What better way to start the day than with an uplifting bundle of positive news nuggets?
Pest Eradication
Ten years after an ambitious pest eradication project Macquarie Island, off the coast of Tasmania, has become a shining beacon of grand-scale environmental recovery. Once on the brink of collapse, the island has sprung back to life with giant tussock grass, mega herbs, and orchards and the return of birds like blue and grey petrelsand Antarctic prions.
The rats, goats, dogs, cats and other mammals that spread round the world with humans have driven many native species to extinction. New research indicates that clearing invasive species from islands might be the closest thing to a silver bullet in conservation. Read on...
Conservation Success
A landmark conservation agreement between Indigenous communities, NGOs, and governments in Pastaza, Ecuador, will protect the country’s largest and most biodiverse forest from mining. The agreement recognises the integral role Indigenous communities play in the fight against climate change. Pastaza’s forests capture a whopping 858 million tonnes of carbon annually, reports Euro News.
Be Kind
Ever since he went car-free in 2017, James Warren uses buses to get around if he can't get to his destination on foot or bike and has noticed the lack of seating at many stops. Then he saw a woman sitting in the dirt, waiting for a bus, because there was no seating at the stop - and no sidewalk. So Warren, 28, built a bench, from scrap wood. Since then he has crafted seven more and placed them at bus stops around Denver. Each one, made from scrap wood he finds in construction dumpsters, takes about three hours. Warren inscribes "Be Kind" on each one. Seeing his work in the local news, others have decided to help. "That puts me over the moon," Warren said. "That's the idea. Let's just all help our neighbors."
Today's Riddle
What do you buy to eat but never consume?
(Answer at base of page)
Civic Engagement
The NBA just announced its schedule for the 22/23 season - and it intentionally scheduled no games on 8 November, midterm election day. All 30 NBA teams will play the day before, and the league hopes to encourage fans to vote and share the importance of civic engagement.
Rubber Concrete
Concrete using 100 percent recycled tires promises a circular economy: A team of engineers from Australia’s Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University has found a way to replace 100 percent of the conventional aggregates in concrete, such as gravel and crushed rock, with rubber from discarded tires. The team says the greener and lighter concrete promises to reduce manufacturing and transportation costs significantly - not to mention the carbon footprint! Small amounts of rubber particles from tires are already used to replace concrete aggregates, but efforts to replace the composition entirely with rubber produced weak concretes that have failed to meet required standards - until now. "We have demonstrated with our precise casting method that this decades-old perceived limitation on using large amounts of coarse rubber particles in concrete can now be overcome," said Mohammad Momeen Ul Islam of RMIT University’s School of Engineering.
Throwing the Switch
The £3bn ($3.5bn) Seagreen offshore wind farm located 27km (17 miles) off Scotland's east coast has just had the first turbine of 114 connected to the electricity network. Ultimately the developers hope the site will produce enough renewable electricity to power 1.6m households - in about 10 months time. That would in theory cover two-thirds of Scottish households. However the electricity generated will be distributed around Great Britain.
Quote of the Day
“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” Henry Ford
On this Day
25 August 1916: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed the “Organic Act,” which established the National Park Service.
This species has learned to walk on land and can live without oxygen for about two hours. Read on...
Archeologists found a perfectly preserved 1,500 year old arrow inside a Norwegian glacier. Read on...
Mood Booster
Air Afrikaans: hilarious clip of two appalling flight attendants liberally dispensing their own brand of 'customer service'.
Answer: Cutlery.