Today's Good News | OGN Daily

Some bite-sized chunks of positive news to perk up the day.

A lookout point in Green Ridge State Forest, Maryland | Janelle Mueltz

30 x 30

Maryland has become the first U.S. state to reach its pledge to protect 30 percent of the state’s land - six years ahead of schedule. Part of a global initiative to protect 30 percent of the Earth’s land and waters by 2030, nine U.S. states joined the “30 by 30” effort on a local level, and Maryland has now met the goal, permanently protecting 1.9 million acres of land from development. And it’s just getting started: The state's new target is to conserve 40 percent of its land by 2040.

Strange But True

Browse Facebook Marketplace and you’ll encounter an assortment of odd finds. Dom Robinson found a 3,300-ton, 330ft long cargo ship called the SS Almond Branch (built in 1896), that sank off the Cornish coast in south west England during World War I. And it was a bargain: only £300 ($400). Robinson purchased the wreck from someone who bought the wreckage from the British government in the 1970s. He told BBC Radio Cornwall that the original owner hoped to uncover something of value, but found it to just be a “big pile of rusting iron.” That didn’t bother Robinson, who is an hobbyist diver.

Stat of The Day

56,640: The number of runners who completed Sunday's London Marathon, beating the world record of 55,646 set by the New York City Marathon last November.

Tiger standing on a rock in India — Indian tiger

Tiger Numbers Double

India has achieved a remarkable milestone in wildlife conservation, doubling its Indian tiger population from 1,706 in 2010 to approximately 3,682 in 2022, according to a new study published in the journal Science. This success, driven by measures to combat poaching, protect habitats, and reduce human-wildlife conflict, positions India as home to roughly 75 percent of the world’s tigers. The study highlights how conservation efforts have benefited biodiversity and improved the livelihoods of communities living near tiger habitats. The findings underscore the importance of community involvement and sustainable development in conservation. By addressing the root causes of human-wildlife conflict and ensuring that local communities benefit from ecotourism, India has created a model for other tiger-range countries to follow.

Shakespeare's First Folio — The First Folio | Sotheby's

First Four Folios

A set of the first four editions of William Shakespeare’s collected works is expected to sell for up to £4.5 million ($6m) at auction next month. Sotheby’s auction house says the 23 May sale will be the first time since 1989 that a set of the First, Second, Third and Fourth Folios has been offered at auction as a single lot. After Shakespeare’s death in 1616, his plays were collected into a single volume by his friends John Heminges and Henry Condell, actors and shareholders in the playwright’s troupe, the King’s Men. About 750 copies were printed in 1623, of which about 230 are known to survive. All but a few are in museums, universities or libraries.

Pakistan's Solar Success

Pakistan isn’t the first country you’d expect to crash the global solar party. But by the end of 2024, it quietly rocketed into the top tier of solar adopters, importing a jaw-dropping 22 gigawatts worth of solar panels in a single year. That’s not a typo or a spreadsheet rounding error. That’s the kind of number that turns heads at IEA meetings and makes policy analysts double-check their databases, reports CleanTechnica. It’s more solar than Canada has installed in total. It’s more than the UK added in the past five years. And yet it didn’t make a blip in most Western media. While the U.S. continued its decade-long existential crisis about grid interconnection queues and Europe squabbled over permitting reforms, Pakistan skipped the drama and just bought the panels. Thereby solving energy poverty with sunlight and silicon, and moving from grid collapse to gridless competence.

Top Performer

CNN reports that the world’s largest electric vehicle battery producer - CATL of China - has unveiled a battery that can go 320 miles on a 5-minute charge. The new battery beats out the previous longest-range battery which boasted 250 miles in a 5-minute charge, both way ahead of Tesla Superchargers that deliver 200 miles of range in a 15-minute charge.

"A wise girl knows her limits, a smart girl knows that she has none." Marilyn Monroe

On This Day

Prince William and his girlfriend, Catherine Middleton

29 April 2011: Prince William of Wales, second in line to the British throne, married his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Middleton, in a lavish ceremony broadcast to millions of television viewers.