Hope Is A Verb - NewsFix - Ocean Protection Hits 10%. Renewables Surge. A Machine Called Mother.

Starting point is 00:00:07 Welcome to NewsFix, your weekly antidote to doom scrolling, brought to you by Fix the News. I'm Anthony Badolato. Now, quick heads up before we get started. In just a few weeks, I'll be moving to a new feed. So if you want to keep getting your weekly dose of good news, make sure you're following News Fix, wherever you get your podcasts. All right, let's get into it. Here are our top stories this week. The world hits a major milestone in ocean protection, some good.

Starting point is 00:00:37 quiet but very real progress on women's rights. Renewables break another record in the US and a machine, scientists are calling mother. First up, the ocean. The world has officially crossed the 10% mark for ocean protection. In just the past two years, we've protected an additional 5 million square kilometres. That's bigger than the entire European Union. Now, protecting the ocean is one thing, enforcing it is another. But there's been some pretty real progress on this front. Satellite tracking and machine learning are making it dramatically easier to monitor these huge stretches of water, even for countries with limited resources.

Starting point is 00:01:20 That said, let's not forget the world has agreed to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030. So while 10% is good news, the clock is ticking. And if you're wondering whether these protections actually work, they do. Off Vancouver Island, healthier marine ecosystems are bringing back humpback whales, sea otters and sea lions. While off the coast of Sussex in the UK, a ban on bottom trawling five years ago has brought fish populations back, along with muscle beds and even kelp forests. Don't just take it from me. If you really want to know what's possible, here's what the founder of Pristine Seas, Enriczala, has to say.

Starting point is 00:02:01 The ocean and the natural world can bounce back if we just get. give it space and time. The more life that is in the water, the more life there's going to be to feed people, and the more benefits we're going to get from the ocean. Tourism, climate mitigation, coastal protection, feature is enhancement. All right, back on land.

Starting point is 00:02:22 Brazil is getting serious about deforestation. A new rule will require banks to check whether farmers have cleared forests before approving rural loans. If satellite data shows deforestation since 2019, farmers will need to prove it was legal or risk missing out on funding. And here's a story that hasn't been getting the attention it deserves. Over the past two years, there's been a quiet surge in women's rights.

Starting point is 00:02:49 Between 2023 and 2025, 68 countries passed 113 legal reforms, strengthening workplace protections, expanding parental leave, and removing barriers to employment. There's still a long way to go, but these are the kinds of changes that compound over time. We're also seeing major gains in maternal health. According to the UN, women today are 40% less likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth than they were in 2000.

Starting point is 00:03:19 40%. That's huge. It's a good reminder. If you want to understand where the world is heading, don't just follow the headlines. Follow the trend lines. All right, let's do a quick whip around the world. China has launched a nationwide health. insurance system for people living with disabilities.

Starting point is 00:03:39 Ho Chi Minh City is about to make buses free for its 14 million residents, and Mozambique has joined a growing number of African countries to wipe its IMF debt to zero. Now, if you're like me and don't speak acronym, IMF is the money a country owes to the international monetary fund, and it's usually borrowed to stabilize their economy during a crisis. Now, onto the topic everyone is talking about. Energy. With fuel prices rising amid conflict in the Middle East, renewables are quietly doing exactly what they're supposed to do. Across the UK and EU, wind and solar are helping keep the lights on, with solar alone saving the EU more than 110 million euros every single day.

Starting point is 00:04:26 Meanwhile, in the US, renewables just hit another record. and solar reached a combined 26% of electricity generation, while coal dropped to just 12%, what of its lowest levels ever. And finally, let's talk about mother, a machine developed by Spanish scientists that can keep a uterus alive outside the body. I know, stay with me. So far, they've managed to sustain a donated uterus for 24 hours. The goal is 28 days, long enough to observe a full menstrual cycle, including embryo implantation. That moment when an embryo attaches to the uterine lining is where many IVF attempts fail. So if scientists can study that process in real time, it could unlock entirely new possibilities for fertility treatment, which is pretty

Starting point is 00:05:19 extraordinary. Okay, that's it. You're all caught up on the main stories. And you can check out the full roundup of good news at fix the news.com. I'll be back in a fortnight. The team's taking a short break next week, but in the meantime, don't miss Amy and Gus later this week. They're speaking with a group of Australian farmers working to ship 100 tons of grain to Sudan. You'll find all the links in the podcast notes. Until next time, remember, it's not all bad.

Hope Is A Verb - NewsFix - Ocean Protection Hits 10%. Renewables Surge. A Machine Called Mother.

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