Good News Monday
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Kick-starting the week with some tasty bite-sized chunks of upbeat news.
Back From The Brink
100 imperilled animals and plants just got some good news. A new fund called the Phoenix Species Project will provide $200 million to help pull endangered wildlife back from the brink of extinction. Leonardo DiCaprio's and Jeff Bezos' foundations cofound and fund the initiative to save 100 of the world's most endangered species, calling it the largest-ever fund dedicated to the cause. The project will track population recovery and threat reduction and report updates on its website and social media platforms.
Some Good Numbers
97: The percentage of electric vehicles in July of new car registrations in Denmark.
710 MW: Minnesota just plugged a 710-megawatt solar farm into a coal plant that once burned 30,000 tons a day. The unique approach to connecting the panels to the grid allowed it to sidestep a typically years-long connection process.
9,000: The UK’s postal service, Royal Mail, has just taken delivery of its 9,000th electric van. This means that almost a third of Royal Mail’s delivery routes now use zero-emission vehicles.
3,682: Number of wild tigers in India, which has more than doubled since 1972.
10,000: Cities across Latin America have reached the historic milestone of 10,000 electric buses in operation. It represents a “turning point in the decarbonisation of public transport” and “reinforces electric mobility as a concrete response to the climate crisis, improving air quality and the health of urban populations”.
Remarkable Result
The rainforests in Papua New Guinea’s Torricelli Mountains are home to a staggering array of species, an estimated 4 percent of the world’s biodiversity, which is ridiculous, given the entire range is only 480 square miles (1,250 sq. km), about the size of the city of Los Angeles. Previously, it was in danger of being logged, which would have been a depressing fate for such a remarkable place, but now Papua New Guinea clans have signed a binding deed to save their forest. 266 clan leaders from 41 villages in the Torricelli Mountains have just signed a legally binding conservation deed that bans commercial logging, mining and the hunting of threatened species.
Etiquette Tip For Italy
"After more than 15 years of living in and traveling across Italy, I could write a whole book of travel advice, especially about visitor etiquette. But if I had to narrow it down to the one most important tip for being a better traveler in Italy, it would be two simple words: Dress nicely. Of course, that’s in addition to being polite, respectful and patient, as you hopefully would anywhere you’re a visitor. But in a country known for its fashion, design and sense of style, as well as its long-standing traditions, dressing decently in Italy is a way of showing respect and courtesy, not just for yourself, but to the people you’ll encounter and the places you’ll visit."
Smiling Faces
It doesn’t take much on a dog’s part to elicit a smile from their owner or someone passing by. A new study investigated what actually takes place inside a dog’s brain during this process, finding that images of smiling faces activated the same region that lights up when pups anticipate tasty treats. Researchers in Austria conducted brain scans on eight dogs while the animals were shown photos of strangers with either neutral or happy expressions. The happy faces triggered activity in the temporal cortex, which is associated with cognitive processing, and the caudate nucleus, associated with reward processing.
Acts of Kindness
This summer, Stephen Jalland, a father of three in the UK, started clearing people’s overgrown gardens for free and quickly realized the simple act went far beyond giving them a better view of their yards. “It can aid in making them feel a little bit better about themselves,” he said, adding: “I’ve said to people: ‘I’m going to make you a space where you can come out of the house and sit and have a cup of coffee and enjoy the sunshine.’ It’s a safe space, a happy space, a clear space.” One of the lucky recipients of Jalland's kindness is Iris Owen, who had both her front and back garden sorted by him. The 84-year-old, who lost her husband about 12 years ago, said she "appreciated it very much". Adding: "This man came along and said he does gardens for free, so I couldn't refuse... and he spent one day doing it. It was very kind of him, and I really appreciate it as I could never have done that. It was brilliant and he was brilliant."
“In life, the things that go wrong are often the very things that lead to other things going right.” Arianna Huffington
On This Day
17 August 1903: Joseph Pulitzer donates $1 million to Columbia University and begins the Pulitzer Prizes in the United States. The first Pulitzer Prizes were handed out in May 1917 and Columbia University continues to administer the awards annually across multiple categories in journalism, literature, and music.
Today's Articles
Money Down The Drain: Student working on a Belgian building site finds $10 million in gold bars whilst digging a sewer.
Collection of Hilarity: Feel like a chuckle? Try this bundle of jokes to lighten the mood and get the week off to an upbeat start.
Mood Boosting Video
Clean-Power Record: Hydrogen-powered JCB Hydromax sets world land speed record.
