Fighting deportations...

✏️ High school students in Massachusetts walked out of class to protest the arrest and detainment of their classmate by federal immigration officials “on his way to volleyball practice,” despite having no criminal record.

👏 For the first time, the Trump administration responded to a judge’s order and returned a Guatemalan man who was wrongly deported to Mexico.

Art & Culture

More than 70 art and history sites have been destroyed in Gaza — so Europe opened its first Palestinian art museum

In the horrors of occupation and violence, Palestinians have lost their homes and loved ones, but they have also seen countless cultural institutions, hospitals, libraries, and educational facilities leveled in the Gaza Strip.

The damage includes 77 buildings of historical and/or artistic interest. And while the destruction continues, allies across the globe are working to preserve important cultural artifacts and contemporary art from Palestine.

In Woodbridge, Connecticut, Faisal Saleh opened the first Palestinian Museum in the Western Hemisphere in 2018. Now, he has expanded his efforts in a new museum branch located in Edinburgh, Scotland, which focuses on contemporary art by Palestinians and is the first of its kind to debut in Europe.

Why is this good news? As Saleh says, “Art speaks to people’s hearts.” This new museum counteracts “dehumanization” of the Palestinian people by giving their culture and narrative a place to shine, putting the humanity of Palestinians on literal display to show that “efforts to dehumanize and erase Palestinians are not working.”

→ Read more​

More Good News

​The Dutch city of Breda has officially become the first National Park City in the European Union. Recognizing over a decade of work to restore wetlands, green its streets, and more, the city joins London, England, Adelaide, Australia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee as the fourth member of a growing global movement to make urban areas greener, healthier, and more connected to nature.

​A county in California successfully eliminated all PFAS from its water supply for its 80,000 customers. PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are everywhere — in the soil, water, food, household materials, and human blood — and accumulation in the body has been associated with adverse health effects ranging from certain cancers to liver damage, thyroid disease, and miscarriage.

​After being reintroduced to southern Scotland as part of a conservation project, golden eagles are now returning to England. Golden eagles were wiped out in England and Wales by the mid-19th Century, mainly due to persecution by those who saw them as a threat to livestock or game birds, and after a brief return, numbers gradually declined until the last golden eagle disappeared from England in 2015.

​A new, all-electric affordable housing project in D.C. was designed to be the greenest residential building in the city. The building will have electric vehicle charging for 19 parking spaces, a solar-integrated green roof, and carbon-injected concrete that captures over 6.5 million kg of carbon emissions within its structure.

Education

Elmo wins big on ‘Track Star’ and donates his earnings to help fund children’s music education

→ Read more (and watch!)

Take action

Take action to celebrate World Ocean Day!

​Sunday is World Ocean Day! Celebrated annually on June 8, World Ocean Day is an opportunity to celebrate the beauty of nature, encourage conservation, and take action to restore and protect our oceans.

Oceans cover the majority of the planet, and humans rely heavily on them (they provide most of the oxygen we breathe!), but only a tiny portion of these waters have been explored and studied, and they still don’t receive the attention, protection, or care they truly deserve.

Whether it’s relief from plastic pollution, overfishing, offshore drilling, acidification, or habitat destruction, our oceans deserve better.

And we can all be a part of celebrating and protecting them — here are some ways to get started on World Oceans Day:

1. ​Watch a documentary about the ocean (David Attenborough has a brand new one out now!)
2. ​Urge your elected officials to take care of the ocean by ratifying the High Seas Treaty
3. ​Donate to an organization working to protect the ocean (we curated some great ones for you!)
4. ​Attend an official event for World Ocean Day

→ More ways to celebrate World Oceans Day​

More Good bits

🍻 Everybody raise a (non-alcoholic) glass!​

🐾 They’re your best friend and your secret immunity superpower.​

🎥 With public libraries, it’s a free-for-all.​

🌳 We couldn’t possibly track all the world’s biodiversity … could we?​

♻️ Keeping Grand Teton beautiful! (Instagram)

What’s good?

This week’s most-clicked story was the one about the “petty” Pride merch protesting Utah’s flag ban. I knew you all had a petty streak, too. 😉

Which good news story inspired you most this week?

Reply and let me know!

— Megan