Good News Headlines 7/14/2025
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Children Limiting Own Smartphone Use To Manage Mental Health, Survey Finds
by Rachel Hall, The Guardian
Children are increasingly taking breaks from their smartphones to better manage their mental health, personal safety and concentration spans, research has revealed. They are reacting to growing concerns that spending too much time online can be harmful by taking control of their own social media and smartphone use rather than relying on parents to enforce limits, according to experts. The number of 12- to 15-year-olds who take breaks from smartphones, computers and iPads rose by 18% to 40% since 2022, according to the audience research company GWI, drawing on a survey of 20,000 young people and their parents across 18 countries.
A Rare Sight: 125 Flamingos Spotted In The Everglades — The Largest In A Decade
by Valentina Sandoval, WLRN Public Media
One of the largest flocks of flamingos in a decade was recently spotted in the Everglades by avian ecologist and restoration scientist Mark Cook. Cook said he stumbled upon a group of 125 American flamingos while conducting a wading bird survey along the Florida Bay coastline last week. The flock is believed to be the largest one spotted in South Florida since 2014, when a group of 147 flamingos was observed in the northern part of the Everglades. Cook said he continued his survey after taking pictures of the group. “Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible not to spook a large group of flamingos from a helicopter and they rapidly took flight,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
In Zion National Park, ‘The Smog Is Gone’
by Morgan Sjogren, Reasons to Be Cheerful
Beneath red temples of Navajo sandstone, the Virgin River winds through Zion National Park. Nearby, a steady current of people step into a long shuttle line. A bus quietly rolls into the stop, the door opens, 90 people swiftly board. After the bus rolls away, the line continues to lengthen. Another bus arrives five minutes later; the flow resumes. The buses are part of the new electric shuttle system transforming the visitor experience at Zion. The park first launched its shuttle system in 2000 to address the 2.4 million annual visitors that have since grown to five million. To further reduce traffic and benefit visitors and wildlife, through reduced emissions and noise pollution, Zion transitioned to an all-electric fleet of 30 buses in 2024.
Portugal Announces New 38,000 Sq. Mile Protected Area Around ‘Stunning’ Underwater Mountains
by Andy Corbley, Good News Network
Out of a recent UN conference on the protection of the sea comes the news that Portugal has announced the creation of a new 38,000 square-mile marine protected area. Established around the Gorringe seamount, technically Portugal’s tallest mountain, the decision will take the nation’s total protected territorial waters to 27%, making the small Iberian country the continent leader in protected ocean waters. The announcement was made by the nation’s environment minister Maria da Graca Carvalho at the 3rd UN Oceans Conference in Nice. The conference focuses on implementing strategies and methods to achieve the goals set out in the 2023 High Seas Treaty.
Flint Finishes Replacing 11,000 Lead Pipes, Concluding Activists’ Decade-Long Effort to Secure Clean Water
by Andy Corbley, Good News Network
If there were one place in America where you’d decline a glass of tap water it would be Flint, right? Wrong. A decade after lead-contaminated water was found in the Michigan city’s water system, the legal battle to replace lead water pipes is nearly finished. Homes serviced by lead water lines which have not been replaced are either vacant, abandoned, or owned by citizens who opted-out of the free change to copper lines mandated in a 2017 court settlement. The Flint water crisis began in 2014, after lead-contaminated drinking water was found to be leaching out from aging pipes into homes citywide.
