Choosing hope in the climate fight, the oldest person to reach Fuji’s summit and more good news

Good morning.

It’s not every day you come across a piece of writing about the climate crisis that simultaneously enlivens you to the perilous moment we are living in while also giving you hope that humanity will rise to the challenge.

But Kate Marvel’s long read from earlier this week – an extract from her book Human Nature – suggests as a species we should give ourselves some credit. After all, we’ve collectively faced challenges before, such as stopping whaling to halt extinction, taking lead out of petrol to stop poisoning the air and quitting using CFCs to protect the ozone layer

As she writes: “It seems impossible to shift the way the world moves. Yet the stuff that makes cars go has changed before. There’s no reason it couldn’t happen again.”

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The Guardian newsletters team

At 102, Kokichi Akuzawa struggled midway through his climb up Mount Fuji and considered turning back. But he persevered, reaching the summit to become the oldest person ever to scale Japan’s tallest peak.

Akuzawa was joined on the ascent by his daughter Motoe, 70, his granddaughter and her husband, and four friends from a climbing club – and in doing so became a Guinness world record-holder. The group camped for two nights before their final push on 5 August to the 3,776-metre (12,388ft) summit.

This was not Akuzawa’s first record-breaking climb. At 96, he had already become the oldest person to reach the top of Mount Fuji. Since then, he has overcome heart problems, shingles and even injuries from a fall while climbing.

African leaders are meeting this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the Africa Climate Summit, ahead of November’s Cop30 climate conference. The meeting opens amid hopes that the continent is on the brink of a green revolution.

Green energy is booming in Africa, with 20 countries breaking solar import records in the past year. To secure this progress, leaders are urging greater support from rich nations, warning Africa’s green resurgence could otherwise remain fragile and uneven.

A ragtag crew of citizen scientists and researchers have joined forces to save saltmarsh sparrow chicks from drowning during extreme high tides. The club, aptly called the Needle in the Haystack Society, and the subject of a new Guardian documentary, tinkers with low-cost, homegrown solutions to raise nests beyond the water’s reach.

Saltmarsh sparrow numbers have fallen by 87% since 1998, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The population, which is shrinking by about 9% a year, was classified as an endangered species in 2017.

But the group works under restrictive wildlife permits on a shoestring budget, raising 53 nests and tracking 97 untouched control nests, in a bid to reverse the sparrow chicks’s grim fate. While they know the odds are against them, they continue their work amid some rare good news: last month, the research group found that the species’ annual rate of decline has slowed.

Powwow ceremonies were once banned by the Canadian government in a violent push to assimilate First Nations people. Once held in secret, they are now performed openly at Innu Nikamu, one of North America’s largest Indigenous festivals.

The festival takes place on the former site of a residential school where children were taken from their families, punished for speaking their languages and forced to abandon their heritage. More than 3,200 children are documented to have died in such schools, with unmarked graves still being uncovered.

By celebrating powwows on these grounds, Indigenous people confront the trauma of assimilation and celebrate resilience: showcasing First Nations art, music, literature, film and culture to the world.

Stamford Hill in north-east London is home to the largest Haredi Jewish community in Europe, numbering 30,000.

Facing leafy Clapton Common is the country’s first council housing project built specifically with the needs of this ultra-orthodox community in mind – but its generous proportions and outside space for religious observance are a boon for all residents.

It includes features such as Shabbat lifts (which don’t require manual operation on the Jewish Sabbath); plumbing for an extra sink outside the bathrooms (Haredi must wash before and after using the bathroom); a big wall to accommodate cabinets of religious books; and bedrooms with enough space for several bunk beds. Homes have two sinks in the kitchen, with sufficient storage for separate meat and dairy utensils.

The project – which was 10 years in the making – has just been shortlisted for the RIBA’s Neave Brown award for the best new affordable housing in the country.