The Green Light is back from our summer hiatus!

From now on, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we’ll be in your inbox with the latest stories of progress in the fight against climate change. Here we go:

🗽 New York’s new buildings to be all-electric

To the chagrin of fossil fuel and real estate companies, from next year, most buildings in New York will be built to run on electric heat pumps rather than gas. As well as helping decarbonise the state, this will improve air quality and reduce the thousands of premature deaths caused by fossil fuel pollution each year. Experts also say the new rules will help normalise heat pumps in homeowners’ eyes, accelerating their adoption.

📱 The amateur scientists protecting biodiversity with an app

One third of the population of Australia uses the app iNaturalist to identify and share their local wildlife – and this data is a huge asset for people working to combat the biodiversity crisis. When people upload photos of invasive species – from crabs to cactuses – an alert is triggered notifying local authorities, who will clear and monitor the creatures. Submissions to iNaturalist were also recently found to have played a role in over 5,000 peer reviewed papers.

💦 Eating less meat could keep drinking water safe

As well as dramatically cutting emissions and stalling climate change, switching to a less meat-heavy diet could also vastly improve water quality in the US by reducing the amount of agricultural fertilizers that seep into the water. A new study has found that replacing 10% of the meat the country eats with alternative proteins – such as plant-based and cultured meat – could reduce groundwater pollution by 20%, with huge benefits for public health and ecosystems.

The Green Light is written by freelance climate writer Molly Millar.