Mid week collection of upbeat nuggets of good news.
The red carpet at Cannes Film Festival turned grey this year as actors Andie MacDowell, Helen Mirren and Jodie Foster arrived with ‘silver fox’ hair. Though men who go grey are seen as distinguished, grey hair on older women has been seen as unattractive, ageing and even a disadvantage in the job market. It’s certainly not found on the red carpet, where a youthful look has, historically, been idolised. But isn't it good news that MacDowell, Mirren and Foster - 63, 75 and 58 respectively - are challenging this crazy, out dated stereotype!
The U.S. is about to go 'all-in' on paying farmers and foresters to trap carbon. The Senate has passed a bill - the Growing Climate Solutions Act - that could put the full force of the federal government behind these efforts. At a time when partisanship runs hot, all but 8 Senators voted for the legislation and it's moving quickly through the House of Representatives. Done right, this could be the move that finally scales up the conservation practices that scientists have been begging farmers and foresters to adopt for years.
Indonesia is home to one-third of the world’s tropical rainforests and for many years has turned a blind eye to deforestation. However, in good news for indigenous tribes, orangutans, and numerous other species, President Joko Widodo has reversed this destruction, achieving four consecutive years of declines in deforestation. This steady work culminated in 2020 when the country achieved its lowest forest-loss rates since monitoring began, totaling a 75 percent drop year-over-year. This positive change hasn’t just been noticed by locals, but also the Norwegian government. Almost a decade after signing an agreement that would compensate government agencies if they could reduce forest loss, the first installment of a €1 billion reward has arrived in Indonesia.
Electric-vehicle concepts are common enough these days that you need more than a zero-emission powertrain to stand out. So why not work on a negative-emission EV? That's what England's Heatherwick Studio did with its Airo concept, which uses a HEPA filter under the car to filter out pollution from other cars on the road. The electric vehicle has a "state-of-the-art HEPA filtering system" that cleans the air that moves through the vehicle's undercarriage.
Weeks after Canadian basketball star and new mother Kim Gaucher voiced concern over the policy banning all family members from attending the Tokyo Olympics, there's now good news that the Olympic committee has adjusted their regulations to allow children who are being breast fed to also attend the games.
In a remarkable piece of good fortune, a British soldier has survived a 15,000ft fall after crashing into someone’s roof when his parachute failed to fully deploy. The parachutist was taking part in a training exercise on 6 July in California when he jumped out of a plane in a High Altitude Low Opening exercise known as Halo.
Residents of Plover, a village in Wisconsin, had a hearty laugh recently when a painting project on their water tower went awry, resulting in a new name: PLVOER. Listen, mistakes happen ... even when they're several feet tall and plastered where everyone can see! Luckily, good-natured Ploverians took the mistake in stride, posting memes and jokes online.
In its quest to develop unlimited green energy, the EAST Fusion Facility in Heifei, China recently created a plasma gas that was heated to 120° million Celsius - that’s three-times hotter than the sun - and kept it there for 101 seconds before it dissipated, setting a new world record both for heat and duration. Thermo-nuclear fusion energy is inching closer and closer to reality!
Dive in Deeper
Pre-loved Fashion: Fashion-conscious teens have been trading pre-loved clothing for years, now older age groups are joining in too as retailers are joining the fray. [2 mins] Common Sense...
Net neutrality to make a comeback: Repealed by Trump in 2017, but Biden to now restore it. [2 mins] Executive Order...
Hydroplaning Dolphins
These remarkable Dolphins in Western Australia display incredible ingenuity when hunting for fish in the shallows. With little room for error, it would appear fortune does indeed favour the brave.