Climate Good News
Around the world people are taking the initiative to mitigate climate change.
Here are some good news briefs compiled by the Climate Issue group
of the LWV of Bellingham/Whatcom.
Carbon Capture May Come to Your Home
Direct air capture, the technology to snag carbon dioxide emissions from thin air, has always been contentious. It requires giant fans to blow large volumes of air across expensive sorbent materials and then heating those materials to release the trapped CO2. Costs have been high, and haven’t gone down much despite a few large projects running for the past few years.
Researchers now say they have a low-cost alternative to large DAC (direct air capture) plants. They want to turn houses and buildings into distributed carbon-capture plants with an air filter that passively captures CO2 from building ventilation systems. “Same as rooftops provide existing access to solar energy without additional land use, buildings can also support DAC through the existing ventilation systems,” the authors write in the journal Science Advances.
The concept relies on a simple filter. It is a mat of tiny carbon threads known as nanofibers that are coated with a polyethylenimine (PEI) polymer. The filters could be designed to fit in existing ventilation systems.
The PEI polymer binds with CO2 present in air at low concentrations. The carbon nanofiber filters can hold a large amount of PEI because of their large surface area and porous structure, “leading to a remarkable carbon capture capacity,” the researchers write.
After absorbing CO2 from direct air, the filters could be easily regenerated using sunlight or renewable electricity “with high efficiency and extremely low carbon footprint,” they write. When the carbon nanofibers absorb sunlight or are zapped with short electric pulses, they heat up and release the gas. Both these avenues are more energy-efficient and cheaper than the heating processes used in today’s DAC plants. After the CO2 has been removed, the air filter could be reused.
Their economic analysis shows that, for each ton of CO2 removed, the system would cost $362 if the filters were regenerated using solar heat or $821 with electricity. Today’s large-scale DAC plants cost between $100 to $1,000 per ton of CO2 removed.
The technology could have a big impact if deployed widely in home and building ventilation systems. They could potentially capture 25 million tons of CO2 in the United States, and 596 millions tons globally, which is about 2 percent of annual global CO2 emissions. The big logistics hurdle to figure out, of course, would be a way to collect the filters for regeneration and then return them for reuse.
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Source: Ronghui Wu et al.
“Distributed direct air capture by carbon nanofiber air filters.” Sci. Adv. 2025, reprint Anthropocene Magazine 10/23/25. https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/09/chemists-turnplastic-waste-into-carbon-capture-material/
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Migrating Birds Assist Rice Farmers
Tufts of tall, dark green grasses grow dense across the flat landscape around Mike Wagner’s rubber boots as he wades into one of his rice fields in northwestern Mississippi on a rainy late summer morning. He grabs a stalk off a slightly lighter green plant at the field’s edge, shakes it, and a few grains fall into his hand. This, he explains, is weedy rice — a wild variety that intrudes on his cultivated crops of jasmine and basmati rice. Wagner used to try and eliminate these stalks. But these days, he leaves it. It’s a favored food of the thousands of ducks, geese and shorebirds that arrive on his farmland after harvest every autumn.
Two Brooks Farm is among about 3 million acres of land in rice production across the United States, in California, the lower Mississippi River region and the Gulf Coast. Collectively, these farms provide an estimated third of the food energy that migrating waterfowl eat each winter across North America. Wagner and other farmers are embracing bird-friendly strategies that not only provide habitat for migrating species, but also help farms lower input costs, manage water more efficiently and improve water quality.
As native wetlands have disappeared, rice fields have proven to be a natural host for migrating birds. That’s because, unlike other common crops like corn and soybeans that need drier soils, rice thrives in an aquatic system.
Migrating birds are usually attracted to rice farms, but some practices can make them even more hospitable. One of the best things farmers can do, explains Manley, is leave some water on fields over winter — whether in puddles or a few inches deep. “Every depth is perfect for some different little bird,” he says.
Wagner found this technique by accident. After one wet growing season, his fields were getting badly rutted by machinery … so the farm just plugged up the drains and let a little water sit on the field through the winter. That year, ducks and geese arrived in abundance and guess what happened.
Over winter and early spring, the birds munched the fallen weedy rice and critters that live in the ground, and clean up leftovers from the growing season.
Thousands of webbed feet mixed up soil and water, leaving the fields ready for planting when they departed in the spring. And, their droppings were so rich that Wagner has been able cut how much synthetic fertilizer he needs for his crop by more than a third.
Sure, Wagner acknowledges, it can be annoying that the birds move stray grains of weedy rice around randomly, so the plants come back dotted all over the place again the next year. But he values their input so much he works with it. It’s a win-win for the farmers and the birds.
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Reasons to be Cheerful: “Migratory Birds and Rice Farmers Are Helping Each Other Soar” by Elizabeth Hewitt, Oct. 30, 2025: https://reasonstobecheerful.world/migratory-birdsrice-farmers-help-each-other-soar/
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The High Seas Treaty Won One of Five 2025 Earthshot Prizes
The winners of the 2025 Earthshot Prizes were just announced, and the High Seas Treaty was one of them. It’s a historic recognition of an almost two-decade global effort to protect half of the planet that lies beyond national jurisdiction.
In September, the High Seas Treaty reached the 60-ratification threshold needed, triggering it to enter into force in January 2026 — a huge and historic milestone for ocean protection as it’s the world’s first treaty to protect marine biodiversity in international waters.
A total of 75 countries have now ratified it, indicating their consent to adhere to the new international law.
The £1 million Earthshot Prize comes at a critical time, since once the treaty is in force, governments and civil society must then work together to turn commitments into action.
This award celebrates one of the most significant milestones for ocean protection in decades. The treaty, which reached 60 ratifications in September and will enter into force on 17 January 2026, establishes a global framework to conserve biodiversity to enable the creation of marine protected areas, and ensure that all nations can benefit equitably from the ocean’s shared resources.
Represented at the ceremony by the High Seas Alliance, this honour recognizes the collective work of over 70 organizations that have, for over two decades, campaigned tirelessly alongside governments, scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities to secure this landmark agreement.
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For more information, please visit: https://highseasalliance.org/2025/11/06/high-seastreaty-wins-prestigious-earthshot-prize/ from Goodnewsletter, November 7, 2025.
