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Russia to Create 15,000 Sq Mi of New National Parks, Reserves

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Jason Stamp
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Polar bear

Polar-bear.jpgPolar bears, walruses, sea otters, and other endangered species are all set to benefit from a Russian decision to boost its national protected areas to nearly 3 percent of its territory by 2020, an addition of land nearly equal to the size of Switzerland.

The Russian government’s decision establishes 9 new nature reserves and 13 national parks covering a total area of nearly 15,000 square miles (3.8 million hectare) by 2020. Russia is also introducing marine buffer zones over an area of nearly 4,000 square miles (1 million ha).

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FDA OKs Tiny Telescope Cure For Elderly Blindness

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eye-macular-telescope.jpg

eye-macular-telescope.jpgAn implantable device to treat macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness in the elderly, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as safe and effective, the agency said Tuesday.

The tiny telescope made by VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies Inc., is surgically implanted in one eye, as a replacement for the natural lens and projects an image to the healthy portion of the retina that has been magnified more than two times.

About 8 million people in the United States have age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and nearly 2 million of them already have significant vision loss, according to the National Eye Institute. AMD can make it difficult or impossible to recognize faces or perform daily tasks such as reading or watching television.

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China To Recycle Waste From Russia, North Korea

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recycle-logo-spanish-alvimann-morguefile.jpgChina will build a huge center to recycle wastes from Russia and North Korea, in a city that borders the two countries, local authorities said today.

The expansive center is expected to recycle nearly three million tons of scrap machines, cables, appliances, vehicles, mobile phones, batteries, plastics and other wastes each year, and is expected to create nearly 10,000 jobs, while turning a nice profit.

(READ the report from Xinhua)

NYC Makes it Easy to Recycle Clothing, in New Community Bins

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goodwill_donation_bin-cc-lic.jpg

goodwill_donation_bin-cc-lic.jpgStarting in September, New York City will launch one of the largest textile recycling initiatives in the United States. The aim is to make it easy to donate clothing in a city where some 190,000 tons of wearable textiles entered landfills in 2008 alone.

The plan would place 50 collection bins in high-traffic areas.

Not only would that clear up some room in landfills, it could also create jobs

(READ today’s AP story in TheSpec.com)

Giving Kids Social Skills to Get Ahead

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kids in england

kids_in_england.jpgGrowing up in the digital age, kids may not be regularly practicing skills that could get them into a favorite college or impress adults who might help them get a job.

A college professor was taken aback by the behavior of students in her class and decided to teach a basic social skills class for younger children who need to know that good manners and clear speaking are a requirement, not an option, for getting ahead in life.

A class for children 4 to 7 stresses the importance of eye contact and a firm handshake. They also practiced  basic greetings as well as proper phone etiquette.

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From Job Skills To People Skills: Learning U.S. Ways

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Good News Network
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Photo by Sun Star

3-woman-chanting.jpgFort Wayne, Ind., deals with multiple cultural challenges and obstacles every day as a primary relocation destination for refugees.

The city houses the largest Burmese community in the country, and cultural differences have at times divided this community.

Nearly all refugees here frequent the Refugee Resource Center. It offers services and classes in everything from how to clean a home, to proper indoor bathroom etiquette. These are sometimes new concepts for people who have only lived in rural villages or refugee camps.

One classroom teacher explains that it is important to look in Americans’ eyes when speaking. That’s different than the Asian custom of looking at the ground.

A group of first responders works with the various immigrant communities to reduce cultural barriers during emergencies.

(READ the story, or listen, at Nat’l Public Radio)

Photo courtesy of Sun Star

The Secret of Happiness: A Filmmaker Looks for the Answer, and You Can Help Him Find it

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Happy Film title

happy-film-title-graphic.jpgAn Oscar nominee film director wants you to be happy. He also wants to change the world.

Roko Belic intends to do both by finishing his documentary film, “Happy,” and he’s aiming to secure the necessary financing through an increasingly popular fund-raising website, Kickstarter.com.

After seeing a newspaper article on the world’s happiest countries, Belic decided to investigate why the U.S., though the world’s wealthiest country, ranked nowhere near the top of a global survey on happiness.

“For thousands of years, we’ve had philosophers and spiritual leaders and even comedians who talked about what made you happy,” Belic said in an interview with Speakeasy. “I wanted to know some of the science behind it.”

The funding campaign for “Happy” ends July 10. As of July 5, it had raised more than $18,742, but the project must raise $14,000 more this week to continue with its production.

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Can Cities Save Our Bees?

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Good News Network
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honey-bee

honey-bee.jpgSurprisingly, beekeepers have discovered that bees kept in urban areas are healthier and produce better honey. Fewer pesticides and a greater biodiversity help bee colonies thrive there.

Today, beehives are quietly buzzing in cities all over the globe: Chicago, Toronto, Paris, London and New York are cities where thousands of different species of plants are blossoming in the gardens and parks. Honey produced in the cities is of a better quality than that from the countryside. The cities are becoming a haven; they do not protect the bees from everything, but they offer them a break.

(READ More from the Guardian)

Africa’s Largest Wind Farm Debuts in Morocco

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wind-turbines-sunset Photo by David Loudon via Morguefile.com

wind-turbines-sunset-morguefile-david-loudon.jpgThe largest wind farm in Africa was inaugurated in Northern Morocco last week by King Mohammed VI as part of a larger renewable energy plan.

The huge wind farm, 26 miles long (42 km) and situated outside of Tangiers, boasts 165 wind turbines, offering a production capacity of 140 megawatts. Together with an already existing smaller wind farm at 54 mW, Morocco could save almost a million barrels of oil each year, and significantly reduce CO2 emissions.

Morocco’s Minister of Energy, Yamsmina Benkhadra, said the state would soon secure 42 percent of its energy via renewable sources, including wind, solar and hydraulic.


(READ more at EnergyBoom.com)

Photo by David Loudon via morguefile

Teacher’s Encouraging Notes Make Difference in Test Scores

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man-with-boy.jpg

man-with-boy.jpgA Texas middle school teacher tried an experiment that paid off handsomely this spring. He wrote personal letters to 40 of his seventh-grade students in Fort Worth praising them for the progress that they were making in his class.

The students were astounded and touched, after comparing letters, to recognize that each letter was written personally to them, rather than an exact copy.

The first-year teacher intended to inspire his students by showing them that an unrelated adult could truly care about them as human beings.

“I wanted them to feel good about themselves as they took their Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills tests, so I took this unusual approach.  It seemed to me that positive self-image could drive home more results than any form of last-minute coaching about reading and writing.

The results are in and virtually every student scored higher than his/her previous test scores would have predicted.

Congratulations goes to teacher, Drew Fletcher.

(The original story appeared in the Fort Worth Business Press)

File photo courtesy of Sun Star

 

NYC Teens Take Ferry to New School, Study Alongside the Fish

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nyc-harbor-school-teachers-maritime.jpg

nyc-harbor-school-teachers-maritime.jpgTake a free ferry from Manhattan to Governors Island and within minutes, you are transported from the bustle of the city to a picturesque, spacious and uncrowded island.

Now the park, managed in part by the National Park Service, will be the new home of the Urban Assembly Harbor School, a public high school that focuses on environmentalism and is using New York’s waters as its living laboratory. The school also offers oyster aquaculture and scuba diving classes.

The school will be relocating to the island in September from its current landlocked location in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and students will take a ferry to get there.

(READ the story in the New York Times)

A Whale of a Ship Arrives to Help Clean Up Gulf Oil Spill

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oil-spill-super-skimmer-taiwan.jpg

oil-spill-super-skimmer-taiwan.jpgGulf of Mexico cleanup crews working to block millions of gallons of oil from reaching land may soon have a giant on their side, a huge Taiwanese vessel dubbed “A Whale,” which its owners describe as the largest oil skimmer in the world.

The retrofitted oil tanker will cruise a 25-square-mile test site through Sunday, with the U.S. Coast Guard and BP waiting to see if the vessel, which is 10 stories high and as long as 3 1/2 football fields, can live up to its makers’ promise of being able to process up to 21 million gallons of oil-fouled water a day.

The ship works by taking in water through 12 vents, separating the oil and pumping the cleaned seawater back into the Gulf.

(READ the AP story at Natl Public Radio)

Happy Ending for British Child Migrant Returned Home After WWII Expulsion

By
Anthony Chambers
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child-migrant-return-honored.jpg

child-migrant-return-honored.jpgThe terrific cost of World War II, both human and financial, forced England to consider sending away thousands of its children to live in the far reaches of its empire, even ripping them from homes and families to do so. One such child experienced a happy ending, after the lad, now a man, returned from New Zealand to find his boyhood home and reunite with a mum who’d grieved over him for years.

Anthony (Tony) Chambers says he was one of the lucky ones. In a story written for the Good News Network, Tony recalled his happy life in New Zealand and his return, full circle, to the town where he was born and into his mother’s life once agin.

Photo: Tony Chambers, left, presented with the coat of arms of Hemel Hempstead, and giving the mayor of his birth town  a New Zealand “Maori Tiki” good luck charm in return — supplied by Hemel Hempstead Gazette/Victoria West.

(WATCH the moving short documentary following Tony’s story)

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Happy Ending for British Child Migrant Returned Home After WWII Expulsion

By
Anthony Chambers
-
child-migrant-return-honored.jpg

child-migrant-return-honored.jpgThe terrific cost of World War II, both human and financial, forced England to consider sending away thousands of its children to live in the far reaches of its empire, even ripping them from homes and families to do so. One such child experienced a happy ending, after the lad, now a man, returned from New Zealand to find his boyhood home and reunite with a mum who’d grieved over him for years.

Anthony (Tony) Chambers says he was one of the lucky ones. In a story written for the Good News Network, Tony recalled his happy life in New Zealand and his return, full circle, to the town where he was born and into his mother’s life once agin.

Photo: Tony Chambers, left, presented with the coat of arms of Hemel Hempstead, and giving the mayor of his birth town  a New Zealand “Maori Tiki” good luck charm in return — supplied by Hemel Hempstead Gazette/Victoria West.

(WATCH the moving short documentary following Tony’s story)

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A Declaration For All Time: Our Founding Document Retains its Genius, Even as Values Change

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Good News Network
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declaration-dunlap.jpg

declaration-dunlap.jpgIt was many years after 1776 when the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence came to be seen as the central idea — the sentence declaring that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Today, with King George’s misrule largely forgotten or forgiven, it is those two key concepts — liberty and equality — that continue to both guide and bedevil Americans. On the face of it, and especially in Jefferson’s eloquent words, they seem such clear, fundamental principles, yet 234 years later, there is still vehement disagreement about what they mean and how to apply them.

(READ the Op-Ed in the LA Times)

World’s First Solar-Powered Mobile Phone Launches

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Good News Network
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solar-guru-phone.jpg

solar-guru-phone.jpgThis past month, Samsung launched the world’s first solar-powered mobile phone, The Solar Guru E1107, to the Indian market.

Also called the Crest Solar, the new Guru is not about high-tech bells and whistles. Instead, the phone is about energy efficiency in design, charging, and consumption.

Users can charge the phone whenever and wherever the sun is shining — at their convenience.

(READ more in EnergyBoom.com)

Chevrolet Adds Four States to its Volt Electric Car Launch

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Good News Network
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Chevy Volt

chevy-volt.jpgChevrolet is adding Texas, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to the list of launch markets for the Volt — and some cities will be ready to sell the cars as early as this year. The initial launch of its groundbreaking electric car was expanded in response to intense interest in the Volt from customers across the country, according to the General Motors CEO, Ed Whitacre.

Thursday’s announcement brings the total initial Volt retail markets to seven, including California, Michigan, and Washington, D.C. The retail launch in Texas and New York will begin with Austin and New York City in late 2010. The balance of Texas and New York, as well as New Jersey and Connecticut, are scheduled to begin receiving Volts in early 2011.

“We can add markets as diverse as Texas and New York because the Chevrolet Volt can handle both urban commuting and longer trips, in Austin summers and Manhattan winters,” said Whitacre. “The Volt can be your primary vehicle, giving you the freedom to drive gas-free without the stress of planning every trip around the battery’s charge level.”

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Obama Announces $2 Billion For Solar Power

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solar-abengoa-co.jpg

solar-abengoa-co.jpgPresident Barack Obama announced Saturday the awarding of nearly $2 billion for new solar plants that he said will create thousands of jobs and increase the country’s use of renewable energy sources.

Obama disclosed the funding in his weekly radio and online address, saying it will help new industries take root here in the U.S.

(READ more in the AP story at Nat’l Public Radio)

 

Reflecting On Heroes Never Grows Old

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Good News Network
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chamberlain-lawrence.jpg

chamberlain-lawrence.jpgAs Independence Day nears for Americans, let’s reminisce on one Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the “Hero of Gettysburg.”

During the war between the states, this English professor-turned soldier fought in many key battles and was wounded six times. For his moment in history on Little Round Top, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. In the end, Ulysses S. Grant gave Chamberlain the honor of receiving the Southern surrender line at Appomattox.

In doing so, Chamberlain shocked both North and South alike by “calling his troops to attention to salute the defeated South” — offering them the highest respect.

(READ more in the column in the Broomfield Enterprise)

Agreement Reached in Gulf to Prevent Sea Turtle Burning Deaths

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Good News Network
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sea-turtle-kemps-ridley-natlparkservice.jpg

sea-turtle-kemps-ridley-natlparkservice.jpgAn agreement reached today among conservation groups, BP and the Coast Guard will ensure measures to rescue sea turtles from the surface before setting fire to oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico. The agreement came as a result of a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Turtle Island Restoration Network, Animal Welfare Institute and Animal Legal Defense Fund.

“Endangered sea turtles need all hands on deck to work toward saving them from this terrible oil spill,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s great news that BP and the Coast Guard have agreed to take steps to rescue turtles and prevent them from burning.”

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