For the first time in decades, national surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show an unprecedented and unexplained decline of as many as 20,000 drug deaths per year nationwide, a huge reversal from recent years when fatal overdoses regularly increased by double-digit percentages.
A young woman’s attempted suicide on a bridge in Nashville was interrupted at the last minute by an unlikely hero. She was halfway there, then “Livin’ on a Prayer” singer Jon Bon Jovi appeared at her side and managed to talk her out of the life-ending decision.
Nearly 5,500 Oregonians have been moved out of homelessness and into housing thanks to persistence from a recently-appointed task force. This amounts to a 28% increase from the previous year, and the number of housing placements is the most seen in a fiscal year since the task force’s inception.
Buddhist nation Nepal and a drone manufacturer in majority Buddhist China, have signed an agreement to supply Mount Everest’s Buddhist authorities with heavy lift drones that will help clear trash off Everest’s holy slopes.
There wasn’t a dry eye among staff at Sydney’s Sea Life Aquarium as Magic and his fellow gentoo penguins cried out, mourning the loss of Sphen in an emotional scene never before witnessed by employees.
American billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg has announced that a series of grants worth $600 million will be presented to five historically Black colleges and universities. The donations are being channeled specifically to the universities’ medical colleges.
The Biden-Harris administration has announced the issuance of $2.2 billion in discrimination relief payments to more than 23,000 individuals who were unfairly denied USDA loans for farming operations, as for decades, the federal government and banks discriminated against Black farmers, reported The New York Times.
The felling of the Sycamore Gap tree brought forth an outpouring of emotion last year, with local people and tourists alike left bereft by pictures showing it on its side. But the latest stage of the saga has brought some “astonishing” green shoots of recovery.
With its nine brains, the octopus has long been considered the most intelligent creature in the ocean, inspiring bipartisan legislation banning octopus farming, co-authored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, to be introduced in Congress.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo fulfills her pledge and swims in Seine as cleanup operation makes water quality safe enough to host the Olympics just in time for opening ceremonies this Friday, July 26.
Most students pursuing medical degrees at Johns Hopkins University will receive free tuition, thanks to a $1 billion gift from businessman Michael Bloomberg's philanthropic organization. “As the U.S. struggles to recover from a disturbing decline in life expectancy, our country faces a serious shortage of doctors, nurses, and public health professionals," Bloomberg said.
The global pandemic plunged the entire world into economic free fall and societal unrest. Since then, one notable country has emerged successfully to stabilize global markets and calm fears—it’s the United States, which has maintained the lowest inflation rate of any major nation.
Colorado used 1.5 billion fewer plastic or paper shopping bags since the implementation of the Plastic Pollution Reduction Act of 2021 that entered into force at the beginning of 2023, and is now a leader in the nation.
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the federal law making it a crime for anyone subject to a domestic violence court order to possess a gun. The 8-to-1 decision was the first since the court in 2022 broke sharply with the way gun laws had previously been evaluated by the courts.
85 years after white rioters burned her family home down, Opal Lee, the "Grandmother of Juneteenth" is moving back to the same lot, in a home gifted to her with the help of several North Texas organizations.
Claudia Sheinbaum, an environmental scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, was overwhelmingly elected Mexico’s first female president on June 2, 2024, a historic milestone in a country rife with gender-based violence and misogyny.
For the first time in Brazil, a traditional community has been awarded the concession to manage and operate visitor facilities inside a state conservation unit. The Caiçaras, a traditional fishing peoples, of Cardoso Island have lived in what is today Ilha do Cardoso State Park since the 19th century.
The Oakland School District in California is set to fully transition its school bus fleet to electric buses, meaning this fleet of electric buses and chargers will double as a virtual power plant, sending 2.1 gigawatt hours per year back to the grid, and saving 25,000 tons of emissions.
As bombs rain down on Gaza, community-led groups are providing children with psychological first aid (PFA) — play, support and laughter — alongside food and healthcare aid.
A new initiative launched by Parley for the Oceans and the Australian SailGP Team aims to fight plastic pollution by raising awareness through a group of individuals who have a special relationship with the ocean — the sailing community.
Dramatic dash cam video shows strangers on I-94 in Minnesota come together with highway personnel, and desperately fight to remove a trapped man from a car engulfed in flames — and succeed!
With more than 1200 volunteers who have cleaned up nearly 9.9 tons of marine litter from beaches in East Africa’s Seychelles islands over the past five years, this Parley Seychelles cleanup effort shows the potential for citizens to tackle marine trash.
Millions of wildflowers now delight a small Vermont countryside community after two transplanted Long Islanders got tired of mowing their massive lawn all day and planted wildflowers instead, delighting the neighbors, birds, bees and butterflies.
She was four years old when a cyclone devastated her hometown. Six when she started cold-calling landowners to get them to plant new trees. Ten when National Geographic shone a light on her work. Meet Prasiddhi Singh, the young girl taking on climate change one tree at a time.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) finalized three rules to protect threatened species and their habitats, the Department of Interior announced.
As news deserts expand, students journalists in academic-media partnerships are stepping up to bolster local coverage, from student-staffed statehouse bureaus to papers run by journalism schools.
Beekeepers triumphed against a deadly insecticide linked to a nationwide honey bee die-off, which remains banned in California thanks to Earthjustice’s legal work, after a state agency approved the insecticide sulfoxaflor for use.
Places across the U.S., including Chicago’s Cook County, are testing no-strings cash as part of the social safety net. Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, says people “can invest in their families in ways that make them more stable over time."
Boiling tap water can destroy at least 80 percent of three of the most common plastic compounds that can be found in your water, which may be the solution to microplastics in drinking water.
Bob Moore, the founder of Bob's Red Mill, who died on Saturday, set up a unique ownership model for his natural food company. Rather than sell out to a food giant, he transferred full ownership to his employees — more than 700 of them.
Japanese scientists have launched the world's first wooden satellite using biodegradable magnolia wood as an environmentally friendly solution to help combat the growing problem of metal space pollution.
The Rockefeller Foundation recently announced that it will put an additional US$80 million toward Food is Medicine (FIM) programs in the United States over the next five years. The new commitment will bring the Foundation’s total funding of FIM interventions to over US$100 million.
Christian Bale has led a tour round the new village in California where he plans to build 12 foster homes, as well as two studio flats to help children transition into independent living, and a 7,000 sq ft community centre. The actor has spearheaded the building of a unique complex of facilities with the aim of keeping siblings in the foster care system together.
The mayor said medical debt is the No. 1 cause of bankruptcy in the United States, disproportionately burdening low-income households and people with inadequate insurance. He called the debt relief program the largest municipal initiative of its kind in the country.
A new report from nonprofits Environment America, U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund and Frontier Group has found that bans on plastic bags around the U.S. have already reduced the number of bags used by billions.
For some good news to start 2024, key new laws at the state level, which are the result of so much rallying and advocacy, and which will contribute to shaping the humane world we envision, are now in place to help animals.
A Texas tiny home community, slated to become one of the largest communities of its kind anywhere in the country with 2,000 neighbors, is easing homelessness in Austin, while offering gardens, bee hives, kitchens, workspaces, playgrounds and a dozen other group facilities.
Restaurants are making sure that consumed oysters have their shells returned to the reefs, ensuring they rebuild and thrive in the deep Hong Kong water; the Hong Kong oyster filters more water of impurities than any other species.
Many of our favorite 2023 pictures are stunning images of the natural world. Some show moments of intense emotion. But these dozen photos chosen by GNN are guaranteed to uplift your spirits—or your curiosity—as we look back on the past year.
The U.S. Forest Service, an agency with a long history of prioritizing timber production, has taken a first step toward protecting the nation’s most ancient forests from logging. The agency on Tuesday announced a proposal to amend management plans for all 128 national forests and grasslands across the country to better conserve carbon-rich “old-growth” forests.
Detroit recently celebrated another milestone in automotive innovation by installing the nation's first electrified wireless-charging public roadway for electric vehicles. The roadway will enable EVs to charge their vehicles without stopping to plug them in.
Save the date for the Natural Living Expo, November 16 & 17, 2024 at the Best Western Royal Plaza Trade Center in Marlborough, MA. Now in its 17th year!
Ancient California redwoods in Big Basin, some of which are over 2,000 years old, have defied scientists’ expectations and sprouted new shoots from blackened trunks, and will recover in time. The study presented a fascinating finding that changes how we short-lived fleshlings perceive our slow woody neighbors.
Residents of the Swedish city of Luleå take on loneliness by welcoming the new campaign encouraging them to say hello to each other during dark winter months with just three hours of sunlight everyday.
Welcome to the United Repair Centre, the latest venture helping Amsterdam become one of the world’s first fully circular cities by using refugees as full time employees to repair ripped or broken clothing that would otherwise be dumped in the bin.
While reading study after study about Wevgovy and Ozempic, I learned that some food boost levels of an Ozempic-like hormone that naturally squelches hunger like a fly swatter smashes a mosquito. The result of less snacking and more satisfaction is dramatic weight loss.
The new “Port of Portland” airport terminal, built with local tribal timber is inherently fire resistant and less carbon-intensive. A giant roof for the main atrium is being built from Douglas fir, hemlock, and southern yellow pine sourced entirely from either Oregon landowners or Tribal nations.
A young humpback whale was freed by rescuers in Alaska after it was discovered hog-tied to a 300lb crab pot. The rescue came after two local residents discovered the trapped whale a day earlier in the coastal waters near Gustavus.
Despite its limitations, this car-free iconic Great Lakes Michigan island vacation spot is leading on composting, with a thriving composting program in place since the 1990s.
Cranberry growers are bringing wetlands back from the dead in Massachusetts, the onetime cranberry capital of the world, as former bogs are transforming into thriving, carbon-storing swamps.
Find online and in-person classes, workshops, trainings, conferences, meditations, events, groups and more. Listings are free!
