Quote of the Day: “Romance is the glamor which turns the dust of everyday life into a golden haze.” – Elinor Glyn
Photo: by Theo Crazzolara, CC license, via Flickr
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For the first time ever, hydrogen-fueled trains will soon be running on UK railways.
The train, codenamed “Breeze”, will convert existing Class 321 trains, which will reengineer some of the UK’s most reliable rolling stock and create a clean train for the modern age.
These trains could run across the UK as early as 2022, emitting only water and zero harmful emissions.
The conversion will be carried out by French transit company Alstom in partnership with Eversholt Rail. The two companies have confirmed that their initial, comprehensive engineering study is now complete, and the train design concept finalized. The innovative technical solution defined is the first to allow a hydrogen train to fit within the standard UK loading gauge, and it will also create more space for passengers than the trains they are intended to replace.
“The Breeze will be a clean new train for the UK with a stylish, modern look,” said Nick Crossfield, Alstom UK & Ireland Managing Director. “In Germany, Alstom’s hydrogen trains are already transporting passengers in the comfort and quiet that is characteristic of these trains. The Breeze offers British rail users the opportunity to share in the pleasure that is a journey on a hydrogen train.”
“Hydrogen train technology is an exciting innovation which has the potential to transform our railway, making journeys cleaner and greener by cutting CO2 emissions even further,” said UK Rail Minister Andrew Jones MP in a press release. “We are working with industry to establish how hydrogen trains can play an important part in the future, delivering better services on rural and inter-urban routes.”
The Alstom facility in Widnes will manage the conversion of the Breeze trains, which will also create engineering jobs in the emerging sector.
Power Up With Positivity By Sharing The Good News With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Alstom
Three years ago, Ron Robert was “shocked” and distressed over his Alzheimer’s diagnosis – but instead of letting the disease get the better of him, it has inspired a brand new chapter of his life.
As a means of keeping his mind sharp, the 81-year-old started taking classes at King’s University College in London, Ontario.
Enrolling in the school has not only helped the Canadian senior stay engaged, it is also helping to inspire his fellow dementia patients and raise awareness for what it’s like to live with the disease.
“Too many people, they get diagnosed with something like Alzheimer’s and they think somehow it’s the end,” Robert told CTV News in the video below. “Well, it’s not an end – it’s just a new beginning. It’s something you’ve got to work at. And actually, it’s a good thing because I was getting quite bored being retired! So this is all a new challenge for me.”
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Thus far, Robert says that his classes in political science and disability studies have been a tremendous help to his mental health.
“I feel really good,” he said. “The short-term memory is terrible; long-term memory has improved. I feel better mentally, and I think that’s a big important part too. You’ve got to be upbeat.”
Though his fellow students are young enough to be his grandchildren, they have been especially supportive of Robert’s mission. On the few occasions that Robert becomes disoriented in the university facilities, students are always quick to approach him and offer their assistance.
WATCH: Real-Life ‘The Notebook’ Couple Weds Again After Husband Forgets They’re Married and Re-Proposes
Robert’s determination has now made him the face of the “Yes, I Live With Dementia” campaign: an initiative that was created by the Alzheimer Society of Canada as a means of combatting the stigma and misconceptions surrounding the neurodegenerative disease.
The senior hopes to continue his education until he can eventually graduate from the school alongside his peers, but until then, he has other aspirations for his fellow dementia-sufferers.
“I’m hoping I’m the beginning of a wave,” said Robert. “I hope that all those people out there listening that have given up on Alzheimer’s will just get off their butts and join me out here!”
(WATCH the video below) – Photo by CTV News
Be Sure And Help Your Friends See This Amazing Story By Sharing It To Social Media
Reprinted from the University of Washington
Most people don’t want to live in a home filled with airborne chemicals – which is why these researchers came up with an ingenious way of cleansing indoor spaces of contaminants.
Some people may use air filters to keep offending allergens and dust particles at bay, but some hazardous compounds are too small to be trapped in these filters. Small molecules like chloroform can be found in chlorinated water, and benzene, which is a component of gasoline, builds up in our homes when we shower, boil water, or when we store cars or lawn mowers in attached garages. Both benzene and chloroform exposure have been linked to cancer.
Now researchers at the University of Washington have genetically modified a common houseplant — pothos ivy — to remove chloroform and benzene from the air around it. The modified plants express a protein, called 2E1, that transforms these compounds into molecules that the plants can then use to support their own growth.
“People haven’t really been talking about these hazardous organic compounds in homes, and I think that’s because we couldn’t do anything about them,” said senior author Stuart Strand, who is a research professor in the UW’s civil and environmental engineering department. “Now we’ve engineered houseplants to remove these pollutants for us.”
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The team modified the plant with a protein called cytochrome P450 2E1, or 2E1 for short. The protein is present in all mammals, including humans. In our bodies, 2E1 turns benzene into a chemical called phenol and chloroform into carbon dioxide and chloride ions. However, since the 2E1 is only located in our livers, it is only turned on when we drink alcohol – so it’s not available to help us process pollutants in our air.
“We decided we should have this reaction occur outside of the body in a plant, an example of the ‘green liver’ concept,” Strand said. “And 2E1 can be beneficial for the plant, too. Plants use carbon dioxide and chloride ions to make their food, and they use phenol to help make components of their cell walls.”
The researchers made a synthetic version of the gene that serves as instructions for making the rabbit form of 2E1. Then they introduced it into pothos ivy so that each cell in the plant expressed the protein. Additionally, since pothos ivy doesn’t flower in temperate climates, the genetically modified plants won’t be able to spread via pollen.
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“This whole process took more than two years,” said lead author Long Zhang, a research scientist in the civil and environmental engineering department. “That is a long time, compared to other lab plants, which might only take a few months. But we wanted to do this in pothos because it’s a robust houseplant that grows well under all sort of conditions.”
The researchers then tested how well their modified plants could remove the pollutants from air compared to normal pothos ivy. They put both types of plants in glass tubes and then added either benzene or chloroform gas into each tube. Over 11 days, the team tracked how the concentration of each pollutant changed in each tube.
For the unmodified plants, the concentration of either gas didn’t change over time. But for the modified plants, the concentration of chloroform dropped by 82 percent after three days, and it was almost undetectable by day six. The concentration of benzene also decreased in the modified plant vials, but more slowly: By day eight, the benzene concentration had dropped by about 75 percent.
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In order to detect these changes in pollutant levels, the researchers used much higher pollutant concentrations than are typically found in homes. But the team expects that the home levels would drop similarly, if not faster, over the same time frame.
Plants in the home would also need to be inside an enclosure with something to move air past their leaves, like a fan, Strand said.
“If you had a plant growing in the corner of a room, it will have some effect in that room,” he said. “But without air flow, it will take a long time for a molecule on the other end of the house to reach the plant.”
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The team is currently working to increase the plants’ capabilities by adding a protein that can break down formaldehyde, another hazardous molecule commonly found in household air due to its presence in some wood products, such as laminate flooring and cabinets, and tobacco smoke.
“These are all stable compounds, so it’s really hard to get rid of them,” Strand said. “Without proteins to break down these molecules, we’d have to use high-energy processes to do it. It’s so much simpler and more sustainable to put these proteins all together in a houseplant.”
The team published its findings in the journal Environmental Science & Technology last month.
Plant Some Positivity Amongst Your Friends By Sharing The Good News To Social Media – Photos by Mark Stone / University of Washington
If you have ever had a package stolen off of your front porch, then you’re familiar with the feeling of “violation” that Mark Rober experienced last summer.
The Ex-NASA engineer was annoyed to discover that some local thieves had stolen a package off of his property. Even after taking security footage of the incident to the police, law enforcement said that the theft was “not worth looking into.”
Rober says that in addition to the theft making him feel violated, his inability to take action against the robbers also made him feel “powerless”.
Instead of allowing the package thieves to go unpunished, however, he decided to have a little fun and design a trap for the next robber who tried to steal someone else’s stuff.
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Rober then created an ingenious little contraption that resembled an Apple HomePod delivery – except once the pilferers removed the exterior of the packaging, the motion detonated a “glitter bomb”.
The contraption was fitted with a fan mechanism that sprayed a stash of the world’s finest glitter around the radius of the package. On top of that, Rober added a gadget that expelled several spritzes of noxious “fart spray”.
Finally, he fitted the package with several cameras and GPS-tracking so he could film the reactions of the thieves and recover the contraption once they threw it out of their cars in disgust.
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Rober left the package on his porch and waited. As an added touch of genius, he even attached a shipping label to the front of the box that was addressed to Kevin McCallister from the Home Alone movies – his inspiration for the scheme.
The package was then stolen by three different people – and results are particularly satisfying.
(WATCH the video below) – Photo by Mark Rober
Be Sure And Share This Amusing Clip With Your Friends On Social Media
A second grader is one step closer to achieving her career dreams after she won a $30,000 scholarship for her cute dinosaur doodle earlier this week.
Sarah Gomez-Lane is the winner of the 2018 Doodle for Google contest. This is the contest’s 10th year running, and for this year’s prompt, the tech company asked young artists to create drawings about what inspires them.
Upon receiving hundreds of thousands of submissions, the youngster from Falls Church, Virginia landed the prize after she drew a group of dinosaurs in the shape of the Google logo.
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Sarah says she is inspired by dinosaurs because she wants to be a paleontologist when she grows up – and since the judges were so moved by her simple submission, she was named the winner.
“When they called my name, I felt happy and surprised,” said Sarah. “I’m going to call my principal and he’s going to say, ‘Yay!’”
In addition to receiving a $30,000 scholarship so she can pursue her dream of being a paleontologist, her school was also given $50,000 to spend on technology that will help their students succeed.
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She also got to collaborate with the Google animation team to make the doodle an interactive graphic.
“I just hope when people see the doodle they are also inspired to think about not only what they dreamed of and wished of when they were kids, but to also take a second to enjoy the simple things in life,” said Perla Campos, Global Marketing Lead of the Google Doodle Team.
(WATCH the video below)
Be Sure And Share This Bite-Sized Bit Of Good News With Your Friends On Social Media
Quote of the Day: “Every life experience, no matter how ‘tragic’, contains a hidden lesson. When we discover the hidden gift that is there, a healing takes place.” – David Hawkins, M.D.
Photo: by Hartwig HKD, CC license, via Flickr
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?
It has been almost 200 years since land iguanas were seen on this region of the Galapagos Islands – but thanks to an intensive park restoration project, the reptile has just been reintroduced to its natural habitat once more.
The land iguana was wiped out from the park’s Santiago Island due to invasive predators such as feral pigs, rats, and dogs preying on their eggs.
Due to careful conservation measures and the removal of these invasive species, however, ecologists successfully managed to transfer 1,436 iguanas from another region of the park to Santiago Island this week.
“The presence of living land iguanas on Santiago Island was reported for the last time in 1835, during the visit that Charles Darwin made to the northeast of the island,” said the Galapagos National Park Facebook page. “Almost two centuries later, this ecosystem will once again have this species through this restoration initiative.”
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The reptilian herbivores have historically served as an invaluable part of the islands’ ecosystem by keeping vegetation in check and dispersing seeds.
As a means of ensuring the iguana’s successful reintegration to the island, park authorities will be monitoring their nesting and feeding habits during the coming years.
Galapagos National Park Director Jorge Carrión lauded the ecological achievement on Twitter as “great news for Galápagos, for Ecuador, and the world.”
Be Sure And Share The Good News With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Parque Nacional Galápagos Facebook
Over the course of the last four years, the Indian government has made it their mission to provide sanitation coverage for the entire nation – and their success has reportedly saved thousands of lives.
According to a report from the World Health Organization (WHO), India’s “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” cleanliness campaign has increased the nation’s sanitation coverage from 40% to 90% – and the nation is set to achieve total coverage by October 2019.
With improved public access to toilets and hygienic facilities, WHO says that the initiative’s completion will have prevented 300,000 children dying from diarrhea and protein-energy malnutrition.
The campaign is one of the most nation’s most significant government-led projects to improve public health and cleanliness. Prior to when Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the initiative back in October 2014 as a means of honoring Gandhi’s birthday, unsafe sanitation resulted in roughly 200 million cases of dangerous gastrointestinal problems every year.
With the number of these cases steadily declining since the campaign’s launch, the government is celebrating their imminent victory over the entirety of the public health crisis.
“In a recent report, the WHO has said that because of the cleanliness campaign, [300,000] children were saved,” the Prime Minister said in a translated statement. “The credit for saving these lives goes to every Indian who was a part of this campaign. Saving the lives of poor children is surely a great humanitarian act and the world bodies are recognizing it.
With the campaign’s completion date in site, Modi added that “a clean India would be the best tribute India could pay to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birthday in 2019.”
Clean Up Negativity By Sharing The Good News To Social Media
For the last 21 years, Jeffrey Knight has made something of a name for himself in the city center of Bristol.
The Jamaican-born man is known for handing out copies of Big Issue, an independent magazine that is sold on the streets by homeless, marginalized and disadvantaged people.
Despite being homeless, however, he is one of the happiest people on the city’s streets, giving fist-bumps, compliments and hugs to passers-by.
Knight first moved to Bristol from Jamaica in 1998 after he lost a number of his closest friends during a period of prolonged violence in the country. Speaking last year, as he celebrated 20 years in the English city, he said: “I love it here. I love to be around people and I feel free like a bird in the trees when I’m doing it.
“Making other people happy makes me happy, that’s why I’ve been doing this for so long and why I couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” he added. “If someone hasn’t seen me for a few days they’ll say ‘Jeff, we were worried about you, where have you been!?’ and it makes me feel special knowing they’re looking out for me.”
In fact, the street seller is so beloved by the locals, over 500 people recently chipped in to help buy Knight his own van.
Local resident Deasy Bamford launched a crowdfunding page for the van after she was cycling home one night and saw Knight sleeping on the sidewalk.
“I guess I’d never thought about his living situation before and I thought there’s no way that he should be sleeping on the streets,” said Bamford. “So I set up the page and thought it might raise about £2,000 at most. But when I returned from Gambia after Christmas it had raised over £5,000, which was amazing to see.”
The campaign ended up raising over £7,000 ($8,900) in just two months – which was more than enough to buy Knight a plush VW van. A local camper van dealer even sold the vehicle at a discounted rate upon hearing about Knight’s story.
WATCH: When Homeless Man Finds Artwork That Sells for Thousands, Man Tracks Him Down to Split the Earnings
The rest of the donated funds will be used to finance the taxes, insurance, and inspections on the van during the coming years.
Knight, who was handed the keys to his van on Saturday, offered an emotional thank-you to the people of Bristol for their compassion.
“I want to say thank you to everyone and I mean it from the bottom of my heart,” said Knight. “I love you, Bristol. Thank you for being there for me in the good times and bad times. I’ve been here so long I know the lovely faces of everyone who walks past me and they know me.
“Money is important, but this is more than money – this is love, and there isn’t anything more important than that.”
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Jeff spent his first night in his van, on Saturday, watching television – mainly the History Channel – and he says he is looking forward to watching more at the end of his shifts.
“It just makes me feel good having somewhere warm to go at the end of the day,” he said. “Now every morning I get up and say ‘Yes! I’m indoors and I’m safe’. Sometimes when you’re sleeping rough, people aren’t very nice when they walk past.
WATCH: Police Officer Shaves Homeless Man’s Beard in Gas Station Parking Lot So He Can Land a Job
“A few months back, someone threw some booze on my sleeping bag at night … but now I’m in the van, nobody can do that to me.”
Bamford celebrated the crowdfunding success by simply saying: “The whole thing just shows that people want good things to happen to others and they want to come together to make a difference, despite the tough times we live in.
“It’s been a real honor to part of this Bristol buzz and it’s so nice to see Jeff in his van, he absolutely loves it.”
Be Sure And Drive This Sweet Story Of Community Kindness To Your Friends On Social Media
This installment of the Science of Kindness is reprinted with permission from Envision Kindness.
Reconnection is made possible by embracing kindness and compassion; embracing kindness and compassion happens once we realize that it is essential to our state of being and longevity. And it just feels good.
In case you can’t stay for the entirety of the class, here’s the “secret sauce” of this blog: when we truly understand that we are connected to one another, we give more freely, we treat each other with respect, we act with integrity, and we trust one another. As the socio-biologic need for kindness and connection is fulfilled, health, happiness, meaning, collaboration, and peace readily flow from there.
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Research already shows how satisfying our need for quality connections is absolutely critical for both mental and physical health. Adults who are socially isolated (lonely, without quality support group) have a risk of death that is 26% higher than those who have a quality social network, making it a formidable mortality factor that is comparable to health risks such as obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and smoking.
Heart disease is the major reason why lonelier people have higher mortality rates than those who maintain quality relationships (not social media relationships, either). This makes sense considering how loneliness is a potent psychological stressor that is also associated with higher blood pressure and blood sugar. People lacking quality social support also have understandably increased symptoms of anxiety and depression.
The need for connection is also seen in children, animals, and even insects. Given how widespread and strong the drive for connection is, the only logical conclusion is that the need to meaningfully connect with other living beings is baked into our biology. In fact, the area of the brain that is associated with the experience of social pain or loss is the same as the one that experiences physical pain, which partly explains why emotional loss is so painful and isolation in prison is such a powerful punishment.
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Our need for one another may be an evolutionary adaptation to increase our chances of survival. Evolutionary biologists like Darwin have described how, in contrast to the concept of survival of the fittest (of an individual), members of a group must sacrifice for one another in order for the group to survive. Examples have been described throughout nature and across different species, such as bats, ants, and primates as well as humans. To sacrifice for, or GIVE to other people feeds that powerful, inborn drive to promote group survival.
Kindness and sacrifice, therefore, is the “default mode” of how almost everyone is born. When we give to someone else, especially for the sake of simply giving, we reconnect with our true nature AND we also send a signal to the recipient (and to ourselves) that we are connected.
Beyond spiritual or emotional terms, that signal can be described biologically. It is an internal signal in our brains that has been called the “helper’s high.” Scientists know that performing, thinking about, or simply witnessing acts of kindness activates the same parts of the brain responsible for reward (pleasure). It causes changes in our brain chemistry, including the release of endorphins (natural opiates in our bodies), dopamine, and serotonin. The latter two are both neuro-transmitters associated with feeling good. It is for these biological reasons that kindness can induce happiness: a natural, internal high or elevation. No other pharmacology needed.
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So how does kindness cause connection? On an obvious level, when someone gives of themselves to another person (even a smile or friendly hello), they are saying to that person “I see you—you are important and need to be recognized and/or supported.” Recognizing another person in a positive way makes the receiver feel valued, establishing a connection. And because nature has blessed the giver with internal reward mechanisms, the behavior can be reinforced as the giver’s biologic destiny has been momentarily fulfilled. Once we know that we are connected to one another in so many ways, kindness flows readily and becomes a virtuous, self-perpetuating cycle.
A major reason why people may feel like they are disconnected from their naturally compassionate tendencies is that the negative stories and images that are displayed on our social media feeds are very impactful—just like how our system is programmed to be kind, we are also programmed to identify threats and respond to them. Unrelenting negative images, stories, and experiences DISCONNECT us from each other—things like ego, fear, anger, and greed all make us think that we need to protect ourselves from other people.
Additionally, while people may appear connected through social media, these connections do not replace higher quality interpersonal relationships. In fact, as people spend more time on social media, they spend less time in interpersonal interactions. When people don’t feel connected to others, there is less kindness, tolerance, and collaboration. In contrast to the kindness-connection loop, this is a vicious and destructive cycle that perpetuates itself.
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So how can we conquer this? We need to connect more meaningfully with others and show them kindness – even if it is in small, simple ways. For example, are there people at school or work who seem more alone or secluded? Instead of ignoring them or thinking they are anti-social, why not say “hello” and smile as we walk by; eat lunch with them, or recognize the good work that they do? Or maybe you can call a friend just to say hi and see how they’re doing? Visit the elderly; volunteer for a worthy cause. In this frame of thinking, we don’t let political or racial divisions rob us of the opportunities to work together.
Christian Picciolini, the former neo-Nazi who now helps white supremacists find their way back to mainstream society, bases his approach on how many neo-Nazis simply want to find compassion and a way to belong. Every soul, he says, needs identity, community and purpose – and all of these can come through meaningful connection. His recommendation? “Find someone who doesn’t deserve your compassion and give it to them because that’s what happened to me.”
So if you want to give yourself, your family, your community, and even strangers a significantly better 2019, try more kindness – and once you get better at recognizing how interconnected we are, you’ll quickly realize how easy it is to be compassionate.
Interested in learning more about the science of kindness and its role in your life? Visit EnvisionKindness.org to learn more.
Be Sure And Share The Secret Sauce Of Kindness With Your Friends On Social Media – Feature photo by Robert Anton Apparante / Envision Kindness
You probably already know someone who has rescued a homeless dog or cat – but what about someone who adopts unwanted hermit crabs?
Sarah Porter has become the proud parent of over 30 pet hermit crabs that she has rescued from across New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey.
Some of the tiny crustaceans were found abandoned on the beach while others were relinquished by reluctant pet owners – but over the course of the last few years, Porter has traveled great distances in order to give them all a loving home.
“I think in the big scheme of things, it may look kind of silly,” Porter told USA Today. “They’re just these little hermit crabs, but honestly it feels good to know that they’re comfortable and happy as a crab can be, and I think all animals deserve that.”
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Porter says that people will often give the crabs as gifts without knowing the extent of their required care. Though they dwell on land, the crustaceans have gills that necessitate a humid environment, and many gift shop vendors will sell hermit crabs without the proper equipment to replicate their tropical habitat.
Since hermit crabs are native to the Caribbean, Porter is unable to reintroduce them to the wild. She has, however, turned a 55-gallon tank into a “crabitat” for her beloved clawed critters – and based on their daily treats of veggies and watermelon, it seems pretty safe to say that they are happy as clams.
“They deserve to be comfortable and well-fed and have the environment that nature designed for them,” says Porter. “So even if this isn’t a tropical beach it’s as close as we can get them there.”
(WATCH the video below) – Photos by Sarah Porter
Don’t Be So Crabby! Share This Sweet Rescue Story With Your Friends On Social Media
Quote of the Day: “On any day of the year the denominator of kindness will be vastly greater than the numerator of cruelty.” – Daniel Goleman (on the negativity of our daily newscasts)
Photo: by Ken Lund, CC license, via Flickr
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?
Despite 96 years old being an impressive milestone for this WWII veteran, Duane Sherman had been disheartened about his impending birthday.
Since the Purple Heart recipient has spent much of his life without social media or texting, he is used to handwritten letters being the primary method of communication amongst his peers.
So in the weeks leading up to his birthday on December 30th, Sherman hoped to receive a few birthday cards in the mail. Because many of his friends have passed away, however, the veteran was saddened by the lack of letters in his mailbox.
His daughter Sue Morse then took to social media with a plea for strangers to brighten her father’s day with a simple birthday card – and the internet was quick to respond.
The post was shared so many times, Sherman ended up receiving over 50,000 cards and letters from strangers across 50 states and 10 countries.
Needless to say, the veteran was delighted. He says that the outpouring of love and appreciation was the equivalent of receiving a Christmas, birthday, and New Year’s gift all wrapped up into one.
“I’ll have a hell of a time reading them,” laughed Sherman in an interview last month.
(WATCH the news coverage below or our international viewers can watch the footage on the CBS news website) – Photo by CBS News
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Motorcycle gangs may soon be able to join the green energy revolution thanks to this sleek new form of transportation.
German manufacturing company BigRep recently unveiled its prototype for the world’s first fully 3D-printed electric motorcycle.
The “NERA” e-motorbike, which was designed by the company’s NowLab innovation department, only weighs a stunning 132 pounds (60 kilograms).
All of the bike’s components, excluding the electronics, were 3D-printed in a laboratory. That includes the flexible bumpers, seat, chest rest, steering mechanisms, and even the airless tires, which can be designed with customizable treads.
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Since the NERA is simply a prototype, there is no definitive timeline for when it will be speeding down our local streets, but the design is apparently a game-changer for the future of 3D-printing and eco-friendly travel.
“In building NERA, the engineers didn’t simply adapt existing motorcycle designs, but instead envisioned a bike for large-format FFF (a type of 3D printing) technology, setting a benchmark for truly creative design; breaking the limits of traditional mechanical engineering,” said Dr. Stephan Beyer, CEO and co-founder of BigRep, according to CNN.
(WATCH the video below) – Photo by BigRep
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While some people may have committed their New Year’s resolutions to going to the gym, this woman resolved to write one love letter to a different person for every day of the year.
They weren’t romantic love letters, however – they were letters of appreciation and praise for strangers, family members, friends, and old acquaintances from years past.
48-year-old Jen Kramer says that even though she never cared much for New Year’s resolutions in the past, she was inspired to start her #YearOfLove project when she read about the benefits of using resolutions for positive initiatives, rather than “arduous” self-improvement tasks.
Kramer, who works as the director of events at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, says that she didn’t often plan who she was going to shower with love on any given day – she mostly chose her love letter recipients based on her instincts. Some days, they were dedicated to high school friends whom she had not spoken to in years; others she dedicated to restaurant workers and custodians.
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Finally, after successfully publishing 365 love letters to social media, Kramer says that “it’s amazing what happens when you are on the lookout for love.”
“In a lot of ways, it’s been an experiment in healing,” Kramer told the Chicago Tribune. “Somehow, some way, showing love, expressing love, feeling love, exhibiting love has been a way to sort of navigate those moments of sadness — whether it’s about a person or a way things used to be or a way we used to treat each other.”
“This was an experiment that absolutely altered the course of my life and the way I go through life,” she continued, “and it cost me nothing.”
But while her labor of love was completely free of costs, it apparently still paid off. Science has already proven that being kind to other people has more mental health benefits than being a recipient of kindness – and Kramer’s fulfilled resolution is a testament to the research.
RELATED: 10 Best Stories When Kindness and Heroics Went Viral in 2018
“Where I went, love showed up,” she told the Tribune. “I took it with me everywhere. I looked for love everywhere. You just have to look.”
Kramer hopes that her project will inspire others to use 2019 as a year of showing gratitude to their peers – regardless of whether it’s expected.
Be Sure And Share This Inspiring Story Of Gratitude With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Jen Kramer
Though the partial US government shutdown has left some national parks scrambling to maintain their lands and facilities, hundreds of civilians are stepping up to care for the public lands of their own accord.
In Tennessee, a father-daughter duo has been tackling the litter left behind on the trails of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
With park services lacking funding to keep parks clean, Marc Newland and his 10-year-old daughter Erica have spent their days hiking the mountain trails with trash bags in hand so they can pick up litter along the way.
The Newlands have always been avid hikers, but when Marc told his daughter about how the shutdown would affect the mountain park, she suggested that they take it upon themselves to keep the trails tidy.
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“Erica says that she would like to challenge other hikers to take one day off from getting in miles and impressive vista pics and instead, give back by grabbing a trash bag, heading to the park and collecting some litter!!” Mark wrote in a post to the Hike the Smokies Facebook page. “These mountains give so much to so many people. Imagine if only a fraction of those people decided to give back to the mountains.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of Muslim men volunteering with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association have been picking up trash in parks and public spaces across the nation – from the Everglades in Florida to the National Mall in Washington DC.
More than a dozen young men with @MuslimYouthUSA are cleaning up Independence Mall today in pouring rain. They say they are doing their part in helping amid government shutdown. pic.twitter.com/xxTvyubo9W
— Claudia Vargas (@InqCVargas) January 5, 2019
The group recently made headlines for their early morning clean-up of the trash left behind by New Year’s Eve festivities. According to a press release from Dr. Madeel Abdullah, the president of youth group, “service to our nation and cleanliness are important parts of Islam.
“We could not sit idly by as our national parks collected trash,” he added. “We will lead by example and dispose of this garbage appropriately and invite all Americans to join us in these parks and others across the nation.”
This is not the first time that the group has volunteered their services, either. With over 5,000 members of various ages, the organization has reportedly logged over 200,000 hours of public service since 2016.
In addition to individuals lending a hand, dozens of small businesses located in proximity to Yellowstone National Park have all chipped in thousands of dollars to keep the park open and tidy during the winter tourist season.
With the breathtaking scenery blanketed in snow, the park is visited by over 20,000 tourists every month. Since many of these travelers had already planned their wintery expeditions months in advance, local tour guide services, snow mobile rentals, and park resorts volunteered to split the costs of paying park rangers to keep bathrooms and park lands clean.
“I mean it’s not cheap [for these families],” one snowmobile guide told NPR. “They had to plan and budget for this, and to all of a sudden get the carpet ripped out from underneath them, I think is not fair.
“[The park] should be open, and services should be there, because it is the people’s park,” he added, saying that he was happy to help keep the park open until the park received funding once more.
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There are other smaller efforts underway to help keep the parks clean as well. According to the Washington Post, a team of 40 volunteers have been cleaning toilets, restocking toilet paper, and recovering trash throughout Joshua Tree National Park. Another group of civilians is maintaining Yosemite National Park.
While none of these efforts can replace the full force of the National Parks services, the volunteer-led initiatives show that Americans will always be willing to take care of its lands and communities when adversity arises.
Clean Up Negativity By Sharing The Good news With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Marc Newland
The firefighters who rushed to Rachel Schoonover’s aid last month did a lot more than just ensure her imminent safety.
The 6th grade teacher had been washing dishes at her home in Elmira, New York when a wine glass suddenly shattered and cut an artery in her wrist.
“Instantly, blood was everywhere, spraying all corners of my kitchen,” Schoover wrote in a Facebook post. “I wrapped it up in a towel, called 911, called my mom, and continued to bleed everywhere.”
Responders from the Elmira Fire Department were the first to arrive on the scene, and as they tied a tourniquet around Schoonover’s arm to slow the bleeding, they simultaneously helped her son Declan into his pajamas and kept the two of them calm as they waited for an ambulance.
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Since Schoonover’s husband was still at work and her mother had not yet arrived, there was no one to stay behind and watch her son. Some of the firemen immediately volunteered to stay behind and hold down the fort until someone else arrived.
After being whisked to the hospital, Schoonover received some stitches and a tetanus shot before being discharged later that very same night – and she was surprised by what she found when she got home.
“When we got back to my house, I was dreading the bloody mess that was waiting for me in every room,” says Schoonover. “Surprisingly, though, the mess was nearly nonexistent.
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“These men wiped down my fridge, coffee maker, speakers, cupboards, bathtub, floors, and even individual K-cups that had been hit. They put the dirty towels in my bathtub, threw away the glass, and cleaned up the blood in my sink.”
Furthermore, they left a note for the young mother.
“Hope you feel better and have a happy holiday with your boy,” said the note. “We cleaned up some shortly after you left. Hope you don’t mind. We didn’t know what to do with the rug though. Have a glass of wine for us and feel better.”
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Schoonover posted a photo of the note to social media where it was shared thousands of times.
“While everyone last night went above and beyond to help me, I am especially grateful for these guys,” wrote Schoonover. “Thank you so much, West Elmira Fire Department!”
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There are thousands of feral felines living on their own in the United States – and with some cities scrambling to control the increasing number of wild cat colonies, homeowners and businesses are lending a hand with a special kind of adoption program.
Instead of laboring to turn feral cats into pets, more cities are offering “adoptions” for cats as working animals.
By caring for homeless cats as mousers, animal lovers are able to rescue the felines from euthanization while simultaneously purging their properties of rats and mice.
“Even though there’s absolutely no guarantee they will get any rodents, it often works out that way. The cat gets a home and the business or owner gets reduced or no rodents,” Jesse Oldham, a community cat expert for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), told the New York Times. “We’ve also seen a lot of people who just like cats. It’s nice having them around, even if they’re not particularly social.”
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Following in the paws of several working cat adoption programs in the United States, the NYC Feral Cat Initiative has met with plenty of success, processing over 1,000 feral cats in veterinary offices or animal shelters across the city every month.
Using a trap-neuter-return approach, volunteers humanely capture the cats, bring them to a vet to be spayed, neutered, and vaccinated — and their ear is painlessly clipped at the corner so that rescuers can see it has already been treated.
If the cat’s original territory has been destroyed or is being permanently altered, the program pairs the feline with someone who has a rodent problem. (Though adjusting a cat to a new property and caregiver requires more work than adopting a house pet, the pairings have proven to be ideal.)
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The Tree House Humane Society of Chicago launched a similar program in 2016, placing “unadoptable” working cats in rodent-infested environments with such great success that they have a 60+-day waiting list for the feral felines.
Animal rights organizations in Austin and Los Angeles became inspired to start their own working cat programs.
One client in The Big Apple boasted to the Times: “I tell the neighbors how important they are. They don’t need any poison or mouse traps around the house.”
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