Positive Environment News from 2022: A Roundup

Of course there are plenty of troubling news stories and events to report on regarding the environment in 2022, and this blog is definitely not intended to diminish that! It's more a celebration of some of the brilliant things people are working on across the world, looking back on some of the achievements of 2022 and some of the discoveries made about the wonderful planet earth. 

Tree species discovery

A global count has estimated that there are 73,000 species of trees, which is 14% more than previously thought. Researches relied on estimating techniques used at Bletchley Park for codebreaking purposes to evaluate the number of unknown species. Read more about this incredible story by clicking here.  

Green Cities

Oslo is on track to become the first capital city with all-electric public transport according to a new deal agreed to replace the city’s current buses with 450 electric buses. The switch will reduce air and noise pollution in the city, with the Vice-Mayor commenting they expect maintenance to also be cheaper. Win-win! Read more here. 

Emissions saving

Global energy demands grew by 3% between 2021 and 2022 according to UK-based Energy think tank Ember, a growth that was entirely met by renewable energy sources wind, hydro, and solar. They estimate this saved approximately 230 million tonnes of CO2 emissions from being released into the atmosphere. Read more here.

Monarch butterflies in Mexico

We use One Tree Planted to plant the trees we plant, in countries where our spices come from for every order placed. This year, they started a project to plant over 900,000 oyamel pine and native evergreen trees for Monarch butterflies in Mexico. These eastern migratory monarch butterflies rely on these trees for shelter after their ~3,000 mile migration south for the winter. Read more here. 

Renewable energy production

With global energy markets left reeling after Putin's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year we saw renewables invested in heavily and continue their ascent as the main producer of our energy, despite countries burning an unprecedented amount of coal. We remain hopeful that the energy crisis will drive forward and accelerate the green transition, as energy security rises to the top of many governments' agendas. Read more here.