Eco-anxiety, climate doom, environmental existential dread – as green journalists, we see these terms used a lot – and often feel them ourselves.

There’s a lot to be worried about when it comes to the climate and nature crises, but when a sense of hopelessness becomes the overarching emotion, apathy begins to creep in too. Last year three environmental educators, all part of EcoTok, penned this excellent piece for us about dealing with eco-anxiety and the need to remain hopeful – or “stubbornly optimistic”, as Christiana Figueres puts it.

The media has a huge part to play in combatting climate doom. It’s our job to be truthful and accurate in our reporting, not trying to downplay the severity of the situation or greenwash reality. But it’s also our job to show that there is hope!

So, for 2022, as part of our ongoing effort to tackle eco-anxiety (both that of our readers and our own), we are going to be keeping track of all the positive environmental stories from this year.

This article will be regularly updated with the latest good news. It may be something small and local, something silly that made us smile, or something enormous and potentially world-changing.

If you come across a great, positive story that we haven’t covered here – please do reach out to us on social media, either on Instagram or Twitter to share your ideas.

Positive environmental stories from August 2022

Ecuador leads the way in working alongside Indigenous groups to protect sacred rainforest

In an unprecedented show of solidarity, communities in the Amazon, NGOs and local governments are teaming up to protect Ecuador’s rainforest.

Named the Amazonian Platform for Forests, Climate and Human Wellbeing, the collective aims to combat climate change, and protect critical ecosystems and threatened species, while incorporating the vision of the Indigenous nationalities who live in the region.

This paper battery could curb the environmental impact of single-use electronics

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) have developed a paper battery with a water switch that could be used to power single-use disposable electronics.

Once they iron out some kinks in the development, it could be used for smart labels to track objects like packages. Other applications include environmental sensors or even medical devices, the researchers say.

Because paper and zinc are biodegradable, they believe the battery could help reduce the environmental impact of…