Saturday's uplifting bundle of good news nuggets.
An Indian national park that was ravaged by poachers 20 years ago had some positive news this week: its tiger population has bounced back from zero to 48 in two decades. Assam isn’t the only place experiencing a rise in numbers. Nepal is on track to become the First Nation to double its tiger population. According to the WWF, populations are also rising, or stable, in China, Russia and Bhutan.
Researchers at Cambridge University have come up with a novel way to recycle plastic, revealing that plastic waste can be sorted, cleaned and shredded into a sand alternative for use in construction. “We found that you can replace up to 10 percent of the sand in concrete with the plastic, and it has the same strength and the same longevity,” said Dr Orr.
Greenland has announced that it is suspending oil exploration due to climate concerns. “The future does not lie in oil,” the Greenland government said in a statement. “The future belongs to renewable energy, and in that respect we have much more to gain.” Greenpeace described the decision as 'fantastic.'
Following Maine's example, California now offers free school meals to all children. The state is also investing $150 million to improve kitchen infrastructure and nutritional training.
UK to trial automatic energy bill switching system. Households paying expensive standard tariffs for gas and electricity are to be automatically moved on to a cheaper deal as the government moves to tackle “rip off” bills.
Republican leaders who have spent the pandemic bucking mask mandates, railing against so-called vaccine passports, and largely sitting on the sidelines of vaccine outreach appear to be undergoing a strange and abrupt shift last week. “Get vaccinated,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, adding that people should “ignore all of these other voices that are giving demonstrably bad advice.” Strange; but certainly good news.
The world’s second largest carbon emitter - the US - had some good news this week: its power sector has seen a record fall in CO2 emissions. Research revealed that the country’s energy industry belched out 10 percent fewer emissions between 2019 and 2020. The fall was attributed to the rise of renewables in the US. Dan Bakal of Ceres, the nonprofit behind the research, said: “The growth in renewables has allowed us to separate economic growth from emissions, and this year represents one of the most dramatic decoupling points that we have seen.”
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Shuffle Dance
Enjoy this shuffle dance mash-up to Elvis Presley's Burning Love. Guaranteed to, at the very least, put a spring in your step.