A video by British TikToker Sam Bentley went viral this week after it garnered three million views in one day in which he shared numerous good and positive news that occurred worldwide over the month of August.
The video can be watched below:
@sambentley Some good news from the last month you might have missed! #fyp #foryou #goodnews #sustainableliving #conservation #newstiktok ♬ original sound - SAM BENTLEY
What good news was shared?
Among the many stories Bentley shared included the re-emergence of a bird long thought to have been extinct, the Emerald Green Hummingbird, which was spotted in Columbia.
BirdLife International, which is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats, states that "it's only the second time the species has had a documented sighting since it was first collected in 1946." The last time the bird was sighted was in 2010 - which is when researchers managed to capture the first photos of the bird ever.
Free from captivity
Bently also mentioned the orca whale named Tokitae, who performed at the Miami Seaquarium, could finally be released back into the wild. The Guardian reported that Tokitae was in captivity for 52 years.
Tokitae performed under the name "Lolita," and did so in the "smallest orca enclosure in North America," the report said. Tokitae was sold as a baby whale after being separated from her mother in 1970 when a group of men captured her amongst other orca whales using explosives, nets and sticks. Activists believe that she could reconnect with her mother — who would be in her 90s.
Another sea creature at the Miami Seaquarium, Peppermint the sea turtle, was released back into the wild after undergoing rehab. He was rescued last December after being found thin and dehydrated in the Miami Beach area.
A car that captures more CO2 than it emits
Dutch students at the Eindhoven University of Technology developed a car that captures more carbon dioxide (CO2) than it emits while driving. The prototype, called Zem, purifies the air through a special filter.
The car also captures the CO2 and stores it for "subsequent disposal," according to a report by Energy Monitor. It can drive 320 kilometers before the filter is full.
Nature-friendly methods of farming increase biodiversity without food production damage
Giving farmland back to nature does not reduce crop yields, which implies that methods of farming that are nature-friendly can increase biodiversity without the risk of food production being damaged, according to a study by scientists from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
The peer-reviewed study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, saw researchers analyze 12 bird and 9 butterfly species from a decade-long study of agri-environment schemes (AES) intervention in a farmland landscape. Results showed that for some species show that "the higher abundances associated with areas of AES uptake within a typical commercial farmland landscape can co-occur with positive or stable population trends over long time scales."
"Some species show that the higher abundances associated with areas of AES uptake within a typical commercial farmland landscape can co-occur with positive or stable population trends over long time scales."
UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology scientists
So who is this person sharing the good news?
Sam Bentley, based in Bermingham, UK, hopes that his social media content "helps inspire positive change," according to his website. He is most known for the videos he posts on his TikTok and Instagram accounts, which, as of Tuesday have nearly 670K followers and 517K followers respectively.
Where so often media and news can present a pessimistic outlook on life, Bentley hopes that the content he makes will offer a more optimistic outlook on the world.