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

🦠 Why microbes matter

From turning waste gases into plane fuel, to creating sustainable fertilisers, to cleaning up oil spills, the power of microbes is formidable. With the right safeguards – after all, we don’t want to accidentally unleash a microbe more polluting than plastic, or that won’t stop at gobbling up greenhouse gases – bacteria and fungi can be leveraged to combat climate change and environmental degradation. Plus, this report in Nature argues, these solutions can create jobs and minimise climate-related loss and damage. Bring on the bioeconomy. 

🦬 Bringing back bison

Bison have slowly been reintroduced to Romania since 2014, 200 years after the last one in the country was hunted to extinction. The bison’s impact on the environment, from compacting soil to spreading seeds, has climate benefits equivalent to taking 43,000 petrol-fuelled cars off the road, and bringing them back has turned the area into 10 times more of a carbon sink. An ecologist at Yale University claims this type of project could be implemented around the world, helping to stall climate change.

⚖️ Churches are gearing up for court

A new climate justice handbook from the World Council of Churches outlines how Christians can make polluters pay, using strategic litigation to ‘create hope and hold responsible parties accountable’. The Council has urged that advocacy is no longer enough – legal action and ‘speak[ing] truth to power’ is the only way forward. Lawsuits against fossil fuel companies don’t just set legal precedent, but can spur changes in policy and accelerate shifts in public opinion. Targeting by faith organisations can be a particularly potent way of making fossil fuel companies change course due to the dire effects on their reputations.

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