Here's to a fresh month, and a fresh bunch of inspiring stories
This weekend sees the start of a new month. Here are some interesting and inspiring stories to get it started in the right way.
The European Union has adopted new rules under its Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation banning the destruction of unsold clothes and shoes to cut waste and greenhouse-gas emissions and promote a circular economy. Instead of burning or disposing of excess stock, companies will soon have to manage surplus more sustainably, for example, through resale, repair, reuse or donation.
For the first time in nearly two centuries, descendants of the Floreana giant tortoise, a subspecies thought to have been locally extinct since the mid-1800s, have been released back onto Floreana Island in the Galápagos as part of a major ecological restoration project.
American bobsleigh veteran Elana Meyers Taylor has seen her dedication pay off, finally winning her first Olympic gold at the Winter Olympics in the women’s monobob. With the win, she becomes the oldest individual Winter Olympic champion at 41 and the first mother to win Olympic bobsleigh gold. She’s also the most decorated black athlete at a Winter Olympics.
A stunning picture of a rare white humpback calf and her mother has won the World Nature Photography Awards.
Two siblings from New Zealand are preparing to lead a traditional voyaging waka (ocean canoe) from Napier, New Zealand, across the Pacific to Samoa and Fiji later this year, retracing the ancestral sea routes of their tīpuna (ancestors). They will use traditional wayfinding methods — navigating by stars, winds, ocean swells and birds rather than instruments — to honour and revitalise Māori and Pacific navigation knowledge.