The islands that went from whale hunting to whale watching

Raton, a town once surrounded by eight coal mines, now has a main street of boarded-up buildings. There is reason for optimism as the town diversifies its local economy, betting on "a mix of small manufacturing businesses, health care and specialty services, and hospitality for travelers" to endure the sudden decline in mining revenue. Its calculated revitalization may hold lessons for other towns.

Shredded coconut husk, known as Coir, is becoming a popular material for shoreline restoration projects. It’s typically used to trap sediment while protecting vegetation and wildlife from the force of waves. Once the vegetation has several years to flourish, the natural coconut fibers will have decomposed.

Bozeman, Montana, a city grappling with how to plan for growth in a smart and strategic way, is looking to learn from Fort Collins, Colorado. The two cities are similar in terms of the features that make them appealing: once low-cost, small college towns with beautiful scenery and lots of space. Now, Fort Collins’ population has soared, and critics say development could have been smarter. Bozeman is learning lessons about planning and inclusivity, hoping not to make the same mistakes.

New DNA testing technology is showing promise as a faster, cheaper way to determine if a shark fin came from a protected species, an important task to curbing the illicit shark fin trade across the world. While experts warn that the technology won't act as a deterrent to the practice, it will help authorities better track and determine if shipments are suspect.

In Jamaica, locally-led coral nurseries are working to restore the coral reef that have been lost to natural and manmade disasters. These organizations have small coral gardens where they can grow free of danger and when they’re big enough, are transported to a reef. With coral and fish being so codependent in the underwater ecosystem, the regrowth of coral has meant an increase of fish and fishing for the country, which many people rely on for their livelihood.

Redeveloping and repurposing unused real estate provides a path toward economic revitalization. With a combination of public and private grants, the nonprofit group, International Sonoran Desert Alliance (ISDA), has purchased and redeveloped real estate in the town of Ajo, Arizona. The renovated town plaza and Curley School complex contain retail spaces, artist studios, and even house community gardens of the Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

In Indonesia, transferring land management rights to local residents is slow-going, but one community is setting an example for what can happen when the residents are in charge. Mandiri farmers formed a cooperative and began replacing hillsides; now, tourism to the area has increased and attitudes towards the land and community have changed.

A growing number of governments, companies, and nonprofit organizations are working together with new technology and data to identify fishing vessels that are breaking laws and engaging in human rights violations. Using satellite imagery and tracking signals, for example, a philanthropic company and a nonprofit worked with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to help the Ghanian navy arrest four vessels for illegal fishing practices. Technology by itself won’t stop forced labor and unregulated ships, but it can be helpful for cash-strapped governments looking to increase oversight of their fisheries.

Local Ocean Conservation is in Watamu, Kenya has made approximately 21,000 turtle rescues and "treated more than 650 turtles in its rehabilitation center and clinic" since it's inception in 1997. The group responds to fishermen who have accidentally caught turtles in their nets and then remunerates the fishermen for their "time, effort, and phone calls." This incentive-based relationship combined with a ban on the international tortoiseshell trade has helped decrease the poaching of turles, and the group has now expanded their efforts to include more initiatives to protect the endangered species.

Scientists are testing if adding alkaline substances to seawater can allow oceans to absorb more carbon dioxide emissions. Early tests suggest this could be a potential way to combat climate change, but there are still many questions about how this can scale, how it impacts the natural ecosystem, and if it’s cost effective to implement.