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✝️ Yesterday, cardinals elected a new pope to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics. Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, is the first pope in history from the United States. Born in Chicago, he spent his career ministering in Peru.
🛍 Tomorrow is World Fair Trade Day! Celebrate the power of fair trade in fighting poverty, exploitation, and more by shopping the Fair Trade-certified products in our ethical shopping guides (a.k.a. our alternatives to big-box retailers like Target and Amazon).
Governments doing good
Photo: Ashley Detrick/Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office
To get around a statewide ban, Salt Lake City and Boise designated the Pride, transgender, and Juneteenth flags as official city flags
Earlier this year, both the Utah and Idaho state governments passed bans on flying the rainbow Pride flags and other “unofficial flags” on government property.
In Utah’s capital city, the mayor of Salt Lake City proposed adopting three new official city flags, which were unanimously approved by the city council. The three flags feature the city’s traditional sego lily design over a Pride, trans, and Juneteenth commemoration flag.
And in Idaho, the capital city of Boise’s mayor issued a proclamation to retroactively make the Pride flag an official city flag.
Why is this good news? As Salt Lake City’s mayor said, flags are “powerful symbols” of the state’s values. And in Idaho, the state capital building has flown the Pride flag for years, and its mayor said that removing it at this point “would not be a neutral act” and “signal a retreat from values we’ve long upheld.”
Litter on the EU coastline declined by nearly one-third in five years
A new report found that the amount of “marine macro litter” — or items larger than 2.5 centimeters — on the EU coastline declined by 29% between 2015-2016 and 2020-2021.
Notably, single-use plastic was reduced by 40%, fishing-related items by 20%, and plastic bags by 20%. The largest regional reduction, 45%, was seen along Baltic Sea coastlines.
It’s the result of a multilateral, national, regional, and citizen effort as part of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. And while the progress is significant, the amount of litter is still above the agreed-upon threshold — so more work is needed.
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