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Ponds of Poop Turned into Clean Power for 16% of Pork Production in Australia

By
Andy Corbley
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CAT
CAT

Ranchers in Australia are gradually allowing the “back end” of their animals to take care of their own back end when it comes to electricity costs by converting pig and cow excrement into fuel for biogas power plants.

“Piggeries” as they’re called in Australia, don’t have a reputation for clean or for green, but are now greener than vegetables as far as climate change is concerned, after concerted effort and investment from industry organizations and individual ranchers have turned pork into the second-lowest GHG producing agricultural source in the country.

Jock Charles operates Berrybank Piggery, and it was 27 years ago he started investing into waste-to-energy systems on his property where he rears 20,000 pigs at any given time. Traditionally, waste from pigs is collected and dumped into “effluent ponds,” where it’s treated with anaerobic bacteria to break it down.

Now Charles, who built a bio-digester, simply pumps it into a machine that operates in parallel to a pig’s stomach. There, bacteria breaks waste down into harmless manure, producing methane in the process. This methane is converted by a turbine into heat, which generates 90% of Berrybank’s electricity needs.

“We are producing about the same as we use, but during the day when we’re running the feed mill and a few other things, we are pulling some power in from the grid, and then in the evening, we export power,” Charles told ABC Australia. 

Charles said it reduced energy costs by 90%, but that it also makes the piggery a much more pleasant place to work, as it provides a quicker disposal option for the 80,000 liters of liquid waste per day.

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“Seventy per cent of odor from piggeries comes out of lagoons or ponds [that are used to store manure], so if you can eliminate the ponds, which we’ve been able to do, then you’re only dealing with 30 per cent [of the smell].”

A good neighbor

Biogas energy is transforming the Australian pork industry, with a study from the Grattin Institute showing that now only 2% of all ag-related emissions come from pork, which is less even than vegetable production. Furthermore, Australian Pork Limited, an industry research firm, says that 80% of all farm emissions can be reduced by using biogas, and that 16% of all piggeries in the country are now operating bio-digesters for manure management and for green energy generation.

But it’s not just piggeries that are benefiting from this manure-powered movement, and Mr. Charles actually helped a nearby dairy farm at Bungaree install their own bio-digester for the same reasons.

Mark Trigg runs a robotic dairy farm there, which produces tens of thousands of liters of manure which the bio-digester turns into enough electricity to cover half of the dairy’s demand.

RELATED: Malawi Inventor Lights Up His Whole Village Basically for Free–Starting With a Bicycle and a River

Furthermore, Trigg and his parent company, Gekko Systems, which runs a gold mine of all things, are able to take the solids leftover from the process and turn them into fertilizer. Charles has been making fertilizer for years, and his bio-digester at Berrybank produces 20 different varieties currently sold on the market.

Gekko Systems, whose owner Sandy Gray loves farming and “ended up in mining by mistake,” believes the technology could be used on mining operations in remote locations. He’s looking at creating a shipping-container-sized model of the bio-digester and biogas engine for that purpose.

“We’ve got interest from a mining company in human waste, they’ve got communities they’ve got to deal with in remote areas,” he told ABC Australia.

It goes back to that old chestnut about one man’s trash, except in this case it’s one man’s waste is another man’s want.

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Thousands Have Donated $1.6 Million to Innocent Man Freed From Prison After 43-Year Wrongful Conviction

By
Andy Corbley
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Midwest Innocence Project / GoFundMe

An innocent man who served 43 years in prison for a triple murder he did not commit was finally released from a Missouri penitentiary.

Missouri law states that only DNA evidence can lead to someone wrongfully imprisoned receiving $50 per day of post-conviction confinement. Kevin Strickland was not freed that way. So, to help him on his way, a GoFundMe campaign was launched—and it has raised $1.65 million from caring strangers.

Strickland was sent to prison in 1979, but has maintained his innocence for four decades. He was charged for the murder of three people, and an eyewitness, Cynthia Douglas, was pressured by police to pick Strickland out of a lineup, after he was arrested merely on a hunch.

RELATED: Convict Learns Law, Wins Own Release, Now Works in Court of Appeals

He said he was watching television at the time, and no physical evidence ever linked him to the crime scene.

Ms. Douglas would later approach the Missouri Innocents Project with the desire to recant her testimony, but died before she was able to. Her children stated it was her will to see Strickland be freed, which prompted a re-examination of his case leading to his release.

MORE: Watch Exonerated Man Reunite With Puppy He Had Raised in Prison

Among the fundraiser’s contributors were moving messages of support.

Douglas Newel donated $25, saying, “Realizing how many people have contributed to this cause and reading through some of the messages has made my heart feel at least a little bit better. I hope it does the same for Kevin.”

“Look forward,” wrote William Elliot alongside his $100 donation. “Don’t allow yourself to be a prisoner of the past. You are now in charge of your life. Live boldly!”

‘Blackstone’s Ratio,’ written in 1760, says “the law holds that it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.”

U.S. Founding Father Benjamin Franklin took that principle further, turning 10 into 100—and in that spirit the fundraiser has seen 29,000 people step in to do their part, hoping to make up for the flaws in their society.

(WATCH the ABC video for this story below.)

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“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill (born 147 years ago)

By
Good News Network
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Nghia Le

Quote of the Day: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill (born 147 years ago today)

Photo: by Nghia Le

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?

 

Youth Hailed for Providing Renewable Energy to 10,000 People Without Using Battery, Wind, Sun, or Water

By
Andy Corbley
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Chegg.org
Chegg.org/YouTube

Growing up in Sierra Leone, a young man who saw a problem and was determined to fix it has been awarded international prizes for excellence in innovation.

Jeremiah Thoronka invented a machine that delivers electricity to homes through absorbing kinetic energy from vehicles passing over roadways. The device powers 150 small homes, doesn’t rely on changing weather patterns, and needs no battery or external power infrastructure.

Out of 3,500 contestants, Thoronka picked up the $100,000 reward for his work at the Chegg.org Global Student Prize 2021. He also won the regional top student award from Commonwealth.org, and another £3,000 ($4,000) to go with it.

Hollywood mega from Down Under, Hugh Jackman, presented the award virtually, saying, “You’ve made an enormous difference to your community and far beyond. I’m sure that you will now use this incredible platform to make an even bigger impact.”

“It’s amazing, it’s wonderful. Words can’t express how I feel about this,” Thoronka was quoted as saying.

Sierra Leone has some of the least-established and least-reliable power grids on Earth, with only 26% of people having access to electricity. As a pupil, Thoronka describes seeing students fall behind who did not have adequate access to lighting in their homes for studying after dark.

MORE: Winner of 2021 Dyson Award Goes to First Ever Device to Monitor Glaucoma Symptoms From Home

At 17 he launched his startup, Optim Energy, to power homes via kinetic energy transfer. Once buried under a road it converts heat, pressure, and movement into electric currents without anyone being aware of it.

“I wanted to develop a more sustainable energy system, educate people about energy efficiency and stop their overuse of natural resources,” he told the BBC in a feature piece. “The Sun is not always shining, water is drying up, fossil fuels are not always going to be used, but people are always moving.”

RELATED: Tiny Wind Turbine That Generates Power From Your Apartment Balcony Wins Award

At a pilot program in Thoronka’s hometown of Makawo, Optim Energy successfully deployed two devices which powered 150 nearby homes and 15 schools, totaling services to more than 10,000 people, 9,000 of whom were students. He is currently looking to expand into the healthcare sector, presumably utilizing the busy roads and walkways near hospitals to generate required power for vaccine refrigeration.

“The device will mean more time for children to study and be digitally included in what is happening in the world, as well as the support of other economic activities which are desperately needed to move the country forward,” said Winnie Muchina from the African Leadership University in Rwanda.

(WATCH Thoronka receive his award below. )

(LEARN more about Thoronka’s innovation in this video.)

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New Procedure Could Improve Quality of Life for Millions of People after Knee Replacement Surgery

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Good News Network
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Credit: cottonbro

A new medical procedure could improve quality of life for millions of people after they undergo knee replacement surgery.

The treatment offers arthritis patients long term pain relief and an alternative to highly addictive painkillers, say scientists.

Arthritis or similar health conditions can make the joints, including knees and hips, extremely painful.

A growing number of patients are getting knee replacement surgery in the hope of regaining some mobility and quality of life. But between 15 and 30 percent of those who go under the knife continue to experience pain and stiffness. While some decide to go through surgery again, there is no guarantee this will solve the problem.

Now, scientists in the United States have tested a new procedure which could offer them long-term relief at last.

Assistant professor Felix Gonzalez at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta said, “A lot of patients don’t achieve any resolution of pain.

“It’s a big problem, and up till now, there weren’t any other options.”

MORE: Sufferers Living With Severe Arthritis Could be Given Lasting Pain Relief Thanks to a New Technique

The procedure, dubbed cooled radio frequency ablation (C-RFA), involves using a large needle to target specific nerve locations around the knee while the patient is under general anaesthetic.

A probe is then guided to the location before emitting a low voltage current—or radio frequency to the deep sensory nerves around the knee.

Dr Gonzalez said,  “With a larger propagating heat wave, you can account for the differences in nerve anatomy from patient to patient because of a larger treatment zone.

“Treating a larger zone increases the effectiveness of the procedure.”

The researchers surveyed 21 patients who had complete knee replacement surgery and were suffering from persistent chronic pain.

RELATED: First Ever Study Shows Chair Yoga is Effective Arthritic Treatment

They were asked to fill out clinically validated questionnaires to assess their level of pain and how it affected everyday physical tasks.

Follow-up surveys were collected a year after participants received the C-RFA procedure.

It showed the patients had experienced a “statistically significant improvement” in their quality of life, the researchers found.

Both pain and stiffness scores were improved dramatically and no major complications were reported.

Likewise, they did not require further medical treatments, including surgery or any other kind of intervention.

Dr Gonzalez said, “This procedure can have a huge impact on patients who have gone through major surgery and are still suffering pain that is very debilitating.”

The procedure’s long term relief gives it a “major advantage” over current treatments such as cortisone injections, which usually only work for a few months.

Dr Gonzalez said, “It’s very encouraging that up to a year out these patients have such significant pain relief and a better quality of life.

“The hope is that in that period of time, the patient can become more mobile and increase their activity.

MORE: There’s ‘No Link’ Between Exercise and Developing Arthritis in the Knee

“Even if pain comes back, we predict that it won’t come back with the same intensity as before.”

The new procedure, which the researcher describe as “minimally intrusive,” is also easily replicated if necessary and could reduce patients dependency on highly addictive opioid painkillers.

Dr Gonzalez said, “We hope that this procedure will become a standard of treatment for pain in this setting.”

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Artist’s Joke to His Friends Garners $600,000 for Nigerian Orphanages

By
Andy Corbley
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TCD Photography; TCD Concept Ltd/CC license

A Nigerian musician and showman asked for money on Twitter for his birthday to get his Rolls Royce released from a port, but flipped his friends and fans on their heads, donating the full amount of $600,000 to orphanages across the country.

Davido, one of Africa’s most successful musicians, needed only four days to raise $485,000 after writing on Twitter that “If u know I’ve given you a hit song .. send me money,” and posting his bank information.

Fans and other Nigerians were confused that, giving the levels of poverty in the country, such a wealthy individual could just ask for money from people. His original idea was for his friends, i.e. other musicians or industry people, to send him around $50,000, but soon his fans just started contributing.

When the fundraiser had reached $163,000 by Friday, Davido suggested he would just “give it all away,” but also released a new music video, presumably as a way of saying thank you.

Eventually though “it was getting too much” he told CNN. “Its not in my type of character to keep that,” he said, and shortly after the 29-year old musician released a statement of his intended purpose for the money, and announced his own $120,000 contribution.

MORE: Keanu Reeves Gifts His 4 Stuntmen With $20,000 Rolex Watches Engraved With Fun Messages

“In my usual playful manner, I requested a few days ago that my friends and colleagues send money in celebration of my birthday,” Davido wrote in a statement. “The response and outcome exceeded my expectations.”

CNN reports that he has appointed a disbursement committee to identify orphanages in need and distribute the money accordingly.

(WATCH the video about this story below.)

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“The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.” – Rumi

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.” – Rumi

Photo: by Dameli Zhantas

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?

 

People Enjoy Surprisingly Deep Conversations With Strangers, And New Study Finds Benefits

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Good News Network
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There are positive effects of talking with strangers, a new study finds.

Ed Yourdon, CC license

People benefit from deep and meaningful conversations that help us forge connections with one another, but we often stick to small talk with strangers because we underestimate how much others are interested in our lives and wrongly believe that deeper conversations will be more awkward and less enjoyable than they actually are, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

“Connecting with others in meaningful ways tends to make people happier, and yet people also seem reluctant to engage in deeper and more meaningful conversation,” said Nicholas Epley, PhD, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

He is a co-author of the study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. “This struck us as an interesting social paradox: If connecting with others in deep and meaningful ways increases well-being, then why aren’t people doing it more often in daily life?”

To answer that question, Epley and his colleagues designed a series of twelve experiments with more than 1,800 total participants. The researchers asked pairs of people – mainly strangers – to discuss either relatively deep or shallow topics. In some experiments, people received shallow or deep questions to discuss.

RELATED: If Anyone Needs to Stay Positive, Just Validate Their Feelings—Study Says

Shallow questions included typical small-talk topics, such as, “What is the best TV show you’ve seen in the last month? Tell your partner about it” or “What do you think about the weather today?” while deep questions elicited more personal and intimate information, such as, “Can you describe a time you cried in front of another person?” or “If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, your future, or anything else, what would you want to know?” In other experiments, people generated their own deep and shallow conversation topics.

Before the conversations, participants predicted how awkward they thought the conversations would be, how connected they thought they would feel to their conversation partner and how much they would enjoy the conversation. Afterward, they rated how awkward the conversations actually were, how connected they actually felt and how much enjoyment they actually experienced.

Overall, the researchers found that both deep and shallow conversations felt less awkward and led to greater feelings of connectedness and enjoyment than the participants had expected. That effect tended to be stronger for deep conversations.

LOOK: Positive Outlook Predicts Less Memory Decline, Says New Research

Participants who discussed the deep questions overestimated how awkward the conversation would be—significantly more than those who discussed shallow questions.

Deep conversations were also more enjoyable and led to a stronger sense of connection. In one experiment, participants who had a deep conversation with one partner and a shallow conversation with another partner initially expected to prefer the shallow conversation but actually preferred the deep conversation after having both of them.

If deep connection is genuinely better and people in these experiments said they wanted to have deep conversations, then why aren’t they actually having more of them? The researchers suspected it might be because people underestimate how interested strangers are in learning about their deeper thoughts and feelings. In some of the experiments, the researchers asked participants to predict how interested their conversation partner would be in the discussion, and then afterward to indicate how interested their partner actually was in the discussion. On average, people consistently underestimated how interested their partners would be in learning about them.

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“People seemed to imagine that revealing something meaningful or important about themselves in conversation would be met with blank stares and silence, only to find this wasn’t true in the actual conversation,” Epley said. “Human beings are deeply social and tend to reciprocate in conversation. If you share something meaningful and important, you are likely to get something meaningful and important exchanged in return, leading to a considerably better conversation.”

In the final experiments, the researchers examined whether having more accurate expectations about a conversation partner increased people’s interest in having a deeper conversation.

In one experiment, they told the participants to imagine that they would be speaking to a particularly caring and interested person, or to a particularly uncaring and uninterested one. Participants who expected they would be speaking to the caring person chose to discuss deeper questions than participants who expected to speak to an uncaring partner. In another experiment, the researchers simply told people about the results of the previous experiments – letting them know that most people underestimate the degree to which other people are interested in hearing about their personal and deeper thoughts. People given this information later chose to discuss deeper questions with a stranger than people not given the information.

These findings, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, two months ago, have important practical implications, according to Epley.

“Our participants’ expectations about deeper conversations were not woefully misguided, but they were reliably miscalibrated in a way that could keep people from engaging a little more deeply with others in their daily lives,” he said. “As the pandemic wanes and we all get back to talking with each other again, being aware that others also like meaningful conversation might lead you to spend less time in small talk and have more pleasant interactions as a result.”

SHARE This Meaningful Topic With Strangers on Social Media…

This Week’s Inspiring Horoscopes From Rob Brezsny’s ‘Free Will Astrology’

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Good News Network
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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 beginning November 26, 2021
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Poet Renée Ashley describes what she’s attracted to: “I’m drawn to what flutters nebulously at the edges, at the corner of my eye—just outside my certain sight. I want to share in what I am routinely denied or only suspect exists. I long for a glimpse of what is beginning to occur.” Although I don’t think that’s a suitable perspective for you to cultivate all the time, Sagittarius, I suspect it might be appealing and useful for you in the coming weeks. Fresh possibilities will be coalescing. New storylines will be incubating. Be alert for the oncoming delights of the unknown.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
What could you do to diminish your suffering? Your next assignment is to take two specific steps to begin that process. You’re in a phase of your astrological cycle when you’re more likely than usual to see what’s necessary to salve your wounds and fix what’s broken. Take maximum advantage of this opportunity! I proclaim this next chapter of your life to be titled “In Quest of the Maximum Cure.” Have fun with this project, dear Capricorn. Treat it as a mandate to be imaginative and explore interesting possibilities.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
“It is a fault to wish to be understood before we have made ourselves clear to ourselves,” wrote my favorite Aquarian philosopher, Simone Weil. I agree. It’s advice I regularly use myself. If you want to be seen and appreciated for who you really are, you should make it your priority to see and appreciate yourself for who you really are. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to make progress in this noble project. Start this way: Write a list of the five qualities about yourself that you love best.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Nigerian author Ben Okri, born under the sign of Pisces, praises our heroic instinct to rise above the forces of chaos. He writes, “The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love, and to be greater than our suffering.” You’ve been doing a lot of that excellent work throughout 2021, dear Pisces. And I expect that you’ll be climaxing this chapter of your life story sometime soon. Thanks for being such a resourceful and resilient champion. You have bravely faced but also risen above the sometimes-messy challenges of plain old everyday life. You have inspired many of us to stay devoted to our heart’s desires.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Aries author Chris Brogan says, “Don’t settle. Don’t finish crappy books. If you don’t like the menu, leave the restaurant. If you’re not on the right path, get off it.” That’s the best possible counsel for you to hear, in my astrological opinion. As an Aries, you’re already inclined to live by that philosophy. But now and then, like now, you need a forceful nudge in that direction. So please, Aries, go in pursuit of what you want, not what you partially want. Associate with the very best, most invigorating influences, not the mediocre kind.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Author Kurt Vonnegut wrote wistfully, “I still catch myself feeling sad about things that don’t matter anymore.” If similar things are running wild in your head, dear Taurus, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to banish them. You will have extra power to purge outdated emotions and reclaim at least some of the wild innocence that is your birthright. PS: There’s nothing wrong with feeling sad. In fact, feeling sad can be healthy. But it’s important to feel sad for the right reasons. Getting clear about that is your second assignment.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
“I’ll walk forever with stories inside me that the people I love the most can never hear.” So says the main character in Gemini author Michelle Hodkin‘s novel The Evolution of Mara Dyer. If that heart-rending statement has resonance with your own personal experience, I have good news: The coming weeks will be a favorable time to transform the situation. I believe you can figure out how to share key stories and feelings that have been hard to reveal before now. Be alert for unexpected opportunities and not-at-all-obvious breakthroughs.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
A study of people in 24 countries concluded that during the pandemic, over 80 percent of the population have taken action to improve their health. Are you in that group? Whether or not you are, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to go further in establishing robust self-care. The astrological omens suggest you’ll find it easier than usual to commit to good new habits. Rather than trying to do too much, I suggest you take no more than three steps. Even starting with just one might be wise. Top three: eating excellent food, having fun while exercising right, and getting all the deep sleep you need.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Leo-born scholar Edith Hamilton loved to study ancient Greek civilization. She wrote, “To rejoice in life, to find the world beautiful and delightful to live in, was a mark of the Greek spirit which distinguished it from all that had gone before.” One sign of Greece’s devotion to joie de vivre was its love of play. “The Greeks were the first people in the world to play,” Hamilton exulted, “and they played on a great scale. All over Greece, there were games”—for athletes, dancers, musicians, and other performers. Spirited competition was an essential element of their celebration of play, as was the pursuit of fun for its own sake. In resonance with your astrological omens, Leo, I propose you regard ancient Greece as your spiritual home for the next five weeks.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Virgo singer-songwriter Florence Welch of the band Florence and the Machine told an interviewer why she wrote “Hunger.” She said, “I looked for love in things that were not love.” What were those things? According to her song, they included taking drugs and performing on stage. Earlier in Florence’s life, as a teenager, “love was a kind of emptiness” she experienced through her eating disorder. What about you, Virgo? Have you looked for love in things that weren’t love? Are you doing that right now? The coming weeks will be a good time to get straight with yourself about this issue. I suggest you ask for help from your higher self. Formulate a strong intention that in the future, you will look for love in things that can genuinely offer you love.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
There’s a Grateful Dead song, with lyrics written by John Perry Barlow, that says, “You ain’t gonna learn what you don’t want to know.” I propose you make that your featured advice for the next two weeks. I hope you will be inspired by it to figure out what truths you might be trying hard not to know. In so doing, you will make yourself available to learn those truths. As a result, you’ll be led on a healing journey you didn’t know you needed to take. The process might sound uncomfortable, but I suspect it will ultimately be pleasurable.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Scorpio author and philosopher Albert Camus was a good thinker. At age 44, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature—the second-youngest recipient ever. And yet he made this curious statement: “Thoughts are never honest. Emotions are.” He regarded thoughts as “refined and muddy”—the result of people continually tinkering with their inner dialog so as to come up with partially true statements designed to serve their self-image rather than reflect authentic ideas. Emotions, on the other hand, emerge spontaneously and are hard to hide, according to Camus. They come straight from the depths. In accordance with astrological potentials, Scorpio, I urge you to keep these meditations at the forefront of your awareness in the coming weeks. See if you can be more skeptical about your thoughts and more trusting in your emotions.

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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Government Saves Rare Old-Growth Trees From Further Logging on 10,000 Sq-Miles of BC Forest

By
Andy Corbley
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TJ WATT:ANCIENT FOREST ALLIANCE

British Columbia’s provincial government has recognized that its old-growth forests are irreplaceable, vital ecosystems, and has spared 10,000 square miles, or 2.6 million hectares of forest from logging.

TJ WATT: ANCIENT FOREST ALLIANCE

The pause was issued following B.C.’s recently announced commitment to halt one-third of all old-growth logging, which itself came on the same day as world leaders at COP26 announced their own attempts to end deforestation.

The woods of B.C. gave it the name the “Brazil of the North” in the 1990s, and are filled with Douglas fir, western red cedar, and Roosevelt elk, black bears, wolves, and endangered birds. Some of the forests have remain undisturbed essentially since the last Ice Age, reports Globe and Mail.

“We’ve identified 2.6 million hectares of our largest, rarest and most ancient old-growth forests,” Forests Minister Katrine Conroy told a news conference. “Deferring harvest in an area this large is unprecedented and surpasses the size of 226 cities of Vancouver.”

The only catch is that based on the United Nations Treaty on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the B.C. government must receive the free, prior, and informed consent of 204 First Nations tribes that inhabit the province before making the logging moratoriums concrete.

Essentially, the First Nations could decide to continue to develop timber resources if they so wished.

MORE: Refugees in Cameroon Have Turned a Treeless Desert Camp Into a Thriving Forest – LOOK

The 2.6 million hectares are part of the 7.6 million hectares of ancient or old growth forest which remain in B.C., and represent a uniquely biodiverse and critical stands of trees.

Further plans to reform the governmental timber company and its logging patterns—away from clear-cutting and towards mimicking natural disturbances—are also coming, as the province looks toward a preservation-first attitude to forestry following pressure from community groups and non-profits like the Ancient Forest Alliance to protect local endangered old-growth areas.

“[This] means that we would harvest in a manner more linked to the way nature would change the forest. In some coastal forests, that’s a few trees at a time,” said Gary Merkel, a professional forester who participated in a government-ordered panel review of B.C. timber harvesting two years ago.

RELATED: Jane Goodall Enlists Fans to Help Plant a Trillion Trees Around the World by 2030

The provincial government hopes to complete the consultation with the Nations in a spritely 30 days, at which point it will ask timber operators to voluntarily give up their permits.

In the event they should not, Globe and Mail report, processes to repeal them will be followed, and future permit issuing banned.

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NASA and SpaceX Launched First Rocket to Test a Defense System Against Giant Asteroids in the Future

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Good News Network
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NASA / JPL

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the world’s first full-scale mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards, launched Wednesday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Base in California.

NASA / JPL

Just one part of NASA’s larger planetary defense strategy, DART – built and managed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland – will impact a known asteroid that is not a threat to Earth. Its goal is to slightly change the asteroid’s motion in a way that can be accurately measured using ground-based telescopes.

DART will show that a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and intentionally collide with it – a method of deflection called kinetic impact. The test will provide important data to help better prepare for an asteroid that might pose an impact hazard to Earth, should one ever be discovered. LICIACube, a CubeSat riding along with DART and provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), will be released prior to DART’s impact to capture images of the impact and the resulting cloud of ejected matter.

“It is an indescribable feeling to see something you’ve been involved with since the ‘words on paper’ stage become real and launched into space,” said Andy Cheng, one of the DART investigation leads at Johns Hopkins APL and the individual who came up with the idea of DART. “The teams have much work to do over the next year preparing for the main event ─ DART’s kinetic impact on Dimorphos. But tonight we celebrate!”

The spacecraft completed the successful unfurling of its two, 28-foot-long, roll-out solar arrays. They will power both the spacecraft and NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster – Commercial ion engine, one of several technologies being tested on DART for future application on space missions.

DART is making a one-way trip to the Didymos asteroid system, which comprises a pair of asteroids. DART’s target is the moonlet, Dimorphos, which is approximately 530 feet (160 meters) in diameter. The moonlet orbits Didymos, which has a diameter of 2,560 feet (780 meters).

CHECK OUT: This Asteroid is a $10,000-Quadrillion Lump of Iron and a Potential Opportunity to Study an Exposed Planetary Core

NASA / JPL rendering

Since Dimorphos orbits Didymos at much a slower relative speed than the pair orbits the Sun, the result of DART’s kinetic impact within the binary system can be measured much more easily than a change in the orbit of a single asteroid around the Sun.

The spacecraft will intercept the Didymos system between Sept. 26 and Oct. 1, 2022, intentionally slamming into Dimorphos at roughly 4 miles per second (6 kilometers per second). Scientists estimate the kinetic impact will shorten Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos by several minutes—and researchers will precisely measure that change from telescopes on Earth.

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Roughly four years after DART’s impact, ESA’s (European Space Agency) Hera project will conduct detailed surveys of both asteroids, with particular focus on the crater left by DART’s collision and a precise determination of Dimorphos’ mass.

“DART is turning science fiction into science fact and is a testament to NASA’s proactivity and innovation for the benefit of all,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “We’re also working to protect that home, and this test will help prove out one viable way to protect our planet from a hazardous asteroid should one ever be discovered that is headed toward Earth.”

No one has yet identified any significant asteroid impact threat to Earth, but the goal of the DART collaboration is to find any possible impact, years to decades in advance, so it can be deflected with a capability like DART, which is possible with the technology we currently have.

LOOK: Astronomers Spot Light From Behind a Black Hole for the First Time – Proving Einstein Right Again

DART’s single instrument, the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO), will turn on a week from now and provide first images from the spacecraft. DART will continue to travel just outside of Earth’s orbit around the Sun for the next 10 months until Didymos and Dimorphos will be a relatively close 6.8 million miles (11 million km) from Earth.

For more information, visit the the DART mission website.

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Winner of 2021 Dyson Award Goes to First Ever Device to Monitor Glaucoma Symptoms From Home

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The 2021 winners of the International James Dyson Award were announced, presented to young engineers whose devices might make the world a brighter place—like his breakthrough vacuum cleaners have.

Inspired by her father’s diagnosis of glaucoma and the multiple uncomfortable hospital visits, this year’s top winner, Kelu Yu, realized there is a global need for a less invasive, accessible home eye care device.

About 80 million people have glaucoma worldwide, and there is no cure but, if diagnosed and treated early, blindness can be prevented.

Kelu, along with Si Li and David Lee, spent 18 months designing a home testing device known as an Intraocular Pressure monitor (IOP) to be a critical, yet convenient, pain-free tool for eye care.

Called HOPES, the self-monitoring device and its app are a safe low-cost solution for any doctor to monitor the disease without requiring patient trips to their office.

HOPES, (which stands for Home eye Pressure E-skin Sensor) is a wearable biomedical device powered by patent-pending sensor technology and artificial intelligence.

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After creating a profile in the App, the user wears the HOPES glove with the sensor placed at the fingertip, and pressed against the center of the eyelid. The unique sensor captures dynamic pressure information of the user’s eye with sub-millisecond precision. The captured signals are processed by machine learning algorithms and then transmitted to the Cloud via Bluetooth to be accessed remotely by clinicians.

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“I’ve experienced first-hand how invasive and unpleasant the tests for glaucoma can be, but it is a vital test,” said Sir James Dyson, the Founder and Chief Engineer at Dyson who started the awards.

Commercializing an idea, especially a medical device, is very difficult, he added. “I hope that the awareness this Award drives, as well as the financial support it provides, will give these ideas a springboard to success.”

The inventors, from National University of Singapore, were awarded $40,000 with the Prize, and plan to collaborate with clinicians at the National University Hospital to collect and analyze patients’ eye pressure data to train the device’s machine learning mode.

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“We want to improve people’s quality of life and aspire to one day apply our research group’s sensor technology across different health monitoring applications, such as robotics and biomedical devices.”

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“We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.” – Sheryl Sandberg

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Quote of the Day: “We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.” – Sheryl Sandberg

Photo: by Max Felner

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?

 

Spectacular Coral Event This Year Spawns Hope –And Billions of Babies For Great Barrier Reef (LOOK)

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Courtesy of Reef Teach

Oceanographers enjoyed a burst of color and life flowing forth in the annual spawning of coral from the Great Barrier Reef last week.

Courtesy of Reef Teach

Taking place after the November full moon, researchers witnessed a banner year that inspired hope for the revitalization of the world’s coral reefs.

At the iconic reef off the coast of Cairns, Queensland, different corals synchronized the release of their sperm and eggs, which look almost like the shaking of a giant snow globe.

The coral offspring floated in waves of vivid pink, purple, or blue, depending on the species—and this year it was uniquely impressive.

“Unbelievably beautiful spawning from last night! The party sure has started and the corals are going off,” Reef Teach exclaimed on Twitter, posting a video (see below).

Billions of new coral babies born are good news for the reef, after a difficult few years.

“It is gratifying to see the reef give birth. It’s a strong demonstration that its ecological functions are intact,” Reef Teach marine scientist Gareth Phillips told EcoWatch.

LOOK: Gigantic 438-Year-old Coral Discovered in the Great Barrier Reef in ‘Excellent Condition’

Phillips has spent the past 10 years watching coral spawning.

“The conditions were magical with the water like glass and beautiful light coming from the moon,” he said.

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He was very reassured when he saw a lot of spawning, “it is a sign that there is recovery underway, that the system is working.”

 

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MORE: Sanctuary Containing ‘Healthiest Coral Reefs in the World’ Just Tripled in Size Thanks to U.S. Government Protection

New ‘988’ Suicide Prevention Hotline Will Include Texting Option to Make it Easier

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Last week the US agency in charge of telecommunications adopted rules to expand access to the suicide prevention hotline by establishing the ability to text, in addition to calling.

Mikel Parera

Last year, the FCC established 988 as the new, nationwide, easy-to-remember 3-digit phone number for Americans to connect with suicide prevention and mental health crisis counselors.

As soon as next summer, people will be able to call—or—text 988 for instant access to the emergency service.

The rules require phone service providers to direct all 988 calls to the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by July 16, 2022.

During the transition to 988, if you need help you need to call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (800-273-8255).

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is also available today through online chats.

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Firefighters Rescue a Dog Trapped Down a 15-Foot Underground Burrow Overnight

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SWNS

Using equipment that is normally found at disaster sites after building collapses or earthquakes, firefighters worked for hours to free a trapped Jack Russell pet.

Digging at Sutton Park – SWNS

The 11-year-old Freddy was chasing a rabbit on Monday when he got trapped down a narrow hole in Blackroot Pool, West Midlands.

His owner Richard Hill said he could hear Freddy’s whimpers underground but was unable to reach him.

The 55-year-old reluctantly gave up searching for him when it got dark.

“I really thought I had seen Freddy for the very last time,” said Hill.

He returned on Tuesday morning and called 999 after he could hear Freddy’s cries for help.

He had been trapped for 24 hours by that time.

The West Midland Fire and Rescue Service found them after Hill used an app to help firefighters find his exact location: What3Word has divided the world into 3m squares and given each square a unique combination of three words—and if you have the app, it is as accurate as GPS coordinates.

Crews used camera and listening gear on their mission to find the distressed pup, and eventually dug a 6-ft by 9-ft crater.

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Thankfully, after two hours digging, firefighters freed the exhausted Freddy, who “ran out of the hole as they got closer to him.”

SWNS

“I have to say a huge thank-you to the firefighters, they were just unbelievable,” says Hill.

“It was just incredible when he ran out of the hole after the rescue, it was just like nothing had happened.”

Freddy is still sporting an orange tint after being covered with the clay soil.

RELATED: Dog Trapped in Narrow Crevice Licked Moisture From Walls Until Rescuers Found Her With Plumber’s Camera

According to the relieved owner, the 4-legged adventurer will “definitely be staying on the lead the next time we go out for a walk.”

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“We only regret the chances we didn’t take, the relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.” – Lewis Carroll

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Quote of the Day: “We only regret the chances we didn’t take, the relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.” – Lewis Carroll

Photo: by Sathish J. via CC license

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?

 

 

Toronto is Replacing Air Conditioners With Deep Lake Water to Cool Hundreds of Buildings

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Andy Corbley
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ESFOX Projects/Enwave
Enwave

180 Toronto buildings have ditched energy intensive air-conditioning in favor of cooling by pumping frigid waters from the depths of Lake Ontario through pipes in the walls and floors.

These include City Hall, Toronto General Hospital, hotels, data centers, and the Scotiabank Arena, home to the Raptors basketball franchise—altogether the 54 million square feet of real estate saves 90,000 megawatt hours of electricity annually, which is enough to power 25,000 homes.

The Deep Lake Water Cooling (DLWC) system of Toronto is the largest of its kind on Earth.

It relies on three pipes lying 3.5 miles south of the city, 280 feet below the lake, which suck up the 39°F (4°C) water before pumping it to a central station that then sends it through to the buildings. Warm water exiting the building is pumped back into the lake to make up the difference, taking the heat it absorbs with it.

At first the CAD170 million ($133 million) DLWC system, built and managed by Enwave, had a hard time finding clients in the city, but after initial evidence of energy savings (Scotiabank uses 3 million kilowatt hours less energy per year) they have been growing in number ever since.

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A new program to increase capacity in town by an additional 60% testifies to its popularity as a low-carbon cooling system.

Enwave

“It’s a big investment,” Carlyle Coutinho, president of Enwave, told the Post of the upcoming CAD100 million ($78 million) project. “It would be challenging to keep growing commercially without increasing the baseload.”

ESFOX Projects/Enwave

Another big expansionary project in Toronto is called The Well. Enwave will create a thermal storage system using a two million gallon tank of cold water from the lake which can store energy at night during off-peak times, easing strain on the electricity grid and reducing costs.

This, the company says, will open the door to another 17 million square feet of real estate.

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DLWC isn’t the only method of cooling buildings via water; the other involves evaporating water using large tanks as a means of expelling heat. However this leads to mass water usage, and DLWC can keep 220 million gallons of water in the lake, in the pipes, or in the ground, compared to evaporative cooling.

DLWC isn’t something every city or building has access to, but some buildings, like the million square foot HSBC Headquarters in Hong Kong, is cooled via seawater instead.

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Who Needs Turkey? Most Would Be OK With Thanksgiving Meal That Was Only Side Dishes, Says Poll

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Jim Choate , CC license

While the turkey was likely the main attraction on the Thanksgiving dinner table, three in four Americans agree that a holiday dinner sans turkey, consisting of only side dishes, would be just as satisfying.

2,005 people were asked about their favorite Turkey Day sides, and mashed potatoes were crowned the favorite by nearly half (46%)—just narrowly beating stuffing (43%).

While stuffing is usually considered the most common Thanksgiving side dish, it surprisingly isn’t America’s favorite side this year, according to the new poll.

Meanwhile, sweet potatoes (39%) and cranberry sauce (37%) were among the popular choices, as well.

The survey, which was carried out by OnePoll on the behalf of The Fresh Market, also found that many Americans would be keeping their eyes peeled for sweet potatoes—with three in 10 considering them to be underrated.

And when it comes to after-dinner desserts, apple pie (43%) surprisingly beat out pumpkin pie (42%) for the top spot, with chocolate (34%) securing third place.

43% of respondents said their family had gone 4 or more years without adding any variety to their family’s Thanksgiving menu.

They expected that five side dishes would be available on the table and 74% planned on eating at least four of them.

CHECK OUT: Be a Star at Thanksgiving – 8 Awe-Inspiring Stories to Bring to the Party

Respondents listed stuffing (22%) and mac and cheese (20%) as the hardest dishes to make “just right.”

And, 86% said their family had its own recipes for those dishes, with homemade stuffing (29%), mashed potatoes (26%) displaying individual flare.

“Whether it’s continuing family traditions or starting new ones with unique sides like mascarpone whipped potatoes with rosemary, oyster stuffing or cranberry relish with walnuts, bringing flavorful sides to the table makes the meal even more delicious,” said Kevin Miller, Chief Marketing Officer at The Fresh Market.

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Additionally, 86% said they planned on preparing extra helpings for those highly coveted dishes like mashed potatoes (31%), stuffing (30%) and mac and cheese (27%), as those will likely be the first dishes to be polished off—because who doesn’t love an extra helping of mashed potatoes?

AMERICA’S TOP THANKSGIVING SIDES
Mashed potatoes (46%)
Stuffing (43%)
Sweet potatoes (39%)
Cranberry sauce (37%)
Mac and cheese (36%)
Green bean casserole (35%)
Candied yams (33%)
Cornbread (32%)
Baked potato (31%)
Corn on the cob (30%)
Brussels sprouts (29%)
Butternut squash (29%)
Collard greens (29%)
Peas (28%)

TOP THANKSGIVING SIDES AROUND THE COUNTRY

Northeast: mashed potatoes (45%), sweet potatoes (43%), cranberry sauce (41%)
Southeast: stuffing (45%), mashed potatoes (44%), sweet potatoes (38%)
Midwest: mashed potatoes (51%), stuffing (50%), green bean casserole (35%)
West: mashed potatoes (43%), sweet potatoes (41%), stuffing (38%)
Southwest: mashed potatoes (46%), stuffing (42%), cranberry sauce (40%)

Featured image: Jim Choate, CC license

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Royal Air Force Lifts Off With Guinness World Record for First Flight Using 100% Synthetic Fuel

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Andy Corbley
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RAF's Project MARTIN
RAF’s Project MARTIN

As nations get more and more serious about climate change, certain sectors are finding it a more difficult subject than others. Commercial and military aviation for example, or racing series like F1 and NASCAR, don’t currently enjoy many zero-emissions developments.

Now, however, a Formula One legend has partnered with the British Royal Air Force to create a zero-emissions fuel alternative for these activities, and they were just rewarded with a Guinness World Record for the first-ever flight test using synthetic petroleum.

It was the morning of November 2nd when an Icarus C42 ultra-light plane launched from Cotswold Airport to complete a short flight using Zero Petroleum’s synthetic UL91 fuel.

UL91 is just hydrogen extracted from water and carbon extracted from atmospheric CO2, done by machines powered by renewable electricity. These are then synthesized to create a zero-emissions fuel which Zero Petroleum say can be used for “crucial for sectors in which electrification is not currently an option, including aviation, agriculture and a wide range of high-performance vehicles.”

It’s hard to imagine, with an invention as potentially critical as zero-emissions aviation fuel, how quickly this all went through: from first-planning to testing needed just five months from Zero Petroleum, run by F1 royalty Paddy Lowe.

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Lowe, who contributed to 12 world championships with his time at the McLaren, Williams, and Mercedes racing teams, added that the fuel “ran successfully in the aircraft as a whole-blend without any modification whatsoever to the aircraft or the engine.”

“The engine manufacturer Rotax’s measurements and the test pilot’s observations showed no difference in power or general performance compared to standard fossil fuel,” he said.

The RAF see it as a chief innovation towards the force becoming carbon-neutral by 2040.

“Climate change is a transnational challenge which threatens global resilience and our shared security and prosperity,” said Air Chief Marshall Sir Mike Wigston. “I am determined to tackle this head on… and this exciting project to make aviation fuel from air and water shows how it might be done.”

MORE: World’s First Electric Self-Propelled Container Ship Launches in Oslo to Replace 40K Diesel Truck Trips

Other methods of greening aviation have seen devices that catalyze atmospheric CO2 into jet fuel right onboard the aircraft, while carinata, a mustard-like oil seed crop, could be used to create a more sustainable jet fuel alternative capable of reducing emissions by 68%, and is being grown in the American Southwest in a trial.

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