26 Earth-Positive Changes That Have Happened Since Last April

Healing rarely announces itself. It happens in the dark, under soil, beneath river surfaces, in the slow return of a butterfly to a forest it hasn't touched in years. It happens in courtrooms and on rangelands, in the quiet work of scientists and tribal leaders, and ranchers who show up whether or not anyone is watching.

At Echo Market, healing is the through line. It's why we carry what we carry, why we write what we write, and why every year we pause to count what the Earth has quietly recovered.

This year's list is 26 items long. It spans river systems and courtrooms, butterfly sanctuaries and battery grids, ocean waters finally given legal protection, and grasslands tended back to life by the people who know them best. Progress is rarely loud. It is often technical, slow, and unglamorous. But it is real, and it is happening in more places than the news would have you believe.

Here are 26 things that moved in the right direction since last Earth Day. Read them with heart. And for those who make it all the way to the end, we have a little something to share.

Oceans & Water

01. The Klamath River Ran Free and the Salmon Came Back

In what is the largest dam removal project in human history, four hydropower dams were dismantled on California and Oregon's Klamath River, reopening over 400 miles of habitat to salmon, steelhead, and other native fish for the first time in a century. By 2025, more than 7,700 salmon had returned to their ancestral spawning grounds — exceeding even the most optimistic scientific projections. 

“This is one of the most collaborative and comprehensive restoration studies ever undertaken with agencies, Tribes, and NGOs all coming together to monitor the recovery of the Klamath River salmon post-dam removal,” said Damon Goodman, Shasta-Klamath Director for California Trout. “What we witnessed was extraordinary—the river came back to life almost instantly, and fish returned in greater numbers than anyone imagined.”

For the Yurok, Karuk, and Klamath Tribes, this wasn't just an ecological win — it was a return of cultural identity, food sovereignty, and something that cannot be quantified.

02. The High Seas Treaty Came Into Force

Nearly two decades in the making, the High Seas Treaty, formally the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, officially came into force on January 17, 2026. It is the first-ever legal framework for protecting marine biodiversity in international waters, which cover nearly two-thirds of the world's ocean surface and were previously almost entirely ungoverned. Countries can now nominate and designate marine protected areas in waters that, until this year, belonged to no one and were protected by no one.

The United Nations shared, “It is hoped that, once it is fully implemented, the Agreement will make a vital contribution to addressing the so-called “triple planetary crisis” of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.”

03. The Ocean Cleanup Had Its Best Year Ever

Just a few weeks ago, The Ocean Cleanup, a non-profit on a mission to rid the world's oceans of plastic, celebrated a new milestone. Since their founding in 2013, they have removed over 50,000,000 kg of trash from rivers and oceans worldwide. In 2024 through early 2025, The Ocean Cleanup removed 11.5 million kilograms of trash from oceans and rivers — more than all previous years of their work combined. Their Interceptor at Guatemala's Las Vacas River alone captured 120 truckloads of waste in a single event before it could reach the sea. These aren't small wins. They're proof that the technology works and the scale is growing.

04. Haida Nation Regained Title to All of Haida Gwaii

In September 2025, the Supreme Court of British Columbia affirmed that the Haida Nation holds title to all one million hectares of the Haida Gwaii archipelago; the first time an Indigenous nation anywhere in Canada, and likely the world, has regained legal authority over its entire traditional territory. It is a landmark moment for Indigenous sovereignty and land stewardship, and a recognition that the people who have cared for a place the longest may be its wisest guardians.

05. France Banned "Forever Chemicals" and the Law Took Effect

France passed a landmark bill in February 2025 banning the manufacture, import, and sale of products containing PFAS, synthetic "forever chemicals" linked to cancer, hormone disruption, and persistent environmental contamination, in items such as cosmetics, clothing, footwear, and ski wax. The law took effect January 1, 2026, making France one of the first countries in the world to enact such sweeping PFAS restrictions. It also introduced PFAS monitoring in drinking water and a new fee for industrial PFAS releases into the environment.

Climate & Clean Energy

06. Renewables Beat Coal Globally for the First Time in History

In the first half of 2025, renewable energy sources generated more electricity than coal worldwide for the first time, accounting for 34.3% of global generation, while coal fell to 33.1%. Wind and solar are now, according to the United Nations, almost always the least expensive and fastest option for new energy generation. The energy transition has passed what researchers are calling a "positive tipping point."

07. The EU's Wind and Solar Overtook Fossil Fuels

Wind and solar together generated 30% of EU electricity in 2025, surpassing fossil fuels at 29% for the first time. Coal hit a record low of 9.2%, with 17 countries nearly eliminating coal entirely. Low-carbon sources, including nuclear and hydro, now supply 71% of EU electricity. Experts are calling it not just a symbolic shift but a structural one: renewables are no longer the alternative. They are becoming the backbone.

08. Renewables Met the World's Entire Rise in Electricity Demand in 2025

For the first time ever, clean energy generation grew faster than global electricity demand in 2025, meaning renewables absorbed all new demand growth without fossil fuels contributing a single additional watt. Solar alone accounted for three-quarters of last year's net rise in global demand, with wind covering most of the rest. Together, they met 99% of it. Renewables now supply more than a third of the world's electricity — the highest share in modern history. Fossil fuel generation, meanwhile, essentially flatlined, falling 0.2% for the year. The transition isn't just keeping pace with demand. It's outrunning it.

09. Spain Completed Its Coal Phaseout and Made It Fair

In 2025, Spain completed the closure of all remaining mainland coal plants, becoming one of the first major European economies to fully exit coal power. What makes Spain's story particularly worth telling is how it happened: since 2018, the country has invested in one of Europe's most comprehensive just transition strategies, providing worker retraining, local economic diversification, and regional investment funds so that no community was left behind when the plants closed. For a record 74 days in summer 2025, Spain's entire power grid ran without burning a single gram of coal. The country that once relied on coal for a third of its electricity now runs overwhelmingly on wind, solar, and hydro.

10. Solar Led US Energy Growth for 27 Consecutive Months

Renewable energy accounted for 88% of all new US electrical capacity added in 2025, with solar leading all energy sources for 27 consecutive months. The US is on track for a landmark year of clean energy development in 2026. Even as federal policy pulled back, the market kept moving, driven by falling costs, state incentives, and the simple economics of clean power.

11. When Washington Didn't Show Up at COP30, Governors Did

At the 2025 UN Climate Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, only one elected US federal official attended. Filling the void: over 25 US governors and mayors who traveled to Brazil to demonstrate that climate action remains a priority across the country. California Governor Gavin Newsom positioned the state, the world's fourth-largest economy, as a reliable international partner. Meanwhile, back home, 30 states passed or implemented clean energy policies in 2025 despite federal rollbacks, from Illinois enacting sweeping clean energy legislation to Oregon passing model protections against utility bill increases. States with higher levels of wind and solar are already seeing lower-than-average electricity bills. The message from subnational America was clear: the work continues.

“Ten years after the historic Paris climate agreement, the world is moving toward an unstoppable, more prosperous future. While we must dramatically pick up the pace, the direction of travel is clear.” – Yamide Dagnet, Senior Vice President of the International Department at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Wildlife & Ecosystems

12. Scottish Wildcats Are Having Kittens Again

Over 35 Scottish wildcats, one of Europe's most endangered mammals, have been released into the Cairngorms National Park since 2023. In 2024, seven litters were born in the wild, with at least five more confirmed in 2025. For a species that was functionally extinct in the wild just years ago, watching kittens grow up in the Scottish Highlands is exactly the kind of stubborn, slow-moving hope the world needs more of.

13. Humpback Whales Have Made One of the Great Comebacks in Conservation History

A study published in Marine Mammal Science in September 2025 brought renewed attention to one of conservation's most remarkable success stories. Humpback whales, reduced to as few as 10,000 individuals by commercial whaling, now number nearly 80,000 worldwide, and researchers who have spent careers in the field say the change is visceral. "It was incredibly rare to spot one back then," said University of Southern Denmark researcher Olga Filatova, who spent her first five field years without a single sighting. "Today, we see them almost every day when we're in the field." The recovery is credited to the 1986 international whaling moratorium and the whales' remarkable adaptability — switching prey species when one disappears, pioneering new feeding grounds as Arctic ice retreats. Nine of fourteen distinct humpback populations have been removed from the US Endangered Species List. When we protect the ocean, the ocean heals.

14. Green Sea Turtles Were Downlisted From Endangered

The IUCN officially downlisted the green sea turtle from Endangered to Least Concern in 2025, citing decades of beach protection programs, fishing gear regulations, and international cooperation. Populations have recovered by 28% over historical counts from the 1970s and 80s. On Anna Maria Island in Florida, conservation efforts led to a record 546 sea turtle nests in a single season and the return of the least tern, a threatened bird species, for the first time in 15 years.

15. Monarch Butterflies Rebounded 64% This Winter

This past winter, scientists measured eastern monarch butterflies occupying 7.24 acres of forest in their overwintering grounds in Mexico's Sierra Madre, a 64% increase over the previous season, and the second consecutive year of growth after a historic low. Better weather along the migration route, more milkweed in US breeding grounds, and decades of anti-logging enforcement within Mexico's Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve all contributed. The long-term trend is still a cause for vigilance. Monarchs once covered nearly 45 acres at their peak, but two consecutive years of recovery, measured by the ancient ritual of butterflies clustering in oyamel firs, are worth pausing on.

16. A Cat Thought Extinct Was Photographed With Her Cubs

One of Southeast Asia's smallest wild cats, not seen in Thailand since 1995 and believed by some to possibly be extinct within the country, was photographed by camera traps in 2025, including images of a mother with her cub. Twenty-nine images in total. It is a reminder that wild places still hold secrets, and that protecting remote habitats, even without knowing exactly what lives there, is always worth it.

17. The North Atlantic Right Whale Is Having More Babies

With a total population of only around 384 individuals, every calf counts for the North Atlantic right whale. In 2025 and into 2026, the species saw more births than in several recent seasons, a cautious but meaningful uptick for one of the world's most critically endangered large mammals. Stricter fishing gear regulations and boat speed limits in key habitat areas are credited with reducing entanglements and vessel strikes.

Forests & Land

18. Amazon Deforestation Hit an 11-Year Low

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell 11% in 2025 compared to 2024, its lowest level in 11 years. A UN report simultaneously found that global deforestation rates have been cut in half since the 1990s. At COP30, Brazil launched a $125 billion forest protection fund, and an additional $2.5 billion was raised for forest conservation in the Congo. The Amazon is still under immense pressure, but the trend line, for now, is moving in the right direction.
"Against all odds and after years of grim headlines, Brazil has achieved what many thought impossible: deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest has fallen by more than 55%," says Gilad Regev, Founder of Kora.

19. Lab-Grown Oils Could Reduce Pressure on Tropical Forests

In 2025, scientists developed viable lab-grown alternatives to palm oil, cocoa butter, and shea oil, tropical tree-derived fats that are among the leading drivers of deforestation worldwide. These alternatives, if scaled, could dramatically reduce the land pressure that has devastated equatorial forests and the extraordinary biodiversity they hold. A small innovation with enormous downstream implications.

20. Colorado Recognized Bison as Wildlife, Opening the Door for Their Return

Colorado passed a groundbreaking bill legally recognizing bison as wildlife, ensuring that wild herds can finally return to their historic range. For a species that once numbered 30–60 million across North America and was reduced to near-extinction, this legal shift is a prerequisite for real rewilding. Where bison roam, prairie ecosystems regenerate. The Great Plains, slowly, can breathe again.

Atmosphere & Science

21. The World's First Iron-Air Battery Connected to a Grid

One of the oldest and most abundant materials on Earth — iron — became the basis for a potentially transformative energy storage breakthrough in 2025. In August, Dutch startup Ore Energy connected the world's first iron-air battery to the grid at Delft University in the Netherlands. The technology works through reversible rusting: the battery "breathes in" oxygen to convert iron into rust and release energy, then uses electricity to convert the rust back into iron. Unlike lithium-ion batteries, which store power for two to four hours, iron-air systems can store energy for up to 100 hours, long enough to carry a renewable grid through days of cloudy, windless weather. Built from iron, water, and air, the batteries use materials that are abundant, nontoxic, and geopolitically uncomplicated.

22. We Are Living in a Golden Age of Species Discovery

A University of Arizona study published in Science Advances in December 2025 found something that cuts against the prevailing narrative of ecological loss: scientists are now identifying more than 16,000 new species every year, the highest rate ever recorded in human history, and a pace that shows no sign of slowing. These aren't just microscopic organisms. They include insects, plants, fungi, and hundreds of new vertebrates annually. Crucially, the rate of discovery far outpaces the rate of documented extinctions, calculated at around 10 species per year.

23. We Learned That Fungi Are Drawing Down Billions of Tons of CO₂

Evolutionary biologist Dr. Toby Kiers was awarded the 2026 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, often called the "Nobel Prize" for the environment, for her groundbreaking work on mycorrhizal fungi. These vast underground networks connect plant roots and soil ecosystems, acting as one of Earth's circulatory systems. According to Dr. Kiers, they draw down approximately 13 billion tons of CO₂ each year, roughly a third of global fossil fuel emissions. The forest floor, it turns out, is doing more work than we ever imagined.

The youngest female winner in the history of the Prize, Kiers has “transformed how we understand fungal symbioses, built a highly effective global environmental science network, and inspired and forged new directions for conservation, legal action, and ecological understanding,” said the official citation.

Community & Culture

24. Norway Reached 97% Electric Vehicle Sales

In 2025, electric vehicles accounted for 97% of new car sales in Norway, up from just 13.6% a decade ago. EVs now outnumber diesel cars on Norwegian roads. Municipal incentives, investment in charging infrastructure, and consistent policy over many years created this shift. Norway is not a perfect model for every country, but it is a proof of concept: when the conditions are right, change can happen faster than almost anyone predicted.

25. WWF's 1.3 Million Acres of Grassland Protected

In October 2025, WWF's Sustainable Ranching Initiative reached a milestone: 1.3 million acres of Northern Great Plains grassland, one of the world's last remaining intact temperate grassland habitats, brought under improved stewardship through partnerships with 121 private ranches across Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Ranchers in the program receive training in sustainable grazing practices, and the results are measurable: 45,000 acres of native prairie restored through 163 reseeding projects, 500 acres of wetland recovered, and grassland-nesting bird species returning to ranchlands. Importantly, 52% of participating ranchers are women owners or co-owners. The Great Plains are often called America's forgotten ecosystem. They're quietly coming back.

26. The Courts Are Beginning to Hold Polluters Accountable

In 2025 and into 2026, courts around the world made a series of landmark rulings on climate and environmental harm. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights recognized people's right to a healthy climate. The International Court of Justice ruled that states may owe compensation if they fail to prevent climate harm. Louisiana's coastal communities won a $744 million jury verdict against Chevron. Courts in the Netherlands upheld the world's first ban on fossil fuel advertising. The message, slowly, is landing: this damage has a cost, and someone is responsible for it.

The Work Isn't Done. But Neither Are We.

None of these stories erases the challenges ahead. Species are still going extinct. Temperatures are still rising. Policy is still fragile. And the people making these things happen — the scientists, the tribal leaders, the lawyers, the advocates, the ranchers — are working harder than ever against significant headwinds.

But that is exactly why these stories matter. Progress does not require permission from the political moment. It requires persistent people who show up for rivers, for ferrets, for salmon, for the atmosphere 30 miles above our heads. And for their neighbors.

We count these changes every year because hope, like soil, needs tending. Because action follows belief, and belief follows evidence. And because the Earth — still — is full of evidence that healing is possible when we choose it.

We started in Woodstock because we felt deeply supported in a place that took its health seriously — the health of the people, the land, and the community that connects them. We still believe that. And this summer, we'll be bringing that same belief somewhere new, somewhere west of here, to another neighborhood that celebrates the health of the planet we all call home.

More on that soon. For now: Happy Earth Day. Go outside and play.