar cycle because the moon's orbit is elliptical, meaning there are intervals when Earth's only permanent natural satellite is closer or farther from the planet. October's supermoon will be the biggest, brightest supermoon of the year. (more)

UK becomes the first major economy to stop burning coal for electricity, closing its last power plant
17 October 2024 - Britain's last coal-fired power plant will end 142 years of coal-generated electricity in the nation that sparked the Industrial Revolution. The Ratcliffe-on-Soar station in central England closed after more than half a century of turning coal into power. Owner Uniper says many of the 170 remaining employees will stay on during a two-year decommissioning process. (more)

US: Yurok Tribe receives $18M for restoration, resumes revegetation work on undammed Klamath River
16 October 2024 - The Yurok Tribe recently received $18 million from NOAA for the Upper Klamath River Tributary Post Dam Removal Salmonid Restoration Project. Focused on stream reaches outside of the reservoir footprints, the project seeks to restore Shovel Creek and sections of other tributaries between Jenny Creek in California and Spencer Creek in Oregon. The Yurok Tribe-led project will create approximately 150 acres of optimal fish and wildlife habitat through fish passage improvements, floodplain reconnection, side channel construction and stream habitat diversification. Currently, the Yurok Fisheries Department is working with four upper basin tribes and two conservation organizations to design the five-year undertaking. (more)

Australia to protect 52% of its oceans, more than any other country
15 October 2024 - The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has declared Australia will soon protect more ocean than any other country after the government finalises a more than 300,000 square kilometre expansion of a sub-Antarctic marine park. (more)

US: How Indigenous Peoples' Day came about and why it matters today
14 October 2024 - The movement to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day has been decades in the making. As a result of advocacy by Native American activists, many states and localities now observe the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples' Day instead of -- or in addition to -- Columbus Day. Here's the history behind Indigenous Peoples' Day, and what some Native Americans say the holiday means for them. (more)

From oil well to wetland: meet the B.C. First Nations reclaiming old oil and gas wells on their homelands
13 October 2024 - Thousands of inactive and abandoned oil wells are dotted across the Canadian landscape, with ongoing environmental impacts. First Nations company Aski Reclamation is restoring former oil wells in their Treaty 8 homelands, rewilding their territory in the process. By consulting Elders and members, the Saulteau First Nations collected data on plants used for sustenance, medicine and more. The nations compiled information dating back at least 50 years, and created a database of trees, shrubs and grasses that are native to their homelands. With this knowledge, the reclamation team identified what plants needed to be re-introduced to the site. They planted several native species, including black spruce trees and cottonwood. They reintroduced willow and red osier dogwood, which Aird says are important for moose. (more)

World Migratory Bird Day -- Protect insects, protect birds
12 October 2024 - The World Migratory Bird Day campaign in 2024 stresses the need for proactive conservation measures. This includes reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers, and where possible, switching to organic farming. Other measures include maintaining and connecting areas of natural vegetation which provide food and shelter for birds and other species, in agricultural landscapes. In 2024, World Migratory Bird Day is celebrated on two days, 11 May and 12 October, aligning with the cyclic nature of bird migration in different hemispheres. (more)

International Day of the Girl 2024 -- Girls' vision for the future
11 October 2024 - Observed annually on 11 October, International Day of the Girl is a key global moment on which to celebrate girls everywhere, amplifying their voices, actions and leadership. It is a day that belongs to everyone who cares about girls and their rights. (more)

US: New center to advance use of seaweed in the global economy
11 October 2024 - The UC Berkeley Energy and Biosciences Institute (EBI) has received nearly $13 million to establish a center aimed at advancing the use of seaweed in the global supply chain. Seaweeds provide ecosystem habitats for diverse marine species, offer coastal protection, and act as a repository for atmospheric carbon. An uptick in seaweed cultivation is being driven by their role in integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA), which is a farming method that involves raising multiple aquatic species together in close proximity, with the goal of improving efficiency and reducing waste. Integration of seaweed farming into aquaculture is known to bring added benefits, such as ecosystem restoration, nutrient recycling and improved sustainability. (more)

Research finds good friendships crucial to happiness of young adults
10 October 2024 - If you're a 20-something who is unattached, having good friends is a key to happiness, new research shows. Based on their findings, researchers suggest that young, single adults make it a priority to forge meaningful, long-term friendships. (more)

An 80-year Harvard study reveals the secret to long-term happiness
10 October 2024 - For over 80 years, Harvard's Grant and Glueck study has tracked the well-being of two demographics: 268 graduates from the batches of 1939 -- 1944 and 456 poor men growing up in Boston since 1939. Since pre-World War II, they've painstakingly scrutinized blood samples, performed brain scans, collated surveys, and interacted with these men.To quote psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development: ''The clearest message that we get from this 80-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.'' (more)

Norway: There are now more fully electric cars on Norwegian roads than gas cars
9 October 2024 - The Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council has reported a milestone -- the number of fully electric vehicles on roads has surpassed the number of gas cars for the first time ever. According to the report, in the past 20 years, over one million gas cars have disappeared from Norwegian roads, and to a large extent they have been replaced by electric cars. The same development is likely to also occur for diesel cars. (more)

US: On Navajo lands, ancient ways are restoring the parched earth
8 October 2024 - The Navajo living in Arizona are restoring their watersheds -- and boosting their food sovereignty -- with earthen berms and small dams made of woven brush, sticks, and rocks. These structures, similar to those used by Native peoples long before Europeans arrived on the continent, are not only delivering water to crops, they are also helping to sequester carbon, and reviving this high-desert ecosystem. (more)

UK: Rewilder Derek Gow on turning his farm into an ark for lost species
8 October 2024 - Derek Gow has dedicated his life to animals and biodiversity. After a Shetland ewe captured his heart as a boy, Gow grew up to become a farmer with a passion for ancient breeds. Realising how many of our species were close to extinction -- even on his own land -- he tore down fences literally and metaphorically, transforming his traditional Devon farm into a 300-acre rewilding haven for beavers, water voles, lynx, wildcats, harvest mice, wild boar and more. A project that is still ongoing today. (more)

Denmark returns iconic indigenous cloak to Brazil
7 October 2024 - Indigenous leaders in Brazil have celebrated the return of a sacred cloak that had been on display at a Danish museum for more than 300 years. The 1.8m-long cloak, made of 4,000 red feathers from the scarlet ibis bird, was officially unveiled at a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro. It was attended by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. (more)

US: California's first new national marine sanctuary in 32 years to ban offshore oil drilling along 100 miles of coastline
7 October 2024 - A long-running effort by native tribes and environmentalists to establish the first new national marine sanctuary along California's coastline in 32 years -- the aquatic version of a new national park, where offshore oil drilling would be prohibited forever -- has reached a key milestone. (more)

UK: Project reveals undiscovered ancient woodlands
6 October 2024 - A two-year project across three counties has uncovered more than 1,300 hectares (3,271 acres) of previously unknown ancient woodland. These are woods that have persisted since 1600, packed with a range of forest-loving plant life, fungi, insects and micro-organisations, making up some 2.5% of UK land (609,990 hectares or 1,507,318 acres). (more)