More awful things make the news than the many incredible positive steps people are taking on this planet. Have a good look, for instance, at what this team is doing. So far they have removed 45 tons (!!) of plastic waste from our oceans, and have a safety hatch so that they are only gathering up garbage and not fish. It is inspiring!
Positive Links When You Need Uplifting
State of the planet got you down? Discouraged by cruelty, pollution, greed, war? Then fluff up your spirit by scrolling down through these links! Some of them are just for fun, some of them are uplifting and inspiring, some of them simply show good things people are doing.
Friday, October 20, 2023
CLEANING THE PLASTIC FROM OUR OCEANS
Thursday, October 12, 2023
GROW A GREEN ROOF
The newest thing to help our planet is to install what is called a Green Roof. With extra layers of insulation, the roof helps prevent excessive water runoff, and, as reported in the Washington Post, serves as a little oasis for migrating birds, bees, and butterflies. There are lots of YouTubes showing how to make a green roof, whether on a shed or even your home. Here is one of them that we like!
Friday, February 3, 2023
HOW TO GROW A FOREST IN YOUR BACKYARD
This is a wonderful way of restoring forests, either small or large. The results are ultra-dense, bio-diverse, and fast growing. It is even being used now to help regrow rainforests. Cudos to those who are doing this!
Friday, December 9, 2022
A HEART-LIFTING FLASH MOB
This flash mob in Nurenburg, Germany, from a few years ago, will lift your spirits and warm your heart, and we could all use some uplifted spirits and warmer hearts, right? Blessings to you!
Sunday, September 4, 2022
FISHING FOR PLASTIC IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
Environmental trailblazer Lefteris Arapakis of Greece was distressed at how the fishing boats on which he worked would always haul up great amounts of trash and plastic, and throw it back into the sea. He started a company which pays fishers to bring them the plastic they pull up out of the Mediterranean and recycles it into useful products. He was named Young Champion of the Earth in 2020!
Saturday, August 13, 2022
A 17-year-old, whose invention will revolutionize electric cars!
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
LISTEN TO THE SOUND OF A SPIDER WEB
Scientists a MIT have translated the vibrations of a spider web to music. As the web becomes more dense, the sounds become more complex.
MUSHROOMS: THE NEW SUSTAINABLE SOURCE OF LEATHER
Leather from animal hides is one of the most ecologically damaging substances on the planet. The demand for Brazilian leather for everything from SUV interiors to luxury handbags is one of the reasons rainforests are swiftly disappearing, cleared to make more land for cattle. But researchers have now discovered how to make equally appealing leather from mushrooms! Mushrooms are also being converted into styrofoam, bricks, and other useful and sustainable materials!
Tuesday, July 6, 2021
THE WORLD'S LARGEST PYRAMID IS NOT IN EGYPT!
This ancient pyramid, the Pyramid of Choclula in Mexico, has even more mass than the great pyramid of Giza in Egypt, with five miles of subterranean tunnels! It lies buried, with a church built on top it.
Monday, July 5, 2021
FROM BARREN LAND TO RAINFOREST
Twenty years ago in Brazil, photographer Sebastião Salgado returned from an assignment to his family property and discovered that the land was barren, deforested, and devoid of animal life. Over the next twenty years, he and his wife, Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado, along with others, planted 2.7 million trees. They completely restored the forest, which thus far has 283 species of plants, 15 types of amphibians, 15 of reptiles, 33 different mammals, and 172 species of birds! This remarkable couple has also founded a nonprofit institute dedicated to ecology, the Instituto Terra.
Monday, December 14, 2020
A VICTORY OVER MONSANTO!
Listen to this victory over Monsanto! Leydy Pech, a Mayan beekeeper, stood up to Monsanto when they were cutting down forest to plant soybeans and spray them, and she WON! She won the 2020 Goldman Environmental Award for this!
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
WILD GOATS TAKE OVER TOWN
Sunday, March 15, 2020
SAVING THE GENETIC HERITAGE OF OUR OLD GROWTH FORESTS
THE HUMAN SPIRIT!
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
UNLIKELY COYOTE AND BADGER FRIENDSHIPS
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.)
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
Thursday, January 16, 2020
CONCRETE THAT CAN ABSORB CO2
Friday, November 15, 2019
GIRAFFES HUM!
Monday, September 9, 2019
Sunday, September 8, 2019
A PAPER MICROSCOPE YOU CAN CARRY IN YOUR POCKET!
Thursday, September 5, 2019
THE WOOD WIDE WEB
Monday, July 8, 2019
WHY THERE ARE GIANT MEGAPHONES IN A FOREST IN ESTONIA
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
HOW A 14-YEAR-OLD PROVIDED HIS TOWN WITH ENERGY
Sunday, May 12, 2019
ENERGY FROM OUR OWN WINDOWS
(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!