Redirecting Tech and Intention from Extraction to Repurposing/Restoration
It’s Not All Bad Out There!
Despite what mainstream, corporate news fixates on, it’s not all bad across our world. Here a roundup of positive news with a theme of redirecting human ingenuity and compassion toward a healthier way of being on our planet.
Nearly demolished Caribbean Island Teaming with Wildlife Once Again
The Caribbean Island of Redonda was once mined for bat guano and seabird excrement to be used as fertilizer. The mining operations and the rats and goats that came ashore with the miners decimated the wildlife and vegetation on the island until eventually it looked like a moonscape. In 2016, locals from Antigua and Barbuda made a decision to restore the island. They irradicated rats and helicoptered the remaining starving goats off the island. In astonishing time, native shrubs and trees began to regrow and biodiversity is mushrooming. Seabirds have returned to nest and the highly endangered Redonda ground dragon (a very cute lizard) has increased 17-fold.
Massive Coal Mine Now Producing Clean Energy
The town of Gateshead in Great Britain has converted a deep coal mine into a source of green energy. Once mining stopped the incredibly deep cavern filled with flood water that became heated by the Earth’s core. That water is now being pumped into heat pumps and for the past six months has provided low-carbon heating to 350 high-rise buildings, an art gallery, a college, an industrial park, and several office buildings. It is believed the project could be replicable in other areas with super deep remnant mines.
Since it is impossible to restore the extractive damage done by such vast and deep mining operations, the best choice is to repurpose legacy infrastructure for a clean energy future.
A New Addition to One of the World’s Rarest Animals
A Philippine spotted deer, one of the world’s rarest animals, has been born to the delight of conservationists at Chester Zoo in England. As part of a coordinated breeding program this species is making baby steps back from the brink of extinction. The adorable fawn was born in September weighing 4.4 pounds. Now standing 12 inches tall, he has taken his first steps outdoors in a new enclosure alongside his doting parents Nova and Cosmos.
Yours Truly Rescuing Fish!
In my hometown, every year in the Fall, irrigation districts pull huge amounts of water from the Deschutes River to fill various irrigation reservoirs. This unnatural change in water level leaves thousands of fish trapped in small pools in side channels. For the past decade dozens of volunteers have launched a rescue effort. A couple weeks ago I was one of 175 folks who scooped fish into buckets, carried the buckets over rocky trails along the river bank, and released the fish back into the main channel of the river. This year we rescued more than 7,000 rainbow and brown trout and sculpin fish.
It's always rewarding to see the glistening beings dive back into the main river. Even better, more and more people are beginning to question and challenge the insane western water laws that enable the huge river drawdowns in the first place. Given ongoing redesign and negotiations within the next several years this annual fish rescue will no longer be needed.
Love these cheerful, beautiful reports!