Quote of the Day: “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau
Photo: by Samantha Hart, 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?
This airline is protecting the oceans below by ensuring that its passengers take responsibility for themselves while they’re on vacation.
Hawaiian Airlines recently announced that they would be giving away free samples of non-toxic sunscreen to all of their passengers flying from North American destinations to the islands throughout the month of April.
The initiative is in light of recent research that discovered that two ingredients in common sunscreens, oxybenzone and octinoxate, can have damaging effects on coral reefs.
The sunscreen being distributed by the airline, which is the “Eco Formula” recipe from Raw Elements, is certified as all-natural, chemical-free, and reef-safe.
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“Hawaii is a very special place, and we believe it is our kuleana, or responsibility, to care for our home,” said Avi Mannis, senior vice president of marketing at Hawaiian Airlines. “Through our partnership with Raw Elements, we encourage guests to join us in reducing the human impact on these delicate coral ecosystems.”
“Partnering with Hawaiian Airlines to raise awareness of the critical state of Hawaii’s coral reefs is something we are incredibly proud of,” said Brian Guadagno, founder and CEO of Raw Elements. “Together, we are able to positively impact thousands of Hawaii-bound guests per day on safer sunscreen practices and preserving the reefs.”
Not only will the airline be giving away the sunscreen, but they will also be screening an educational documentary called Reefs at Risk on all of their flights.
Click To Share The News With Your Friends – Photo by Hawaiian Airlines
While some people might spend 15,000 hours watching television or commuting to work, these two men have spent an astonishing 15,000 hours shuttling disabled veterans to the hospital for medical treatment.
Over the course of the last 16 years, Bernardo Jaramillo and Mel Ortega have ensured that any veterans who may live in the smaller, more rural communities of New Mexico can be transported to the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center in Albuquerque for major procedures and treatments.
Their services are offered through the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), a nonprofit that helps disabled ex-military members and their families apply for benefits.
85-year-old Ortega has driven a staggering 200,000 miles for the service while 70-year-old Jaramillo has driven 100,000.
Both of the retired Army soldiers say that they enjoy driving for the veterans because it allows them to make new friends while they’re on the road – and they’re able to visit their old acquaintances at the hospital.
“When I was wounded in Vietnam, my brothers in arms, they never left me or the other guys behind,” Jaramillo told the Rio Grande Sun. “The reason I do this is, they never let me down, and I don’t intend to let ’em down. I don’t care from what war, we gotta serve them, because they served us.”
Ortega and Jaramillo are looking for a third volunteer driver so they can offer rides four days a week, rather than just three. If you’re interested in volunteering as a driver for DAV, be sure to check out the nonprofit’s website for more information.
Drive This Story To Your Friends: Click To Share – Photo by DAV
As a means of welcoming the arrival of warm weather, this production team created a delightful animated video rendition of a children’s poem about a forest full of animals celebrating spring.
The video, which is called “Two Snails Set Off”, is based on the French poem “Song of the Snails Who Went to Burial” written by Jacques Prévert.
The poem is about two snails who are mourning a dead leaf in autumn. Because it takes so long for them to get to the dead leaf’s funeral, however, it is already spring by the time the snails arrive.
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So as a means of cheering the grieving snails, the sun and animals tell the mourners to shed their dark colors and have a glass of beer to celebrate the warm weather and renewed colors of nature.
The delightful Tapioca Films video hosts a plethora of renowned French actors for the voices of the animals, such as Audrey Tautou from “Amélie” – and in addition to its star-studded cast, it was chosen as a “Vimeo Staff Pick”.
(WATCH the delightful video below)
Two Snails Set Off from Romain Segaud on Vimeo.
Click To Share The Vibrant Video With Your Friends
The government of New Zealand has just kicked off the country’s transition to a “carbon-neutral future” by banning all future off-shore oil exploration.
Since all of the country’s currently existing exploration permits in the Taranaki region will be allowed to finish the terms of their contracts, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says that she hopes that this will allow sufficient time for communities, businesses, and work forces to adjust so that “jobs that are there today will remain tomorrow”.
“Unless we make decisions today that will essentially take effect in 30 or more years’ time, we run the risk of acting too late and causing abrupt shocks to communities and our country,” said Ardern at a press conference in Wellington.
“I have seen that happen once in the 1980s and I don’t want to see that again.”
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The announcement comes as a welcomed follow-up to a Greenpeace petition of 50,000 signatures that was submitted to Ardern last month. The environmental organization called the ban “a huge win for our climate and people power”.
“The tide has turned irreversibly against big oil in New Zealand,” said the Greenpeace New Zealand executive director, Russel Norman, according to The Guardian.
“Today’s announcement is significant internationally too. By ending new oil and gas exploration in our waters, the fourth-largest exclusive economic zone on the planet is out of bounds for new fossil fuel exploitation. New Zealand has stood up to one of the most powerful industries in the world.
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“Bold global leadership on the greatest challenge of our time has never been more urgent and Ardern has stepped up to that climate challenge.”
The New Zealand government said last week that they will begin “laying the groundwork” for lower-carbon energy alternatives by investing $20 million in initiatives and projects for the future of Taranaki.
Power Up With Positivity: Click To Share The News With Your Friends
After Hurricane Irma ravaged the South Florida landscape in 2017, an 18-year-old took it upon himself to protect and preserve the environment – and he did it from the roof of his house.
Though the tropical storm wreaked havoc on buildings and properties, Theo Queenee was primarily shocked by how many mangroves had been damaged by the tropical storm.
Mangroves are an essential part of a marine eco-system. In addition to providing a healthy and complex habitat for fish, sharks, and turtles, they also protect the coastline from erosion.
”After the hurricane there was a massive amount of [mangrove] seedlings mixed within the seaweed/debris mixture,” Queenee told Mother Nature Network. “Everything was then going to be gathered and thrown in a truck to dump at a landfill. I realized that all of South Florida would ultimately kill thousands of mangroves in the clean-up process.”
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As a means of rehabilitating the local mangrove forests, Queenee started growing mangrove seedlings from the roof of his home.
Queenee, who is a freshman at Florida International University, built a greenhouse on his roof so the little trees could get a sufficient amount of sunlight and humidity. Then, he filled the greenhouse with 524 seedlings that were separated into individual yogurt buckets.
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After seven months of nursing the seedlings, Queenee and his friends moved the plants to a mud flat in Miami where they will soon grow into a healthy mangrove forest.
“Some officials passed me when I was planting them, and they were so happy to see me doing this,” Quenee told MNN. “My hope in doing so was to create a nursery for all the sharks and fish that live in that location, but also help conserve the area from erosion.”
(WATCH the video below)
Plant Some Positivity: Click To Share The News With Your Friends – Photo by Theo Queenee
Quote of the Day: “Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it… The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” – Joseph Campbell
Photo: by Samantha Hart, 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?
Dogs may be man’s best friends, but according to this new video, the same probably can’t be said for statues.
An adorable video of a persistent border collie trying to play fetch with a metal figure on Crosby Beach in Liverpool is making its rounds on the internet.
The amusing pup named Hurley can be seen repeatedly dropping a toy in front of the statue and impatiently waiting for the cast-iron man to reciprocate the gesture.
Hurley’s owner, Adam Shore, can be heard laughing from behind the camera as his dog paws at the ground in confusion.
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“He’s addicted to fetch and will play it with anyone. He’ll carry the ball up to everybody he sees to get them to throw the ball, usually when I’ve grown tired after an hour of playing,” Shore told the Daily Mail. “It’s most often people on benches that he goes to, and this is the first time he’s tried to play with a statue.
“It was quite funny when he went up to it, and at one point he looked at me to ask ‘what’s going on?’ He’s not used to being ignored,” he added. “He tried for about a minute to get the statue to play before giving up and moving on.”
(WATCH the amusing video below)
Click To Share The Pawesomely Sweet Footage With Your Friends – Photo by Caters News Agency
A 58-year-old Indian woman is being hailed as a hero after her quick-thinking helped to save 20 people from a factory fire on Monday morning.
Jyoti Verma was making breakfast at 6:30AM when her neighbor alerted her to a fire that had erupted in a building that was adjacent to her Delhi apartment.
Upon rushing to her window, she saw 10 people crying for help from the third story as smoke billowed from the windows of the lower floors.
Verma initially thew one end of her sari to the workers so that the could climb from the window down to the safety of her terrace. Because they were too afraid to risk the 15-foot distance, one man jumped onto her terrace from the window of the factory.
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Not wanting anyone else to injure themselves by jumping, Verma rushed inside to find something more useful. In the midst of her apartment, she found a small bamboo ladder.
With the help of a neighbor, Verma propped up the ladder onto the roof of her terrace so that it stretched across to the factory window. Over the course of the next half hour, twenty workers were able to crawl to safety.
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According to one of the workers, the owner of the illegal factory locks the gates to the building every night in order to prevent theft. If it had not been for Verma’s heroic ingenuity, the employees may not have been able to escape.
“We cannot come up with words to thank them (Verma and her neighbor). For us they were God,” a 21-year-old worker told the Hindustan Times.
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An anonymous restaurant patron is being hailed for causing a ripple effect of kindness after he paid for a hockey team’s dinner tab earlier this week.
The Barracudas are a midget team for the Dartmouth Whalers Minor Hockey Association. Every year at the end of the season, the youngsters raise money for a celebratory dinner and give the rest of the funds to charity.
This year, they planned on donating their excess charity money to a fundraiser that was created for the Humboldt Broncos.
The Broncos hockey team had been traveling through Saskatchewan on their way to a game last Friday when their bus collided with a transport truck. As of yesterday, almost $7 million had been raised for the survivors and the crash victims’ families.
So when the Barracudas team asked for the check after their dinner on Sunday night, they were stunned to hear from the server that a random man in the restaurant had picked up their $390 tab.
Todd Carruthers, the head coach for the team, told CBC: “A regular had noticed that we were a hockey crowd of kids and we were well-behaved and he took it upon himself to leave his credit card to pay.”
When Carruthers told the youngsters about the gesture – which he described as a “ray of sunshine” – they were overwhelmed with gratitude.
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“All the kids were just, you know, gaping open mouth, smile on their face, they couldn’t believe it. I had to explain it to them two or three times what was going on.”
Thanks to the man’s act of kindness, the Barracudas were able to donate $460 to the fundraiser for the Humboldt survivors.
A hockey team was in the restaurant today & a stranger paid their entire over $300 bill in honour of the Humboldt Broncos. The team is now donating the money they planned on spending to the players & families affected. There is still so much good in the world
— Kenzi Donnelly (@kenzirxse) April 8, 2018
Kenzi Donnelly, the daughter of the server who waited on the hockey team, made a Twitter post about the exchange. Since publishing the story, it has been retweeted by thousands of people, including international Olympians and former NHL players.
“In the face of such tragedy, I think it really just showed people how good people can be, especially in the face of such awful circumstances,” she said.
Score Big With Your Friends: Click To Share – Photo by Todd Carruthers
UK-based supermarket chain Iceland has announced that they will no longer be using palm oil in any of its 130 own name brand product lines.
The ban, which will go into full effect by the end of 2018, is expected to reduce demand by over 500 tons every year.
Palm oil is one of the largest contributors to deforestation in south-east Asia. While other corporate food brands have made efforts to certify their products as palm oil-free, Iceland is the first major UK grocery store to ban the ingredient.
Currently, about half of the supermarket’s products contain palm oil. Even though the ban may incur additional costs to the company, representatives say that those expenses will not be passed onto the consumer.
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Iceland managing director Richard Walker told the BBC: “Certified sustainable palm oil does not currently limit deforestation and it does not currently limit the growth of palm oil plantations. So until such a time as there is genuinely sustainable palm oil that contains zero deforestation, we are saying no to palm oil.”
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When Karamel the squirrel was found with her front legs caught in an animal trap, some rescuers believed that there was nothing they could do to help the critter.
Thanks to their perseverance, however, Karamel is not only more mobile than ever – but she also has a loving home.
After the little squirrel was found in the trap in Batman, Turkey, rescuers brought her to a local animal hospital for medical attention.
The veterinarians said that her injuries were too severe to do anything, so Karamel was then brought to a compassionate man named Tayfun Demir who has rescued squirrels in the past in Istanbul –roughly 700 miles away from Batman.
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Because gangrene had already infected Karamel’s injuries, it was impossible to salvage her legs; so Demir enlisted the help of a local orthotist, orthopedist, and physical therapist to save her.
The young squirrel underwent two surgeries, one of which lasted six hours. But thanks to the help of the volunteer specialists, she now has a pair of prosthetic wheels that allow her to stay mobile and zoom around the floor without any front legs.
Not only that, but Demir has already adopted her into his family of rescue squirrels.
(WATCH the adorable video below)
Click To Share The Nutty Story With Your Friends – Photo by Nat Geo
Quote of the Day: “Everyone is broken by life, but some people are stronger in the broken places.” – Ernest Hemingway
Photo: Foter.com
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?
The Lesson: Most of us adore our pets. They help us experience a direct heart-to-heart connection and unconditional love – but that experience does not have to end there. With a shift of perspective, we can also enjoy that feeling with other beings all around us—from a wild bird outside our window to a squirrel in a tree. Seeing these beings, and the family of all life, in a new way can ease loneliness and fill our days with deep joy and connection—enriching our lives beyond measure.
Notable Excerpt: “Realizing that we’re part of [the family of all life] can help free us from our prison of isolation, thinking that humans are only a community unto itself, isolated and walled off from the rest of the beings on the planet. But when we tear down those walls and we connect with the other beings, we feel a deep connection with the family of all life and we’re never lonely.”
The Speaker: Heather Chase is creator of the Fall in Love with Life online retreat. She is also co-author of the book “Great Peacemakers”, winner of more than 30 awards and endorsed by three presidents and three Nobel Peace Prize winners. She has appeared on national television and received a Giraffe Award from The Giraffe Project for “sticking her neck out for the common good.”
The Course: This lesson is from Heather’s online retreat, Fall in Love with Life. The course reveals simple but powerful ways to embrace the hidden wonders of life and find more joy every day. It strengthens your connection with yourself, other people, nature, and animals. It helps you awaken to the wonders all around you—hidden just beneath the surface of everyday life—changing how you see the world forever and giving you a richer experience of the astounding gift of being alive.
(LISTEN to the inspiring talk below) – Photo by Andrea O’Connell, CC
For more insights, check out Heather’s Fall in Love with Life online retreat here.
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A Japanese man has just been verified as the oldest male in the entire world at the age of 112 years and 259 days old – and he credits his happy longevity to his sweet tooth and sumo wrestling television programs.
After extensive research into his origins and proof of age, Masazo Nonaka of Hokkaido, Japan was presented with his record-breaking certificate by Guinness World Records earlier this week.
Nonaka, who has outlived his wife and siblings, now enjoys his retirement with his family and their two cats. The senior’s favorite past times include eating cake, soaking in hot springs, and watching samurai dramas and sumo wrestling on TV.
Nonaka has such an affinity for sweets, he will often try and feed his dinner to the cats without the rest of his family noticing, according to Guinness.
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His family believes that the reason for his longevity is mostly because he chooses to live a life that is free of stress – even if it means consuming large amounts of sugar.
“We are very pleased to announce that we have a new record holder for the oldest living man,” said Craig Glenday, Guinness World Records’ Editor-in-Chief. “Mr Nonaka’s achievement is remarkable – he can teach us all an important lesson about the value of life and how to stretch the limits of human longevity.”
Nonaka takes the title for the oldest man after the previous placeholder, a Japanese man who lived to be 116, died in 2013. The oldest person to ever live is recorded to be a 122-year-old French woman who passed away in 1997. The current titleholder for the oldest female is currently being investigated.
Click To Share This Sweet Story With Your Friends – Photos by Guinness World Records
A 7-year-old girl has just become the youngest female to hike Mount Kilimanjaro – and she did it so she could be closer to her dad in heaven.
Montannah Kenney, who is a second-grader from Austin, Texas, nabbed the world record after she made it to the top of the 19,341-foot summit in March.
While she was excited to break the record, she mostly wanted to say hi to her father who passed away when she was just 3 years old.
“She knows she has an angel looking after her and he lives in heaven,” Montannah’s mom, Hollie Kenney, told Inside Edition. “She knew that this mountain is above the clouds so she associated that she was going to be closer to her dad in heaven.”
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“It was beautiful,” she added. “She knew she wanted to blow kisses to him and wave and hopefully he would see her.”
According to Hollie, the hike to the summit takes about six days. While the first day of the climb was a breeze for the mother-daughter duo, the remainder of the hike proved difficult due to the pouring rain and freezing temperatures.
The previous youngster to hold the record was Roxy Getter: an 8-year-old who conquered Kilimanjaro last year with her family despite the fact that she and her brother have suffered from heart problems for most of their lives.
(WATCH the video below)
Conquer Negativity: Click To Share The Inspiring Story With Your Friends – Photo by Hollie Kenney
Scientists have just made a revolutionary breakthrough in the battle against Alzheimer’s.
Instead of experimenting on mice with dicey results, this team of researchers went straight to testing human brain cells – and their studies have been proven successful.
Scientists at the Gladstones Institute in California managed to identify the gene that caused Alzheimer’s disease. Not only that, but they also managed to neutralize the gene so that it did not lead to Alzheimer’s development.
The dangerous cell in question is called the apoE4 gene. Having one copy of the gene reportedly doubles a person’s chances of developing brain damage. Having two copies increases the risk by 12-fold.
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This is because the gene produces a certain kind of mutated protein that damages human brain cells. By using stem cells to correct the gene, scientists were able to halt production of the deadly protein, eliminate all signs of Alzheimer’s disease, and improve cell survival and function.
Now that the treatment has been proven successful in human cells, the researchers plan on applying the same treatment to human patients in the near future.
– Brain scan images from NIH, public domain, Wikimedia
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Portugal made headlines last month after it generated enough renewable energy to power the whole country for the entirety of March.
The national grid operator said that Portugal’s average renewable generation exceeded 103% consumption, which beat its previous record of 99.2% in 2014. This is the most amount of renewable energy that the European country has generated in 40 years.
The power surge comes from an excess of wind and hydro energy that was encouraged by a plentiful wet season providing roughly 97% of March’s electricity supply.
This also amounts to roughly 1.8 million tons of CO2 saved from the atmosphere.
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Consumers have benefitted from the abundant month by enjoying a four-euro drop in price per megawatt hour.
Portugal’s record-breaking month serves as evidence that the country could easily meet its goal of eliminating its greenhouse gas emissions and becoming carbon neutral by 2040.
Power Up With Positivity: Click To Share With Your Friends – Photo by D.H. Parks, CC
There is nothing more amusing than a good dad joke – and we may have just found our favorite.
David Cromwell from Coolock in Dublin pulled a cheeky prank on his daughters by telling them that he had learned a new magic trick.
Cromwell launches the scheme by laying out a piece of paper with a drawing of a duck on it. In a very serious voice, he tells his daughters that he wants them to name the body parts of the duck as he points to them with his pen.
Just as the ladies are being lulled into a false sense of security, Cromwell delivers the punch line – and his family can’t help but break down into laughter.
(WATCH the amusing video below)
Deliver This Delightful Dad Joke To Your Friends: Click To Share
Quote of the Day: “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” – John F. Kennedy
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?
