Good News Today

Mid week collection of good news nuggets from around the globe.

• Firefighters near Detroit came to the rescue of a cute little raccoon struggling with quite the predicament. The team were more than a little perplexed when they arrived at the scene to discover a raccoon with its head stuck in a sewer cover. First, they tried putting soap around the animal’s neck, but that didn’t work. They considered cutting into the cast iron cover, but it would be too risky. Finally, they asked a nearby homeowner to bring some cooking oil. The good news is that this enabled them to extricate the animal, without hurting anything other than its pride.

• The Arc de Triomphe in Paris will be swathed in silvery blue fabric and red rope as a posthumous project planned by the artist Christo since the early 1960s finally becomes reality. Work will begin next month on L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, a €14m installation. The arch will be swathed in 25,000 sq.m of recyclable fabric, fixed with 3,000m of red rope; also recyclable.

• Canada will not approve new thermal coal mining projects or plans to expand existing mines because of the potential for environmental damage, says the Environment Minister. Thermal coal, primarily used for generating electricity, is the country's single largest contributor to climate change.

• Remember this time last week when the internet had a major glitch? Well, the data is now in, and it appears that millions of people worldwide were left unworried and unphased for a record amount of time following the global outage which forced many of the world’s leading news publications offline. Anxiety levels were reported to be at an all time low on 8 June as some of the planet’s most read news sites were unable to induce fear and panic into their readers. Moral of the story? Stick to OGN Daily!

• Hats off to Nate Carroll: He just broke a world record by completing his 1,500,231st push-up within the span of twelve months, averaging 4,100 push-ups per day, and occasionally reaching a whopping 7,000 in one day. Carroll is using the challenge to fundraise for the Tunnels to Towers Foundation, an organization that offers housing and mortgage assistance to the families of officers and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty.

• Raise a glass to Sharon Levine, a retired special education teacher from Louisiana who led a successful grassroots campaign to stop construction of a toxic plastics plantand has won the 2021 Goldman Prize for environmental defenders. The proposed $1.25bn Chinese-owned plastics plant would have generated 450,000kg of liquid hazardous waste every year.

• Feeling frazzled by the soaring temperatures? How about chilling your pillow or cuddling a frozen hot water bottle to help keep you cool at night?

• What do old TVs, street signs, motorbike helmets, windsurf boards, and Christmas trees have in common? They were all caught floating down Amsterdam's Westerdok canal - by a curtain of bubbles. 'The Bubble Barrier' was developed as a simple way to stop plastic pollution flowing from waterways into the ocean. An air compressor sends air through a perforated tube running diagonally across the bottom of the canal, creating a stream of bubbles that traps waste and guides it to a catchment system. Simples!

• Thanks to an OGN reader who sent us a funny photo (sadly, too fuzzy to publish) of a sign saying: Just sold my homing pigeon on eBay for the 22nd time.

• After 16 years under the leadership of Angela Merkel, Germany votes for a new chancellor at the end of September. The post-Covid economic recovery and immigration are all on the ballot. But there’s no mistaking this election as a climate vote. Case in point is the dramatic rise of the Green Party, up from 8 percent in the polls three years ago, to contend for the chancellorship under the leadership of 40-year-old, London School of Economics-trained Annalena Baerbock. The Greens have been in government before, but never standing the chancellor. From a climate perspective, such a win would send significant signals well beyond German borders.

Dive in Deeper

• Trailblazing: Bold single-use plastic ban kicks Europe’s plastic purge into high gear. From 3 July, EU will have the toughest rules in the world. [2 mins] Progress...

• Since 1946: Ever wondered why Franklin D. Roosevelt is on the dime? [2 mins] Here's the story...

• Post-pandemic party guide: It's important because rarely in the history of parties has there been such potential for boring each other rigid. [2 mins] Talking points...

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