Today's Good News
An eclectic collection of upbeat news nuggets from around the world.
Record Breaker
After nearly four months and 900 miles, Catherine Breed has made history as the first person to swim the entire California coastline. The 33-year-old endurance athlete from the Bay Area has just completed her epic journey, averaging about 10 miles a day and finishing ahead of schedule. “It just felt emotional,” Breed told the Los Angeles Times after completing the historic swim, which she did to raise awareness for ocean conservation and inspire others to pursue their own ambitious goals. When she wasn’t in the water, Breed lived on a 52-foot sailboat with her crew, who helped her keep a safe distance from sharks and follow the rules laid out by the World Open Water Swimming Association (like not touching the boat while actively swimming) to make it into the record books.
Coconut Airways
Delicious to drink and wonderful for your skin, coconut oil already has many uses. In the future it may even power aircraft. Chemists in Japan recently conducted extensive experiments on whether it would be possible to create a sustainable aviation fuel out of coconut oil, and not only were they a success, they outperformed existing biofuels across several metrics. Compared to the intense heating required to synthesize sustainable aviation fuel out of existing biofuel options, the Japanese chemists created an aviation-compatible fuel at room temperature pressure and lower levels of heat. On the basis that global aviation accounts for around 4 percent of emissions, it's good news that another sustainable contender has been discovered.
Mount Mabu Conservation
A Mozambique government decree has set aside 23,000 acres as the Mount Mabu Community Conservation Area. This means that one of the wettest areas in southern Africa, known as the “butterfly forest,” will be protected, as will the 200-plus butterfly species that live there. Mabu, and its isolated mountain slopes, contain very high rates of endemism: described as species found there and only there with few exceptions. Now stable and at peace, the nation is trying to rebuild its wildlife populations, but nothing could be better than protecting what already exists before there’s a need to rebuild it. The government decree describes the reserve as “dedicated to the protection, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources by local communities.”
Butterfly Mountaintop Gathering: After the rains, butterflies emerge together in huge numbers on Mount Mabu in Mozambique. This 3 minute video, narrated by David Attenborough, reveals the spectacular event.
Positive Surprise
Mangrove forests are a key global ecosystem. Home to salt-tolerant trees and shrubs that grow at the juncture of land and sea, they store carbon (storing 4 to 5 times more carbon per hectare than terrestrial tropical forests), create ideal conditions for reefs and marine life, and protect communities against cyclones and storm surges. They’ve also been diminishing over the past decades as a result of human development. Lately, however, the good news is that their fortunes have reversed. Two separate trackers report that since the 2010s, these forests have regenerated sufficiently to outweigh previous losses. If the net gain is minimal - by one count, less than 1 percent since the ’80s - the turn from contraction to expansion has been a genuine, and genuinely positive, surprise.
Shanghai Opera
The world’s newest opera house officially opened its doors this week, featuring a bold architectural flair and a soaring spiral staircase that connects city streets to a rooftop stage and observation deck. The Shanghai Grand Opera House now stands complete on the banks of the Huangpu River, a decade after Snøhetta, an architecture firm from Norway, won the international competition to design it. The nearly 1.6 million square-foot building is home to three separate auditoriums with a combined capacity of 4,200 seats. Its stages were built to accommodate myriad performances and rehearsals, from traditional operas to classical symphonies and experimental productions.
New National Park
America’s newest national park protects thousands of years of human history, nearly 200 species of birds and towering stone spires formed by an ancient volcanic eruption. Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona is now Chiricahua National Park, bringing the total number of national parks in the United States to 64. Nicknamed the “Wonderland of Rocks,” the site has been a national monument since 1924 but was officially redesignated as a national park this week, and spans 12,000 acres. Chiricahua - pronounced “cheery-cow-uh” - is the country’s first new national park in six years.
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." Bill Waterson
On This Day
22 October 1883: New York's original Metropolitan Opera House has its grand opening with a performance of Charles Gounod's opera Faust. Located on Broadway between 39th and 40th Streets, Midtown Manhattan.
Today's Articles
Excellent Solution: Tiny robots clean solar panels, saving billions of gallons of water and boosting energy generation efficiency.
Unsolicited Advice: Father gifts his children the stuff he wished he had known when he was their age.
No Sauna? No Problem: Soaking in a hot bath is even more beneficial to your health than being in a sauna.
Mood Boosting Video
Delightful Perspective: Waves breaking in slow-mo with golden sun shining through.
