In today’s Good News, the lost art of letter writing is found again by 15,000 members of a global group dedicated to putting pen to paper. And in Vermont, conservationists are hopeful that a new approach to combatting Dutch elm disease will help future trees prosper.

Catherine Garcia
The Week Digital

Weight-loss and diabetes drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic could also help mitigate asthma, according to a study of tens of thousands of people in Britain. The patients taking semaglutide experienced nearly 40% fewer asthma attacks and 20% fewer chronic obstructive pulmonary disease flare-ups. The benefits appeared to be greatest among people with more severe asthma and those taking higher doses of the medication. Researchers stressed that the findings needed to be confirmed in clinical trials before treatment recommendations are changed.

British stationery store owner Rebecca McMillan launched the Sunday Letter Project after customers kept telling her they missed receiving letters. A year later, the group’s 15,000 members worldwide sit down once a week to pen a handwritten letter to a friend, family member or stranger. The goal is to combat loneliness and forge “human connection,” McMillan told People, and hopefully help ensure that younger generations don’t miss out on the “joy of letters.”

A 454,000-square-foot roof at Ford’s Rogue Factory in Michigan doubles as a bird sanctuary and home for bees and butterflies. The rooftop is covered in sedum and wild plants, making it a “biodiversity hot spot” that draws nesting birds and a variety of insects, said Good News Network. The “living roof” was designed to “act as a sponge,” absorbing rainwater and preventing flooding. It also helps keep the building warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

To protect forests from the devastating Dutch elm disease, ecologists are injecting young elms in Vermont with spores from the deadly fungus. Saplings that survive will go into a breeding program aimed at expanding the “genetic diversity of disease-tolerant elms,” said The Independent, and seeds from those trees are being planted in forests. Elms are a “critical” part of fighting climate change, as they can survive harsh winters and major flooding and “strongly affect the hydrology of surrounding ecosystems.”

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