How long do you keep your Christmas tree up? Many wait until 12 days after the holiday, while others take it down as soon as Boxing Day comes around or keep the festive vibes going well into January. Regardless of your preference, there is a right way to get rid of the fragrant trees, and that is by recycling them rather than letting them end up in a landfill. Here are some ways to recycle your tree.
$100M Deal Protects Grand Teton National Park From Developers
Matt Anderson Photography/ Moment via Getty Images
Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park is getting 1 square mile bigger. That might not sound like a huge deal, but the relatively small piece of land represents greater protections for the animals that call the Tetons home and the park at large. Known as the Kelly Parcel, the land will officially be turned over to the federal government after years of debate and negotiations regarding the state’s idea to sell it to developers. Instead, the nonprofit Grand Teton National Park Foundation raised $37.6 million to buy the parcel, while the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund provided the remaining $62.4 million for a total of $100 million. “Today marks an incredible milestone, decades in the making, to permanently protect an essential wildlife migration corridor and treasured landscape within Grand Teton National Park,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. Since the Kelly Parcel is a state trust land, the money from the sale will help fund Wyoming’s public schools. “This will benefit our public lands and Wyoming’s public school students for generations to come,” Haaland added.
Together With Upway
Make 2025 the Year of E-Biking
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Teen Alcohol, Drug, and Tobacco Use Is Continuing to Decline
Goodboy Picture Company/ iStock
When U.S. teen alcohol and drug use dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, many experts thought they’d see a rebound once lockdowns were over and school resumed as normal. But the effects of the health crisis seem to have had a more significant impact, as that rebound still hasn’t come, four years later. In the annual Monitoring the Future survey, published last month, around two-thirds of 12th graders reported that they hadn’t used alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, or e-cigarettes in the last 30 days — the largest proportion of abstainers since abstinence was first measured in 2017, per the Associated Press. There was also a record among 10th graders: 80% said they hadn’t used those substances in that time period. Richard Miech, who leads the federally funded survey, explained that these milestones might be the ripple effects of COVID school closures. Teens who started high school during the pandemic never picked up drug or alcohol habits, and therefore didn’t become a negative influence to the teens who are currently starting their secondary education. “The pandemic stopped the cycle of new kids coming in and being recruited to drug use,” he told the AP.
Culture
The Pygmy Hippo Hype Continues in 2025 — Help Name Virginia Zoo’s New Addition
Metro Richmond Zoo
If you thought you’d stop hearing about pygmy hippos in 2025, you’d be wrong. Capitalizing on the Moo Deng hype of 2024, the Metro Richmond Zoo in Moseley, Virginia, is looking to the public to help name its new addition: an impossibly adorable pygmy hippo born to mom Iris and dad Corwin in December. It’s easy to write off Moo Deng and the other recently viral hippos (Haggis and Toni) as social media fads, but pygmy hippos are an endangered species, with fewer than 2,500 mature individuals remaining in the wild. That means these stories are conservation wins, in addition to making for fun memes and Saturday Night Live content. “This birth — like all of Iris’ births — plays an important role in helping protect this rare and elusive species,” the Metro Richmond noted in a press release. As for the naming competition, the zoo has narrowed the hippo’s moniker options down to Poppy (since her mother also has a flower name) and Hammie Mae (“a sweet and southern tie to Virginia ham”). You can cast your vote until tomorrow at 11:59 p.m. ET, and the winning name will be announced Monday.
Global Good
🇮🇪 Conservationists are preserving historic Irish documents dating to the 14th and 15th centuries (read more)
🇰🇷 South Korean researchers developed an “Iron Man” robot to help paralyzed patients walk (read more)
🇰🇿 The snow leopard population in Kazakhstan has rebounded, reaching near-record levels (read more)
🇧🇪 Belgium became the first EU country to ban disposable e-cigarettes(read more)
🇧🇦 The “Balkan Blues,” a form of love song from Bosnia and Herzegovina, was recognized by UNESCO (read more)
Something We Love
SkinSafe SkinSafe is a lifesaver for those with sensitive skin — I no longer have to wander the aisles of Sephora wondering which items might be irritating. The website and app help you find products that are free of the most common allergy-causing ingredients, and the premium version allows you to input your specific allergens. You can even scan products in-store to learn more about what’s in them. – Ally Mauch, Associate Editor
For more than 30 years, One Heartland in northern Minnesota provided a summertime haven for kids living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. Now, the camp is closing for the best reason: Thanks to advances toward ending the HIV epidemic, there aren’t enough qualifying campers anymore.
Photo of the Day
Chris Putnam/Future Publishing via Getty Images
There was a particularly special New Year’s show in the sky in southeastern Australia, and it didn’t involve fireworks. A solar storm, combined with clear weather, made aurora australis (the Southern Hemisphere’s version of aurora borealis) visible to the naked eye — check out more photos.
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