Thursday's Positive News
- Editor OGN Daily
- 17 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Thursday's smorgasbord of tasty good news nuggets to perk up the day.
Uruguay Hits 99 Percent
Uruguay did what most nations still call impossible: it built a power grid that runs almost entirely on renewables - at half the cost of fossil fuels. The physicist who led that transformation says the same playbook could work anywhere - if governments have the courage to change the rules. For Ramon Méndez Galain, the energy transition isn’t just about climate - it’s about economics. Uruguay’s shift to renewables, he told Forbes, demonstrated that clean energy can be cheaper, more stable, and create more jobs than fossil fuels. Once the country adjusted the playing field that had long favoured oil and gas, renewables outperformed on every front: halving costs, creating 50,000 jobs, and protecting the economy from price shocks. Today, Uruguay produces nearly 99 percent of its electricity from renewable sources.
World's First Country Powered 100 Percent by Solar: It's the eighth country to run exclusively on renewables, but perhaps even more intriguing is the way it was achieved here - they used agrivoltaics.
Wisdom Returns
One of the world’s most famous birds has returned to her nesting site. Wisdom, the 75-year-old albatross is known as the world’s oldest breeding bird. She has reportedly returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the central Pacific Ocean for the 2025-2026 nesting season. Laysal albatrosses like Wisdom return to the same nesting site every year. Once they reach the wildlife refuge on the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago, the birds will reunite with their mates. If all goes well, they will lay a single egg and stay on the atoll to nest. According to the United States Department of Fish and Wildlife, her arrival this year is slightly earlier than in previous years. Her mate from last year has not been spotted yet, but is hopefully on his way.
Full Cold Supermoon
December brings Moonfest ’25 to a close with the last of three consecutive supermoons. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the aptly named Cold Moon will reach its full size tonight. While it won’t be quite as large as November’s most super of supermoons, it will still be a fittingly impressive festive sight.
Five Favorite Books
Bill Gates turned 70 last month and has just revealed his annual Christmas list of five books he enjoyed during the year. Gates said: "There's something about the quieter days around the holidays that makes it easier to sit down with a good book. I'm sharing a few recent favorites." See his list at gatesnotes.com
First US City
Amid climbing rent prices across the U.S., many are left struggling to pay for other basic necessities - so one city is using a novel approach to help take financial pressure off residents. Minimum wage hikes in Santa Fe, New Mexico, have historically been linked to consumer prices. But in 2027, the state capital will raise its minimum wage from $15 an hour to $17.50, based on a more complex calculation that also takes fair market rent data into account. The first in the US to do so.
2CV Successor
Citroën looks set to revive the legendary 2CV more than three decades after the no-frills classic went out of production. Preliminary design work on a successor to the car that is widely credited with mobilising post-war France is reportedly under way. The news signals a change of heart from Citroën, which has previously denied any plans to bring this famous model back. The firm’s rethink is understood to have been prompted by the huge success of the retro-inspired Renault 5. The blend of retro styling with modern tech inside has made the new 5 wildly appealing, especially at the price - starting at just under £23,000 ($30,000). The new 2CV is expected to be offered at an even lower price.
"When snow falls, nature listens." Antoinette Van Kleeff
On This Day
4 December 1791: Britain's The Observer is first published and is the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world. The paper's mission statement from its inception in 1791 reads: "Unbiased by prejudice - uninfluenced by party. Whole principle is independence, whole object is truth, and the dissemination of every species of knowledge that may conduce to the happiness of society."
Today's Articles
Lake in Wisconcin: Millennia old dugout canoe 'parking lot' discovered. It was a bit like a modern bike-share program.
Zero to Hero: Romania's astonishing recycling success with "the largest fully integrated deposit return system globally.”
Lo-Tech Please: Old-school car features are back in demand, and better proprioception. Automakers are responding.
Mood Boosting Video
South of France: Cranes flying over the famous white horses of the Camargue.