Today's uplifting bite sized chunks of good news.
Thailand has announced that, across its marine national parks, it’s banning sunscreens that contain chemicals known to damage coral. The Thai Department of Conservation said four ingredients commonly found in sunscreens are shown to destroy chemical larvae. They obstruct coral reproduction and contribute to bleaching of reef systems. Those banned chemicals are: oxybenzone, octinoxate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor or butylparaben. Let's do the right thing to protect the ocean and the coral, so to learn more about reef safe sunscreen - which typically include UV-blocking minerals like oxide and titanium dioxide as their active ingredients - check out this handy guide.
Jamaican hurdler Hansle Parchment has tracked down and thanked a Tokyo 2020 volunteer who came to the rescue by paying for his taxi to the Olympic Stadium, where he subsequently won a gold medal after he accidentally went to the wrong venue for his race. When Parchment met up with Tiana again, he thanked her profusely, showed her the gold medal, gave her a Jamaican Olympic shirt and paid her back the money she had kindly lent. 'You were instrumental in me getting to the final that day,' he told her.
Tesla has announced that it now has the capacity to recover approximately 92 percent of battery cell materials thanks to ongoing improvements to its recycling process. The company has been working with third-party firms for years to improve its capacity for end-of-life battery recycling. This is important because it curbs the environmental cost of mining materials that are needed for the batteries and knocks back one of the main points EV detractors bring up when arguing against the technology.
A woman shared a story about how a random act of kindness completely changed the trajectory of her life. Her amazing story has over 10 million views on TikTok. "What's one small unimportant decision that you made that changed the trajectory of your life?" she posted. Latha said that she chose to buy a ticket for the man behind her in line at Norton Art Gallery in Florida. 7 years later, they're married with two kids.
With free education, Congo's child miners are swapping hammers for books. For example, enrollment at Kipushi Primary School, named after the town of 174,000 people, which is dominated by its copper, zinc, and cobalt mines, has risen by 75 percent to 1,400 students since the Democratic Republic of Congo introduced free primary education.
The world's largest converter station has set sail. The 22,000-ton, 15-story steel structure will provide electricity for 1.36 million households having collected energy from three wind farms that are part of the Jiangsu Rudong project being developed by China Three Gorges. The station will collect and convert the electricity from those wind farms into DC power before transmitting it onshore from a distance of approximately 62 miles (100 km) using a submerged cable.
Firefighters had to help a raccoon out of someone's home and the critter was pretty embarrassed about it. Why else would he cover his face in an effort to conceal his face? "Sure, there may be the occasional cat needing to be rescued from a tree, but a raccoon? That's a new one," the fire department wrote in a Facebook post. "We were called out to help this guy find his way back out of a house in Dalton Monday night. As you can tell, he was pretty embarrassed about it, but it's really nothing to be ashamed of. We all need a helping hand every now and then."
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