What better way to start the week than with a global round up of positive news nuggets?
La Scala Online
Italy's world famous La Scala theatre has launched a streaming service allowing viewers to watch its operas, concerts and ballets online, in an effort to widen its audience worldwide. La Scala is an icon of Italian musical culture and with online ticket prices ranging on La Scala TV from 3 euros to 12 euros ($3 - $12), subscribers this year can choose between seven live opera performances, nine concerts and three ballets. Tempting?
7 Fold Return
Chilika Lake, the second biggest lake in India, was declared dead in the 1990s, but two decades of conservation work has resulted in a six-fold increase in seagrass and the return of marine life. The project has also changed the livelihoods of two million people: every rupee the government spent on restoration resulted in at least seven rupees of benefits to fisheries, tourism and carbon capture.
My First 100 Years
At age 103, Sister Jean awakes daily at 5 a.m. She sits up quickly to avoid going to sleep again - “I’ve got too much to do,” she says. After prayers for the day ahead, she reads the Gospel on her tablet. “I guess there aren’t too many 103-year-old nuns using iPads these days – there aren’t too many 103-year-olds, period,” she writes in her memoir that will be published by HarperCollins later this month. “But I’m pretty comfortable with modern technology. I’ve always said, ‘If you’re not moving forward, you’re going to get left behind real quick.’ Adaptability is my superpower.” In Wake Up with Purpose: What I’ve Learned in My First Hundred Years, Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt tells her life story, offers spiritual guidance and shares some of the lessons she’s learned.
Hats Off to FRN
The Food Recovery Network (FRN) is the largest student-led movement to fight food waste and end hunger in the US - and they recently brought their work to Arizona for the Super Bowl. FRN saved 2,907 pounds of food from one of the largest tailgate parties on game day and donated it to the nearby Phoenix Rescue Mission’s food bank. This is good news because food waste is a massive problem, and not just for the Super Bowl. The USDA Economic Research Center reports that approximately one third of all available food is never consumed. To add insult to injury, most of it goes into landfills and ends up oozing out methane - which is substantially more harmful to the environment than CO2. The University of Maryland students who founded FRN more than a decade ago did so after seeing pounds of food go to waste in their cafeteria - they’ve since expanded to 100 chapters and are on a mission to feed families all over the country.
7,000 'New' Islands
Japan has 'discovered' more than 7,000 new islands it did not know existed using advanced mapping technology in the first geographical study of the archipelago in 35 years. The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan is expected to release a report on its updated map of the nation in March. At present, Japan is officially made up of 6,852 islands, but that figure will rise to 14,125 islands, Kyodo News reported. Volcanic activity, better search methods and a change in definition have led to the 'discovery.'
Price Parity
Much sooner than expected, even a few months ago, experts think electric vehicles in the US could match the price of gas-powered vehicles this year. A combination of competition, government incentives, and falling prices of raw materials are contributing to the lowering cost, says the New York Times
Unexpected Twist
Across the US, coal-fired power plants are shutting down for good. But just because these plants aren’t burning coal doesn’t mean they aren’t still being used. A trend is now emerging in a number of states to repurpose the plants to create new jobs and supply clean, renewable energy. So, why would a solar farm, for example, want to be placed at the site of a non-operational coal plant? It turns out that because these plants are already wired to the power grid, installing new power plants at the site of old ones saves energy companies a lot of money and time. In the race to ramp up clean energy production across the country, this is an important part of what the future looks like.
"A winner is a dreamer who never gave up."
Nelson Mandela
On this Day
20 February 1872: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City opened to the public.
Wind turbines usually consist of one turbine with a set of blades, but this multi-turbine offshore system aims to make clean energy more efficiently. Read on...
Good Samaritan who has spent years helping disabled people find homes has won a £2.5m ($3m) country house in a raffle. Read on...
Mood Booster
New Guinea birds of paradise, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.