Today's Positive News

Ensuring the last Saturday of the year gets off to a flying start.

Artist's illustration of the Parker Solar Probe — Artist's illustration | Credit: Nasa/John Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben/Reuters

‘Yay, we did it!’

Santa and his reindeer were not the only bodies making a celestial journey on 24 December: Nasa has revealed that its Parker solar probe successfully completed its closest-ever approach to the sun and remains in good health. It is the closest any human-made object has ever come to our star, with the probe experiencing temperatures of up to 982C (1,800F) and intense radiation. Dr Nicola Fox, Nasa’s head of science, said: “It is 3.8m miles from the sun’s surface. It is breaking all of these records and it’s a just a total ‘Yay, we did it!’ moment.” The probe is named after the late Dr Eugene N. Parker, who first proposed the theory of solar wind.

Diaz Beach, Cape Town — Diaz Beach | Jose Carlos Babo, CC license via Flickr

Local Hero

An imperiled swimmer in South Africa recently caught a lifeline when the hook of a nearby cod fisherman snagged on her jeans. Armed with only a fishing rod and the skill imparted from untold casts into the rich coastal waters, the man was able to save the 31-year-old woman off Diaz Beach, Cape Town. At an hour past midnight one night last week, a cod fisherman noticed a woman in the water who seemed to be caught in a strong current that risked carrying her out to sea. Running into the shallow water, he repeatedly cast his line towards her until the large codfish hook attached to her jeans, local news reports. Codfish hooks are about as long as a man’s pinky finger, and it’s no small wonder the fisherman’s cast managed to find her clothes and not her skin. The fisherman has been hailed as a hero for his skill and quick thinking.

Global FoodBanking Network logo

Food Banks

Food banks play a crucial role in keeping communities fed across the globe. Another vital but lesser-known benefit? They’re helping to fight climate change, with a recent impact report outlining the link between food banks and a reduction in carbon emissions. Breaking down the numbers, food banks associated with The Global FoodBanking Network provided 1.7 billion meals to over 40 million people last year. That’s the equivalent of mitigating an estimated 1.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. Without these organizations, perfectly edible ingredients - recovered from farms, grocery stores, and other food businesses - would head straight to a landfill, where they’d create greenhouse gas emissions and squander the efforts that went into producing the food in the first place (think: water use, land use, transportation costs, and more).

Fur seals in the Farallon Islands | Credit: US Fish & Wildlife Service

Population Recovering

The Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco was once home to tens of thousand fur seals but overhunting of the seal rockery during a market boom for their blubber and pelts in the late 19th-early 20th century all but wiped them out. A conservation treaty signed by the US, Canada, and Russia banned their hunting in 1915, and a second piece of legislation designating the Farallon Islands as a wilderness was passed in 1972. Over time, these measures ensured that neighboring seals could re-establish their lost colony, which has now grown into the thousands. 2,133 fur seals were recently counted during a population survey by Point Blue Conservation Science, a number that included 1,276 pups, the highest ever.

Jane Goodall in 1965 | The Jane Goodall Institute

Think

Here's a lovely, profound observation by Jane Goodall, the English zoologist, primatologist and anthropologist. She is considered the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees. Her charity now runs global environmental and humanitarian youth programmes and works to renew one of our most powerful resources: hope. Here is one of the many, simple messages she wishes to promote: “The most important thing is to actually think about what you do. To become aware and actually think about the effect of what you do on the environment and on society. That’s key, and that underlies everything else.”

Barcelona Boost

In Spain, energy from train brakes that could otherwise be wasted is now being harvested to charge electric vehicles. As part of the country's MetroCHARGE project, 16 subway stations in Barcelona are now using brake energy recuperators to redirect energy from the train brakes to EV charging stations on the streets.

“Love the life you live. Live the life you love.” Bob Marley

On This Day

28 December 1065: The original Westminster Abbey, in London, was consecrated and opened this day in 1065 by Edward the Confessor and became the site of coronations and other ceremonies of national significance in England.