BECAUSE WE ALL NEED TO SMILE JUST NOW

Smile!

WILD GOATS TAKE OVER TOWN

With the current quarantines and lockdowns across the world due to COVID-19 making people disappear behind locked doors, these happy Welsh goats have taken over a town!

SAVING THE GENETIC HERITAGE OF OUR OLD GROWTH FORESTS

We hear so much of what is wrong and cruel in our society, but rarely learn about the many magnificent undertakings of various people and groups, such as the David Milarch at Archangel Tree Archive, who are cloning ancient trees to keep their genetic heritage alive.

According to the article below, "If you strike up a conversation with Milarch, you’ll get his life story inside of 10 minutes—from his motorcycle gang days in Detroit to the revelation that set him on his current path, involving a near-death experience, angels, and a disembodied voice that dictated a plan he wrote down in the wee hours of the morning. When he woke up fully the next day, he says, 'There was an eight-page outline on that legal pad. It was the outline for this project.'”

 

Read more about this important and fascinating work here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/redwood-reforestation

THE HUMAN SPIRIT!

Quarantined due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Italy, people are showing the resilience and beauty of the human spirit by making music from their windows and balconies! Music is being made all over Italy; below is just one short example from Naples.

UNLIKELY COYOTE AND BADGER FRIENDSHIPS

Wildlife observers and Native Americans in times past have long known that coyotes and badgers occasionally team up and hunt together. In this unlikely interspecies friendship, they have also been known simply to enjoy hanging out together! See how playful and happy the coyote is as it greets the badger in this video.

The badger digs quickly and can scout out rodents that the coyote can then pounce upon. Each appears to be happy and, importantly, saves energy in this hunting association. They have not, however, been known to be generous about sharing the meal! (Badgers eat their prey underground, coyotes above-ground.)

Not ALL badgers and coyotes are besties, of course.

For a more in-depth story, see https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/viral-video-coyote-badger-interspecieshttps://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/viral-video-coyote-badger-interspecies

CONCRETE THAT CAN ABSORB CO2

While cement manufacturing is a massive contributor to greenhouse gasses, new technologies have been developed so that cement blocks can absorb and trap CO2 from the atmosphere! Here is just one example:

AND MORE TREES PLANTED IN BRAZIL!

While there is serious and tragic destruction in the rainforest, one can find pockets of good news, such as this couple, Sebastia and Leila Salgado, who have planted nearly three million trees (290 species), bringing back all sorts of creatures and preventing erosion! Cudos to them!!!

GIRAFFES HUM!

New studies have shown that giraffes, long thought to be unable to vocalize because of their long necks, spend the night humming to one another! The pitch of their hum is at such a low frequency that it is not audible to the human ear. The short video, below, has samples of their sounds!

ETHIOPIA PLANTS 350 MILLION TREES IN ONE DAY

The headline says it all!

A PAPER MICROSCOPE YOU CAN CARRY IN YOUR POCKET!

While the focus is often on the terrible things happening on our planet, there are brilliant individuals across the globe making amazing discoveries. Check out this video of Manu Prakash, a young associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford. He invented a high-end origami microscope--NOT a toy--made inexpensively of paper that can be folded, carried in a person's pocket, and used anywhere!

THE WOOD WIDE WEB

Discoveries are being made about the way plants and trees communicate with one another, even rescuing and nourishing others of different species. It is through a fascinating communications/transportation web made of fungi that some are calling the Wood Wide Web.

WHY THERE ARE GIANT MEGAPHONES IN A FOREST IN ESTONIA

In Estonia, everyone has free access to the forests, which are abundant. See what these architecture students created to enhance the experience!

FLOWERS CAN HEAR BEES!

HOW A 14-YEAR-OLD PROVIDED HIS TOWN WITH ENERGY

When he had to drop out of high school at age 14, William Kamkwamba borrowed books and built a windmill out of junk to power his village. Then he built another to provide irrigation! This is an older video of him. Now a man, and a climate change activist, you can find more Ted Talks about this remarkable human being, who is being featured in a documentary. His website is www.williamkamkwamba.com.

ENERGY FROM OUR OWN WINDOWS

We will soon be able to create energy from our own windows! Let's hope this technology will soon be affordable and readily available.

(Editor's note: While they're at it, another wise idea is to make windows bird-safe. There are a number of options. The windows in the preview photo reflect the sky. Windows should instead be slanted slightly downwards to reflect the ground to save the millions of birds who crash into glass high-rises.)

Little by little, we're moving toward a better future!

ELEPHANT SANCTUARY IN CAMBODIA

In an effort to save the last elephants of Cambodia, an elephant preserve is run by Sangdeaun Lek Chailert, (shown in the video trailer), where these wonderful creatures can finally live a natural life, free from abuse and suffering. Ashley Bell has made a wonderful documentary about this called "Love and Bananas."

NEMO'S GARDEN: AN UNDERWATER FARM

Sergio Gamberini, an Italian scuba diver and amateur gardener with the Ocean Reef Group, devised this successful underwater garden eight meters under the sea! We salute the genius of people like Gamberini, who solve old problems by thinking in new ways!

ECOWARE MADE FROM AGRICULTURAL WASTE

More ecoware, this time from India, that is made from agricultural waste, thanks to a woman named Rhea Singhal, who built a successful company because she had a conscience. We are grateful to these pioneers around the world who are helping our planet.

Biodegradable Disposable NOT-Paper Plates!

These biodegradable disposable plates are made out of leaves. Others are now being manufactured made out of wheat bran and wheat byproducts! Many thanks to the inventors and manufacturers! For your next picnic or party, please consider using ALL biodegradable products. The Earth will be grateful.

JAPANESE TRAIN BARKS TO SCARE OFF DEER

A fabulous new innovation from our Japanese friends! In an attempt to prevent collisions with deer, designs are being made for Japanese trains first to snort like deer, to get their attention, and then to bark like a dog to frighten them away! If this project succeeds, there will be areas along the tracks where deer tend to gather--but away from human habitation--where the sound of barking dogs will be constantly played. Hats off to you, Japan!

PLASTIC SUCKERS!

Good news! Britain is now experimenting with this marvelous and desperately needed invention that sucks plastic out of ocean water.

ICE STUPAS TO COMBAT DROUGHT

Sonam Wangchuk uses the laws of physics to create enormous ice stupas to help combat dryiness caused by global warming.

AIR CONDITIONING USING OLD PLASTIC BOTTLES!

A man named Grey Dhaka has come up with an ingenious way to help cool buildings about 10 degrees in places without air conditioners or electricity! Blow air through your open mouth onto your hand. Now purse your lips, and blow onto your hand. Notice how much cooler the air is when your lips are pursed. Using plastic bottles, Dhaka created an inexpensive air cooler made of old plastic bottles for people in hot climates!

PLASTIC WASTE USED TO BUILD ROADS

This is happening in India and has now spread to the UK, as shown in the video below. Until we learn how to reduce our manufacture and use of plastic, this is a great option. Let's hope we see it in the USA soon!

NEW HOPE FOR CORAL REEFS

We have lost a huge percentage of our world's coral reefs in the last decades. Coral reefs put forth more oxygen into the atmosphere than plants, and are both vital and beautiful.

David Vaughn has discovered new ways of growing coral much more quickly than before, and says he will not retire until he has planted a million new corals. This is wonderful news!