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Teen Plants Hundreds of Mangroves to Replace Trees Trampled by Hurricane Irma

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McKinley Corbley
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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.”

RELATED: Girl’s Lemonade Recipe to Saves Bees Turned Into Million Dollar Whole Foods Deal

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.

CHECK OUT: Dame Saves Orphaned Elephants for 50 Years With Own Milk Recipe

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

“Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are” – Joseph Campbell

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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?

Watch the Moment a Border Collie is Left Baffled After Trying to Play Fetch With a Statue

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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.

WATCH: Confident Cat Leaps With Bed in Mouth and Lands Perfectly in Napping Position

“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

Hero 58-Year-old Woman Saves 20 Factory Workers From a Fire

By
McKinley Corbley
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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.

LOOK: Doctors on a Plane Save Woman’s Life by Constructing Makeshift Ventilator Out of Nearby Parts

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.

RELATED: Woman Prevents Girl’s Kidnapping by Pretending to be Her Mother

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.

Save Your Friends From Negativity: Click To Share The News

After Anonymous Donor Picks Up Their Tab, Hockey Team Pays His Charity Forward

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Good News Network
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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.

RELATED: Street Fighter is Giving Back: 14-0, The Inspiring Story of UFC’s Brian Ortega – Hispanic Athlete of the Year

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.

WATCH: After Scoring This Astonishing Trick Shot, Teen With Down Syndrome is Contacted By the Globetrotters

“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.

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 Supermarket Chain to Ban the Use of Palm Oil From Its Line of Branded Products

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Good News Network
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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.

RELATED: World’s Second Largest Fast Food Chain Begins Phase-Out of Plastic Straws

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.”

Click To Share The Good News With Your Friends

Volunteers Never Gave Up on Severely Injured Squirrel—Now in a Loving Home With Hot New Wheels

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McKinley Corbley
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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.

WATCH: Dog That Shoplifted a Book on ‘Abandonment’ is Given the Love It Was Asking For

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

“Everyone is broken by life, but some people are stronger in the broken places.” – Ernest Hemingway

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Good News Network
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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?

How the Animals All Around You Can Help You Love Your Life

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Good News Network
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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.

 

Good Advice? SHARE It – Or Check Out More On Our Good Talks Page…

World’s Oldest Man Turns 112 With the Help of Cake and Sumo Wrestling

By
McKinley Corbley
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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.

RELATED: Record Baby: 26-Year-old Gives Birth to Girl Who Was Frozen 24 Years Ago

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

Girl Who Wanted to ‘Be Closer to Her Dad’ Becomes Youngest Female to Hike Mount Kilimanjaro

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Good News Network
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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.”

RELATED: When Man Suddenly Collapses, People Line Up For 96-Minute CPR Marathon to Save Him

“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

Alzheimer’s Gene is Neutralized in Human Brain Cells for the First Time

By
McKinley Corbley
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- credit, NIH

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.

RELATED: Drug With 93% Success Rate for Pediatric Cancers Gets FDA Breakthrough Status

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

Don’t Forget To Share The Incredible News With Your Friends

Portugal Generated Enough Renewable Energy to Power the Country for an Entire Month

By
McKinley Corbley
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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.

RELATED: This Pollution-Gobbling City Bench Can Absorb as Many Toxins as 275 Trees

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

Man Pulls Off Cheeky Dad Joke After Telling His Daughter He Learned a New Magic Trick

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Good News Network
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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.

LOOK: Man Writes Hilarious Plea For Hotel to Lift His Lifetime Ban by Explaining What Really Happened 18 Years Ago

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

“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” – John F. Kennedy

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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?

With Park Funds Dwindling, Woman’s Endowment Could ‘Save Lives’ in National Forests for Years to Come

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Good News Network
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These parks in Washington state have been struggling to maintain their infrastructure with their lack of funding – but they have now gotten a huge financial boost thanks to a dead woman who loved the outdoors.

Bette Wallace, a woman who used to live in Washington before moving to California, recently passed away and left $1 million in her will to the state parks that she loved so dearly.

“On behalf of (Wallace’s) trust it was our family’s honor to make this donation on her behalf to the Washington’s National Park Fund knowing it will be used for many projects including a combination of saving lives and supporting volunteer infrastructure in the parks,” Cheri Ryan, Wallace’s niece and the estate’s trustee, said in a statement.

The Mount Rainier Olympic parks plan on using their portion of the funding to create a monitoring system that will hopefully ensure the safety of their rangers in the wilderness and reduce rescuer response time. The North Cascades National Park plans on bulking up infrastructure for their volunteers.

RELATED: Couple Who Gambled On Bitcoin in 2012 Donates All of Their Gains to Cancer Research

“This funding comes at a pivotal time for Washington’s three largest national parks,” Sarah Creachbaum, Olympic National Park’s superintendent, said in a statement.

“Our country’s national parks have experienced many financial challenges in recent years and there is a significant maintenance backlog. This wonderful donation via [Washington National Parks Foundation] WNPF enables us to invest in much-needed safety technology that can quite literally save lives in Washington for years to come.”

Pass On The Positivity: Click To Share The News With Your Friends – Photo by National Parks Foundation

Now You Can Win a Ton of Free Stuff For Your Local Shelter By Teaching Your Cat to High-Five

By
McKinley Corbley
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You can now help your favorite animal shelter or rescue center by doing something as simple as giving a high-five.

Cat Pawsitive, a life-saving program that uses positive reinforcement to train felines to be more sociable, is hosting its first annual National High-Five Day Shelter Contest.

The contest is asking cat owners and shelter volunteers around the country to upload photos or videos of their feline’s high-five to social media. The organizations running the contest will pick out their favorite posts and select them for a chance to win thousands of dollars in cash grants and 10,000 free bowls of organic pet food for their local animal shelter.

Have you never trained your cat to give high-fives? No problem – Cat Pawsitive has published free downloadable instructions on how to teach your cat to high-five.

LOOK: This Photo of an Old Man and His Kitten is Making Everyone’s Day

The program, which is sponsored by the Jackson Galaxy Project, will judge the submissions on April 19th: National High-Five Day.

To submit, simply publish a photo or video of your cat (or cats!) performing a high-five and tag the post with #CatPawsitive, @JacksonGalaxyProject, and @HaloPets.

You can also tag your local animal shelter to nominate them as a recipient for the prize.

(WATCH the video below)

Click To Share The Pawesome News With Your Friends – Photo by Cat Pawsitive

Solar Power Breaks Even More Records in 2017

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Good News Network
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PublicDomainPictures, CC license

Solar power has continued to break records in 2017, thanks to historic investments and developments worldwide.

According to UN Environment, solar power received $160.8 billion in investments, which is 18% higher than last year and more than any other energy sector.

Additionally, the world installed a record 98 gigawatts of new solar capacity, far more than the net additions of any other technology, including renewable, fossil fuel, or nuclear.

It made up 57% of last year’s total for all renewables (excluding large hydro) of $279.8 billion, and it towered above new investment in coal and gas generation capacity, estimated at $103 billion.

MORE: Grocery Store Unveils World’s First Plastic-Free Aisle

A driving power behind last year’s surge in solar was China, where an unprecedented boom saw some 53 gigawatts added – more than half the global total – and $86.5 billion invested, up 58%.

The Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2018 report finds that falling costs for solar electricity, and to some extent wind power, is continuing to drive deployment. Last year was the eighth in a row in which global investment in renewables exceeded $200 billion – and since 2004, the world has invested $2.9 trillion in these green energy sources.

“The extraordinary surge in solar investment shows how the global energy map is changing and, more importantly, what the economic benefits are of such a shift,” said UN Environment head Erik Solheim. “Investments in renewables bring more people into the economy, they deliver more jobs, better quality jobs and better paid jobs. Clean energy also means less pollution, which means healthier, happier development.”

WATCH: Milkmen Return to London as BBC Documentary Encourages People to Recycle, Use Glass Bottles

Overall, China was by far the world’s largest investing country in renewables, at a record $126.6 billion, up 31% on 2016.

There were also sharp increases in investment in Australia (up 147% to $8.5 billion), Mexico (up 810% to $6 billion), and in Sweden (up 127% to $3.7 billion).

A record 157 gigawatts of renewable power were commissioned last year, up from 143 gigawatts in 2016 and far out-stripping the net 70 gigawatts of fossil-fuel generating capacity added (after adjusting for the closure of some existing plants) over the same period.

(Source: Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment)

Click To Share The News Of Our Bright Future With Your Friends

When Goats Get Themselves Stuck on Narrow Ledge of Bridge, Humans Come to Their Rescue

By
McKinley Corbley
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Earlier this week, state officials were bewildered to hear that two goats had gotten themselves stuck on a narrow beam underneath of a highway bridge.

While that may sound like the start of a joke, it actually happened to two intrepid farm animals on the Pennsylvania Turnpike over the Mahoning River.

The son of the goat owner called the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and said that the two goats had already been stuck on the ledge for 18 hours.

Despite the ledge only being 8 inches wide, the goats had walked almost 200 feet out onto the bridge before they reached an obstacle that blocked their path. The brown goat in the front somehow managed to turn around so that it could head back to safety – but the white goat was too apprehensive to perform the same maneuver.

RELATED: Student Saves Drowning Squirrel By Doing CPR She Learned From Watching ‘The Office’

According to transit officials, there were numerous status updates on the “Goat Watch” extraction. Engineers and bridge workers were called in to help save the goats from their dizzying situation.

The rescuers did not even worry about the cost of the operation. One of the goat heroes told NPR: “We didn’t even calculate it. We were just trying to be a good neighbor and get the goats back safely.”

MORE: Watch Dramatic Moment When Woman Decides to March into Frozen Lake to Rescue Stranger’s Dog

Two rescuers climbed into a crane and moved up to the goats’ location. One of the men grabbed the white goat as tightly as we could and deposited it safely on top of the bridge. Then, they tapped a section of the concrete with a pole so they could encourage the brown goat to walk back to safety.

“In this day and age, when things can go terribly wrong, it was great to see things go right,” the bridge’s civil engineer, Steve McCarthy, told NPR. “There was no way I was letting go of that goat.”

If This Story Gets Your Goat, Click To Share The News With Your Friends – Photo by the Pennsylvania Turnpike

How a Mission to Recover a Stolen Wallet Changed the Lives of a Man and Homeless Teen

By
McKinley Corbley
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Most people may not concern themselves with a stranger’s stolen wallet – especially if the wallet in question was thrown into the ocean. But Jimmy Gilleece was determined to help his distressed customer; and his mission to find the wallet ended up changing his life.

Gilleece, who owns a bar in Wrightsville, North Carolina, was approached last month by a female customer who was frantic over her lost wallet. Not only did the wallet contain her ID and cards, but it also contained her wedding ring.

Gilleece started his search for the lost treasure by watching hours and hours of security footage in the bar. After reviewing several different cameras around the bar, he finally saw the wallet sitting on a bench outside. The camera also showed a hooded stranger pocketing the wallet.

The bartender eventually discovered the identity of the thief: 17-year-old River Prathers.

WATCH: Guy Shows How You Can Now Use Amazon Prime to Instantly Help the Homeless

Gilleece confronted the youngster, who said that he had taken the money out of the wallet and thrown it into the sea from a nearby pier.

Gilleece then hired two divers to scour the shore for any sign of the wallet. Finally, one of the divers uncovered a waterlogged wallet with a wedding ring safely tucked inside.

Overwhelmed by the success of their mission, Gilleece then decided to help one more person: the teen who had felt compelled to steal the wallet in the first place.

RELATED: The Homeless in San Diego Are Getting Jobs Thanks to a 16-Year-old Boy

Rivers had been homeless since he had become estranged from his mother.

“He was living in the woods, and this is when it was 30 degrees outside, and he hadn’t eaten in two days,” Gilleece told CBS. “I could tell he wasn’t a criminal. He was just somebody who needed a little help.”

Instead of turning the security footage over to the police, Gilleece invited Rivers to live with him – and the teen has been a part of the family ever since.

MORE: After Denver Hired Homeless People to Perform Day Labor For the City, More Than 100 Landed Regular Jobs

Rivers is now working two jobs and has high hopes for the future – and it’s all thanks to his compassionate benefactor.

“I say thank you to him every day,” Rivers said. “I’d do anything for him.”

(WATCH the video below – or our international viewers can watch the video on the CBS News website)

Share The Compassionate Story With Your Friends – Photo by CBS News

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