70 years ago today, Alan Hansen, one of the greatest Scottish footballers of all time and one of the greatest defenders to ever play in England, was born. Transforming the role of the central defender with his delicate touch and incisive passing, he won 8 top-flight English titles with Liverpool FC, including a period that saw three in a row between 1981 and 1984, during which they also won the club’s first-ever English League Cup, as well as its first three European Cups. READ more about this legendary player… (1955)
Good News in History, June 13
Cancer Survivor Wins the Lottery 3 Times in the Last 12 Months
‘Lucky’ doesn’t begin to describe David Serkin from Alberta, Canada. Not only did he beat cancer, he also won the lottery.
Serkin cashed-in on $500,000 last August with a LOTTO MAX game by the Western Canada Lottery Corporation, giving the cancer survivor and retiree an opportunity to take his wife to Hawaii.
But he followed that up with a $1,000,000 winner in the LOTTO 6/49 game just 3 months later, and now, despite the odds of a winning ticket being 1 in 33 million, Serkin has won again.
“I bought this ticket while I was buying gas,” he explained. “I saw the Gold Ball draw was getting close [to the final ball selection] and thought, ‘What do I have to lose?’”
Playing 6/49 again, he won another $1 million leaving his wife and friends gobsmacked.
“I went for coffee with the boys after I checked my ticket,” he said. “They asked to see it and said, ‘Not again?!’”
His wife is still in disbelief, a statement from the WCLC read, but Serkin says they’ve enjoyed the ride together so far.
“I took my wife to Hawaii with the last win, and we had a great time,” he smiled. “Now, we’re going to Newfoundland!”
OTHER LOTTERY STORIES:
- Dad Drove Around With 1M Lottery Ticket in His Car for 4 Months–Until He Needed Chips
- Lottery Ticket Hidden in Woman’s Bible Earns Her $1 Million
- $20 Bill Found on Ground Leads to $1 Million Win for North Carolina Lottery Player
- A Man from Luck Finally Won the Lottery
Serkin purchased his most recent winning ticket from Shell Lethbridge at 2440 Fairway Plaza Road S in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Canadian news reports that Serkin also won a quarter-million in a draw 10 years ago, before his cancer diagnosis.
Serkin said he has been playing since LOTTO 6/49 launched in 1982—and has enjoyed the process of buying and checking his tickets over the years.
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Reintroduction of Two Yangtze Finless Porpoises A Rare Success in Captive Breeding of Endangered Species
For the first time ever, Chinese biologists have successfully rescued, rehabilitated, and reintroduced a Yangtze finless porpoise back into the wild stretches of the great river.
A critically-endangered species of cetacean, the family that includes dolphins, porpoises, and whales, the Yangtze finless porpoise lives only in the Yangtze river, as the name suggests, but the population could number no more than 600.
Known by many names, including the Leading to Heaven River, the longest river in Eurasia hosts a number of endangered species, some of which have been the focus of conservation efforts.
Like the Thames in London or the Seine in Paris, industrialization ravaged the river’s biodiversity, though in recent years the water quality has improved substantially. The finless porpoise is one of two freshwater cetaceans that lived there, though the other went extinct.
Recently, biologists identified two male porpoises which had left an area that had been designated as an ex situ breeding center for the species. It would have likely been the case that without the intervention, the males would have died, since they were heading into areas where security and food were not guaranteed by conservationists.
Taken to the Laowan branch of a split in the Yangtze, the males underwent two years of acclimation to a Yangtze-like habitat where they freely ranged and foraged within an approximately 3.5 mile-long narrow waterway.
After the acclimation period, the males were deemed healthy and capable of living on their own. They were moved to a part of the river where groups of other porpoises were residing, and released as the biologists’ great hope for the long-term success of their breeding program.
In a scientific report on their efforts, the scientists note that such an endeavor had never been done before on the Yangtze finless porpoise, and that ex situ breeding programs for cetaceans in general have rarely been undertaken.
GOOD CHINA NEWS: Ancient Chinese Astronomer’s Star Log is Found to Be World’s Oldest–Predating Greeks by 200 Years
But against the odds, the males were accepted into established pods and demonstrated the capability of finding food along the mighty river. Three years later they were still thriving.
“This achievement represents a significant advancement in the conservation of Yangtze finless porpoise, which in time, once the habitat is restored and anthropogenic threats have been controlled, will contribute to population recovery,” the authors wrote.
SAVING RIVERS AND THEIR ANIMALS: Once Locally Extinct, ‘Top Predator’ River Otter Flourishing Again in New Mexico
Currently enjoying the effects of a ten-year fishing ban as part of the conservation efforts for the Yangtze, proof that individuals can be bred in safe, controlled, semi-native environments, as is done for so many terrestrial species, represents an enormous positive in the quest to keep the final Yangtze cetacean alive in the long term.
GNN recently reported on the Chinese government’s efforts to prioritize the ecological integrity of rivers and lakes following a long-term effort to improve freshwater quality among 2,500 freshwater bodies across the country.
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Scientists Identify New Way Cancers Sustain Themselves–and How Ginger Could Disrupt it
An active compound in ginger root may inhibit the growth of cancer tumors via a sabotage of their metabolic pathways.
Published in Nature Scientific Reports by a team at Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU), the study demonstrated that a ginger-derived molecule known as EMC shuts down the cells’ fat-making machinery, causing it to activate backup systems and potentially become vulnerable to detection or treatment.
Despite a century of serious innovation and research into cancer and its prevention and treatment, we still don’t fully understand a cancer tumor’s diet so to speak.
A cancer’s key characteristic is its ability to reprogram normal energy metabolism to sustain the uncontrolled proliferation that allows it to spread through the organism. This leads to distinct metabolic traits compared to normal cells, among which has been the nearly 100-year-old supposition that cancers rely on glycolysis for primary energy production—an observation known as the Warburg effect.
For readers who remembered their high school biology textbook, glycolysis is the process of turning glucose into the important metabolic component pyruvate.
The authors note however that cancer metabolism is subject to ongoing research, and they themselves present in their paper evidence of cancer cells relying on de novo fatty acid synthesis to sustain their growth.
Metabolically speaking, fatty acids produce more energy per molecule than sugars, but instead of using fatty acids from food, the cancer cells produce their own, hence the Latin descriptor “de novo,” or “of new creation.”
Associate Professor Akiko Kojima-Yuasa at OMU, analyzed ethyl p-methoxycinnamate or EMC, a main component of kencur ginger, found commonly in Indonesian, Chinese, and Thai cuisine, for an inhibitory effect on cancer cells—something which his team had previously uncovered.
This time, the team was specifically hoping to see if its inhibitory effect was related to cancer metabolism. Results revealed that the acid ester inhibits energy production by disrupting de novo fatty acid synthesis and fat metabolism, rather than through glycolysis as commonly theorized.
Further, the researchers discovered application of the EMC triggered increased glycolysis, which they supposed was a survival mechanism in the cells.
FOOD AS MEDICINE: Manuka Honey Reduces Breast Cancer Cell Growth by 84% in Human Cells and Mice
“These findings not only provide new insights that supplement and expand the theory of the Warburg effect, which can be considered the starting point of cancer metabolism research, but are also expected to lead to the discovery of new therapeutic targets and the development of new treatment methods,” stated Professor Kojima-Yuasa.
A cell-cycle checkpoint is a moment in the life cycle of a cell when, following a period of growth and DNA synthesis, a control mechanism determines whether to further grow the cell or terminate it.
MORE GOOD FOOD: Keep Out All the Christmas Spices – They’re Powerful Antioxidants Known as ‘Nutraceuticals’
Cancers need tremendous energy to fuel their growth, and the authors write that when conditions of an energy deficit are detected at a cell-cycle checkpoint, it’s a common red flag that can lead to the cell cycle being arrested or terminated altogether.
Knocking out the primary method of energy generation may help highlight an energy deficit at a cell-cycle checkpoint during the early stages of malignancy, though this was not investigated in the study.
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Rural Fishermen Entrusted to Manage Pristine Caribbean Shoreline to Safeguard Their Fish and Future
On the Caribbean coast of Honduras, artisanal fishermen are celebrating the creation of a marine protected area to be managed in collaboration with their communities
The 112 square-mile zone includes coastal mangroves, pristine beaches, and tropical rainforest, and effectively quadruples the amount of ocean the fishermen have access to.
Overseen by the Forest Conservation Institute of Honduras, the Santa Rosa de Aguán Site of Importance for Wildlife will be the fourth such community-managed fishing area in the Colón Department.
Home to a large population of Indigenous Garifuna speakers, Santa Rosa de Aguán has been a struggling part of a struggling country. With over half the population of the nation living in extreme poverty according to the statistics institute of Honduras, these fishing communities are able to use their traditional fishing methods to flourish generation after generation on the bounty of the sea.
Signed on May 28th before members of communities from Colón and the neighboring Cortés and Atlántida departments, the declaration was a vibrant scene where multiple generations of fishermen shared their experiences and hope for the future.
“This declaration is a commitment to the well-being of our people,” said the Mayor of Santa Rosa de Aguán, Heber Flores. “By protecting the resources that sustain us—fishing and agriculture—we’re securing a future of dignity, resilience, and opportunity for our communities.”
The ecological-focused nonprofit Rare worked with communities and the government in crafting the management plan for the site, which will see 100% of mangrove swamps protected, and 12 nautical miles of coastline and open sea reserved exclusively for small-scale fishing and conservation.
SIMILAR IDEAS IN SIMILAR PLACES: Yurok Tribe Celebrates Again as Ancestral Homelands are Returned–in Wake of Historic Dam Removal
Through its Fish Forever initiative, Rare has helped create roughly 28,000 square miles of community-managed fisheries in 2,000 towns and cities around the world.
The management plan in Santa Rosa de Aguán will involve surveilling and patrolling coastal waters against intrusions, using sustainable fishing gear, and ensuring the continuity and connectivity of shoreline ecosystems with the open sea.
WATCH the day these fishermen secured their long-term future…
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“For good reason even the ancients considered travel necessary to complete education.” – Ivan Goncharov
Quote of the Day: “For good reason even the ancients considered travel necessary to complete education.” – Ivan Goncharov
Photo by: Andrew Corbley ©
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Good News in History, June 12
Today is Record Store Day, first held in 2008 by independent record store owners as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture spinning every day in 1400 vinyl shops in the US—and thousands worldwide on six continents. Revving up sales and celebrations with in-store events, the staff, customers, and artists are coming together with more than a hundred special vinyl and CD releases being dropped exclusively for the Day. READ more… (2008)
17th-Century Dutch Painting Rescued from a Dusty Attic in Connecticut Sells for $7 Million
A painting by a lesser-known Dutch master has sold for $7 million at Sotheby’s more than 25 years after being found in the dusty attic of an old barn in Connecticut.
Proving themselves to be worthy of their status as the world’s top auctioneers, Sotheby’s managed to convince collectors to buy it for $2.2 million even though it was so covered in black grime it was hardly visible.
View of Olinda, Brazil, with Ruins of the Jesuit Church was painted by Frans Post in 1666, and was one of the first depictions of Dutch colonial Brazil ever seen by European art galleries.
Owned by a series of Parisians, including Napoleon’s paternal uncle, it eventually ended up in the hands of a private collection in the US. Caked with grime, the collectors brought it to a leading New York art conservator, who managed to peel back the layers of time and filth to reveal a blue sky, black figures carrying baskets, and a variety of New World animals.
“Of all the paintings we put up at Sotheby’s… probably 40% are dirty,” said George Wachter, the chairman of Sotheby’s North and South America in a video released by the auctioneer. “Is it worth pursuing? That’s the question I need to ask, and with the Post there was no question we were looking at something beyond.”
It was Watcher who convinced Tom and Jordan Saunders III to buy View of Olinda back in 1998, despite barely being able to see it, and it was they who eventually benefitted when it set the record for a Post sale price just 2 minutes into the auction—$7 million.
THE GIFTS OF BARNS AND ATTICS:
- Artwork Found in Shed Covered in Bird Droppings Turns Out to be Early Van Dyck Now at Auction for $3 Million
- This Painting of Lounging Lions Was Hanging in a Family’s Living Room. It Turned Out to Be an Original Delacroix
- Klimt Painting of an African Prince Lost for Nearly 100 Years Goes on Show in Austria
- Lost Rembrandt Found Tucked Away in Attic in Maine Sells for $1.4 Million During Bidding War
The value in the work derives from something rather simple: exclusivity. Spending a sojourn of around 8 years in the former Dutch colony in northeast Brazil, Post would have been one of a tiny handful of European artists who could accurately depict the flora, fauna, and faces of South America in their art.
The surviving canvases from his long stay are fewer than its years, despite Post becoming an in-demand artist upon returning to Europe. Merchants and slave-traders wanted accurate images of the landscapes they knew, while well-to-do members of society wanted more evocative imagery crowded with fantastic animals, and less focus on realism.
As a result, View of Olinda is something of the two together, with an armadillo, anteater, and alligator all clustered in the bottom left of the painting—an almost garish ornament to a normal country scene.
WATCH a video below of Watcher explaining the painting’s discovery…
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First-Known Sighting of a ‘Massive’ Antarctic Squid is Caught on Camera During Nat Geo Expedition
Researchers have recorded a video sighting of a three-foot-long deep-sea squid species that’s never been filmed nor seen alive.
Gonatus antarcticus squid, an elusive squid found only in the frigid waters around Antarctica, was discovered on Christmas Day by the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel, the R/V Falkor (too), in a surprise moment caught on camera via the research vessel’s remotely operated vehicle, SuBastian.
Prior to the astonishing discovery, the species was only known from carcasses in fishing nets or when the squids’ beaks were found in the stomach of fished marine animals.
Footage of the squid shows the animal with scratches on its arms and fresh-looking sucker marks on its mantle but otherwise shows it is in good shape. Spotted at a depth of approximately 2,152 meters—below 6,000 feet—in the Weddell Sea, researchers have not been able to confirm the squid’s sex from the footage, nor age, but the discovery is a reminder of how much more there is to learn about the relatively unexplored polar regions of our world’s ocean.
Undertaken through the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Expedition in the Southern Ocean, the footage will be broadcast in an upcoming National Geographic documentary, and more can be read about this amazing encounter and animal on the Nat Geo website.
According to squid expert Dr. Kathrin Bolstad, who worked with marine biologist and expedition team member Manuel Novillo on the species identification, the large single central hook observed on each tentacle club clinched her confirmation that the squid was the elusive Gonatus antarcticus.
It belongs to the family Gonatidae, which contains 19 species across three genera. Known as armhook squids after the central hook spotted by Bolstad,
The research team also mapped several previously unexplored sites throughout the Southern Ocean, including depths that reached 10,000 feet, obtaining various samples of sediment, water, and biota to study the health of various Southern Ocean habitats, including abyssal plains, hydrothermal vents, troughs, canyon walls and sea ice.
This work was conducted aboard the Falkor in collaboration with the Schmidt Ocean Institute, which provided National Geographic Explorers the opportunity to leverage its state-of-the-art tools and capabilities during its maiden voyage to the Southern Ocean.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Thar’ Be a Kraken! First Video Footage of a Possible Colossal Squid in its Own Habitat Captured
Though not as large as the giant squid or colossal squid, three feet is a significant size under the pressures of life 3,000 meters below sea level.
GNN reported recently that the colossal squid had been filmed for the first time when a juvenile drifted past the cameras on the same Schmidt Ocean Institute vessel earlier this year. Dr. Bolstad was also consulted to identify the creature.
DEEP-SEA DELIGHT: Thriving Ecosystem of Deep-Sea Creatures Discovered After Iceberg Detached Serendipitously from Antarctica
“We’re finally seeing confirmed footage of this animal that some of us have been studying and dreaming about for decades,” said Dr. Bolstad at the time. “The spots on the mantle [the tube-like body] tells us that it almost certainly can switch back and forth between being completely transparent… to being quite opaque.”
Unlike the colossal squid, however, this armhook squid was an adult, meaning much more can be learned about it.
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Salvaged Materials and Appliances from 100-yo Baltimore Homes Offered Back to Community for Free
100-year-old townhomes were razed in West Baltimore recently to make room for a new Amtrak tunnel.
Though the homes may be gone, the historic and economic value they contained was not simply cast aside, because the national train operator contracted a salvage company to take out any historic building materials and still-functioning appliances and offer them back to the community for free.
Located temporarily in the old Atlas Storage building off Edmondson Avenue, the salvage center contains “anything a house would take to survive” said one visiting resident.
Maurice Spencer snagged a water heater and a condenser, after his started leaking.
WMAR 2 Baltimore reports that a local organization looking to build a community amphitheater was able to grab a series of marble steps to use as benches.
“I saw some doors in there that I really like,” Spencer told the ABC affiliate. “They have wood bannisters, doors, windows. If anyone is interested in doing a little work to your home, this would be the place to start looking for something if you don’t have the money to purchase the things.”
A SIMILAR STORY IN BELGIUM: ‘Urban Miners’ Are Unearthing the Treasures That Can Be Reused as Buildings Are Demolished
Amtrak capital construction manager Alexis Hightower said that they were only technically obligated to salvage and store historic materials, but stainless steel sinks, and well-working appliances like stoves and fridges ended up there too.
One can imagine the discussions between the demolition crews peeling off historic walnut flooring only to arrive at a fridge only a year old that they were supposed to throw out.
“As they had a chance to go in and inspect each property, they brought it to our attention, hey there are some other valuable items, some still fairly new,” said Hightower.
The goods available are only free for residents of the “Midtown Edmondson or Greater Rosemont neighborhoods” but anyone can come and shop.
SALVAGING HISTORIC AMERICA: Historic Homes Being Turned into Heritage Building Materials by These Awesome Savannah Women
It’s open Monday through Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and by appointment on Saturdays.
The address is 2150 Harlem Avenue. For more information, call (443) 423-1115.
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In World First, Mexicans Just Voted for Their Supreme Court Justices
Americans often refer to our country as undergoing a continual experiment in self-government. Well, down in Mexico, that experiment has been taken to a whole other level.
On the first of June, the North American nation became the first in modern history to elect its judges at all levels by popular vote.
The first supreme court chief justice elected democratically on Earth is Hugo Aguilar, a noted indigenous rights defender of the highest esteem in Latin America who also acted as legal counsel to the Zapatista guerilla movement during their demilitarization.
He is a member of the Mixtec indigenous group, an ancient Mesoamerican lineage surviving from 1,500 BCE inhabiting a tri-state area of Western Oaxaca and neighboring portions of Puebla and Guerrero.
Aguilar, like 20% of Mexico’s population, considers himself indigenous, and has said previously that the native populations are owed “a significant debt” from colonialism. He has vowed to wear Mixtec clothing in court over the traditional toga, or judicial robe.
Aguilar worked at the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples under President Claudia Sheinbaum’s predecessor and popular native figure Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Despite a distinguished 30-year-career as a lawyer, Aguilar has never held the post of a judge before. In a Facebook post following his victory, Aguilar delivered a speech in his native language, with Spanish added in subtitles.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Refugee Makes History Becoming British Ambassador: ‘Mom Was Worried I Wasn’t English Enough’
Winning the popular vote by a margin of almost 400,000 votes over the second-place winner, the first-of-their-kind elections also saw five female justices elected to join Aguilar on the bench.
They were organized by Lopez Obrador during the second-half of his tenure following continual clashes with the court over the constitutionality of his policies, a disagreement which President Sheinbaum has suggested was influenced by corruption and special interests.
MORE WINS FOR DEMOCRACY: Politician Declared Winner But Gives Up His Seat When He Learns of Election Interference on his Behalf
The President suggested that the world would see how a different judicial-political system could exist. However, critics of the election pointed out that only 13% of eligible voters participated.
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“Having a place to go is a home. Having someone to love is a family. Having both is a blessing.” – Donna Hedges
Quote of the Day: “Having a place to go is a home. Having someone to love is a family. Having both is a blessing.” – Donna Hedges
Photo by: Getty Images for Unsplash+
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Good News in History, June 11
126 years ago today, Yasunari Kawabata was born. Winner of the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, the novelist is recognized as one of the foremost of his time, with titles such as Snow Country and Thousand Cranes held up in the country as masterpieces. His characters were deeply influenced by his time as a reporter for the Japanese newspaper, the Maichini, and the Demimonde leftism that was repressed in the interwar period informed his writing substantially. READ some more about this famous author… (1899)
12-Year-old Girl Plants 150,000 Trees in India, Becoming a Reforestation Leader
Called the Indian Greta Thunberg, this 12-year-old is on a mission to green India’s skies and minds.
Armed with determination, a charming personality, and a great marketing concept, she’s planting a grassroots movement towards environmentalism that’s staggering to see in one so young.
At age 8, she won the Dal Puraskar, an Indian order of merit, and told the Times of India she had already planted 14 “fruit forests” in government schools, offices, and community areas with the help of thousands of volunteers.
At just 12, she’s planted over 150,000 trees, founded the Prasiddhi Forest Foundation, undertook the restoration of mangroves and lakes, ran a TEDx, spoke at the UN Climate Change summit COP 28 and 29, and is presumably now doing something else equally amazing that’s not yet been reported.
The Foundation organizes classes, workshops, and events under the principle of a “3G Network” which stands for ‘Generate’ one’s own oxygen, ‘Grow’ one’s own food, and ‘Gift’ one’s effort to their community.
According to Young Planet Leaders, Prasiddhi started her tree growing efforts at age 7 as a personal response to a devastating cyclone. However, her concept of fruit forests goes far beyond sheltering from storms.
These biodiverse, edible landscapes are both ecological solutions and social infrastructure, and they’re drawing volunteers from around the country, but particularly in her home state of Tamil Nadu.
WATCH her tell her story and dig why so many people are recognizing her work…
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China Achieves ‘Excellent’ Water Quality in 90% of Rivers and Lakes, Now Looks to Improve Whole Ecosystems
Having achieved incredible results in improving water quality across the nation, China is embarking on a ten-year project to ensure the ecosystem beyond the shoreline meets similar standards.
The plan, unveiled recently by China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment aims to match improvements in water quality seen in 2,573 rivers and lakes across the country with improvements to the overall ecosystem in which the fresh water is found, including those which humans rely on, and the cultural artifacts located there as well.
It could be said that the protagonist of China’s 4,000 year history isn’t the Chinese people themselves, but fresh water.
From the moment that humans began cultivating rice in the central and northern Chinese plains, control and manipulation of water became the unifying feature of Chinese society, transcending social status, and imbedding itself into the lore of the first emperor who supposedly tamed the Yellow River floods in 2,700 BCE.
As centuries passed, traveler after traveler remarked upon the inexhaustible supply of fresh water for irrigation, and of a network of irrigation canals that spread like a spider’s web as far as the eye could see. The Qin Dynasty completed the ancient world’s largest landscape engineering project when it constructed the Grand Canal, while 2,000 years later, the vast breadth of the Yangtze and Pearl rivers, following industrialization, allowed the Chinese manufacturing market to provide for every corner of the Earth.
Beyond economization and production, the lake and river were the subjects of countless poems and songs across the ages, and the constructions of bridges, pagodas, temples, palaces, and scenic villages where canals replace streets, on and around China’s vast freshwater resources, flourished whenever money was available.
In 2015, China completed an action plan for the prevention and control of water pollution, and in 2024, the proportion of surface-water sections nationwide classified as having excellent water quality reached 90.4%.
In this new action plan, the whole ecology of the riverine ecosystems is being addressed, and will include in its scope projects for restoring spawning grounds, ensuring migratory birds have access to food resources in areas where they alight, enhancing habitat connectivity and fish passage where obstructions are found, strengthening flood control and drainage systems where present, and measuring eutrophication in lakes and reservoirs.
FRESH WATER STORIES: World’s Largest Oyster Restoration Is Big Success – Fulfilling Virginia’s Promise to Chesapeake Bay Rivers
“The document marks another comprehensive initiative to protect China’s water ecosystems following the action plan for prevention and control of water pollutions in 2015,” said Liu Jing, deputy director of the environment ministry’s Department of Water Ecology and Environment.
“A beautiful river or lake is one where the ecological flow is maintained so that it never runs dry. Besides, the ecological functions of the water bodies and their surrounding buffer zones are preserved or restored, and biodiversity is effectively protected,” said Liu.
CHINA IMPROVES POLLUTION METRICS: China’s War on Pollution Improved Air Quality 42%, Reduced Global Pollution Average, and Returned 2 Years of Life to Citizens
“Moreover, pollutant emissions within the watershed are well-managed, and the water quality has fundamentally improved or maintained excellent levels. And the public’s needs for scenic views and recreational activities by the water are met,” she added.
“Significant progress” is expected by 2030, by which time it’s hoped the project will have also begun to reverse the current declining trend in aquatic wildlife in the Yellow River, and to accelerate the current improving trends for wildlife in the Yangtze.
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Hero Crane Driver Who Rescued Man from Burning Building Granted Humble Bucket List Wish
In late 2023, GNN reported that a construction worker had been rescued from the side of a burning high-rise building thanks to a heroic crane operator.
A basket was suspended on the end of Glen Edwards’ crane meant for holding people while they work along the facades of buildings, and despite terrible visibility from the smoke and a blustery wind, he successfully positioned it close enough for the worker to climb aboard and escape a mixture of fire, smoke, and toxic fumes.
In an update to that story, Edwards, who enjoys a hero’s reputation in Reading, has received a series of home improvements as a gift for the heroism he demonstrated that day.
The gift has another explanation though, and that’s that Edwards, who is currently 66-years-old, has received a terminal cancer diagnosis.
He likely had cancer on the day he saved the construction worker’s life, and although it was previously treated successfully, it’s come back, and he recently told Britain’s ITV that it has spread to his spine.
Hearing about it, and his life-saving deed, Bucket List Wishes got in touch with Glen and said they wanted to fulfill a bucket list item of his if it could be done, with Gini Hackett, the charity’s founder, reaching out personally.
“I found it amazing to do this wish for him,” Hackett told ITV. “He’s really humble, what he did was incredible. He is a real hero to us so we absolutely had to do something for him.”
ALSO CHECK OUT: ‘Hero’ Gamer Thwarts Attack on California School by Reporting Teens Discussing Bombing Intentions Online
Humble is as humble does, and all Mr. Edwards asked for was new flooring and a garden shed for a home he had recently moved into. It was work that needed doing, so that’s what he hoped to receive—not a lavish cruise or a dream vacation.
In return, Hackett and Bucket List Wishes took care of the shed and flooring, but also added completely new kitchen appliances, a large gift voucher for new bedding, and, as an extra surprise, a fishing trip to the Victorian-era seaside resort town of Swanage on the Dorset coast.
MORE HEROES BEING RECOGNIZED: A Stranger Delivered CPR for 20 Minutes to Save a Montreal Man Then Vanished
Edwards also spoke with ITV about his rescue.
“The smoke was absolutely intense, I could hardly see him, well, I couldn’t see him. I knew he was there, he was standing on the edge of the building,” he said.
“He’s got two girls, eight and 13 they were at the time, and I got a very heartfelt letter that would bring a tear to your eye.”
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Yurok Tribe Celebrates Again as Ancestral Homelands are Returned–in Wake of Historic Dam Removal
In Northern California, a native American tribe is celebrating the return of ancestral lands in one of the largest such transfers in the nation’s history.
Through a Dept. of the Interior initiative aiming to bring indigenous knowledge back into land management, 76 square miles east of the central stretch of the Klamath River has been returned to the Yurok tribe.
Sandwiched between the newly-freed Klamath and forested hillsides of evergreens, redwoods, and cottonwoods, Blue Creek is considered the crown jewel of these lands, though if it were a jewel it wouldn’t be blue, it would be a giant colorless diamond, such is the clarity of the water.
It’s the most important cold-water tributary of the Klamath River, and critical habitat for coho and Chinook salmon. Fished and hunted on since time immemorial by the Yurok and their ancestors, the land was taken from them during the gold rush before eventually being bought by timber companies.
Barry McCovey Jr., director of the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department, remembers slipping past gates and dodging security along Blue Creek just to fish up a steelhead, one of three game fish that populate the river and need it to spawn.
Profiled along with the efforts of his tribe to secure the land for themselves and their posterity, he spoke to AP about the experience of seeing plans, made a decade ago, come to fruition, and returning to the creek on which he formerly trespassed as a land and fisheries manager.
“To go from when I was a kid and 20 years ago even, from being afraid to go out there to having it be back in tribal hands … is incredible,” he said.
Part of the agreement is that the Yurok Tribe would manage the land to a state of maximum health and resilience, and for that the tribe has big plans, including restoring native prairie, using fire to control understory growth, removing invasive species, restoring native fish habitat, and undoing decades of land-use changes from the logging industry in the form of culverts and logging roads.
“And maybe all that’s not going to be done in my lifetime,” said McCovey. “But that’s fine, because I’m not doing this for myself.”
The Yurok Tribe were recently at the center of the nation’s largest dam removal, a two decades-long campaign to remove a series of four hydroelectric dams along the Klamath River. Once the West Coast’s third-largest salmon run, the Klamath dams substantially reduced salmon activity.
Completed last September, the before and after photographs are stunning to witness. By late November, salmon had already returned far upriver to spawn, proving that instinctual information had remained intact even after a century of disconnect.
“Seeing salmon spawning above the former dams fills my heart,” said Joseph L. James, chairman of the Yurok Tribe, the leaders of the dam removal campaign along with the Karuk and Klamath tribes.
“Our salmon are coming home. Klamath Basin tribes fought for decades to make this day a reality because our future generations deserve to inherit a healthier river from the headwaters to the sea.”
Last March, GNN reported that the Yurok Tribe had also become the first of America’s tribal nations to co-manage land with the National Park Service under a historic memorandum of understanding involving Redwoods National Park.
The nonprofit Save the Redwoods bought a piece of land adjacent to the park, which receives 1 million visitors annually and is a UNESCO Natural Heritage Site, and handed it over to the Yurok for stewardship.
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The piece of land, which contained giant redwoods, recovered to such an extent that the NPS has incorporated it into the Redwoods trail network, and the two agencies will cooperate in ensuring mutual flourishing between two properties and one ecosystem.
Back at Blue Creek, AP reports that work has already begun clearing non-native conifer trees planted for lumber. The trunks will be used to create log jams in the creek for wildlife habitat.
Costing $56 million, the land was bought from the loggers by Western Rivers Conservancy, using a mixture of fundraising efforts including private capital, low interest loans, tax credits, public grants and carbon credit sales.
MORE INDIGENOUS VICTORIES: Rainforest Oil Exploration Stopped as Court Rules Uncontacted Tribes Have Right to Remain in Isolation
The sale was part of a movement called Land Back, which involves returning ownership of once-native lands of great importance to tribes for the sake of effective stewardship. Studies have shown around the tropics that indigenous-owned lands in protected areas have higher forest integrity and biodiversity than those owned by national governments.
Land Back has seen 4,700 square miles—equivalent to one and a half-times the size of Yellowstone National Park—returned to tribes through land buy-back agreements in 15 states.
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“Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance.” – Ruth E. Renkel
Quote of the Day: “Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance.” – Ruth E. Renkel
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Good News in History, June 10
90 years ago today, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio, by Bill Wilson—who, the previous day, drank his last drink. He co-founded it with Dr. Bill Smith who helped form AA’s Twelve Step program of spiritual and character development to enable its members to “stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety.” READ about the Twelve Traditions through which they operate… (1935)
Arizona Teen Returns Lost Wallet Containing $300, Receives Electric Bike He Had Been Saving for
Last month in Arizona a young man profited unexpectedly from choosing honesty over greed after finding a lost wallet.
14-year-old Cody Chalmers found the wallet while riding his bike in Chandler on May 2nd, finding 300$ cash and credit cards inside.
But even though he was in the middle of saving money for an electric dirt bike with a hefty price tag, young Chalmers didn’t waste anytime considering his good fortune.
Sending his mother a photo of the ID contained in the wallet, she was able to run some basic internet searches until she found a phone number.
Speaking with AZ Family, Chalmers said that he was happy he did the right thing.
“I thought that someone would feel really bad if they lost it, so I was like, I better return this,” he said, adding that he remembered immediately how his father reacted years ago when he lost his wallet. “It kind of taught me how bad it is to like take someone’s money, like because their wallet is basically their life.”
Impressed with her son’s honesty, Carrie Strecker made a boast post on a local Chandler Facebook page, remarking how Cody joked that he “was a Good Samaritan now HUH mom?”
Seeing the story of the lost wallet, another Good Samaritan decided that $3,500 of his own money was less important than rewarding Cody’s honesty and asked his mom to send him a link to the electric bike. He intended to buy it for Cody as a gift.
Now there are fewer cooler cats than Cody along the hot streets of Chandler, as he rides around on his black e-bike—which was sold be a company called, if it can be believed, “Integrity E-bikes.“
WATCH the story below from Inside Edition…
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