From scientific discoveries to activist wins, here are the latest news stories that showcase the people who are taking on climate change and nature loss.

💎 The diamond battery that lasts millennia

A new invention encases the radioactive isotope carbon 14 in a lab-grown diamond, creating a battery that stays powered-up for thousands of years. This could be used to send rockets into space, or power pacemakers, so people won’t need to go through surgery to replace old batteries. And while this type of battery can’t yet be used for smartphones or other day-to-day uses, due to the low amount of charge, it’s a huge breakthrough and one that’s much needed. Mining for the rare metals that normal batteries are made of is doing extreme damage to the environment and endangering human rights.

🪸 Coral reefs might be OK after all 

Not only are coral reefs havens for biodiversity, they protect communities from storms and floods and bring in tourist cash. But rising temperatures place the survival of coral reefs under extreme pressure, with the UN predicting in 2023 that coral reefs will decline by 99%. However, a new study is challenging this grim outlook, instead suggesting that the reefs will learn to adapt to a warmer world – they aren’t ‘inevitably doomed’, as the lead author says. The scientists created controlled systems that mimic a wild coral reef and experimented with higher acidity and temperatures, discovering that the reefs were much more resilient than previous studies had indicated.

🚽 Home-grown toilet paper

A leafy, minty-smelling plant called Plectranthus barbatus is common across the African continent, where it’s often used as a cost-effective alternative to wood pulp-based toilet roll. And with 1m trees cut down every year to make toilet paper, news is spreading of the sustainability of this plant. Per one US activist:

‘For anybody who feels a little hesitant to try this plant, I would say to drop your worries about what people think about you ... I'm going to be me, and that might mean wiping my butt with some really soft leaves that I grow.’

At the moment however, what’s standing in the way of this greener paper isn’t just public acceptance, but our plumbing systems, which aren’t equipped to handle anything non-soluble.