Even though it's deep winter in the northern hemisphere, OGN is here to make sure it's a sunny Sunday.
New Zealand: Global consumer goods giant Unilever announced it will try out a four-day working week for all its kiwi employees. The trial starts next week and will run until December next year, with employees being paid for five days while working just four. After 12 months, Unilever will assess the outcome of the move and look at how it could work for the rest of its 155,000 employees globally. No doubt many will be watching the outcome closely.
The leaders of 14 countries have pledged to end overfishing, restore fish stocks and stop pollution from entering their waters, in what has been described as the world’s biggest ocean sustainability initiative. The nations - Australia, Canada, Chile, Fiji, Ghana, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Namibia, Norway, Palau and Portugal - may be few, but together they are responsible for around 40 percent of the world’s shores.
The Goldman Environmental Prize is an annual award recognizing grassroots activism across six geographical regions around the globe. Among this year’s prize winners is Nemonte Nequimo, an indigenous leader from the Ecuadorean Amazon who last year made headlines for her success in protecting 500,000 acres of native land from oil extraction.
New additive makes plastic harmless: Brilliant invention likely to be a biodegradable game-changer and help save the world, headed up by former CEOs of British Telecoms and M & S.
This year's Global Teacher Prize has been awarded to Ranjitsinh Disale for his work helping girls, most of then from poor tribal communities, at a village school in western India. The announcement was made by actor and writer Stephen Fry at a virtual ceremony broadcast from the Natural History Museum in London. A jubilant Disale heard the news at home in India, surrounded by his family, and immediately announced he would share the $1 million prize money with the nine other finalists.
The Anti-Covid Diet: Key nutrients found in everyday foods could help your body fight back against Covid-19, and even enhance your response to a vaccine.
Director Ian Nicholson and designer Sam Wilde brightened up the first lockdown with their delightful puppet versions of the picture book I Want My Hat Back.ts. Now, they’re back with another homemade set of eye-catching characters for a 15 minute adventure based on Chris Haughton’s book Shh! We Have a Plan. And this one introduces kids to opera, too, with a new score by Noah Mosely sung by soprano Abigail Kelly. English Touring Opera’s production is online until 25 January.
Wildflower meadows to line England's new roads: In a fabulous and much needed boost to diversity, Highways England's scheme to encourage species-rich grasslands will create hundreds of miles of rare habitats after decades of loss.
Fiat steps into an electric future with its cute new 500 super-mini. It will be available only as an EV with a 199 mile range and £19,995 price tag. The extra good news is that Europeans can nab one as early as next year.
Celebrity chef wins $1m on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and gives it all to struggling fellow members of the hospitality industry in fabulously generous gesture.
Unbelievable and amazing places that actually exist. The places in this YouTube video may look like they're from a distant planet... but they are not. Here are, arguably, the 15 most most unbelievable places on earth. The good news is you'll almost certainly be able to visit them in 2021.
Paul Barton discovered the tranquility and beauty of the Elephants World Sanctuary in Thailand and now spends a lot of his time sharing his musical talents with the elephants there. “I liked the sound of the place being a retirement centre for old, injured and handicapped elephants,” Paul shared. He asked the employees at Elephants World if he could bring his piano and play some classical music for the old creatures, and they agreed. Enjoy this delightful little video of Paul playing some gentle Debussy for an 80 year old blind elephant.
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