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Sam | Sustainable Living (@sambentley) • Threads, Say more 280.5K Followers • 0 Threads • ✨Good News✨ for our planet you may not have heard about! ⧇ sam@sambentley.co.uk. See the latest conversations with @sambentley.

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🇰🇪 Kenya overturns a law that threatened farmers with two years in prison for sharing traditional seeds, a huge win for food security and traditional knowledge!

📚 University of the People’ offers a free college education to anyone in the world!

It’s the first nonprofit, tuition-free, accredited online university and is currently reaching around 150,000 students around the world.

🇷🇴 Romania creates the largest deposit-return recycling scheme in the world!

Their plastic bottle collection scheme has taken them from one of the lowest recycling rates in the EU to upto 94% collection in just two years, with more than 500,000 tonnes of high-quality recyclable materials collected.

🇵🇱 Poland has banned fur farming! They’re the 23rd EU country to take this step, and with all farms closing by 2033, it’ll save 3 million animals a year.

🌎 This years COP 30 saw the largest ever number of Indigenous participants represented, and some positive progress such as commitment from Brazil to demarcate and recognise more Indigenous land

A Native American tribe, The Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation, reclaimed around 900 acres of ancestral land along Yosemite National Park's border, after being forced out of it during the Gold Rush 175 years ago.

☀️ Changes to regulations could bring balcony solar power to millions in the US!

Utah was the first US state to pass legislation allowing the purchase of small, portable, plug-in solar panels, giving people free, accessible energy. New York, Pennsylvania and others are now filing bills to follow!

🌳 Indigenous activists in Borneo filed a successful lawsuit against a palm oil company, forcing them to pausing their clearing of local forests after disputes over violation of it’s lease and sustainability certification.

🌍 After another successful legal challenge by Greenpeace and Uplift, fossil fuel giant Shell has been forced to reveal the true climate impact of it’s controversial oil field Jackdaw, by including the millions of tonnes of emissions that would come from burning the oil and gas over its lifetime.

🐦 The soil dug to make London’s Elizabeth line has helped nesting birds in Essex!

Three million tonnes of earth was transported from London to make wetlands on an island in Essex, where incredibly, almost 40,000 birds have been able to use it for refuge, shelter and nursery for their chicks.

🇦🇺 Australia makes its largest reform to environmental laws in decades!

Changes include more protection for native forests, stricter rules for land clearing, a limit on fast-tracking of coal and gas projects, and their first independent environment regulator. Implementation will begin in 2026.

🚨 BREAKING: UK government announces it will end licensing for new oil and gas exploration!

Windfall taxes for fossil fuel companies will also not be lowered.

The Gov also announced an end-to-end support service to help workers move into more sustainable fields, including a £20m training fund.

🌳 Colombia has become the first country to declare its entire Amazon region off limits to large-scale mining and hydrocarbons.

The decision protects nearly half a million square kilometers of the Colombian Amazon, reaffirming that for Colombia, life is above any extractive model.

🇧🇷 Brazil recorded its largest drop in emissions since 2009, falling by 16.7% last year, driven by a major crackdown on illegal deforestation in the Amazon.

🇦🇺Australia has so much solar, they’re giving it away for free! 

From July 2026, the ’solar sharer’ scheme will launch in 3 states, offering 3 hours of free solar power in the middle of the day. Using the abundance of excess solar, and helping reduce grid pressure during peak evening times.

🦐 Holland & Barrett became the first major UK retailer to phase out all krill products, marking a huge win for protecting Antarctic wildlife.

Now let’s hope other stores follow soon.

🦩 Flamingos are nesting in Florida after 100 years!

After initially being blown off their migration course by Hurricane Ilda and arriving in Florida, the populations may be able to thrive there again, thanks to large efforts to restore the coastal ecosystems.

🦉Barn owl numbers in West Cheshire, England are SOARING thanks to Dot Bramall who launched a volunteer group in 1995 with her husband.

From just 6 pairs in 1994, there are around 160 today thanks to nest boxes being placed in key spots and habitats being protected. We need more Dots in this world!

🦮Good news for pets! UK’s new 'Renter’s Rights Bill' includes the right to have a pet.

Landlords now can't ban pets without a justifiable reason, shifting the default status on rentals rejecting pet owners, keeping more animals and families together, and reducing the number of animals in shelters.

🏭 California is cutting off its last major coal supply this month!

While only 2.2% of California’s electricity came from coal in 2024, this gesture alongside the state's huge investments in wind and solar, shows that the US is still moving towards a more sustainable energy mix for the future!

🪶 Stella McCartney unveils world first plant based feathers!

With over a billion birds killed each year for their feathers and many plucked alive, this innovation is an ethical, creative and sustainable alternative for the fashion industry.

🪵 US company Inventwood engineers a ”superwood” 10 times stronger than steel.

With 90% lower carbon emissions than steel production, and being lighter and faster to work with, it’s much more sustainable and has just launched commercially!

🇮🇪 Ireland makes their Artists Basic Income programme permanent!

After several years of trialling, the programme supporting 2,000 artists a year has shown increased further income, quality of life, happiness, and more money generated for the economy than the cost of the scheme.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/gall...

🚨BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani is elected as Mayor of New York.

His ambitious community focussed policies include freezing rent, making city buses free, universal childcare, as well as a tax on the city’s wealthiest residents to fund the policies.

🇲🇽 Women in Mexico are preserving ancient Aztec ecosystems!

’Chinampas’ are island farms built thousands of years ago. A growing group of women are buying land to help preserve these rare ecosystems that are threatened by over development, tourism and pollution.

🛳️ EU proposes stricter rules to tackle the second largest source of microplastics in the ocean!

New proposed rules around the transportation of “nurdles” (plastic pellets used in plastic production) aim to reduce accidents like ship spills and reduce the number of nurdles released by up to 74%!