An uplifting collection of good news nuggets to brighten the day.
No Make Up
Melisa Raouf is a 20-year-old college student from south London. She will compete against 40 other finalists to be crowned Miss England in October. "Melisa is the first Miss England contestant ever to make it to the final totally make up free, isn't she gorgeous!" says the competition's official Instagram account. "It means a lot to me as I feel many girls of different ages wear makeup because they feel pressured to do so. If one is happy in their own skin we should not be made to cover up our face with makeup. Our flaws make us who we are and that’s what makes every individual unique."
Compost Queens
From beauty queen to composting Queens: starting in early October, Queens, New York will proudly be running the nation’s grandest composting program. The 2.2 million New Yorkers living in Queens will have a weekly pickup service for organic waste. This means that yard debris and food scraps, and food-soiled paper products will have a better end. “This launch makes New York City home to the largest curbside composting program in the country,” says New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a statement. “There’s no sign-up required, and all that Queens residents need to do is put out their waste in a separate bag or bin. This is how we ‘Get Stuff Done’ for our city.”
Biochar: Breakthrough Zero-Carbon Fertilizer. Wouldn't it be good news if every time you threw out your garden waste, you were helping fight global warming? That’s the capacity a new technology hopes to unleash across the world. Read on...
Project Nexus
In an effort to combat the devastating drought conditions hitting California, the Golden State will become the first in the nation to install solar panel canopies over canals. The $20m 'proof of concept' project is designed to increase renewable power generation, while reducing water evaporation and vegetative growth in canals. It comes about as a result of a University of California study which showed that covering all of the approximately 4,000 miles of public water delivery system infrastructure in the state with solar panels could save an estimated 63 billion gallons of water annually, as well as result in significant energy and cost savings.
US Clean Energy
According to data recently released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, wind and solar alone provided 67 percent of electrical capacity added in the first half of 2022. In addition to this positive progress in the transition to clean energy, no new coal power capacity was added. With this new capacity, clean energy now makes up 27 percent of the total available generating capacity in the U.S. This is encouraging progress, especially in light of President Biden officially signing the Inflation Reduction Act into law, which includes billions of dollars for building up clean energy infrastructure.
Lagniappe
"A small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase" such as a 13th doughnut on purchase of a dozen. It can be used more generally as meaning any extra or unexpected benefit.
Ugliest Lawn
On the island of Gotland in Sweden, residents have spent this year letting their green lawns die off in a mass effort to conserve water. Irrigation bans led neighbours to get creative, offering a title to whoever ended up with the ugliest lawn. For this year, Marcus Norström’s lawn took the crown. The jury described the winning lawn humorously as “a really lousy lawn that lives up to all our expectations of Gotland’s ugliest lawn and has good conditions for a more sustainable improvement.” The jury also said the lawn exhibited “meritorious laziness” and “great care for our common groundwater.”
Second Time Lucky
Gibraltar has officially been declared a city, 180 years after it was first granted the status by Queen Victoria. When the British overseas territory bid to become a city earlier this year as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, officials examining the National Archives found it had already been recognised as a city in 1842. After the Rock had its status confirmed, Boris Johnson declared it an “excellent” development, describing it as a “huge accolade” to its “rich history and dynamism”.
Quote of the Day
“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.” John Wooden
On this Day
30 August 1983: U.S. astronaut Guion Bluford became the first African American to travel into space, serving as a mission specialist aboard the shuttle orbiter Challenger, and later flew on three other missions.
The remains of what could be the largest dinosaur ever found in Europe have been uncovered in a back garden in Portugal. Read on...
Mood Booster
Beautiful footage shot by a drone flying over Mount Everest.