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.
Cheap, disposable clothing is causing an environmental disaster. Now, the home of haute couture is chipping in for its citizens’ garment repairs. The French government has set up a fund for clothing repairs financed by taxes on manufacturers and retailers in France’s fashion industry.
Gary Batton, Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, sends a greeting from the Choctaw Nation recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day for 2023 along with the rest of the country, as a day to commemorate the history, sovereignty and culture of all Native people.
The Norwegian government has just completed the largest re-wilding project in its history. Polar bears, reindeer, Arctic fox, and many sea birds are now moving back into the Sveagruva mining town.
Founded in 1988, the Courage of Conscience Award honors individuals and organizations that have distinguished themselves for their humanitarian and peace activism. It has been received by Maya Angelou, Greenpeace, Pete Seeger, Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks and many other extraordinary individuals.
America gets a new Civilian Climate Corps this week that will put a new generation to work conserving our lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, advancing environmental justice, deploying clean energy, implementing energy efficient technologies, and tackling climate change.
At the start of this school year, all public schools in New York — from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 — are required to offer two to five minutes of mindful breathing every day to improve mental health.
A derelict oil tanker off the coast of Yemen had more than a million barrels of crude sitting around, on the verge of leaching into the Red Sea, until one remarkable American crowdfunded to orchestrate the removal of the crumbling ship.
Tā Tipene O’Regan reached down to a large wooden box then slowly lifted the lid. Out shot a takahē: a large, flightless bird, that was believed for decades to be extinct.
Climate advocates expressed hope that an unprecedented ruling by a state judge in Montana, siding with 16 young residents who argued the state violated their constitutional rights by promoting fossil fuel extraction, will mark a change in the outcomes of climate lawsuits.
What's four-legged, furry, and often serves up a quick little mood boost? That's right, a dog. It turns out even short, friendly interactions with canines can be good for our health.
As the Hollywood actors strike continues, some of the industry's biggest names are making their voices heard. SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents thousands of film and television actors, declared a strike starting on July 14.
21 Indigenous visionary leaders from throughout Turtle Island and beyond who are radically transforming Indigenous communities by defending Indigenous lands, waters, and rights; developing solutions for future communities; and revitalizing Indigenous languages, governance practices, ceremonies, and ways of life receive NDN Changemaker Fellows.
Detailed analysis finds that the Vegan diet massively cuts environmental damage leading to 75% less climate-heating emissions, water pollution and land use than meat-rich ones.
"Groundbreaking," "monumental," and "transformative" were just a few of the words rights advocates used to describe the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's long-awaited approval of over-the-counter use of Opill, a birth control pill.
The Blackfeet Nation set dozens of wild bison loose on tribal land last week, in a historic move to restore a free-ranging herd at a time when the last remaining American buffalo are typically kept enclosed.
The Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act has passed in California. It prohibits any person or public agency from importing, exporting, removing, owning, buying or selling western Joshua trees or any of their parts.
Huynh Tieu Huong, whom national media has dubbed ‘Mother Teresa of Vietnam,’ overcame decades of homelessness to help hundreds of orphans and now runs a non-profit organization dedicated to the adoption, support, and free offering of loving kindness to foundlings, orphans, and homeless children.
Whisper it, but the boom in plastic production could come to a shuddering halt as a plastics treaty agreed to this month by the world’s governments could cut production by 80% by 2040.
Filmmaker and cultural anthropologist Gail Myers discusses the making of her documentary, Rhythms of the Land, which preserves the untold stories of Black farmers, the oppressive history of sharecropping, and the power of seed saving.
A unique opportunity for a fixer-upper is coming by way of the US General Services Administration (GSA)—6 historic American lighthouses. Going up this year via public auction, the federal government has a unique way of ensuring lighthouses retain their historic status.
From the majestic whooping crane to the smallest songbird, an iconic American landmark in Missouri is making the skies safer for spring migrating birds who follow the Mississippi River to reach their summer nesting grounds.
The Colorado General Assembly has passed unprecedented and groundbreaking legislation known as The Colorado Wild Horse Project, a new law that adds state protections for the rights of mustangs and burros.
Chief Standing Bear, whose landmark lawsuit in 1879 established that a Native American is a person under the law, is on a new postage stamp. The U.S. Postal Service released a Forever stamp on Friday honoring the Ponca tribe chief.
New York state has passed legislation that will scale up the state’s renewable energy production and signals a major step toward moving utilities out of private hands to become publicly owned.
A ban on dozens of semi-automatic rifles cleared the Washington state Legislature on Wednesday and the governor is expected to sign it into law. The Washington law would cover more than 50 gun models which fire one bullet per trigger pull and automatically reload for a subsequent shot.
The numbers of wild tigers in India has more than doubled from 2010 to 2022. The 2022 count includes at least 3,167 wild tigers, up from 1,411 in 2010. “Concerted efforts from tiger range countries are really encouraging,” Rajesh Gopal, secretary general of Global Tiger Forum, said in a statement.
A two-year study on the interactions of several seabird species at an offshore wind farm found that not a single case of birdstrike was recorded over the study period or in the 10,000 videos taken.
Happy the cow was never destined for greatness, born as he was a bull on a dairy farm. Yet despite his inability to produce milk, Happy had another valuable skill that began working the minute he dropped onto the grass of Barry Coster’s dairy—making people smile.
After three years of extreme drought, the Western U.S. is finally getting a break. Mountain ranges are covered in deep snow, and water reservoirs in many areas are filling up. Many people are looking at the snow and water levels and asking: Is the drought finally over?
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Friday afternoon signed into law a bill to provide breakfast and lunch at no cost to all of the state's roughly 820,000 K-12 pupils regardless of their household income.
When Zandile Ndhlovu started scuba diving in her native South Africa, she was the only black person on the boat. Beneath the surface of the ocean she had discovered the place where she felt most herself – “an incredible world filled with wonder”.
Australia’s Albanese Labor Government has announced its plans to triple the size of the Macquarie Island Marine Park to protect millions of seals, seabirds and penguins in the Southern Ocean.
A privately-funded program to provide basic income to 100 California homeless people aims to study how the cash—plus one-on-one social support—can be potentially life-changing.
Imagine how children feel when they find out that the person preparing to read them a story is the person who wrote it. But just days before the start of Black History Month, the superintendent of Hoover City Schools abruptly canceled the scheduled readings.
Oslo, Norway has announced plans for its transportation system to be fully electric by the end of 2023. Oslo already has a system of electric trains, ferries and trams, along with some buses.
2022 saw major advances, and even victories, as cancer deaths plummet, Guinea worm is eradicated, and we say bye-bye to Ebola — three huge wins for humanity.
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) updated its regulations on foods labeled “organic” on Thursday, as part of an effort to close loopholes and increase confidence in the agency’s organic seal.
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