This elegant park bench does not just give weary pedestrians a place to rest their feet – it also absorbs as much air pollution as 275 trees, but in a tiny fraction of space.
The CityTree bench is the work of Green City Solutions, a Dresden-based design company that creates innovative and environmentally-friendly solutions for urban infrastructure.
The CityTree bench harbors 1,682 pots of moss that absorb dirt, soot, and other pollutants from the air. The solar-powered technology that is built into the bench can monitor particulate matter in the surrounding air and maintain its own watering system.
The materials used to build the bench are easily recyclable and can be assembled within a matter of hours. The surface of the bench is graffiti-proof to prevent vandalism – and it comes with built-in Wifi for the modern city goer.
Since its creation, CityTrees have been installed in Oslo, Amsterdam, London, Berlin and Paris.
Grow Some Positivity: Click To Share The News With Your Friends (Photo by Green City Solutions)
In a groundbreaking agreement, all 15 members of the Los Angeles City Council have pledged to build 222 housing units for homeless people in each of their own districts.
Each lawmaker will have until July 1st, 2020 to finish building the units in addition to any units already approved since last summer.
According to TheLos Angeles Times, the pledge ensures that each district will host an equal amount of units so that the homeless population will not be shoved into a corner of the city or centered in one area. While the pledge is not legally binding, each council member has agreed to pull their own weight in the city’s struggle to end homelessness.
“We see too much fearfulness by elected officials and neighborhood leaders and others that if you provide services to the homeless, if you build housing for the homeless, somehow that’s going to create additional problems for the neighborhood,” said council member Paul Krekorian at a news conference last month. “I’m here to say, this is the solution to problems in the neighborhood.”
The units will put the city on track of its goal of building at least 10,000 units for homeless residents within the next 10 years.
With Los Angeles voters backing a $1.2 billion bill (Proposition HHH) to fund homeless housing and supportive services last year, the city is well on its way to achieving those ambitions.
Click To Share The Exciting News With Your Friends(Photo by Levi Clancy, CC)
Aaron Alambat was ready to go all out for the best birthday party ever.
The 12-year-old’s party, which was themed around the hit Netflix sci-fi series “Stranger Things”, had everything from Demogorgon-flavored juice to Christmas lights and a decorated cake.
Unfortunately, the cool decorations failed to lure out the eight classmates who he had invited to the party.
my brother invited 8 of his classmates for his stranger things themed bday party & none of their punk selves showed up pic.twitter.com/Rw8wC5uNjo
Aaron’s faithful older sister Ayen took photos of the stellar party and posted them to Twitter with a call-out caption aimed at her brother’s mouth-breather classmates.
“My brother invited 8 of his classmates for his Stranger Things themed bday party & none of their punk selves showed up,” wrote Ayen.
While the party theme may not have been enough to impress Aaron’s peers, it certainly caught the eye of social media users. Ayen’s pictures of the party were shared thousands of times until the finally caught the eye of Millie Bobby Brown, the young actress who plays Eleven on the show.
The child star wished Aaron a happy birthday and asked for an invitation to next year’s birthday party.
What!!!! Oh Well You can let them all know that everyone on behalf on Stranger things would’ve come! I think your awesome and next year I would like an invite... Please? ??? https://t.co/gNir0sMpsm
While Aaron reassured social media by saying that he was planning on avoiding his classmates’ future birthday parties as payback, he can certainly be sure that his own birthday will have a much more fantastic guest list next year.
Don’t Let This Story Fall Into The Upside Down: Click To Share (Photo by Ayen Alambat)
Despite this pup’s excitement over an approaching bus, he isn’t looking for a ride – he’s waiting for his special delivery of food.
The Canadian bus driver, who prefers to remain anonymous, first caught sight of the stray dog on her route two years ago. The emaciated hound had been pawing through trash cans to try and find something to eat.
Thankfully, the bus driver is also a volunteer for Feed the Furbabies Canada – a nonprofit dedicated to feeding the country’s population of stray animals.
Ever since she first saw the dog two years ago, the bus driver has always made sure to bring a bag of dog food for the stray – and the dog is always eagerly waiting to meet her.
“She has continued to feed him every day, Monday to Friday, at the same location,” Kareena Grywinski, founder of Feed The Furbabies Canada, told The Dodo. “He sits and patiently waits every day no matter what the weather is like.”
According to the nonprofit, there are tons of stray animals in the area that are in need of a home, but there isn’t enough room in animal shelters to harbor them.
“This community has over a 100 dogs needing to be rescued; it breaks our hearts that we can’t take them all home. There just aren’t enough foster homes available for these precious pets,” says Grywinski. “[But] we do the best we can by providing them food and dog houses until a space opens up in a rescue for them.”
While the details about the stray dog are unknown, one thing is for sure – he has made a spectacular transformation since the bus driver took him under her wing.
(WATCH the video below)
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Quote of the Day: “Our strength will continue if we allow ourselves the courage to feel scared, weak, and vulnerable.” – Melody Beattie
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?
The Lesson: In this podcast, Tim Ferriss hosts a panel of speakers who are experts on failure, bad investments, and financial mishaps. All five of them have accumulated loads of useful advice on entrepreneurship and business – and over the course of this episode, they discuss their favorite failures, their most worthwhile investments, and their advice for college students may be about to enter “the real world”.
Notable Excerpt: “My field is that of global finance – and virtually all investors have been told when they were younger … that the more they understand the world, the better their investment results. It makes sense, doesn’t it? The more information we acquire and evaluate, the ‘better informed we become’ and the better our decisions. Accumulating information and becoming better informed is certainly an advantage in numerous (if not most) fields, but not in the counter-intuitive world of investing …
“… Beyond a certain amount of information, (a certain minimal amount) additional information only feeds confirmation bias, leaving aside the considerable cost and delay occasioned in acquiring that information. The additional information we gain that conflicts with our original assessment or conclusion, we conveniently ignore or dismiss, while the information that confirms our original decision makes us increasingly certain that our conclusion was correct.”
The Guests: Adam Robinson is a US Chess Federation life master and a co-founder of The Princeton Review who appears on the show to give his two cents on classic investment mistakes. Debbie Millman is a writer, designer, educator, artist, brand consultant and host of the podcast Design Matters, the longest-running and first ever podcast show about design. Neil Strauss is a New York Times bestselling author, transformational journalist, and ghostwriter. Scott Belsky is an American entrepreneur, author and early-stage investor best known for co-creating the online portfolio platform, Behance, Inc. Lastly, Veronica Belmont is a media personality who used to co-host the show Tekzilla.
The Host: Over the course of his career, Ferriss has become a one-time national Chinese kickboxing champion, a lecturer at Princeton University, a professional breakdancer on MTV, a horseback archer, and a multimillionaire author, motivational speaker, and investor. If that isn’t impressive enough, his critically-acclaimed podcast, the Tim Ferriss Show, was also voted #1 in its category on iTunes.
Lisa Ann McKenzie has spent the last two years trying to cut the hair of a 10-year-old boy with autism – and not only has her most recent breakthrough resulted in a successful haircut for the boy, but it has also led dozens of other special needs kids to her chair as well.
McKenzie first met Jordie Rowlands when she was working at a barbershop in Northlakes, Australia. Jordie’s parents had brought in the youngster for a haircut and he was to be McKenzie’s first ever nonverbal client in the course of her 30-year career.
Unfortunately, it was a total disaster.
The experience was too frightening for the youngster, and even though McKenzie diligently followed Jordie around the shop and lie on the ground with him, she was only able to get a few snips in before he became too agitated.
“I felt that I’d failed, and it made me want to do better,” McKenzie told the Washington Post. “It made me want to learn more about autism so I could connect with him and take away his fear.”
Determined to succeed, McKenzie asked Jordie’s parents to bring the youngster in to the shop every two weeks at closing time. She also refused to charge them any money for her attempted services.
Despite trying dozens of different methods, however, McKenzie was still unable to cute Jordie’s hair. She even tried cutting the boy’s hair at home, but to no avail.
To make matters more frustrating, the owner of the barbershop found out about Jordie’s appointments and disciplined McKenzie for cutting a client’s hair after hours.
“Working for a chain barber, you have to be robots with everything black and white [and] no grey areas!!” McKenzie wrote on Facebook. “I quit shortly after without any plans for my future.”
After leaving the store in Northlakes, she opened her own shop called the Celtic Barber Rothwell Central.
Jordie continued making regular visits to her shop – and then a few weeks ago, McKenzie had a breakthrough with the youngster: she started singing “The Wheels On The Bus”.
“I didn’t know he was into nursery rhymes, I was just trying to calm him,” she told The Post. “He looked at me like mesmerized. I had him. That was it.”
After two years of perseverance, McKenzie was finally able to give Jordie a full haircut.
“Tears were rolling down my face. His mom was crying, his dad was crying, all of us,” she said.
“Jordie now walks in holding my hand and sits in the chair with a gown on. We get through the cut our own special way and he now manages a full haircut and we can style it. Amazingly, he now interacts with me and I even get a hug at the end!” McKenzie wrote on Facebook.
After posting a video of her success on Facebook, news of her abilities spread around town and she now has 100 special needs customers. In order to accommodate her new clients, McKenzie has trained her four other barbers on how to properly work with them as well.
The shop also sets aside one Sunday out of the month for autism-friendly appointments only.
“The Celtic Barber family is very proud to be an autistic-friendly barber and to think outside the box!” she says.
(WATCH the video below)
Cut Negativity Out Of Your Life: Click To Share(Photo by Lisa Ann Elizabeth McKenzie)
The world is abuzz with news of a Scottish woman who may have been the first person to ever own a bumblebee as a pet.
55-year-old Fiona Presly first found her tiny friend when she was working in her garden last spring.
When the library assistant found that the insect had been born without wings, she took the bee inside and kept it cozy in a crate filled with flowers and grasses.
Presly told the Scotsman: “I put my hand down in front of her and she crawled on to it right away. I looked at her and thought, ‘Something’s not right here, she’s got no wings.’”
“She made sort of clicks, buzzy sounds when she was in close contact with me and was happy to sit and groom, eat, drink and sleep on my hand,” she added.
As the weather outside of Presly’s home in Inverness started to worsen, she realized that the buff-tailed bumblebee queen would not survive in the wilderness on her own – so she adopted it as a pet.
The insect, which Presly named “Bee”, became the woman’s house-trained companion.
“We were both very comfortable with each other, and many people admired this bond,” says Presly. “She was totally relaxed with me. People have a bond with their dog or cat and even their hamster. I think I have proved here that you can have a relationship with an insect.”
While not much is known about how bees may or may not experience emotions, bee psychologist Lars Chittka from the Queen Mary University of London says that Bee’s bond with Presly may be based on a physical connection.
“The desired state for a bumblebee queen is to be surrounded by other bees, therefore it seems plausible that such an individual should feel something rewarding from being surrounded by living beings,” says Chittka. “Also the queen might feel the opposite of that when alone, because this would signify it hadn’t succeeded in founding a colony.
That being said, the friendship is still a mystery to researchers.
“No scientist to my knowledge has tested whether bees, even with each other, form some sort of emotional relations. So I think it’s quite remarkable that a layman would make such detailed observations that actually get scientists to scratch their heads and ask what’s going on there.”
Click To Share This Unbeelievable Story With Your Friends(Photo by Fiona Presly)
Quote of the Day: “Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
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?
The Lesson: Recently, serial entrepreneur James Altucher gave away all of his earthly possessions and decided to live the life of a nomad with no place to call home. Why? In order to attain the one thing money can’t buy: happiness. James tells Dave how his nomadic lifestyle has allowed him to increase his creativity, mental well-being and how it’s allowed him to finally find contentment.
Notable Excerpt: “Of course there’s big decisions like, ‘Who should I be in a relationships with? Where should I live?’ And all that stuff, but then there’s just thousands of mini decisions where, ‘My wifi is down, who do I call to fix it?’ Or things like, ‘I gotta buy a chair for this’ or ‘I’ve gotta maintain this.’ … What I wanted to do was make a larger percentage of the day – every day let’s say we make ten thousand choices, big and small – so I wanted to make a bigger percentage of my choices about what I really want to do as opposed to things that I have to do or choices that I have to make … I’m sentimental for some of the things I’ve thrown out, but it’s not about being perfectly happy all the time. It’s about, today, making as many choices as possible that I want to make.”
The Guest:James Altucher is a self-made millionaire, best-selling author, podcast host, and venture capitalist. In addition to writing half a dozen books on reinvention and self-fulfillment, he has appeared on a number of critically-acclaimed podcasts, panels, and shows for his wisdom.
The Host: Dave Asprey, the CEO and Founder of Bulletproof, is a biohacker (changing his environment from the inside-out to have full control of his biology). For nearly two decades, he’s been questioning the status quo of nutrition and medicine so he could feel better—and have more energy in his 40s than he had in his 20s. Join more than 1 million biohackers who follow Bulletproof for leading-edge information on how to supercharge your body and upgrade your brain.
When a thief stole Amanda Needham’s bike from the front of her home, she left a giant angry sign in its place as an expression of frustration. Though she was not expecting anything to come from the sign, she was surprised when it spurred several strangers to knock on her door.
Needham’s trusty bike was stolen last Saturday night while it was chained up in front of her home in Brooklyn. Heartbroken by the injustice, she left a note for the thief in bright yellow paint on a piece of cardboard eight feet wide.
The note read: “To the person who stole my bicycle. I hope you need it more than I do. It was $200 used, and I need it to get to work. I can’t afford another one. Next time, steal a hipster’s Peugeot. Or not steal! PS: Bring it back.”
“I felt a little foolish writing the sign,” Needham wrote in a blog post. “After all, if my husband and I had spent nearly as much time double securing my bicycle as I did writing the sign, I might not be in the situation. But I knew other people’s bicycles had been stolen in the neighborhood, and the least I could do was acknowledge what had happened. I left it up for seven days.”
A few days after hanging the sign, two young men knocked on Needham’s door with a blue teenager-sized mountain bike in hand. One of the gentlemen said that his own bike had also been stolen from the neighborhood, and he wanted to give Needham the replacement bike so she could get to work.
“I was flustered by the offer and tried to deflect, saying I really appreciated it, but wasn’t sure if I’d be able to use it. What was clear, however, was that it wasn’t about the bicycle, it was about their desire to help. I accepted, touched by the humanity of the gesture,” says Needham.
A few more days later, a middle-aged woman stopped by and said that she worked in the neighborhood, saw the sign, and had made her husband drive the car around the block for a second time so she could knock on Needham’s door and ask her what kind of bicycle she needed.
As a means of celebrating the Year of the Dog, you can now see this Japanese city from the perspective of a pup.
On Friday, Google unveiled the first ever visuals of its new Maps feature called “Pup View”.
The feature is similar to the app’s “Street View”, which allows viewers to get 360-degree images of city streets from a pedestrian’s perspective – except “Pup View” is from the perspective of a dog.
Google workers in the northern city of Ōdate recruited the help of three intrepid Japanese Akitas named Ako, Asuka and Puuko for the mission. The pups were then taken on scenic walks through the city with 360-degree cameras strapped to their backs.
Since the “Pup View” visuals explores many of Ōdate’s off-road hotspots, city workers hope that the fun feature will help encourage tourism.
“Google Street View is extremely valuable because people can enjoy views in addition to map information. It might be interesting to create 360-degree video from [an] Akita dog’s point of view,” said Shimada Kyosuke, the director of Odate City’s tourism division.
“Beautiful views with [the] fuzzy coat of [an] Akita dog is special and unique idea that only Odate city can provide,” he added.
(WATCH the video with subtitles below)
Click To Share The Pawesome News With Your Friends (Photo by Google)
Nova Scotia has just became the first Canadian province to officially ban the practice of electively declawing cats.
The ban was originally passed by the Nova Scotia Veterinary Medical Association in December, but now after a 3-month processing period, the procedure will only be allowed if it is medically necessary for the cat or owner.
If a veterinarian is found in violation of the ban, they could lose their license to practice.
Animal welfare organizations oppose the surgery because it’s a painful procedure that is typically done to save furniture despite many cats displaying physical and mental complications in the years following the operation. Over 20 other countries in the world and several American cities have already adopted declawing bans because it’s considered animal cruelty.
Some pet owners and projects opposed the bill because they believe that the reasons behind such an act is between an animal caregiver and their veterinarian.
However, studies show that declawed cats have increased chances of being relinquished to shelters – and thus euthanasia – because of behavioral tendencies that follow declawing, such as soiling the carpet and increased aggression. Additionally, cities and regions that have enacted declawing bans alongside educational programs and resources on pet care have actually seen a reduction in animal shelter intake or no causal link at all.
According to CBC, retired veterinarian and anti-declawing advocate Hugh Chisholm said: “I see declawing as a mutilation of an animal for no direct benefit to the animal. It’s something that’s done mostly to protect furniture.
“There will always be people who will do it, there will always be people who will want it done, unless there’s a ban in place. That’s why we do need the ban. Because one declaw is one too many.”
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Zachery Long didn’t didn’t mean to cause concern when he ran into the woods earlier this week – he just really did not want to get stitches.
The 10-year-old had just wrecked his bike and returned to his home in Chesterfield, Virginia on Tuesday night when his parents said that he may have to go to the hospital to get his injury treated.
Zachery, who “once had a bad experience with stitches”, fled into the woods in fear.
The community then launched a search effort to track down the frightened youngster. Zachery’s parents, the neighbors, and local police officers spent four hours trying to find him and console his anxiety.
Quote of the Day: “You cannot achieve mastery by patterning yourself after another, or by following custom or tradition. Sheep and plodders do that… To enjoy enduring success, we should travel a little in advance of the world.” – John McDonald
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?
If you have ever mourned the number of cigarette butts littering your local streets, take heart that they can actually be used as a resource to produce new products—and you can get involved.
Terracycle is a New Jersey-based firm that has been doing great things for over ten years, specializing in recycling the “unrecyclable”, including plastic packaging, diapers, and cigarette butts.
The company has partnered with businesses, cities, and consumers around the world to collect used filters so they can be ‘upcycled’ into something useful.
Instead of throwing the butts into a trash can, after which they end up in landfills, Terracycle distributes designated cigarette receptacles for smokers to trash the butts. Once the receptacles are full and returned to Terracycle, the filters—which are made of a tougher kind of plastic material called cellulose acetate—can then be melted down and used for things like park benches and shipping pallets.
The recycling process can get pretty expensive, but Terracycle receives funding from cigarette manufacturers to help cover the costs of the program so the service is free for cities and individual participants.
As an added incentive for people to engage in the project, Terracycle also donates $1 to the Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention program for every pound of cigarette butts they receive.
It has been two years since John Dickhout endured a massive heart attack that left him in dire need of a new organ. At the same time, 22-year-old Adam Prashaw passed away following a severe seizure and Dickhout received his heart.
Thanks to a successful operation and recovery, John was able to run his first marathon since the surgery – and Adam’s father, Rick, showed up to cheer him on.
When John crossed the finish line, Prashaw Sr. was there to greet him with a hug, clapping and cheering for the accomplishment of the man who was thriving with his son’s heart.
“It was just like watching my kid in a hockey game,” Prashaw told CTV News. “Seeing [John] just living and choosing life … all because of Adam’s gift means the world to us.”
(WATCH the video below)
Click To Share The Heartwarming Story With Your Friends – Photo by CTV News
Moyo the baby elephant was only a few days old when his loving human mother found him orphaned and alone on the shores of a lake in Zimbabwe.
After searching the area for his herd and waiting four days to see if the pachyderms would return, Roxy Danckwerts and the other conservationists at Wild is Life Zen Sanctuary determined that Moyo was alone.
Danckwerts took the young elephant into her care – and they have been virtually inseparable ever since.
With 15 months of therapy and care, Moyo has overcome much of the trauma imprinted by his abandonment and near drowning at Lake Kariba; and this week, he was finally able to overcome his fear of large bodies of water.
An endearing video published by the BBC shows Danckwerts and Moyo’s canine companion Josephine trying to coax the nervous orphan into the water.
Once he discovers that there is nothing to be afraid of, he starts to play in the water. Danckwerts, meanwhile, can’t stop smiling over Moyo’s victory.
(WATCH the video below)
Make A Splash: Click To Share The Sweet Video With Your Friends – Photo by BBC
Quote of the Day: “Out of nowhere, my wife showed up—big smile on her face—and she’d made me a sandwich. She cut it in half diagonally, poured Fritos in the middle, and gave me an ice cold beer. That’s love, right?” – Bill Burr
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?
According to Volkswagen, the future is looking groovy.
The German automaker recently announced that they would be releasing an electronic version of the iconic hippie microbus by 2022. The bus, which is being called The Buzz, is one of 30 electronic models that the company hopes to release to the public.
In addition to the remodeled bus, Volkswagen has also released the concept art for two other models – a hatchback and a crossover SUV –that will pave the way for a more environmentally-friendly line of cars.
“For me, the Buzz concept is the most beautiful and most exciting electric car in the world,” said Dr. Herbert Diess, Chairman of the Board of Management for the Volkswagen brand in California.
“Our goal is clear: we want to make the fully electric, fully connected car a bestseller around the world. The iconic car of the electric age must be a Volkswagen.”
“These cars will offer everything – and even more – than you have seen from other electric carmakers,” says Diess. “And they will be much more affordable.”
Plus, as a means of reconciling for their heinous history of diesel-fueled engines and pollution, WIRED says that Volkswagen has agreed to pour millions of dollars into funding the expansion of charging stations across America.
(WATCH the promo video below)
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