Social scientists have shown in many studies over the years that a supportive touch can have good outcomes in a number of different realms.
Just somebody simply touching our arm and holding it, buffers the physiological consequences of the stress hormone cortisol, lights up the orbital frontal cortex, and increases the release of oxytocin, creating a pleasant sensation that promotes trust.
(READ the story or LISTEN at NPR)
After installing its first solar panels atop a California store three years ago, Kohl’s Department Stores marked a bright green milestone last week activating its 100th solar rooftop in Mays Landing, New Jersey. Solar is an integral component of the company’s commitment to be carbon neutral by the end of 2010.
One year ago, after the fall of Lehman Brothers, the U.S. government made a series of massive moves to restore stability to the financial system. And it’s clear that those actions saved the American—and thus the global—economy from total collapse (and another Great Depression).
The financial system bounced back so fast that the government will likely recover almost 90 percent of the funds it committed during those months, yet the policy remains very unpopular. Why?
Governance is sometimes about practical realities. Had the financial system gone under, the American economy would have come to a standstill. It very nearly did.
(READ the Op-Ed by Fareed Zakari in Newsweek)
Teams from Virginia, North Carolina and Switzerland have won the first Automotive X Prize, the $10 million competition to push the fuel-efficiency boundary with vehicles that achieve at least 100 miles per gallon or the energy equivalent. While two winners achieved the goal using electric motors, the top winner did it with an internal combustion engine.
The X PRIZE Foundation, an educational nonprofit, along Progressive Insurance, awarded $10 million Thursday to three teams —Edison2 of Lynchburg, Virginia; X-Tracer of Winterthur, Switzerland; and Li-ion Motors Corp. of Mooresville, North Carolina — from an original field of 111 competing teams, representing 136 vehicle entries from around the world. The winning vehicles were showcased to an audience of auto industry, business and government leaders.
Teams from Virginia, North Carolina and Switzerland have won the first Automotive X Prize, the $10 million competition to push the fuel-efficiency boundary with vehicles that achieve at least 100 miles per gallon or the energy equivalent. While two winners achieved the goal using electric motors, the top winner did it with an internal combustion engine.
The X PRIZE Foundation, an educational nonprofit, along Progressive Insurance, awarded $10 million Thursday to three teams —Edison2 of Lynchburg, Virginia; X-Tracer of Winterthur, Switzerland; and Li-ion Motors Corp. of Mooresville, North Carolina — from an original field of 111 competing teams, representing 136 vehicle entries from around the world. The winning vehicles were showcased to an audience of auto industry, business and government leaders.
The number of people in the world suffering chronic malnutrition fell for the first time in 15 years — down 9.3 percent in 2010, according to the United Nations’ food agency. – FAO
It wasn’t only government who made the South African World Cup a success. It was the 15,000 citizens who volunteered — South Africans who experienced patriotism like they hadn’t felt in years, or maybe ever.
The camaraderie and shared experiences of ordinary citizens gave strangers a sense of belonging and left us with the realization that we are able to achieve what we set our minds to.
Positive media reports boosted our confidence and created a new self-image, one that led a South African citizen to believe, “I can make a difference”.
Following on from there, we have seen a movement for good spreading throughout the country, so much so that it has become fashionable to do good.
(READ the Op/Ed in Good News South Africa)
Today is Jada Pinkett Smith’s birthday and along with her husband Will Smith, she has joined Charity Water in celebrating both their September birthdays by asking friends and fans to make donations to help build water projects in developing nations. In the last two days they have raised over $19,000.
The Smiths are hosting a contest where the top three fundraisers who start their own birthday campaigns will join the Smith family on a trip to visit the completed water projects in Africa.
WATCH the Smith’s video below, and read more…
Today is Jada Pinkett Smith’s birthday and along with her husband Will Smith, she has joined Charity Water in celebrating both their September birthdays by asking friends and fans to make donations to help build water projects in developing nations. In the last two days they have raised over $19,000.
The Smiths are hosting a contest where the top three fundraisers who start their own birthday campaigns will join the Smith family on a trip to visit the completed water projects in Africa.
WATCH the Smith’s video below, and read more…
Oscar winner Denzel Washington joined Youth of the Year, Mona Dixon to launch an effort to lift high school dropout rates in cities across America. 30 percent of high school students do not graduate and the numbers are much worse for black males.
Mona’s life of moving from living on streets to shelters, changed forever when a stranger paid a $20 fee for her to join the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, for which Denzel has been the spokesperson for some 15 years. Dixon is now a college student in Arizona.
WATCH the video below, and see what you can do to create more Mona Dixons…
Atlantic cod stocks are recovering in the Grand Banks, southeast of Newfoundland, new fisheries figures show.
In the last three years cod stocks have grown 69 percent, in part due to a moratorium on cod fishing in the Grand Banks imposed in 1994.
The population is still far lower than levels from the 1960’s.
(READ more from Canada’s CBC)
Joining the Canadian soccer team and preparing to compete in the Homeless World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, are players whom “street soccer” delivered from drug addiction, alcohol and homelessness.
WATCH the Global TV video from CNN…
The dog who escaped from airline handlers at Newark Airport on August 14 and inspired dozens to search for weeks in nearby neighborhoods has been found and reunited with her family.
The broken-hearted owners had returned last month to their home in San Diego without their 4-year-old lab mix. They were plenty worried because the dog had never been forced to survive on her own.
The dog who escaped from airline handlers at Newark Airport on August 14 and inspired dozens to search for weeks in nearby neighborhoods has been found and reunited with her family.
The broken-hearted owners had returned last month to their home in San Diego without their 4-year-old lab mix. They were plenty worried because the dog had never been forced to survive on her own.
Leading by example, the US federal government, under orders from Barack Obama to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent over the next ten years, reported recently on good progress achieved so far.
The federal government is the single largest consumer of energy in the U.S., a nation that uses more fossil fuels than any other in the world.
Changing work habits, procurement practices, building designs and vehicle choices create a huge impact due to the sheer numbers involved: 1.8 million civilian workers, half a million buildings and 600,000 vehicles.
A gang of burglars who cased out a pet shop had hatched a simple plan – but they didn’t count on one maverick parrot.
When they broke in, the feathers flew and it was their blood left on the walls. The raiders spotted Jack in his cage and foolishly tried to make off with him — their biggest mistake.
(READ the story in the UK’s Metro)
To fulfill a 3-book contract for his publisher before taking office in January 2009, President Barack Obama finished writing a children’s book, an illustrated tribute to 13 American leaders.
Unveiled this week, Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, has already rocketed into the top of the Amazon.com charts, two months before its scheduled release.
The proportion of women in sub-Saharan Africa who died because of pregnancy fell by more than a quarter between 1990 and 2008, according to estimates released yesterday.
Twenty years ago, the region’s maternal mortality ratio was 870 deaths per 100,000 live births, the worst rate of any region in the world.
But, in 2008, it was 640, according to data published jointly by the World Health Organization, UN Children’s Fund (UNFPA), the UN Population Fund and the World Bank.
Globally, the ratio fell by 34 percent, from 400 to 260, states the report, noting that this represented an annual decline of 2.3 percent.
“There was a 26 percent reduction in maternal death rates in sub-Saharan Africa and this data is encouraging,” Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of UNFPA, told IRIN.
There are increasing efforts in countries to train more midwives, provide family planning, and strengthen hospitals and health centres to provide care to pregnant women.
“We welcome and are thrilled by the decline, which shows that interventions are working,” Obaid said. But we need to do more.”
Data were collected in 172 countries. 63 provided complete information from civil registration systems and good attribution of causes of death for the estimates. The total estimate worldwide is less than half the reduction needed to achieve the fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG), which concerns maternal health. (IRIN News)
We love stealth art campaigns here at the Good News Network, like PARK(ing) spots created in San Francisco, and soon to be in DC, the traffic cone art, and the ultimate artist bandit who added a helpful route number to a California freeway sign.
This summer, John Morse created “Roadside Haiku,” an installation of nearly 500 ‘bandit signs’ throughout the city of Atlanta, each offering one of ten different haiku. Though at a glance they look like typical signs offering weight loss, quick money, debt counseling, etc., upon closer inspection the 17-syllable haiku reveals poetic perspectives on the urban condition, easily consumed during the brief seconds of a traffic stop.
Jonny Hawkins is a fulltime cartoonist from Sherwood, Michigan, where he lives with his wife and three kids. See the collection of Good News Giggles on Jonny’s GNN author page. His work has appeared in over 400 publications and in his own books and line of cartoon-a-day calendars.
His recently released title, The Awesome Book of Dog Humor
