Keeping the week on track with a global round up of positive news nuggets.
Bubble Barrier
A Dutch startup led by sailors and surfers has devised a way of stopping trash in its tracks - with a little help from bubbles. The Great Bubble Barrier deploys a perforated tube on riverbeds to create a curtain of bubbles that nudge waste to the bank for collection. And for It has proved to be remarkably effective, snagging plastic particles as small as 1mm and intercepting as much as 86 percent of flotsam in inland waters before it reaches the sea. Following successful trials in the Netherlands, the system is set to be rolled out elsewhere in Europe.
Sun Halo
Photographer Göran Strand was on his way to the office in December when, out in the horizon, he spotted a sun halo. “I didn't plan this photo. I picked up my camera and my drone and drove to a spot where I knew I would get the city and the halo together.” With the Sun at its highest position above the city of Östersund, Sweden, located at latitude 63°N, a few days before the winter solstice, Strand knew he had the shot of a lifetime. The resulting image was so mesmerizing, that it was even selected as Astronomy Picture Of the Day by NASA.
Danish Decision
Denmark’s largest bank has announced it's ending all fossil fuel financing. The bank determined that 99.9% of its own carbon footprint came from financing fossil fuel projects - so it’s not doing it anymore.
River Recovery
Sharks, eels and sea scorpions are among the species that have returned to an English river once considered biologically dead. Industrial pollution and sewage purged Liverpool’s River Mersey of most of its marine life. But successful efforts to clean up the waterway have seen species flood back. The Mersey Rivers Trust, a charity, described the river’s revival as “the best environmental good news story in Europe”. Mike Duddy, who works for the trust, says: “We’re right at the beginning of something special.”
Repowering NYC
Could New York City’s largest fossil fuel powered generator be reimagined as renewable energy infrastructure? Rise Light & Power has unveiled a proposal to repower its Ravenswood Generating Station using offshore wind energy. “America’s first renewable repowering of a fossil-fuel burning plant can happen right here in Long Island City, Queens, home to the city’s largest power generating facility. This project would greatly advance our state’s climate goals and be a win for environmental justice communities living nearby,” said U.S. Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY).
“A lot of times good news happens slowly and bad news happens all at once. And so we tend to focus on the bad news that’s crashing over us in waves, and not on the slow long-term work that people are doing together to try to make a better world for us to share.” John Green
On this Day
31 January 1924: The first ever Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France.
Alternative to Air-Con
Brave Bessie
An intrepid Black woman who became the first pilot in the 1920s is the latest hero to be honored in the Barbie doll series featuring ‘Inspiring Women’. Read on...
From the Archives
Mood Booster
Clever and imaginative parody movie trailer for the 2023 movie release of Titanic 2.