Climate Good News
Around the world people are taking the initiative to mitigate climate change.
Here are some good news briefs compiled and summarized by
Jayne Freudenberger, climate committee chair,
League of Women Voters of Bellingham-Whatcom County.
Jimothy, Seattle’s Beloved Raccoon,
Inspires Art Auction and Raises Over $12K for Local Food Bank
He’s been called a legend, a cryptid, and an internet meme, but whatever you call him, Jimothy the Seattle raccoon has undoubtedly skyrocketed to fame in the short span of a week. Due to the shape of his distinct, rounded body, researchers believe that Jimothy has a rare congenital spine condition. Fortunately, he appears to be happy and mobile, roaming backyards and scurrying around trash cans like any other raccoon.
Seattle residents have recorded clips of him through the years, including “baby footage” from Ballard local Ben Trammell, and the internet can’t get enough.
Locally, his fame has inspired murals, tattoo flash sheets, and even a city proclamation. He also inspired Seattle artist Ryan Henry Ward. On July 18, Ward shared a photo of an original painting he made of the online icon, adding his own distinct touch of surrealism and forced perspective.
“Jimothy. The hero we needed,” Ward wrote in the photo’s caption. “I’ve decided to give 100 percent of the money made from this painting to Ballard Food Bank, a place that helped me through some of my hardest times.”
Since the 1970s, Ballard Food Bank has been fighting food insecurity in northwest Seattle. With their unique “grocery store” model, locals in need can browse shelves and shop for everything from canned goods to fresh produce, hygiene items, and even pet food.
In the same post, Ward invited locals to make an offer in his direct messages. “The highest bid by midnight will get the painting, and the Ballard Food Bank will get a hook-up they deserve,” he said. Amidst a swell of local support in the comments, the brand account for Amazon also pledged to lend a hand.
“What a fun way to celebrate a Seattle favorite while supporting a great cause,” the account commented on July 18. “We’re excited to match the winning auction donation to the Ballard Food Bank, and we’d love to see other Puget Sound companies join in too. Good luck to everyone bidding — and thanks, Henry, for using your art to give back!”
Within 24 hours, Ward announced the winner of the “Jimothy” painting. “So many messages and so many huge hearts on the bid for the Jimothy painting,” he wrote on social media. “If you could glance at my DMs tonight, you’d see what a powerful altruistic community we have.
“The highest bid was $6,543.21,” he said. “The Ballard Food Bank will be receiving 100 percent of this. Thank you, Jimothy, for inspiring us all to greatness.” On July 20, Ward showed a receipt of the donation going through. “Thanks to an awesome auction winner and to the power of community and in gratitude to Jimothy, Ballard Food Bank has received their donation and the world is a little better.”
Niche Ballard, a local art gallery, also shared the story on their social media page and praised Ward for his unique fundraising method.
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https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/jimothy-the-raccoon-internet-meme-painting
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Will the Climate Crisis Come Back Into Focus?
According to Bill McKibbon, climate work comes in stages. It seems just as we start making progress, something intervenes: covid, inflation, Ukraine Invasion, the new regime at the White House, politicians and corporations began to abandon the pledges they made to lower their carbon footprint.
The result isn’t what is happening now with fires all over Europe, extremely high temperatures in the Midwest, winter floods and summer droughts. All of these, as climate scientists have warned us for years, were on track to happen anyway if we didn’t change our ways
Will this bring us to our senses — get us back to climate work? We may find out soon because of the very high price we are paying today, and many people, including McKibbon, think the change will come out of Europe,
Records for temperatures have not just been broken — they have been “smashed.” Ravenous fires in Spain and France have displaced over 370,000 people; food crops have dried up and died. High prices reflect the shortages. Fires have come so close to Paris, evacuation was considered. The burning of 370,000 acres in Spain is the worst environmental disaster in their history.
Europe is a group of countries all very close, often sharing borders with several of their neighbors, unlike the U.S., where fires in Oregon often don’t even appear in a newspaper in Boston.
Many in Europe and the U.S. have given up hope … they are throwing in the towel, so to speak, encouraging us to stop tilting at windmills (or building them) and just admit we have lost this war. But, what happens if we do — the climate does not stay the same: it only gets worse.
So, what is the good news here? The Guardian reports that a rebellion is brewing against this fatalism among Labor politicians in Britain. They are worrying about losing more votes to the Greens who oppose more drilling in the North Sea. They rightly espouse that drilling more oil will not solve the crisis facing the Brits.
Ed Milibrand, the new Foreign Minister, has issued a new communique for a joint agreement between Spain and Britain to work together upon signing. The two ministers have agreed on “including climate change within their foreign policy and to co-lead the green transition because they are convinced decarbonization, energy security, and environmental protection and remediation are essential to our prosperity and security.” The two ministers agreed that we owe it to our grandchildren to tackle climate change. McKibbon believes this is a good sign.
Weather forecasters are reporting on a giant El Nino building up in the Pacific — as more destruction comes with it, there will be enormous pressure for elected officials to begin stepping up. The U.S. is stuck under Trump’s leadership, but the rest of the world is not standing still as climate change impacts their constituencies.
No doubt climate change will be a feature in primaries and as candidates begin their campaigns to be the Democratic and the Republican nominee for president. Already there is a campaign to encourage candidates to bring up climate change and what we should be doing.
Is this our last chance? As we look across the world, it may look like it. Ice is melting faster in the Arctic than was predicted, while rivers are drying up. The temperatures in Europe are bad enough — it is the fastest warming continent — but it was 127F in Iran in July — we in the West might survive with air conditioners, swimming pools, and cool running water for the time, but remember France had to shut down some nuclear reactors due to lack of cooling water thus month.
Should we take this horrible month as a sign — Mother Earth may have had enough! We cannot sit and wait — the stakes are too high.
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The Crucial Years (Substack), Bill McKibbon, 8/1/2026: https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/high-heat-high-drama
