Rescue dogs have gained new lives by helping to protect rare animals. In the UK, a grassroots network is advocating for ad-free cities to promote human health and sustainability rather than profit. At the same time, the Welsh government is providing free tree planting services to every family in the country to help combat climate change.

Back in the United States, New York City can see more urban greenery, this time by renovating the infamous Bronx Highway, and an architect in London designed an ingenious, self-sustaining "Continent" with May help clean up marine debris. This is good weather news this week.

Good news: Washington-based Rogue Detection Teams (RDT) are rescuing dogs from shelters and training them to track rare wild animals. The organization’s human-canine partnership supports scientific research and conservation efforts around the world, especially with the sensitive International Union for Conservation of Nature, such as pangolins, cheetahs, orcas, and spotted owls.

(The latter was even the inspiration for co-founder Jennifer Hartman and her first scout dog, Max, a blue high heel shoe.)

Impact: By combining dog rescue with non-invasive protection work, RDT has had a huge impact on animal life, wildlife science, and the entire environment. The canines of each team are a chaotic group of dog breeds, and their love of fetching and the ability to track elusive and often endangered creatures unite them. RDT’s successful and ongoing stories include investigations of butterflies, minks, and the Sierra Nevada red fox.

Did you know: Compared with the 6 million of humans, the nose of dogs contains as many as 300 million olfactory receptors, which makes their sense of smell about 40 times better than ours. As the dog colleagues at RDT demonstrated, they can pinpoint odors even in water or underground, and the organization emphasizes absolute trust in their skills and abilities.

The relationship between humans and dogs can be traced back at least 15,000 years ago, and RDT relies on the strong relationship established between dogs and their breeders, who often live and travel together full-time. (I know, register me.)

How to help: You can learn more about Rogue Detection Teams here and support its work by purchasing crates, food, beds, etc. from the organization's Amazon wish list. There are various other similar groups that also provide or promote detection dogs for conservation, including University of Washington’s Conservation Canines, Conservation K9 Consultancy, Working Dogs For Conservation, and Conservation Dogs Collective.

A post shared by Adfree Cities #adfreecities (@adfreecities)

Good news: The Adfree Cities network (a collective developed from Bristol’s Adblock) unites various groups to support the vision of a "happier and healthier city", using community service, art, nature and Urban greening replaces corporate advertising.

According to the organization, reusing resources and physical space for advertising in this way can benefit everyone from humans to wild animals. (For context, the media company Clear Channel alone has about 4,000 billboards in the UK, while there are a total of about 340,000 in the US-71% of Americans regularly observe.)

Impact: In particular, digital billboards are extremely detrimental to wildlife, the environment, and us, whether directly or indirectly. They are expensive and are usually purchased by the largest companies, and these companies are usually the most unethical. (Think of McDonald's.)

A digital billboard uses the same amount of electricity as 15 households within 24 hours. Even solar energy will still cause increasing problems of e-waste and light pollution-both of which will consume biodiversity and human health.

do you know? For the benefit of residents, some cities have taken legislative actions to combat particularly harmful advertisements. London banned junk food advertising as early as 2019, while Bristol restricted anything related to gambling, alcohol and payday loans, and junk food.

Earlier this year, Liverpool became the first city in the UK to ban advertisements for airlines and fossil fuel-related industries (such as internal combustion engine cars). Norwich said it would only support "ethical advertising" moving forward. Internationally, São Paulo, Chennai, Grenoble, Tehran, Paris, New York and other cities have also banned, restricted or replaced outdoor advertising to a certain extent.

How you can help: Learn more about Adfree Cities and support the network’s projects here, or work directly with a local anti-advertising organization near you. Other organizations such as Brandalism and Badverts are organizing and carrying out anti-billboard operations across the UK. Learn more about the negative effects of advertising here, here, and here, and learn more about the overall potential of urban rewilding here.

The good news: As part of the government’s climate change commitments, every Welsh family can choose to plant trees. It has followed its 2020 commitment to create a national forest by distributing new trees and better maintaining existing, irreplaceable virgin forest land. People can plant trees on their own or choose to plant trees on their behalf, so that everyone in Wales can participate, regardless of whether they have private land.

Impact: The plan was announced during National Tree Week. Vice Minister of Climate Change Lee Waters said that he hopes that it will allow people to directly participate in the fight against global warming and provide countless physical and mental health benefits across the country. If the climate crisis-related goals are to be successfully achieved, Wales must plant 43,000 hectares of new forest land by 2030, and 180,000 hectares must be planted by 2050.

do you know? Reforestation is essential to moving forward. In addition to having a huge positive impact on human health and climate, it will also help Britain save its rapidly deteriorating natural environment. In the past 20 years alone, the area covered by trees in the United Kingdom has decreased by about 13%, and the United Kingdom ranks among the bottom 10% of the world in terms of biodiversity. The impact of the Industrial Revolution still exists across the country, especially the mining industry has had a major negative impact on the beautiful valleys of South Wales.

How to help: Planting trees is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to deal with climate change, and individuals can now play a role through donations and voluntary services or by taking actions on their own to support reforestation charities and initiatives.

You can also write to your local representative stating the need for further reforestation, additional green space, and protection of existing forest areas. (Although planting new trees is very worthwhile, it cannot offset the long-standing destruction of old woodland, just like the much-maligned HS2 development caused the loss of old trees.)

Good news: New York City’s six-lane Cross Bronx Expressway may be transformed in the next few years to reduce its negative impact on local communities. The Ministry of Transportation plans to evaluate this $1 billion project, which will transform a two-mile busy road into a tunnel, reduce traffic noise and pollution through air filtration, and may introduce green spaces and sidewalks.

Prior to this, community organizations such as Loving the Bronx had been promoting and advocating for a capped project for many years.

Impact: According to a study by a group of Columbia University students, capping the Cross Bronx highway will save residents about $317 in future health care costs and add about one and a half months to their lives. This highway has a long-recognized legacy of environmental racism. Thousands of New Yorkers were initially displaced from 1948 to 1972, as well as its impact on the 220,000 people (most of whom are black and brown) living nearby. The continuing impact of health problems.

Many Bronx communities are actually separated by huge highways that can carry about 300 highly polluting diesel trucks per hour. This area has the highest incidence of asthma in the country, which in turn increases the incidence of COVID-19 Risks and other respiratory diseases.

do you know? Funding for the project comes from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending bill signed into law by President Joe Biden last month. This includes more than 500 billion U.S. dollars for the upgrading of highways, roads, bridges, and the overall modernization of the national urban transportation system. This is also after the passage of the Reconnecting Communities Act, which specifically seeks to identify and correct any infrastructure barriers that can ease mobility and health, especially those related to environmental racism.

How to help: Work with local community organizations to advocate for changes where you live, from urban greening and grassroots projects to writing to government representatives and lobbying. You can learn more about the subject of environmental racism here, especially the impact of the Cross Bronx highway on the local community here. Read here about the huge potential of urban greening to improve urban life.

The good news: an award-winning prototype ocean recycling device envisions a completely self-sufficient method of processing ocean plastics. Senior architect Lenka Petráková first proposed this idea as part of his master's thesis after studying the increasingly serious problem of marine pollution. Named the "Eighth Continent" after the unofficial nickname of the Pacific Garbage Strip, Petráková said that potential patrons such as Elon Musk and other entrepreneurial tech figures can help realize her unique and futuristic design.

Impact: The eighth continent of Petrakova is modeled on living organisms and consists of five different parts, including living quarters, greenhouses, desalination plants, and biodegradable waste collectors. The Floating Research Station has the appearance of a lily flower and is designed to clean up its namesake.

Marine plastic is a huge problem. At least 14 million tons of these substances end up in the sea every year. Plastics account for 80% of all marine debris, bringing entanglement and death to countless aquatic marine life and plants.

do you know? The Eighth Continent may be one of the most futuristic prototypes to date, but it is not the only technology developed to solve the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Ocean Cleanup, an environmental engineering non-profit organization, has tried several models for removing ocean plastics. In October of this year, its latest and seemingly simple system (nicknamed "Jenny") successfully extracted 20,000 pounds of plastic from water. (The goal of the Ocean Cleanup Plan is to remove 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040.)

How to help: Learn more about the Eighth Continent and Petrakova’s other construction projects here, and donate here to support ocean cleanup efforts.

Minimizing the amount of plastic in your own life and ensuring that everything is properly recycled and processed will help prevent packaging and other waste from entering the global water system. Learn more about loops here.

Looking for more good news about the climate? Read previous issues here.

Special Contributor | Liam, Bristol, UK Wrote articles on environmental and social sustainability and animal protection. He holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in English Literature and Film.

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