Positive environmental news this week: trees, animals and recycling

September 28, 2026 · BrightNews

This week is filled with hopeful news about nature restoration and animal welfare from around the world. In Ethiopia, citizens are planting trees en masse through the Green Legacy Initiative to restore lost forests, while researchers in Ivory Coast have rediscovered a rare bird species that had been missing for thirteen years. Nature is also full of surprises in Canada: the world's largest beaver dam was only discovered in 2007 through satellite imagery, hidden in a national park as large as Switzerland.

Animal rescuers also made headlines this week. At a wildlife sanctuary in Nairobi, an orphaned rhinoceros and an orphaned zebra formed a special friendship, while in India fishermen rescued a drowning elephant calf from a swollen river. In Georgia, an injured sea turtle received a custom-made 3D-printed harness to learn to swim again.

Finally, people are showing that waste doesn't have to be the end of the line: South Korea now recycles almost all of its food waste thanks to smart policy, and a group of teenagers from California set a world record by recycling 22,000 sports balls in a single day. Together, these stories demonstrate that dedication, innovation and cooperation lead to concrete results for people, animals and the environment all over the world.

• Ethiopians plant millions of trees via Green Legacy Initiative

  How can planting millions of trees by ordinary citizens bring a devastated forest back to life?

• Orphaned rhino Tytan and zebra Notty inseparable after losing their mothers

  What happens when an orphaned rhinoceros and an orphaned zebra, both having lost their mothers, meet each other in a sanctuary?

• Ghana cuckoo-shrike resurfaces in Ivory Coast after 13 years

  Why did the rediscovery of a brightly coloured bird after thirteen years cause great excitement among researchers?

• World record: largest beaver dam hidden in Wood Buffalo National Park

  How could the world's largest beaver dam remain unnoticed for decades in an area as large as Switzerland?

• South Korea recycles 97 percent of all food waste

  What smart system helped South Korea recycle almost all of its food waste?

• Teens break world record recycling 22,000 sports balls

  How did a group of teenagers collect enough sports balls in one day to set a world record?

• Sea turtle Cebu receives custom 3D-printed harness after boat collision

  What special treatment did an injured sea turtle receive to be able to swim again?

• Fishermen rescue baby elephant from flooded Teesta River

  How do local fishermen rescue an elephant calf that was swept kilometres away by a raging river?