A win for reforestation, Pakistan’s sushi craving and more of this week’s uplifting news

It’s been a heavy week in the news cycle – but amid the headlines, there have been glimmers of hope and progress.

For one, researchers have found regions with the best opportunities to regrow trees and combat the climate crisis, avoiding harm to humans and wildlife. Ranging from the US, Brazil and parts of Europe, these areas have the potential to remove 2.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually if reforested, which almost matches the EU’s emissions.

“We must fast-track our focus toward the places with greatest benefits for people and nature – this study will help leaders and investors do just that.”

said Dr Susan Cook-Patton, senior author of the study.

From culinary innovation in Karachi to a Scottish archaeological journey through time, here’s our round-up of the more hopeful stories of the week,

Sundus Abdi
The Guardian newsletters team

Cuba or camping trip? New Scouts badge helps teenagers learn to budget

Explorer Scouts from Argo ESU trying out the new Money skills badge. Photograph: Martyn Milner/The Scout Association

The Scout Association has introduced a Money Skills badge to help young people gain practical financial literacy skills. Guardian Money observed members of a group of explorer scouts in London. Designed by Georgie Howarth, the badge incorporates the realities of managing money, forcing the group to adjust expectations based on their financial constraints.

Young explorer scouts, some of whom already have part-time jobs or allowances, found the programme valuable, particularly in preparing them for real-life financial decisions. One participant noted that school lessons often focus on topics like mortgages, which feel irrelevant to teenagers, whereas the Scout badge

“made me feel more prepared for the real world”.

My voice went and suddenly part of me was missing – then I discovered bellringing

Jean Walters who started bellringing at St Bartholomew’s Church in Meltham, West Yorkshire, at the age of 67. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

At 67, Jean Walters heard church bells drifting through her garden in Meltham, West Yorkshire. On a whim, she decided to learn how to ring them. What began as a curious hobby turned into a passion. Within a few years, Walters joined the Yorkshire bellringers’ association and marked her 80th birthday by ringing eight different patterns – one for each decade of her life.

A former soprano and teacher who lost her singing voice, Walters found a new way to express herself through bellringing. She says the physical and mental challenge of bellringing leaves her feeling exhilarated.

“Its another way of expressing my joy of living.”

A brief history of the Earth on a walk around the Isle of Arran, Scotland

Stuart on top of Goat Fell, view over mountains of North Arran to Jura and beyond. Photograph: Stuart Kenny

Just over two hours from Glasgow, a six-day hike on the Isle of Arran doubles as a journey through 500 million years of Earth’s history. Newly recognised as a Unesco Geopark, the island holds traces of rocks formed by ancient magma and cliffs shaped by tectonic plate shifts.

If you’re lucky, you might find yourself placing your hand in a 240-million-year-old footprint left by a reptile older than dinosaurs, like Stuart Kenny did. Kenny hikes the 65-mile Arran Coastal Way, and in his words:

“I abandon the geological hunt altogether and stop to watch otters fishing.”

I went to a death cafe – and learned how to live a much happier life

Elizabeth McCafferty in Gloucestershire. Photograph: Courtesy of Elizabeth McCafferty

Elizabeth McCafferty was at a death cafe in London when she was asked the profound question:

“Are you afraid of dying, are you afraid of not living?”

She soon realised that her answer to this question was the latter and by confronting death, she found a way to live with more purpose, clarity and patience.

After meeting people who were ill, parents who had lost children and carers of the dying, McCafferty found that many of her questions about death were answered, but also accepted that not all of them could be. She writes of her newfound zest for life:

“In truth, I feel more alive than ever for doing so.”

How Pakistan fell in love with sushi