Today's global round up of good news nuggets to help put a spring in your step.
Meet Thor
He's a modern-day viking who has visited every country in the world without flying. In early 2013, Torbjørn C. Pedersen - or Thor, to his friends - received an email that would change his life forever. “My father sent me a link to an article and I clicked on it,” recalled the Danish adventurer. “I quickly realised that no one in history had gone to every single country in the world without flying. The fact caught my interest and stuck with me.” The former UN soldier was soon packing his bags for what was to become a decade-long adventure spanning 223,072 miles (including a 2 year stop-over in Hong Kong during the pandemic). That epic journey came to an end last month when the 44-year-old arrived in Maldives, the final country on his list of 203.
Strange But True
A town in East Yorkshire, England, still has its Christmas tree up... because a wood pigeon lives in it. Although the town council planned to take the tree down in January, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 states that it’s illegal to move, damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while it’s in use or being built. Six months on from the end of the festive period the tree is certainly looking worse for wear, said Metro, but the pigeon seems very happy.
The IRA is Working
The United States is experiencing a once-in-a-generation manufacturing boom, reversing decades of decline. New factories are springing up across the country, building clean energy products that have never been made in America at this scale. The scale and speed of the shift has been stunning - clean energy is no niche industry anymore; it’s now a pillar of the national economy, says Canary Media. Since the IRA was passed, for example, 31 new battery manufacturing projects have been announced - enough to support the manufacture of 10-13 million electric vehicles per year by 2030. According to the New York Times, new investment announcements in clean power amount to more than the total investment between 2017 and 2021 - and enough to power nearly 20 million homes.
Zambezi
Zimbabwe and Zambia have agreed to protect the lower Zambezi-Mana River basins as a transboundary conservation area. Spread over 7,150 square miles (18,500 km2), it's the last piece of a project that started in 2019 to conserve one million hectares (38,600 square miles) of biodiversity-rich habitats and improve the living conditions of 30,000 people across Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Moral Decline?
The social fabric appears to be unravelling, civility seems like an old-fashioned habit, honesty like an optional exercise, and trust like the relic of another time. Except, that's always been true. A new study in Nature has shown that the perception of moral decline is a psychological illusion to which people throughout history have been susceptible. Our belief that people were better behaved in the old days (they weren't) is caused by a tendency to forget about the bad things that happened in the past, and by an overexposure to bad news in the present.
Electrifying
European electric truck sales grew fourfold in the first quarter of 2023. This confirms a recent IEA outlook showing electric truck sales are starting take off. According to Bloomberg, buses are going electric too - the latest estimates are that by 2032, about half of the world’s buses will be entirely battery-powered. Indeed, buses are going electric faster than cars.
Lost and Found
A UK gallery has recovered a 15th-century altar panel decades after it was stolen, thanks to the eagle-eyed staff at an auction house. It was set to go on sale at Duke’s Auctions, but researchers noticed its similarities to another altar panel at York Art Gallery. That panel had been donated to the gallery in 1955 as part of a pair, the other half of which was stolen in 1979 and never found. It arrived at Duke’s after a woman inherited it from her father, and neither of the two had known of the panel’s past. “We suspect he might have bought it quite innocently in a market or perhaps in another auction or a shop, not realizing what he was buying and that it had this rather more interesting history,” said a senior valuer at Duke’s. Now, with the daughter’s cooperation, the altar panel will soon be back in its gallery home. “We told the daughter that the painting was stolen 50 years ago and she was quite happy that it was simply returned to the museum. No money changed hands at all. We are so grateful to her for being so straightforward about it.”
“Every life is a novel for those who are curious enough to look into it.” Anne Berest
On this Day
15 June 1215: Magna Carta - a charter of English liberties - was sealed this day, under threat of civil war, by King John.
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The universe's first-ever stars may have just been found. This could be the end of one of the biggest searches in all of astrophysics. JWST...
Why You Shouldn't Buy An SUV: If SUVs were a country, it would be the sixth most polluting in the world. Buying an electric one isn't a good solution either. Reasons...
Mood Booster
A majestic Manta Ray visits reef spa for a spring clean.