Sunny Saturday News
- Editor OGN Daily
- Jul 5
- 3 min read
Celebrating the start of the weekend with a global round up of positive news stories.
Rescued by Ecosia
After USAID cuts hit Jane Goodall’s reforestation initiative, an internet search engine has stepped in to fill the gap. In 2019, the Jane Goodall Institute received funding support from USAID to create its Landscape Conservation in Western Tanzania initiative, a five-year, $29.5 million program that would help mitigate threats to chimpanzees and their ecosystems and uplift surrounding communities. The program officially launched in 2023, but under the Trump administration’s budget cuts, lost its funding, threatening the future of the entire initiative, but one particularly crucial reforestation effort in Tanzania’s Gombe Masito Ugalla biosphere reserve. So, Ecosia - the search engine that donates 100 percent of its profits to climate action and has planted over 200 million trees across the globe - stepped in to provide financial support over the next three years to help save the Gombe reforestation project.
By The Numbers
46: The number of countries free of malaria, now that Suriname has been certified. It is the first country in the Amazon region to eliminate the disease.
92: The percentage share of the world’s population with access to electricity, up from 87 percent in 2010.
70: The impressive percentage of all new passenger vehicles sold in Nepal are now electric. The small Himalayan nation, only half of whose population had access to electricity two decades ago, is now rapidly electrifying its economy.
92: The percentage of new energy capacity built worldwide in 2024 that was clean. Solar energy remained the driving force behind this expansion, responsible for 42 percent of the total global renewable power capacity mix. Including nuclear, around 40 percent of the world’s electricity now comes from carbon-free sources.
Martian Rock
The biggest piece of Mars on Earth is going on sale and is set to become the most expensive space rock in the world. The 54lb (24.5kg) Martian rock is expected to sell for between $2 million and $4 million when it goes up for sale at Sotheby’s on 16 July. Meteorite NWA 16788 is being sold after meteorite hunters found it in northwestern Niger in 2023. “The only way something of this size, or really any meteorites that come from the Martian surface get here, is from a massive asteroid strike,” said Cassandra Hatton of Sotheby's. “We know that there’ve been about 19 asteroid strikes that had a great enough impact to send something of this size to Earth. But it’s impossible to know which one of those was responsible for this.”
Grand Palais Reopens
The Grand Palais has reopened in Paris following a $560 million renovation. The building was originally constructed for the Universal Exposition of 1900 and is renowned for its riveted steel beams, massive windows, and signature glass nave and, after over a century, was in need of some love and care to restore it to its former glory. Grand Palais, after 4 years, is now open to the public again. To plan your own visit and learn more about upcoming events, visit the Grand Palais website.
Conservation Success
An endangered bird that’s native to South Carolina has returned to the state for the first time since the 1970s. Endangered mostly due to loss of habitat, the red-cockaded woodpecker population was plummeting for years, but recent recovery efforts, including land protection and habitat management, have proven successful. The red-cockaded woodpecker provides "a degree of complexity to the habitat," said Matt LeRow. That's because they make cavities in living pine trees, which create shelter for other birds, flying squirrels and lots of reptiles and amphibians, he said.
“The Christians gave Him Sunday, the Jews gave Him Saturday, and the Muslims gave Him Friday. God has a three-day weekend.” George Carlin
On This Day
5 July 1954: American singer Elvis Presley recorded That's All Right, which became his first hit and helped give rise to rock and roll music.
Today's Articles
Mood Boosting Video
Slow Motion: Waves breaking with golden sun shining through.
