Good Morning! This edition has a little bit of everything: deep-sea wonders, a public health milestone that took decades to reach, and a recycling story that might just make you rethink everything you thought you knew about food waste, plus a quick update on my Berlin Marathon campaign!

Grab your coffee and let's get into it!

Most people assume we have a pretty good handle on what lives on Earth.

Well… we don't.

The deep ocean, which covers more than half the planet's surface, remains one of the least explored environments in existence. We know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the bottom of our own seas. That gap in knowledge is exactly why expeditions like this one matter so much.

A scientific expedition to the remote seamounts near Christmas Island and Cocos Island — Australian territories in the Indian Ocean — has returned with something extraordinary.

Researchers documented 149 species that have never been recorded by science before. These included corals, sea stars, fish, crustaceans, and other invertebrates living in the pitch-dark depths around ancient underwater volcanoes.

One of the more striking finds wasn't an animal at all, but an ancient underwater volcano whose crater looks so much like the Eye of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings that researchers named it exactly that.

The seamounts themselves, formed by volcanic activity over millions of years, act as biodiversity hotspots on the ocean floor. These isolated ecosystems have been quietly evolving without any human interference, or observation.

The broader significance here is not just the species count. Each new discovery strengthens the case for protecting these deep-sea habitats before industrial activities like deep-sea mining get a foothold. You can't argue for protecting something if you don't know it exists. Expeditions like this one change that equation!

Food waste is a massive problem that rarely gets the attention it deserves. Globally, roughly one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted every year. In cities especially, food scraps typically end up in landfills, where they decompose and release methane, a greenhouse gas that is many times more potent than carbon dioxide over a short time horizon.

Back in 1995, South Korea recycled just 2.6% of its food waste. Today, that figure sits at close to 97%. That is one of the most dramatic environmental turnarounds you will find anywhere in the world, and it didn't happen by accident.

South Korea introduced a volume-based waste fee system in 2013, meaning households pay based on how much food waste they generate. Less waste, lower bill. The financial incentive changed behavior fast.

The system is supported by a network of smart bins, composting facilities, and nationwide infrastructure that turns collected food waste into animal feed, compost, and even biogas for energy. It required genuine political will and public investment, but the results speak for themselves.

New York City, which generates thousands of tons of food waste every single day, is now studying South Korea's model as it develops its own mandatory composting program. If a city like Seoul (dense, fast-moving, enormous) can pull this off, there is little excuse for other major cities not to try. South Korea has essentially proven the blueprint exists. Someone just has to follow it now!

Trachoma is one of those diseases that most people in wealthy countries have never heard of, yet it has been blinding people for thousands of years.

It is a bacterial eye infection that, if left untreated and repeatedly reinfected, causes the eyelids to turn inward. The lashes then scratch the cornea with every blink, eventually leading to irreversible blindness.

It spreads easily in areas with poor sanitation and limited access to clean water. Children are especially vulnerable, and women are blinded at roughly twice the rate of men, largely because they tend to be the primary caregivers for infected children.

Now two more countries have beaten it!

The World Health Organization has certified Timor-Leste as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem. It was the final country in the WHO South-East Asia region still working toward elimination, which means the entire region, all 11 member countries, has now crossed the finish line.

At the same time, El Salvador became the first country in Central America to do the same, after the disease had been endemic in its rural communities for generations.

Both got there through the SAFE strategy:

It is a methodical, unglamorous approach that takes years and spans multiple governments. Timor-Leste, one of the world's youngest and poorest nations, managed it anyway.

These are genuine public health victories. El Salvador now gives its neighbors a concrete regional example to follow, and Southeast Asia shows what is possible when an entire region commits. Proof that even the most persistent diseases can be beaten with the right tools and enough political will!

I also want to give you a quick personal update!

This last Sunday, I got the chance to run the Berlin Marathon in partnership with the WWF to raise money for nature and wildlife conservation.

It was the end of 12 weeks of intense training, early mornings, and a lot of kilometers 😅 I really enjoyed the whole process and am really thankful that I had the opportunity to be part of the marathon.

So why did I do this?

So far, Good News has been mostly about sharing the progress happening around the world.

But I've always wanted to do more with the channel than just report on the positive news. With such a huge audience, we have enough power to support good things directly.

This was the first time I tried it, and it definitely won't be the last. I have a lot more (and way bigger!) ideas like this for the future!

My goal was to run sub-3:15 hours and raise 3,000€.

Well… we nearly got there 😬 I crossed the finish line after 3:18 hours, so I just slightly missed my running goal.

And together we've already raised nearly 2,000€. WWF themselves claim that every single euro helps protect one football field of rainforest. That means your donations have already helped protect close to 2,000 football fields of forest! I still find that number hard to picture…

A huge thank you to everyone who donated! Whether you gave 1€, 5€ or 100€, you were part of this. And if you haven't yet, the campaign is still open. You can donate here: Good News for Nature: Running for Our Planet

I'm also putting together a full video of the marathon, which I'll share with you soon. Stay tuned!

And that’s it for today! I hope this quick positive news update puts a smile on your face. Until next time, Freddy 🌻

Feel free to share some feedback!