Quote of the Day: “Each life is a language no one knows.” – Mark Nepo
Photo: by Thomas Hawk, CC
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Devoted Husband Designs ‘Tank Wheelchair’ For Wife So She Won’t Miss Out On Family Activities
It has been 19 years since a car collision left Liz Soden paralyzed from the waist down – but thanks to her loving husband, she is not lacking very much in mobility.
Instead of agreeing to leave his wife behind for their family hiking trips, Brad Soden resolved to build an all-terrain wheelchair.
Brad, who has no college degree or formal engineering training, was told by dozens of engineers that his dream was impossible. After spending several years and “a bunch of beer” on a prototype, however, he created the TankChair.
The TankChair uses treads instead of wheels to cross sand, mud, snow, and rocky terrain.
LOOK: Cyclists Volunteer to Give Nature Rides to Wheelchair Bound
Since he perfected the design in 2005, Brad has sold dozens of TankChairs to disabled individuals around the world.
“Money does not drive me,” the veteran told Bloomberg. “It’s all about the smiles on people’s faces and all the families I’ve helped.”
(WATCH the video below)
Drive This Story Over To Your Friends: Click To Share – Photo by Bloomberg
Instead of Paper, These Sturdy, Biodegradable Plates Are Made From Leaves
Dinnerware doesn’t get any greener than this.
German-based company Leaf Republic has started manufacturing and selling disposable plates made out of leaves from Eastern Asia.
RELATED: Innovative Environmentally-Friendly Spoons Are Completely Edible
Not only are the waterproof plates made without any glue or additives, but they also biodegrade within 28 days. Plus, Leaf Republic now ships internationally.
“Packaging is a part of our daily lives,” says the company’s website. “There has always been packaging and there always will be. As the number of people and their consumption keep on growing, the packaging market has an impressive size all over the world – and now it is time to revolutionize it.”
(WATCH the video below)
Don’t Leaf This Story Alone: Click To Share The News With Your Friends – Photo by Leaf Republic
Drug With 93% Success Rate for Pediatric Cancers Gets FDA Breakthrough Status
A first-of-its-kind drug targeting a fused gene found in many types of cancer was effective in 93% of pediatric patients tested.
Most cancer drugs are targeted to specific organs or locations in the body. Larotrectinib is the first cancer drug to receive FDA breakthrough therapy designation for patients with a specific fusion of two genes in the cancer cell, no matter what cancer type, said researchers at UT Southwestern’s Simmons Cancer Center.
“In some cancers, a part of the TRK gene has become attached to another gene, which is called a fusion. When this occurs, it leads to the TRK gene being turned on when it’s not supposed to be and that causes the cells to grow uncontrollably. What’s unique about the drug is it is very selective; it only blocks TRK receptors,” said lead author Dr. Ted Laetsch, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics.
Larotrectinib, targets TRK fusions, which can occur in many types of cancer. While the TRK fusions occur in only a small percentage of common adult cancers, they occur frequently in some rare pediatric cancers, such as infantile fibrosarcoma, cellular congenital mesoblastic nephroma, and papillary thyroid cancer.
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“Every patient with a TRK fusion-positive solid tumor treated on this study had their tumor shrink. The nearly universal response rate seen with larotrectinib is unprecedented,” Dr. Laetsch said.
Among them was 13-year-old Briana Ayala of El Paso, who aspires to a career in fashion design. In 2016, Briana was found to have a rare tumor in her abdomen wrapped around her aorta, the largest artery in the body.
Surgeons in her hometown said it would be too dangerous to operate, so her family brought Briana to Children’s Health in Dallas, where surgeons had to remove portions of her aorta while removing most of the tumor.
But the cancer started to grow again and no further treatments were available.
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Dr. Laetsch sent her tumor for genetic testing and found that Briana’s cancer had the TRK fusion, meaning the new drug might help.
Briana enrolled in the phase 1 clinical trial of larotrectinib and began taking the drug twice a day. Within weeks, her pain and the swelling in her abdomen diminished, and scans showed her tumors had shrunk significantly.
Nearly two years later, Briana is back in school and playing with her dog, Goofy, and the family’s seven parakeets. She’s also been able to pick up her sketch pad and her dreams of a New York City fashion career.
“These are the kinds of amazing responses we’ve seen with larotrectinib,” said Dr. Laetsch, “and this is why I’m so excited about it.”
CHECK OUT: Cancer ‘Vaccine’ Eliminates 97% of Tumors With Amazing Success – Human Trials Next
The results of the larotrectinib trial in adult patients – a 75% response rate – were published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The TRK-fusion mutation can be present in many types of cancers, including lung, colon, thyroid, and breast cancer, as well as certain pediatric tumors. TRK, short for tropomyosin receptor kinase, is a gene that plays a key role in brain and nervous system development and has a limited role in nervous system functions such as regulating pain in later life.
Larotrectinib belongs to a class of molecules known as kinase inhibitors, which work by cutting back on the enzymatic activity of a key cellular reaction. The selectivity of the drug means it does not cause the severe side effects associated with many traditional cancer treatments, and none of the patients with TRK fusions had to quit the study because of a drug-induced side effect.
Equally important, the response was long-lasting for most patients.
“For some of the targeted drugs in the past, many patients responded initially, but then resistance developed quickly. To date, the response to this drug seems to be durable in most patients,” said Laetsch.
A next step in the research is a clinical trial involving a similar drug for those patients who developed resistance. Dr. Laetsch will be the national leader for that clinical trial in children.
(Source: UT Southwestern Medical Center)
Click To Share The Inspiring News With Your Friends (Photo by Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital)
Student Saves Drowning Squirrel By Doing CPR She Learned From Watching ‘The Office’
A freshman college student is being hailed as a hero after she rescued a drowning squirrel from a campus pond last week.
Natalie Belsito of Central Michigan University in Grand Rapids was spending time in her friend’s dorm when a student alerted them to a squirrel who had fallen into a nearby pond.
“It definitely was drowning because it was really slow when we saw it and it started to dip its head under the water,” Belsito told CM Life.
Thanks to the help of a nearby pedestrian, they rescued the squirrel from the chilly waters. Belsito’s friends then fetched towels from the dorm so she could perform CPR on the squirrel.
RELATED: Heroic Neighbor Dog Pulls Exhausted Drowning Man to Shore
Even though Belsito had never performed CPR before, she said that she was able to resuscitate the squirrel by recalling a scene from a season 5 episode of the popular television show “The Office”.
The student then brought the squirrel back to the dorm, filled up a box with bags of hot water, placed a towel over the bags, and laid the squirrel on top of the towel. With blowdryer in hand, Belsito spent the next two hours ensuring that the squirrel was warm and dry after its dip in the pond.
MORE: Heroic Neighbor Dog Pulls Exhausted Drowning Man to Shore
“He started to calm down and was breathing normally and wasn’t twitching anymore,” Belsito said.
Belsito allowed the squirrel sufficient time to calm down from the blowdryer before bringing it back outside to set it free. When the critter leapt free of its box and raced up a nearby tree, Belsito and her soccer teammates let out a cheer of excitement.
Click To Share The Rescue Story With Your Friends (Photo by Natalie Belsito)
Man is Transformed After His Weight Takes Up 2 Plane Seats During Wildfire Evacuation
Tony Bussey has lost 326 pounds in two years – and he credits his transformation to the wildfires that swept through Fort McMurray in 2016.
Just when everyone that that the blaze had diminished, Bussey and other workers were sent back to the area to asses the damage – and then the fires picked up again.
Planes were sent in to evacuate the area. Bussey was ushered to the front of the line of passengers because of his weight – and though Bussey says that he had become used to the looks that he received for his size, the final straw came when he had to take up two airplane seats.
He had already escaped the fires once by driving in his car to Edmonton, but upon realizing that he was taking up a valuable seat on the plane, he resolved to lose weight.
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“I kept thinking, ‘Here it is: somebody’s wife, somebody’s husband, somebody’s family member is waiting for their mom or dad or their loved ones to come home, and their loved ones have to wait longer now because I’m too fat to sit next to,” he told CBC. “That had a profound effect on me.”
At the time, Bussey weighed 567 pounds and wore size 66 pants. Immediately after getting back to his hotel, he started ordering healthier meals. He started exercising 5 minutes a day; then 10 minutes a day.
“Two years ago, I could barely walk to my car,” says the 43-year-old. “I could barely fit in my car.”
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After shedding half his body weight, he now weighs 241 pounds – up to 30 of which is simply excess skin which he soon plans on having surgically removed.
Next, he wants to join a gym, run a marathon on the third anniversary of his weight loss journey, and catch up on all of the traveling that he has missed out on over the years.
“You used to think there was no hope. That it was just total despair that you were that big. That there was no going back. It was almost as if you were just waiting to die, as sad as that sounds, but that’s all your life was,” he says. “There is hope. I was 41 when I started this, almost 600 pounds. If I can do this, anyone can.”
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“The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you don’t know how or why.” – Albert Einstein
Quote of the Day: “The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you don’t know how or why.” – Albert Einstein
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?
Two Dancers Make History as First Male Cheerleaders in NFL Football League
Two young men have just made history by becoming the NFL’s first-ever male cheerleaders.
Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies are now a part of the 40-member cheerleading squad for the Los Angeles Rams.
Though Peron and Jinnies are both classically trained dancers who have been performing all their lives, they said that the 3-week audition process was incredibly grueling.
Both of them were among the 76 finalists who were auditioning to be on the squad.
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Thanks to their sweet dance moves, however, they made the cut.
While cheer squads have incorporated “stunt men” into routines in the past, these two trailblazers will be the first ones to perform the same dances and routines as the women.
(WATCH the video below)
Cheer On The Good News: Click To Share With Your Friends – Photo by Los Angeles Rams
Recovering Addict Gives Free Gym Memberships to Those Who Want to Stay Sober
Krissy Mae Cagney spent ten years struggling with her addiction – but now that she has been five years sober, she is helping hundreds more people with their own recovery.
Cagney is the sole owner of the Black Iron Gym in Sparks, Nevada. She founded the facility three years ago as a means of creating a community of people who could support each other and overcome their addiction through exercise and group fitness.
In addition to founding the gym, Cagney also launched the crowdfunded Reps 4 Recovery program.
The initiative offers free gym memberships to anyone who has been in recovery anywhere between 24 hours and five years. Over the course of the last 12 months, Cagney has raised roughly $78,000 through GoFundMe to help finance the program.
WATCH: Cop Stops Addicted Homeless Man on the Street and Changes His Life With a Book
The resulting success has funded more than 100 free memberships for the gym’s recovering members.
“[When I was struggling with addiction], I was put through countless rehabilitation programs and I saw a plethora of therapists and counselors; these methods work well for some people, but something I never had was a safe place where I knew I could be (and stay) sober,” says Cagney. “During my years of using, the gym seemed to be the only thing with the power to pull me away from using.”
“I firmly believe in the notion that fitness and lifting can act as treatment for substance abuse problems. I believe it, because it worked for me and I am a firsthand witness at seeing it work for countless others.”
(WATCH the video below)
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Police Officers Stand In For Children’s Parents Who Couldn’t Make it to School Dance
While school dances may be fun ways for children to bond with their parents, some moms and dads just can’t join in because of their work or responsibilities.
So as a means of encouraging the kids who had no parents at Bonlee Elementary School’s Daddy/Daughter and Mother/Son Dance, some compassionate police officers showed up to bust a move instead.
Four deputes from the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina went to the dance so they could act as stand-ins for the absentee parents – and judging by some of the Facebook photos of the event, it was a huge success.
“We wanted families to have a good time together, but we recognize that not all children live with their parents and not all parents are able to take off work to attend a school event,” said a Facebook post by Donna Griffith of the the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office.
WATCH: Deputy’s Act of Kindness Leads Homeless Man to Family He Never Knew He Had
“The community really seemed to embrace it and students are already asking for it to be offered again next year.”
“It felt like something the kids really needed,” said Deputy Jonathan Thomas.
“School dances can feel a little awkward at first, but once the kids saw us out there being silly they knew it was okay for them to jump in. I think it also gave parents the courage to let go and join in with us.”
Bust A Move: Click To Share The Sweet Story With Your Friends
“Easter spells out beauty, the rare beauty of new life.” – S.D. GORDON
Quote of the Day: “Easter spells out beauty, the rare beauty of new life.” – S.D. GORDON
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?
LED Lights Can Now Broadcast Internet That is Faster and More Secure Than WiFi
One of the latest and brightest tech revolutions is being implemented into a French office space – and if proven successful, it could start delivering speedier and safer data around the world.
Philips Lighting, the world’s largest electronic lighting company, is test-driving LiFi: a wireless technology that broadcasts the internet through light.
Looking like a simple LED light fixture, each one installed in the French office is equipped with a small modem that makes the light flicker at such a speed that is imperceptible to the human eye. The light is then detected by a USB attachment inserted into the tablet or computer. The company says that if LiFi becomes more popular in the future, the tech could be internally built into most devices.
This setup means that any office space equipped with LiFi will benefit from quality, energy-efficient LED lights and a highly secure, stable and robust connection that has 10,000 times the spectrum of WiFi.
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LiFi, which is short for Light Fidelity, works similarly to WiFi – but with some very key differences. Since WiFi can only transmit internet through radio waves, it comes with significant shortcomings in terms of safety and space. WiFi has a much harder time reaching around walls and barriers, and the frequency can interfere with hospital and airline equipment.
LiFi comes with none of these issues. Additionally, LiFi adds an extra layer of security because it operates on a short-range basis that prevents it from being accessed without a direct line of sight.
Not only that, LiFi provides broadband connection with as much speed as 5 gigabytes per second – which means that a user could simultaneously stream several HD quality videos while having video calls without trouble.
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“Philips is the first global lighting company to offer LiFi-enabled luminaires,” said Olivia Qiu, Chief Innovation Officer of Philips Lighting. “LiFi has enormous potential for today’s digital age and as the world’s leading lighting company we are proud to pioneer new services for our customers.”
(WATCH the video below)
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School Bus Driver is Being Hailed For Calmly Handling Collision With Semitrailer
It can be hard to maintain a cool head under pressure—but especially difficult to stay calm in a situation like the one Tammy Cummings endured last week.
The school bus driver was transporting four of her special needs passengers home from their Greenville County school in South Carolina when she saw a semitrailer truck swerving wildly across the road ahead of them.
In the split seconds before the bed of the truck collided with the bus, Cummings immediately check to make sure her aide, Carletta Cyrus, and students were safe before bracing for impact.
“The bed of the truck started leaning towards me and I noticed that my aide was behind the seat the way she was supposed to be, the children were in their seats so I knew they were safe in their compartment area,” said the driver. “I just saw the bed of the truck come towards me and I held up my arms to cover my face because I knew that bed was going to hit us.”
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After the collision, Cummings calmly handled the situation as her training kicked in. Upon making sure that no other vehicles were going to collide with the bus, she moved back in to the passenger area so she could reassure the children.
Luckily, none of them were injured – but when one of the students started to cry, Cummings soothed the anxious child’s anxiety by getting him to play a game on his phone until help arrived.
Though Cummings is humble over her reaction to the incident, she does say that she is “very grateful” that everyone was okay.
(WATCH the video below)
Click To Share The Inspiring Story With Your Friends (Photo by Greenville County Schools)
Every Single Public School Teacher Got What They Requested Online, Thanks to Cryptocurrency Company
Thanks to a generous California-based company, teachers all over the country will be receiving exactly what they’ve been asking for.
Donors Choose is a nonprofit crowdfunding website that allows U.S. public school teachers to raise money for their classroom projects. Band teachers can ask for instruments; science teachers can ask for lab equipment; kindergarten teacher can ask for craft supplies – one teacher even asked for help raising money to take her environmental science class on a field trip to the Grand Canyon.
Earlier this week, there were more than 35,600 teacher requests on the website. Then, suddenly, they were all fulfilled in one grand gesture.
Ripple, a startup company based out of San Francisco, donated $29 million in cryptocurrency to Donors Choose so it could grant every single wish that was on the website.
WATCH: Keanu Reeves Has Been a Secret Charity Badass for Years
The funding is being called the largest single virtual currency gift to a charity in history.
Ripple representatives say that the donation comes from their staff’s gratitude towards the teachers who influenced them in the past. As longtime fans of DonorsChoose.org, which was created in 2000, the startup swooned over the prospect of giving so many hardworking educators a hand.
“In 18 years of doing Donors Choose, we have, honestly, honestly, never been this excited,” said Donors Choose founder Charles Best. “I would say it’s the dream coming true, except we never had this dream because it would have been too crazy to even say.”
(WATCH the announcement video below)
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Hilarious Video Shows Boy Crawling Under Bathroom Stall to Ask Stranger For Help
The image of an adorably outgoing 4-year-old is going viral after a video was uploaded to Twitter showing him crawling under a bathroom stall door so he could befriend the occupant on his bathroom break.
Andrew Hall, an employee at a Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Lynchburg, Virginia, was sitting on the porcelain throne when the little boy said hello.
“I just see his little head pop under the stall, and I was like, this kid’s not actually coming under here is he? I’m just gonna start recording in case something happens,” Andrew told WSET.
4-year-old Levi Stevens started his conversation with Andrew by asking what his name was as he crawled into the stall. He then politely explained that he was too short to use the sink and he needed help washing his hands.
WATCH: Grandfather Can’t Stop Laughing When He Finally Discovers the Hiding Place of His Missing Phone
The boy’s mom then called his name from outside the bathroom, and the youngster said goodbye to his new friend.
Amused by the exchange, Andrew posted the video to Twitter with the caption reading: “Chick-Fil-A never ceases to surprise me.”
Over 11 million views later, Levi’s father Len Stevens commented on the video saying: “Hey, Drew. That’s my boy. I’m terribly sorry for the intrusion. He’s very, very friendly, sometimes a bit too much. You handled it extremely well. Thanks for being kind to him. I truly appreciate your understanding and sense of humor about this!”
MORE: Watch Two Kids Disguised as One Tall Man in Trench Coat Try to Get in to See ‘Black Panther’
Andrew waved off the apology, saying that Levi was “just doing what kids do”.
“I’m sure I did the same thing back in the day,” said Andrew. “You got a good kid, he seems fearless and defiantly outgoing.”
(WATCH the amusing video below)
Chick Fil a never ceases to amaze me. And yes it was my pleasure! pic.twitter.com/GZoB7Bm5T7
— drew. (@achandrew13) March 27, 2018
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“A flute is just something hard with holes until it is played. So, too, the heart. . . The life of every soul waits like sheet music to be played.” – Mark Nepo
Quote of the Day: “A flute is just something hard with holes until it is played. So, too, the heart. . . The life of every soul waits like sheet music to be played.” – Mark Nepo
Photo: by Mari Ma, CC
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?
What It’s Like For a Woman With Depression to Build an Upbeat Multi-Million Dollar Company
The Lesson: Most brands are determined to show off how their products and services make lives better – so what is it like trying to build an upbeat business when you struggle with anxiety, depression, and PTSD like Jen Gotch? In this podcast, the female entrepreneur talks about how her blatant honesty about mental health affects her business and how she uses it to her advantage.
Notable Excerpt: “Divorce isn’t the only somewhat unhappy thing that I’m known to talk about, but it’s reality, and like I said earlier, it’s hard for a brand to be realistic. Brands are usually aspirational, especially the type of brand that we have, because we’re a women’s lifestyle company based on fun. I’m a person that has all of those things, but then also I have a lot of pain, and I have a real life with responsibility, and bad things happen, and good things happen. I think it was a few years ago that I really just started to feel – for lack of a better word – grossed out by what I was seeing just with people’s presence. I have a lot of friends who have huge Instagram presences that are either bloggers or content creators, and I would see their feed, which was beautiful, and then I would know their life, and there was such a huge discrepancy.”
The Guest: Jen Gotch is the creative powerhouse and chief executive officer behind the women’s fun-loving lifestyle and apparel company Ban.do: a brand that has transformed from a modest line of hair accessories into a multi-million dollar company. Gotch is also renowned for using her social media presence on Instagram to encourage an honest conversation about mental health.
The Host: Dave Asprey, the CEO and Founder of Bulletproof, is a biohacker (changing his environment from the inside-out to have full control of his biology). For nearly two decades, he’s been questioning the status quo of nutrition and medicine so he could feel better—and have more energy in his 40s than he had in his 20s. Join more than 1 million biohackers who follow Bulletproof for leading-edge information on how to supercharge your body and upgrade your brain.
Books: Asprey is the author of “The Bulletproof Diet” – a guide on how to feel more energized and lose weight – and “Head Strong: The Bulletproof Plan to Activate Untapped Brain Energy to Work Smarter and Think Faster-in Just Two Weeks”.
Podcast: The Bulletproof podcast is available on PodcastOne, iTunes, Stitcher, and YouTube.
(LISTEN to the inspiring talk below or read the transcript)
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Vulnerable Turtles Return Home to Shore After World’s Largest Volunteer-Led Beach Cleanup
It has been a little over two years since a determined lawyer took it upon himself to start cleaning a heavily polluted stretch of beach in India.
His efforts have led to the coastline’s transformation from a trash-ridden landfill into a sparkling sandy sanctuary. Not only that, but it has become a hatchery for a vulnerable turtles species that has not been seen on the beach in decades.
The transformation of Versova Beach, which was first initiated by Afroz Shah, has been called the world’s largest beach cleanup project by the United Nations. Though the cleanup eventually recruited thousands of volunteers, Shah was the first one to start cleaning up the shin-deep piles of trash.
“For the first six to eight weeks, nobody joined,” Shah told the Guardian. “Then two men approached me and said, very politely, ‘Please sir, can we wear your gloves?’ Both of them just came and joined me. That’s when I knew it was going to be a success.”
RELATED: New Edible Rings on 6-Packs Can Feed Animals Instead of Harming Them
While Shah has taken great pleasure in witnessing the beach’s radical change, the fruits of his labor came to a tee earlier this week when 80 Olive Ridley turtles hatched on the southern end of the 2-mile beach.
The turtle species, which is listed as “vulnerable” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, has not been spotted on Versova Beach in decades. In order to ensure their safety, a team of volunteers slept on the sand so they could watch over the turtle nests and protect them from predators.
“I had tears in my eyes when I saw them walking towards the ocean,” said Shah.
(WATCH the video below)
Pass On The Positive Story To Your Friends: Click To Share (Photo by Afroz Shah)
World’s Second Largest Fast Food Chain Begins Phase-Out of Plastic Straws
Plastic straws have just broke the back of yet another global food chain.
McDonald’s announced on Wednesday that they would be joining the ranks of restaurants that are giving up plastic straws in favor of more eco-friendly alternatives.
Starting in May, the company will be launching a paper straw pilot program in all 1,300 of their UK restaurants. Additionally, they will be keeping straws behind the counter and only handing them out upon customer request.
Ditching straws is the next step towards the company’s sustainability goals. McDonald’s chief executive Paul Pomroy told Sky News: “The reduction in use of plastics is a hugely important issue for business, for the sector, and for society.
RELATED: Heartfelt Letter From 5-Year-old Causes Restaurant Chain to Swap Plastic Straws for Paper
“We’ve been on a journey over the past 10 years with recycling, from taking out foam and polystyrene to where we are now – with Big Mac ‘clam’ boxes that are made with recycled board. The only thing left for us to move forward on are the lids that go on to our cups. Those are complicated, but we’re working with our suppliers to find a solution to that.
“We’re really close, so we hope within the next year to be able to have a lid that’s recyclable and serves the same purpose – for hot and cold drinks.”
Negative News Sucks: Click To Share The Positive Story With Your Friends
When Sick Calf is Rejected By His Herd, He Becomes a Dog Instead
James is a baby cow who has been struggling since day one – but that hasn’t dimmed his sweet spirit.
Adam and Emily Hopson of the Happy Hens and Highlands Farm in North Carolina found James after his mother had given birth to him on a mountain during a dreary rainy day.
Since James was large for a calf, the Hopsons assumed that he had suffered brain damage from oxygen depravation in the womb. Not only that, but because his mother’s body made it hard for him to nurse, James was not able to get the vital nutrients that growing baby cows need from their mother’s milk.
The Hopsons took James into their home so they could look after him – and their dogs took quite a liking to him. After the pups made him a part of the pack, James began acting more like a canine than a cow.
WATCH: Confident Cat Leaps With Bed in Mouth and Lands Perfectly in Napping Position
“Our dogs adopted James and took over the duties of a mother, loving and cleaning him. Their love and acceptance gave him a will to live,” says Emily.
It has been several months since James was first accepted into the dog pack. He recently underwent a two and a half hour surgery to have a growth removed from his navel. Even though his heart stopped for two minutes in the middle of the surgery, he was resuscitated and successfully treated.
James is too big to live in the house anymore, but he is now the leader of a herd of other orphaned calves who need playmates.
RELATED: Watch Orphan Elephant Conquer His Fear of Water With Help From His Loving Human
“We attempted to reintroduce James to the herd but by this point he was an outcast,” Emily wrote in a blog post. “The other cattle thought he was odd and ignored him or bullied him.
“We knew he would soon outgrow his doggy friends and needed a buddy (they are herd animals and are unhappy without a companion) so we found him some orphan [cow] babies as companions. Since they are also orphans, they accepted James (even though he sometimes wears funny costumes). They bonded right away.”
If you would like to keep up with James’s exploits with his herd of Scottish Highland calf misfits, you can follow the farm on Facebook.
(WATCH the video below)
Pass On This Moooooving Story To Your Friends (Photos by Happy Hens and Highlands Farm)