#13 The Green Beacon - River Swims, Female Firefighters and Nature-Positive Construction

Welcome to a weekly roundup of inspiring news, people and eco solutions from around the world.

Spotted an interesting climate story? Share it in the comments for a shout out ??

Eco Solution of the Week

?? A self-filtering floating swimming pool is coming to New York’s East River

New York has just joined the growing list of cities that are cleaning up their rivers so the public can swim in them. US non-profit + POOL has received $16m to create East River’s first floating swimming pool. It will also work as an aquatic filtering facility, each day cleaning one million gallons of the notoriously dirty - although greatly improved - river water.

Check out the amazing pool design here: https://www.designboom.com/technology/plus-pool-new-york-city-self-filtering-east-river-water-01-08-2024/?

Climate hero of the Week

??Power of Mama

The all-female volunteer firefighting unit are protecting Borneo’s rainforests and local communities from wildfires.?

Read about their great work here: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240214-the-power-of-mama-fight-forest-fires-in-borneo?

Conservation win of the week

??? Builders in England will now be forced to compensate for loss of nature

All new road and housebuilding projects in England must now benefit nature, rather than damage it. The law is one of the world’s most ambitious nature-positive policies. It’s based on a credit system which requires all new building projects to achieve a 10% net gain in biodiversity or habitat. Which means, for example, if a woodland is destroyed by a road, another needs to be recreated on the site or elsewhere.

Read about the historic moment here:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/12/england-brings-in-biodiversity-net-gain-rules-to-force-builders-to-compensate-for-loss-of-nature?

Action of the Week

?? Call on Dove & Unilever to stop poisoning our planet with plastic: https://act.gp/3w8D76n