Quote of the Day: “When you cannot calm the storm, remember to access the safe and calm within you.” – Maureen Sharphouse
Photo by: Ditto Bowo
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Colorado is blessed with one of the finest-dealt hands of public land in North America, and it’s still growing.
A nearby ranch was bought by a non-profit and turned over to the National Park Service to expand Great Sand Dunes National Park by 9,350 acres, (3,783 hectares).
Encompassing biodiverse wetlands, the transfer of the Medano-Zapata Ranch helps bring the park closer towards its original, envisioned footprint.
“The lands being transferred to the Park contain important springs and wetlands that support a rich diversity of life,” said Great Sand Dunes National Park Superintendent Pamela Rice. “This acquisition marks an important step toward completing the plan for Great Sand Dunes National Park that was established in 2004.”
The Nature Conservancy is one of the world’s largest environmental non-profits, and they had acquired the land through an agreement with the ranch back in 1999. This year they were then compensated for their member-supported purchase with money from the federal government’s Land and Water Conservation Fund, which takes royalties from oil and gas drilling to pay for conservation projects.
Since its inception more than 50 years ago, the LWC has funded $4 billion worth of conservation projects nationwide, and in 2019 it was reauthorized by Congress permanently.
RELATED: This Road Trip Map Helps You Visit the 47 Iconic National Parks in the Shortest Time
Approximately 12,498 acres of the Medano-Zapata Ranch lie within the boundaries of Great Sand Dunes National Park; TNC plans to transfer the remaining 3,192 acres to NPS in the future, which includes a herd of grazing bison, currently on a 7-year lease from the Dept. of Interior.
Great Sand Dunes National Park was established as a national monument in 1932 and redesignated as a national park and preserve in 2000 to protect the tallest dunes in North America for current and future generations.
MORE PARKS NEWS: One Year Since Bipartisan Bill Funds Repairs at National Parks: See What Projects are Underway in 40 States
The dunes are the centerpiece in a diverse landscape of grasslands, wetlands, forests, alpine lakes and tundra. Last year, more than 603,000 visitors came to experience the singular dunes and starry skies, and learn about the cultural history.
In 2021, park visitors spent an estimated $41.3 million in local gateway regions while visiting Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve, supporting more than 530 jobs.
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We are proud that Good News Network has passed a major milestone—celebrating our 25th anniversary of delivering positive news to tens of millions of people worldwide. Instead of throwing a party, I’ve decided to do a huge giveaway to groups in the U.S. who are tackling depression and anxiety, like we do here at GNN.
UPDATE (10/25): I was so excited to begin mailing cases of our books to groups around the country this week, but I wanted to announce that we are still looking for applicants who want our Good News gift books. READ below, if you are serving a large number of people who are dealing with depression… Then, email me!
Do you know any organizations or individuals who are working with troubled youth, adults with depression, or people who could use a bit of good news?
Each case contains 120 books, and we’ll ship them for free (must be in the USA). Simply email us at gnn@goodnewsnetwork and let us know WHO you are, WHAT you do, and HOW you plan to use the case books. [Put Book Giveaway in the subject header.]
If you want to buy any books yourself, they are now available at Amazon.com—and they make a great gift for anyone who needs a lift!
We’re hoping these valuable essential service groups will send us photos after distributing the paperbacks, so we can share them on social media—and here on the website—to show millions of loyal fans what our 25th anniversary party looked like.
Feel free to reach out by ‘snail mail’ at our new location:
Good News Network
PO Box 161
Manassas, VA 20108
Support GNN with a donation by becoming a member, here.
With much love,
Geri Weis-Corbley, GNN Founder
Don’t forget to sign up for a Daily Newsletter of Good News (The Morning Jolt), if you want a few positive headlines Monday-Friday.
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Citroen’s new family car, the Oli, can change from a family sedan, to a pickup truck, to a low-weight city car, and its battery can be used to add solar energy to the grid.
For two decades manufacturers have been trying to create electric cars that are more practical, cost-effective, and attractive to the average consumer.
The Oli is not following that beaten path, but rather is described as a “laboratory of ideas,” which Citroen hope trickle down into other automobiles, but also help push the concept of the car, such as it is, along.
In science-fiction movies, cars always take on a dozen of additional roles that would never be found in a car today. In the new TV version of Lost in Space their car becomes a mobile communications hub, and an escape pod capable of traveling through space.
The Oli “concept car” attempts to replicate that, not least of which because of its near-military appearance with the flat windscreen and boxy bonnet.
Its fabrication is achieved with 100% recycled material, and made as light as possible to extend the range. The base model has a 250 mile, 400 kilometer range. Once charged up, which takes around industry-standard times, the roof panels double as a workstation where the owner can run their laptop or charge their devices.
The roof panels are also totally flat and climbable, making them perfect for a picnic. The whole thing is meant to tackle any situation one could find in the modern city, whether that’s moving furniture, picking up a gaggle of kids from school, maneuvering tight spaces, or reducing air pollution.
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The designers imagine that in a world of solar and wind power, Olis would help solve renewable energy’s biggest hurdle which is storage. During the height of the sun and wind, the car could be charged, and then discharged into one’s house at the end of the day for peak hours when the sun has gone down.
100,000 Oli owners then act as little storage hubs to help the grid through dark hours when demand for electricity is high.
HEAR what the designer has to say…
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In Indonesia, small-time fishermen are being paid as part-time ocean cleanup crews, as the archipelago seeks to tidy their seas and raise awareness among stakeholders at the same time.
The Ministry of Fisheries announced on October 4th they had stashed around $70,000, or 1 billion rupiah, with which to pay fisherman for any plastic trash they recovered from the oceans.
Many countries around the world are setting environment or climate goals for themselves. One of the largest contributors of ocean going plastic waste, Indonesia is looking to shake off that reputation by spending $1 billion over the next 3 years to reduce plastic entering the oceans from their shores by 70%.
If an Indonesian fisherman working off the main islands can collect 4 kilograms of trash per day, the government will pay out around $10 for it, which is slightly more than they would get if they spent their day catching fish to sell at market prices.
“This activity is very simple,” Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, the fisheries minister, said at a press conference in Jakarta. “But at least this will raise awareness among the stakeholders at sea and the people around the world.”
“The most important thing is prevention,” Sakti said. “If we can properly conduct prevention, then there shouldn’t be any waste in the sea. Because once the trash gets to the sea, then it’s already damaged.”
GOOD OCEANS NEWS: 100 Nations Take Action To Save Oceans from Illegal Fishing and Plastic Pollution
Indonesia is located in one of the fastest-developing regions on the planet economically-speaking, and the use of plastic waste has outpaced the instalment of recycling infrastructure, especially on the smaller islands.
According to the UK’s Pew Trust, 95% of all fishing activities are small-scale. Small fisheries can’t absorb costs from things like ocean pollution or additional taxes like large-scale fisheries can, making this bottom-up approach to ocean cleanup uniquely suited to Indonesia.
Furthermore, Indonesia is surrounded by some of the most biodiverse shallow seas on earth, a Mecca for divers and snorkelers, who aren’t interested in wading through plastic while they do it.
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An Englishman who went through nearly 10 years of mental turmoil has started a walking group to break the stigma associated with men and their mental health.
After years of stuffing down a painful separation and a long custody battle, Scott Oughton-Johnson felt he couldn’t take it anymore, and so decided to go for a walk.
Reasoning that walking was always something he enjoyed, and that exercise is a calming, endorphin-driven activity, he thought he might see if anyone else in the neighborhood wanted to join him. He recorded a video of himself walking and talking on Facebook, and invited men going through rough patches to join him.
“I hoped it would help other people out,” Oughton-Johnson told Sirin Kale of The Guardian.
“I was disheartened at first,” he says when only one “lad” showed up. “I thought hundreds might turn up. But we were together for eight hours that night. We had so much to chat about.”
SIMILAR: Lonely 67-Year-Old Sets Up Woodworking ‘Shed’ to Combat Loneliness in Men, Following Global Trend
The next week they went from 2 to 4, and in continued growing until The Proper Blokes Club was born. Through the club, walk leaders organize walks to share in each other’s difficulties through talking and walking from Monday to Thursday all around England.
This week walk and talks are going on in Greenwich, Finchley, Wallington, Southwark, Sutton, and Woolwich.
Anywhere from 2 to 35 lads might turn up. The youngest “lad” as Oughton-Johnson always calls them, is 19, while the oldest is 79. Walkers can peel off when they want; no pressure is put on them to continue for the full 2 hours. Every lad is added to a WhatsApp group, and walk leaders will write daily check in messages: “Morning lads, hope you’re well, have a great day.”
“We’ve had incidents where people say, ‘I’m not in a great place; is anyone about?’ And people have gone and met them, or called them up,” he explains.
“People have gone to each other’s weddings and birthdays,” he added. “Sometimes I take a step back, and think, this group of lads never knew each other a few months ago, and they’ve found lifelong friends out of it. It’s amazing.”
READ MORE: Gardening Can Lift Your Mood Even if You’ve Never Done it Before and Have No Mental Health Issues
In the UK, emphasis on mental health communication, and of stressing a stigma claimed to be associated with it, is stronger than in the US, where things like stress, depression, and anxiety are well-established medical conditions. Perhaps it’s all those “Keep Calm and Carry On” signs.
Oughton-Johnson hopes that The Proper Blokes Club can become a “community interest company,” rolled out nationwide by health authorities.
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Quote of the Day: “There is no greater wisdom than kindness.” – Thomas Kinkade
Photo by: Ditto Bowo
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
A stunningly-white coat of paint could be used to reduce reliance on air conditioning, after it was demonstrated to reflect 98.7% of incoming sunlight.
Just the paint alone was shown in a demonstrations to keep surfaces 19°F cooler than the surroundings by completely reflecting incoming solar radiation.
It was in 2021 that Xiulin Ruan, a Purdue University professor of mechanical engineering, first developed the paint, and with a new tweak that’s achieved the same results with a thinner coat, it has the potential of becoming an industry standard.
“I’ve been contacted by everyone from spacecraft manufacturers to architects to companies that make clothes and shoes,” said Xiulin Ruan. “They mostly had two questions: Where can I buy it, and can you make it thinner?”
The 2021 world’s whitest paint, for which Ruan was entered into the Guinness World Records, had to be applied at a layer of 400 microns thick, which is only possible for robust and stationary objects like buildings.
For things like airplanes, cars, or anything that comes with weight restrictions, 400 microns is too dense a coating to be useable. That’s why Ruan and his colleagues went back to experimenting with new materials, and replaced the barium oxide with hexagonal boron nitride.
The hexagonal structure reflects the sunlight more totally, and the paint also incorporates voids of air which make it highly porous on a nanoscale. This lower density, together with the thinness, provides another huge benefit: reduced weight.
The newer paint weighs 80% less than barium sulfate paint yet achieves nearly identical solar reflectance, which Ruan says opens the door to whole new domains of commercial application.
RELATED: Innovative Paint Cools Down the School Playground By 12 Degrees: ‘I don’t feel like I’m in an oven’
Most importantly he notes, compared to A/C, which takes the hot air from one’s house or office and deposits it into the air of the city, or with eyes on a larger scale, the Earth as a whole, ultra-white paint reflects the sun’s rays entirely, sending the thermal energy outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
“We are in discussions right now to commercialize it,” said Ruan. “There are still a few issues that need to be addressed, but progress is being made.”
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A tile-mosaic floor depicting birds and other animals has been found under a field in Gaza so well-preserved it could have been buried yesterday.
Olive farmer Salman al-Nabahin was planting new trees in his grove in Bureij Refugee Camp when he and his son chanced upon the ancient relic which is believed to date from the Byzantine era.
Some of the new trees weren’t taking root, and digging down into the soil their tools struck something hard and unfamiliar which led to the discovery.
Before any archeologists could come to see it, al-Nabahin and his son looked it up on the internet and determined based on the style it was probably Byzantine.
The Empire of Byzantium was the eastern portion of the Roman Empire, which developed later than the western half, but lasted longer—long into the Viking Age. The Byzantines were one of many cultures that controlled Palestine over the centuries, along with ancient Rome and Egypt, the Ottomans, Crusader states and the Biblical Philistines.
“The archaeological discovery is still in its early stages and we await to know more of the secrets and civilization values,” the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement.
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“National research teams are working in partnership with international experts and scientists from the French Archaeology School.”
Finds in Gaza traditionally require the help of outside antiquities excavators and archeologists.
“I see it as a treasure, dearer than a treasure,” said al-Nabahin, a father of 7. “It isn’t personal, it belongs to every Palestinian.”
WATCH the scene at the excavation… (Note: GNN has no affiliation with any ads displayed)
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On Thursday, President Biden announced in a video statement he was pardoning thousands of people convicted in federal courts for the possession of cannabis.
Speaking-specifically, he issued full pardons to anyone charged in a federal court under the sentencing guidelines for the simple possession of the Schedule 1 drug nationwide and D.C.
The New York Times estimates this will clear the rap sheet over perhaps more than 7,500 non-violent drug offenders held in federal prisons.
The pardons stop short of those convicted of selling or trafficking cannabis, as well as anyone charged in state courts for breaching state laws, but he said to continue locking up people for cannabis “makes no sense.”
“The federal government currently classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance,” he said, “the same as heroin and LSD and more serious than fentanyl. It makes no sense.”
It’s the kind of sweeping move that Democratic voters have been waiting a long time for, as during the 2020 Democratic debates it was almost unanimous opinion that the federal government should do more to relax restrictions on cannabis, particularly with the scheduling being as harsh as cocaine or heroine.
The pardon will remove barriers for anyone looking to apply for a credit card, mortgage, university, employment, or federal benefits, and Biden urged state governors to follow his lead.
Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. Hear from @POTUS on the three steps he is taking to right these wrongs. pic.twitter.com/IqOxHxjgue
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 6, 2022
“Sending people to jail for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives — for conduct that is legal in many states,” Mr. Biden said on Twitter on Thursday. “That’s before you address the clear racial disparities around prosecution and conviction. Today, we begin to right these wrongs.”
RELATED: U.S. DEA is Finally Allowing Companies to Grow Their Own Cannabis for Scientific Research
He added that there should still be important limitations on the trafficking and sale of cannabis, indicating that his change in position likely falls short of federal decriminalization, and probably steps in line with the policies laid out by some states.
For thousands of families who will get to see their loved ones out of from federal people-cages, it’s an October Surprise in a delightful sense of the phrase.
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Quote of the Day: “Finding, incorporating, and then representing beauty is what humans do.” – Toni Morrison
Photo by: Štefan Štefančík
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Could eating salmon, cod, tuna, herring, or sardines keep your brain healthy and your thinking agile in middle age? This study says emphatically, YES.
Eating cold-water fish and other sources of omega-3 fatty acids may preserve brain health and enhance cognition in middle age, according to new evidence from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
In fact, healthy volunteers whose red blood cells contained higher concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids were found to have better brain structure and cognitive function than others who were aged 40-60.
Studies have looked at this association in older senior citizen populations, but this study seems to show that, even at younger ages, if you have a diet that includes some omega-3 fatty acids, you are already protecting your brain for most of the indicators of brain aging that we see at middle age, says Claudia Satizabal, PhD, assistant professor with the Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health. Satizabal is the lead author of the study.
Volunteers’ average age was 46. The team looked at the relation of red blood cell omega-3 fatty acid concentrations with MRI and cognitive markers of brain aging. Researchers also studied the effect of omega-3 red blood cell concentrations in volunteers who carried APOE4, a genetic variation linked to higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
RELATED: Eating Oily Fish Like Salmon May Cut Risk of Developing Alzheimer’s by Nearly 50%
The study of 2,183 dementia- and stroke-free participants found that higher omega-3 index was associated with larger hippocampal volumes. The hippocampus, a structure in the brain, plays a major role in learning and memory.
Consuming more omega-3s was also associated with better abstract reasoning, or the ability to understand complex concepts using logical thinking.
APOE4 carriers with a higher omega-3 index had less small-vessel disease. The APOE4 gene is associated with cardiovascular disease and vascular dementia.
Researchers, who published their research in the Oct. 5 journal Neurology, used a technique called gas chromatography to measure docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) concentrations from red blood cells. The omega-3 index was calculated as DHA plus EPA.
“Omega-3 fatty acids such as EPA and DHA are key micronutrients that enhance and protect the brain,” said study coauthor Debora Melo van Lent, PhD, postdoctoral research fellow at the Biggs Institute. “Our study is one of the first to observe this effect in a younger population. More studies in this age group are needed.”
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The team divided participants into those who had very little omega-3 red blood cell concentration and those who had at least a little and more.
“We saw the worst outcomes in the people who had the lowest consumption of omega-3s,” Satizabal said. “So, that is something interesting. Although the more omega-3, the more benefits for the brain, you just need to eat some to see benefits.”
Researchers don’t know how DHA and EPA protect the brain. One theory is that, because those fatty acids are needed in the membrane of neurons, when they are replaced with other types of fatty acids, that’s when neurons (nerve cells) become unstable. Another explanation may have to deal with the anti-inflammatory properties of DHA and EPA.
“It’s complex. We don’t understand everything yet, but we show that, somehow, if you increase your consumption of omega-3s even by a little bit, you are protecting your brain,” Satizabal said.
CHECK OUT: New Study of ‘MIND’ Diet Shows It May Improve Memory and Thinking Skills in Old Age
It’s encouraging that DHA and EPA also protected APOE4 carriers’ brain health. “It’s genetics, so you can’t change it,” Melo van Lent said, referring to the vulnerability of this risk group. “So, if there is a modifiable risk factor that can outweigh genetic predisposition, that’s a big gain.”
There’s Something Fishy if You Don’t Share This on Social Media to Boost Friends’ Brain Health…
A woman finally met her long-lost dad, a man who didn’t even know she existed—thanks to an amateur sleuth she met on Facebook.
Adrieanna Tyler thought she knew her father until the age of 13, when she overheard him referring to her as his stepdaughter.
Since then, she wanted to know who her biological father was—but never could find out anything about him.
Now a 33-year-old mom married to a truck driver in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she recalled, “I was desperate to find my real dad; it always mattered to me”.
She began the search again this year by ordering a DNA test kit and asked for assistance from strangers running a Facebook group where people help strangers unite with long lost relatives.
“This wonderful lady called Suzanne on the group helped me build my family tree and after doing another DNA test we found my aunt.”
They tracked down her 47-year-old aunt, Kathie Johnson, and from there, found her biological dad—a police officer who lived 1,000 miles away in Florida.
“She said she’d put me in touch with my dad and I was so nervous! How do you just call someone and ask ‘are you my dad?’”
Adrieanna told SWNS news service that Joseph Frank ‘had no idea she had ever been born’ and was thrilled to learn he not only had another daughter, but two young grandchildren.
“When he found out about me, he was so excited, and it was such a relief. I felt so vulnerable before, in case he wanted nothing to do with me.”
WATCH: Long-Lost Brothers to Be Reunited After 77 Years and 10,000 Miles, ‘I still can’t believe it’
After spending the next month texting and video calling daily getting to know each other, Joseph travelled from Florida to Pennsylvania so they could meet in person for the first time.
“We spent some time getting to know each other before finally meeting and it was just perfect. It felt like a dream.”
They met last week at a local festival near her home, and now they’re already planning a family holiday.
During the emotional meeting, they enjoyed pizza and she also discovered she has two half-sisters who are around her age.
RELATED: Sisters Find Each Other After 45 Years Apart –Living in Same City With Sons Going to the Same School
“We bonded right away, and I finally feel I can start to heal now. Everything ended exactly how it was supposed to.”
Dad Joseph agreed: “It’s been pretty amazing. God works in mysterious ways.
“At the time when Adrieanna came into my life, I was going through a tough break-up and I really needed that.
“That part of my heart got filled again when I found out about my daughter.”
Joseph remembered having a “summer fling” with Adrieanna’s mother in the 80s while he was working on his uncle’s farm. They grew close but never spoke again, according to Joseph, who says he didn’t know she was ever expecting a baby.
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“He said he always wanted children and he was excited to be a parent to me.
Joseph stayed with the family for three days—with Adrieanna describing it as “a surreal experience.”
“It was very emotional. I cried all weekend. It’s not until you’re stood next to someone that you realize how alike you look.
“To think I’ve been waiting my whole life for that moment.
“It was so worth the wait.”
Joseph added: “At first we were both a bit nervous but we settled so quickly and we realized we’re similar in a lot of ways.
“It was great to meet my grandchildren [Maximus, 4, and Preslee, 2]. We took it slow but by the time I left they were sad to see me go.
“It’s so exciting to start planning out our future lives together.”
Adrieanna said, “I just kept thinking that there is a man out there who deserves to know he has two grandchildren. I didn’t want to die knowing I hadn’t tried.”
“I feel like I can finally start to heal now I’m not wondering why he didn’t want me—when all this time it was because he didn’t even know I existed.”
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A Scottish night club has found it can reduce its carbon footprint by 70 tons per year if it relies on the beat to make the heat.
Glasgow arts venue SWG3 now has a dancefloor that absorbs body heat from the dancers and converts it to thermal energy, between 250 and 600 watts depending on how intense the music is.
The venue had announced the idea last year, but has only just got it turned on; not a moment to soon considering the energy crisis.
The thermal energy is channeled via a carrier fluid to a deep borehole 650 feet (200 meters) underground where it is charged like a thermal battery before being pumped back up to provide heating and A/C to the club.
TownRock Energy Geothermal designed the system which they aptly branded as “Body Heat” and founder David Townsend told the BBC that medium intensity music like the Rolling Stones could generate 250 watts.
“But if you’ve got a big DJ, absolutely slamming basslines and making everyone jump up and down, you could be generating 500-600W of thermal energy,” he said.
SIMILAR: Scientists Perfect Renewable Power from Urine While Cleaning Wastewater in South Korea
SWG3 has committed to carbon neutrality by 2025, and the managers insist that despite setting them back £600,000 they can recoup the investment in five years by disconnecting the gas boilers, that would run them around one-tenth of that, through the reduction in energy bills.
“If we can make it work here in this environment, there’s no reason why we can’t take it to other venues, not just here in Scotland and the UK, across Europe and further afield,” SWG3-owner Fleming-Brown told BBC News.
Townsend has gained big interest from the SchwuZ nightclub in Berlin, and said they don’t want to be outpaced in cool clubbing technology.
RELATED: Ingenious Dancers Stun Judges to Make Finals of America’s Got Talent – WATCH
The advantage of using water as a heating system is that while it requires a lot of energy to heat up, it holds onto that energy much longer than air. With the carrier fluid stored under ground it’s well insulated, and therefore also more efficient than any gas heating system.
Bodyheat was financed largely through government subsidy from Glasgow city.
SHARE This Story With Your Friends And Plan A Trip To Go Dancing…
A rare red panda cub born this summer was seen as a hopeful sign for the future of this critically endangered species—and it passed its very first health check this week with flying colors.
The baby was born to mother Tilly and father Nam Pang at Paradise wildlife park in Hertfordshire, England—and the zoo had been waiting to ascertain its sex before naming the cute bundle of fluff.
They’ll have to wait a little longer to complete the birth certificate, though, because the ginger fur ball was so fidgety that the ‘delicate’ procedure was impossible.
The zoo team decided, anyway, to name it Little Red.
This was the first time a veterinarian had visited the cub, and the tests revealed Little Red is in good health. Aside from the fidgeting, the health check was completed without a hitch. (See the video below…)
The birth in July was a bittersweet event that came just a month after Nam Pang’s sudden passing. The zoo had been trying to breed the pair for four years, as part of the European Ex Situ Breeding Program, an initiative whereby endangered species are bred in captivity in order to ensure the continuation of the species.
The program soon achieved success when closed circuit cameras captured the surprise birth.
The Zoo hailed it as a miracle, with operations coordinator Aaron Whitnall saying, “This cub has become a symbol of hope, after the tragic passing of Nam Pang.”
WATCH: Elephant Gives Back a Child’s Shoe That Fell Into Zoo Enclosure – SO SWEET
Animal experts say the first six months of a red panda’s life are the most critical, and Little Red is being monitored even as he appears boisterous and strong.
The population of red pandas has decreased over the last 20 years, with the WWF stating there are currently less than 10,000 left in the wild, due to their illegal capture as pets and a dramatic reduction in their habitat.
LOOK: Amazing Spectacle as Rare White Dolphin Leaps Above the Water For Photographer
See the Hertfordshire baby’s first check-up in the SWNS video below…
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Quote of the Day: “Find a way to make beauty necessary; find a way to make necessity beautiful.” – Anne Michaels
Photo by: Kathleen MacGregor
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
A poll of 2,000 adults found three-quarters of respondents said they were greener today than they were a decade ago—with a large majority believing they have a responsibility to live a sustainable lifestyle.
Making greener choices than ever before, 58 percent described being environmentally-conscious as a ‘badge of honor’.
Collecting rainwater, turning off lights, and carrying reusable bags for shopping are among the top 10 ways Brits are helping the planet.
Other top hacks include giving up single-use water bottles and only washing clothes if they look dirty.
Yet 55 percent still want to ‘up their eco game’ and make even better choices for the planet.
The survey was carried out by OnePoll and commissioned by Yeo Valley Organic, which uses regenerative farming in its practices.
“It’s more important than ever to learn new green habits, and we love sharing good choices for both people and the planet,” said spokesperson, Beth Jones.
RELATED: Americans Want to Use Less Plastic and They Hoard Containers Rather Than Tossing, Poll Shows
“What’s especially great about a lot of the green habits many Brits are already incorporating into their everyday routine is, as well as having a positive impact on people’s health and the planet, they’re also clever ways to save money.”
When it comes to becoming more eco-friendly, more than a quarter (26%) feel there is not enough education around being sustainable—and individuals have looked to TV shows, social media, and friends for inspiration.
CHECK OUT: These 30 Life Hacks Have Saved People Up to Four Hours Every Week Around the House
Top motivations for becoming greener have included saving money (39%), feeling guilty for past habits (25%), and becoming a parent (24%).
TOP 10 WAYS BRITS ARE BEING GREEN
1. Turn off lights when not in the room
2. Using reusable bags at supermarkets
3. Wearing more layers instead of turning up the heat
4. Giving up single-use water bottles
5. Buying loose produce rather than packed in plastic
6. Only washing clothes if they look dirty
7. Washing clothes with cold water
8. Collecting rainwater for plants
9. Composting food scraps
10. Swapping disposable razor for reusable one
Notorious plastic bags and containers can finally be upcycled, thanks to a new technique for recycling polyethylene bags and food packaging into valuable starter materials for high-value plastics and chemicals.
Polyethylene plastics are used to make plastic bags, shampoo bottles, and many products that are extremely difficult to recycle. In fact, only 14 percent of all polyethylene plastic are currently able to be recycled—and, then, only for certain products such as garden furniture.
They make up about one-third of the entire plastics market worldwide—all manufactured using massive amounts of fossil fuels.
But this may be changing thanks to scientists at the University of California, Berkeley in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
They have found a way to break the sturdy polymers into the three-carbon molecule called propylene—a valuable molecule that can then be used to make new plastics, including polypropylene, which is used in ropes, twine, tape, carpets, upholstery, clothing, and camping equipment.
Not only that, the discovery will allow them to do it with very minimal fossil fuels.
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“You can’t take a plastic bag and then make another plastic bag out of it with the same properties,” said John Hartwig, UC Berkeley Chair in Organic Chemistry. “But if you can take that polymer bag back to its monomers, break it down into small pieces and repolymerize it, then instead of pulling more carbon out of the ground, you use that as your carbon source to make other things — for example, polypropylene.”
Polyethylene is held together by unusually unreactive carbon-carbon bonds that are very hard to break. In the breakthrough experiment, Hartwig and his team dissolved samples of HDPE (high-density polyethylene), the plastic used in container tops, milk jugs, and shampoo bottles, with ethylene gas and a catalyst in a solvent in a pressurized vessel.
These conditions, the researchers predicted, would force hydrogen from some of the monomer units. Such hydrogen loss, they reasoned, would in turn enable a series of reactions between the dehydrogenated polymer and ethylene in the presence of additional catalysts to produce propylene.
“I was pretty shocked that it worked so well,” exclaimed Hartwig.
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To the researchers’ surprise, even though hydrogen was removed from just 1.9% of the monomer units, 87% of the carbon atoms in an HDPE polymer chain reacted with ethylene and became propylene in a mere 18 hours. This means that every other monomer in a chain of 1,000 monomer units turned into propylene gas – in other words, there was no polymer left.
The team reports in the journal Science that this form of upcycling could produce high value products, meet the high demand for propylene, give wasteful products a new purpose, and reduce the use of fossil fuels.
Hartwig said that although the technique is not yet ready for deployment at an industrial scale, their findings, supported by the US Department of Energy, have important implications for recycling polyethylene plastic into industrial lubricants and jet fuels, too.
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In future experiments, he and his team plan to improve the technique’s commercial viability with recyclable catalysts. They would also like to use this work to lay the groundwork for designing new types of chemically recyclable plastic.
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A young Florida man given just eight months to live has beaten a rare and aggressive blood cancer, after nearly dying multiple times during treatments. Now he is inspiring others who are going through health hardships.
Michael Cramer went to see a doctor after suffering fatigue, night sweats, and weight loss—symptoms he thought were caused by the stress of COVID-19 lockdowns—but the blood test showed something was wrong and he was told to see a blood specialist immediately.
The 21-year-old was then diagnosed with Hepatosplenic T-cell Lymphoma (HSTCL) in July 2020. He and his his mother Ashlee Cramer then heard the terrifying news that most people do not survive it, and Michael may have just eight months to live.
He underwent three rounds of intensive chemotherapy at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami before receiving a bone marrow transplant later that summer.
The transplant resulted in a severe complication called Graft vs. Host Disease (GVHD), where the donor cells attack the host cells. Over the next 18 months, GVHD affected Michael’s skin, his gastrointestinal tract, and then his liver went into failure and nearly killed him.
“The transplant was horrible. I felt so low,” he told SWNS. “It was a long, slow journey of hospital trips, infusions, and so many setbacks.
“I had my gallbladder removed, which left my stomach paralyzed. Then I got avascular necrosis in both of my knees that could have made me unable to walk.”
At the start of 2022, his skin was yellow from the liver failure and receiving so many different, intense treatments that his body was just overwhelmed.
But this June, Michael started a new treatment at the University of Miami Cancer Institute, called extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP).
Approved by the FDA in 1988, ECP has benefitted patients with a variety of autoimmune diseases—plus the graft-versus-host disease, T-cell lymphoma, and organ rejection which all affected Michael.
The treatment separated his blood, treated it, and returned it back to him, which ultimately provided the solution that is still saving his life today.
Ashlee, who gave up her teaching job to care for Michael, described his journey as both heart-breaking and amazing: “Our lives changed dramatically but we decided to just take each day—well really each minute—as it comes.
“He has been so unbelievably strong and I am just so proud of him.”
Michael is now in full remission and is sharing his miraculous journey on TikTok and Instagram, and has produced a podcast with his mother, called Michael and Mom Talk Cancer.
Michael’s social media presence has allowed him to create a huge support system containing cancer survivors from around the world.
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He summed it up by saying, “Ultimately, having thousands of people understand and relate to me got me through it, so I’m so grateful that I have created this kind of space.”
“I wanted to give up so many times but I never did, and that kept me alive.
On the wall in the hospital Michael had a poster that said ‘It’s not what happens to you, but how you react that matters’, which inspired the pair every single day.
Ashlee and her son hope that their content will inspire people to remain positive and remember that life can be hard, but it is never permanent.
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“I hope that if anyone is going through anything similar they can be inspired by my journey and get through it – you really can get through anything.”
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Our partner Rob Brezsny provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)
Here is your weekly horoscope…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of October 8, 2022
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
The Libran approach to fighting for what’s right shouldn’t involve getting into loud arguments or trying to manipulate people into seeing things your way. If you’re doing what you were born to do, you rely on gentler styles of persuasion. Are you doing what you were born to do? Have you become skilled at using clear, elegant language to say what you mean? Do you work in behalf of the best outcome rather than merely serving your ego? Do you try to understand why others feel the way they do, even if you disagree with their conclusions? I hope you call on these superpowers in the coming weeks. We all need you to be at the height of your potency.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
“One bad apple spoils the rest” is an idiom in the English language. It refers to the idea that if one apple rots as it rests in a pile of apples, the rest will quickly rot, too. It’s based on a scientific fact. As an apple decays, it emanates the gas ethylene, which speeds up decay in nearby apples. I’m wondering how the metaphor might work for you right now, Scorpio. Should you immediately expunge the bad apple in your life? Or should you critique and tolerate it? Should you worry about the possibility of contamination, or can you successfully enforce damage control? Only you know the correct answer.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Of all the signs in the zodiac, you Sagittarians know best how to have fun even when life sucks. Your daily rhythm may temporarily become a tangle of boring or annoying tasks, yet you can still summon a knack for enjoying yourself. But let me ask you this: How are your instincts for drumming up amusement when life doesn’t suck? Are you as talented at whipping up glee and inspiration when the daily rhythm is smooth and groovy? I suspect we will gather evidence to answer those questions in the coming weeks. Here’s my prediction: The good times will spur you to new heights of creating even more good times.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
More than you might realize, people look to you for leadership and regard you as a role model. This will be extra true in the coming weeks. Your statements and actions will have an even bigger impact than usual. Your influence will ripple out far beyond your sphere. In light of these developments, which may sometimes be subtle, I encourage you to upgrade your sense of responsibility. Make sure your integrity is impeccable. Another piece of advice, too: Be an inspiring example to people without making them feel like they owe you anything.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Rapper-songwriter Nicki Minaj says, “You should never feel afraid to become a piece of art. It’s exhilarating.” I will go further, Aquarius. I invite you to summon ingenuity and joy in your efforts to be a work of art. The coming weeks will be an ideal time for you to tease out more of your inner beauty so that more people can benefit from it. I hope you will be dramatic and expressive about showing the world the full array of your interesting qualities. PS: Please call on the entertainment value of surprise and unpredictability.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Author Robertson Davies declared, “One learns one’s mystery at the price of one’s innocence.” It sounds poetic, but it doesn’t apply to most of you Pisceans—especially now. Here’s what I’ve concluded: The more you learn your mystery, the more innocent you become. Please note I’m using the word “innocence” in the sense defined by author Clarissa Pinkola Estés. She wrote: “Ignorance is not knowing anything and being attracted to the good. Innocence is knowing everything and still being attracted to the good.”
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
When you Aries folks are at your best, you are drawn to people who tell you exactly what they think, who aren’t intimidated by your high energy, and who dare to be as vigorous as you. I hope you have an array of allies like that in your sphere right now. In my astrological opinion, you especially need their kind of stimulation. It’s an excellent time to invite influences that will nudge you out of your status quo and help you glide into a new groove. Are you willing to be challenged and changed?
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Author Toni Morrison thought that beauty was “an absolute necessity” and not “a privilege or an indulgence.” She said that “finding, incorporating, and then representing beauty is what humans do.” In her view, we can’t live without beauty “any more than we can do without dreams or oxygen.” All she said is even truer for Tauruses and Libras than the other signs. And you Bulls have an extra wrinkle: It’s optimal if at least some of the beauty in your life is useful. Your mandate is summed up well by author Anne Michaels: “Find a way to make beauty necessary; find a way to make necessity beautiful.” I hope you’ll do a lot of that in the coming weeks.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said, “It requires a very unusual mind to make an analysis of the obvious.” I nominate you to perform that service in the coming days, both for yourself and your allies. No one will be better able than you to discern the complexities of seemingly simple situations. You will also have extraordinary power to help people appreciate and even embrace paradox. So be a crafty master of candor and transparency, Gemini. Demonstrate the benefits of being loyal to the objective evidence rather than to the easy and popular delusions. Tell the interesting truths.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Cancerian poet Lucille Clifton sent us all an invitation: “Won’t you celebrate with me what i have shaped into a kind of life? i had no model. i made it up here on this bridge between starshine and clay, my one hand holding tight my other hand.” During October, fellow Cancerian, I propose you draw inspiration from her heroic efforts to create herself. The coming weeks will be a time when you can achieve small miracles as you bolster your roots, nourish your soulful confidence, and ripen your uniqueness.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
“Dear Rob the Astrologer: This morning I put extra mousse on my hair and blow-dried the hell out of it, so now it is huge and curly and impossibly irresistible. I’m wearing bright orange shoes so everyone will stare at my feet, and a blue silk blouse that is much too high-fashion to wear to work. It has princess seams and matches my eyes. I look fantastic. How could anyone of any gender resist drinking in my magnificence? I realize you’re a spiritual type and may not approve of my showmanship, but I wanted you to know that what I’m doing is a totally valid way to be a Leo. —Your Leo teacher Brooke.” Dear Brooke: Thank you for your helpful instruction! It’s true that I periodically need to loosen my tight grip on my high principles. I must be more open to appreciating life’s raw feed. I hope you will perform a similar service for everyone you encounter in the coming weeks.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
How to be the best Virgo you can be during the coming weeks: 1. You must relish, not apologize for, your precise obsessions. 2. Be as nosy as you need to be to discover the core truths hidden beneath the surface. Risk asking almost too many questions in your subtle drive to know everything. 3. Help loved ones and allies shrink and heal their insecurities. 4. Generate beauty and truth through your skill at knowing what needs to be purged and shed. 5. Always have your Bullsh#t Detector with you. Use it liberally. 6. Keep in close touch with the conversations between your mind and body.
WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com
(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)
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