( Photo: GarysFRP/Getty) In November, Coloradans approved an initiative to reintroduce gray wolves by 2023. The gray wolf was hunted to extinction in Colorado, and this is the first time a state has voted to bring back a threatened species. Last year saw other bright spots for animals: Kenya announced that its elephant population had doubled in the past 30 years, and the U.S. fossil-fuel industry’s permits for seismic blasting off the Atlantic coast expired, sparing marine species life-threatening noise pollution. —Sophie Murguia Biodegradable Gear Is Finally Here In 2018, PrimaLoft announced that it had created the world’s first biodegradable insulation. The synthetic fill, called Bio, has a sugar-like coating that encourages microbes to start breaking it down once it hits a landfill or an ocean, but not before. The only by-products? Water, carbon dioxide, methane, and humus (decayed organic matter). Starting last fall, customers were able to buy jackets incorporating the fill in products from Jack Wolfskin, Maloja, Norrøna, and Reusch. —Ariella Gintzler