Catching up...

• The newest World Happiness Report was released, and access to nature and a strong welfare system helped make Finland the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row.
• March Madness is madness-ing ... but over in professional women’s basketball news, the Indiana Fever will set a WNBA all-time record with 41 of its 44 regular season games aired on national television.

Environment

The UK is planting 20 million trees as part of the first of three new national forests

Helping meet its tree-planting goals as part of a “national forest” drive, the UK announced plans to plant 20 million trees, creating 2,500 hectares of new woodland area.

The new woodland area will join existing woodlands to make up the Western Forest, the first of three new national forests promised by the government, which has a legally-binding target of 16.5% forest cover in England by 2050.

Notably, the Western Forest project is the first new national forest in the UK in 30 years and it will target increasing tree cover in urban areas like Bristol, Swindon, and Gloucester.

Why is this good news? In some areas of the future Western Forest, there is only about 7% of land covered by trees. The project is aiming to achieve 20% forest cover, and up to 30% in some areas — which will result in a number of health benefits for wildlife, for the planet, and for human beings.

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More Good News

​A Florida village’s composting program will reduce waste, fertilize a Native tribe’s community garden, and restore the Everglades. The “Everglades Earth Cycle” program in the village of Pinecrest is the first in the county to be sponsored by the local government, and it has already collected 90,000 pounds of food waste in just one year.

​A contraceptive pill, endometriosis treatment, and IVF drug will be cheaper for thousands of Australians thanks to new health funding. The three new listings in the country’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme are in addition to a $500 million package of women’s health measures introduced last month.

​A new first-of-its-kind map of the London Underground helps cyclists discover the city’s green spaces. Created as a free resource by a graphic designer, the newest edition of the Greenground Map connects London’s National Cycle Network, Cycleways and the extended cycle network to parks and waterways.

People doing good

A special education teacher raised thousands of dollars to pay off students’ lunch debt by dancing on TikTok

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good progress

California added 26,000 electric vehicle chargers in just six months

Between August 2024 and February 2025, California saw a 17.1% increase in the number of public and shared private electric vehicle chargers across the state.

The state now boasts a network of more than 178,500 chargers, with 26,193 of them built just since August — making progress toward its charging infrastructure goal. This is important considering that starting next year, 35% of all new car models sold in the state must be zero-emission vehicles.

While this is important progress, the state needs to work even faster to meet its target of 1 million public chargers by the end of 2030 to support the 7 million EVs it expects to have on its roads.

​​→ Read more​

More Good bits

🎨 This artist’s dumpster house is most definitely a conversation starter.

🇮🇸 Icelanders are keeping their four-day workweek.​

🐠 ​Bubba is a medical miracle!​​

📲 A high schooler created the “Yelp for homeless people.”​

🐄 A former “Queer Eye” star is helping homeless vets.​

What’s good?

I got to go on a nice, long stroller walk with my daughter on Sunday morning, and it was the perfect way to wrap up the weekend!

What’s something good that happened to you over the weekend?

Big or small ... I’d love to know!

— Megan