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Revealing News For a Better World

Inspirational Media Articles
Excerpts of Key Inspirational Media Articles in Major Media


Below are highly engaging excerpts of key inspirational articles reported in the mainstream media. Links are provided to the original articles on their major media websites. If any link fails to function, read this webpage. These inspirational articles are listed by article date. You can also explore the articles listed by order of importance or by date posted. Enjoy the inspiring articles!

Note: Explore our full index to key excerpts of revealing major media news articles on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.


'It was a pie-in-the-sky ridiculous idea': The US homes made from waste materials
2024-10-07, BBC News
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20241002-the-us-homes-made-from-waste-mate...

Venture into New Mexico's beautifully stark high desert and you may well stumble across some fantastical and unconventional homes – some palatial and sculpturally rounded; others with an ancient temple-like form – that look like they're from a Star Wars movie. Set in and around the town of Taos where they were invented almost 40 years ago, these are Earthships: net-zero, sustainably designed homes built mostly from both natural and waste materials, such as old tyres, empty wine bottles and wood and mud. Earthship construction requires less in the way of toxic or carbon-emitting construction materials like concrete and plastics, and doesn't require precious woodland and other natural resources. An earth berm (a purposefully built bank of soil) surrounds the Earthship on three sides, providing insulating mass that controls temperature. Each has a greenhouse ... either on the north or south side depending on location. Most Earthships are purely solar powered; some also have wind turbines to supplement or a wood-burning stove as back up. Taos has cold snowy winters and often dry, hot summers, but in an Earthship, the internal temperature remains close to 72F (21C) year-round, regardless of outside weather conditions. What does it feel like to stay inside an Earthship? "It feels like you're inside the womb," says Earthship construction manager Deborah Binder. "You feel constantly hugged and snuggled. The temperature is always comfortable."

Note: Don't miss the great Earthship pictures at the link above. Explore more positive stories like this on technology for good.


How Do You Forgive the People Who Killed Your Family?
2024-10-04, The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/11/genocide-rwanda-forgiven...

By the early 1990s, extremist Hutu propaganda had started to spread in newspapers and on the radio, radicalizing Rwandans. Over the course of just 100 days [in 1994], about 800,000 Rwandans, primarily Tutsi, were killed. On April 22, 1994, [Hussein] Longolongo recounted, he and an armed group of men entered a chapel where dozens of Tutsi were hiding. "We killed about 70 people," he said. "I was brainwashed." Eventually, more than 120,000 Hutu were arrested on charges of participating in the genocide. In prison, [Longolongo] was forced to take part in a government-sanctioned reeducation program. He initially dismissed much of what he heard. "But as time went on, I became convinced that what I did was not right," he told me. Longolongo also participated in more than 100 of what were known as gacaca trials. Gacaca–which roughly translates to "justice on the grass"–had historically been used in Rwandan villages and communities to settle interpersonal and intercommunal conflicts. Now the government transformed the role of the gacaca court to handle allegations of genocide. Many survivors were initially reluctant. "They would say, ‘How can you forgive those people?'" [Albert] Rutikanga told them that these conversations weren't something they should do for the perpetrators. "Forgiveness is a choice of healing yourself," he would say. "You cannot keep the anger and bitterness inside, because it will destroy you."

Note: Read how a Rwandan woman forgave the man who killed her husband during the 1994 genocide and allowed his daughter to marry her son. Explore more positive stories like this on healing social division.


Asteroid impact may have turned ants into fungus farmers 66 million years ago
2024-10-03, Science
https://www.science.org/content/article/asteroid-impact-may-have-turned-ants-...

Hundreds of ant species farm fungi today, and studies of ant evolution suggest the adaptation goes back tens of millions of years. Now, scientists have sharpened the picture by bringing in the fungal family tree as well. They pinpoint a date for the origins of the partnership and suggest a surprising catalyst: the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Since ants' fungal gardens were first described 150 years ago, entomologists have uncovered 247 species of ants that tend them and rely on this fungal crop to survive. Researchers surmise that the ants descend from a common ancestor that later evolved into separate species nurturing different types of fungi. The ant and fungal taxa involved in farming both arose about 66 million years ago, which coincides with the massive asteroid strike that drove nonavian dinosaurs and many other species extinct. That cataclysmic impact produced lingering clouds of debris that shut down photosynthesis across the planet for several months, possibly even years. Researchers suggest ants that had already developed a loose relationship with fungi were ready to take advantage of this newly abundant source of food. For the first few million years, the ants tended fungal species also found in the wild. Then, about 27 million years ago, a subset of ants completely domesticated their fungal cultivars, just as humans have done with most of our staples, which are now remote from their wild roots.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on animal wonders.


The logger who learned the value of living trees
2024-09-28, BBC News
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240927-the-logger-who-learned-the-value-...

[Robert] Brito and his family, who live along the Rio Negro in the Brazilian Amazon, only saw the monetary value of logged trees. Now, when Brito looks at a tree, everything has changed. "We stopped thinking about price and started thinking about [a different kind of] value. For example, when I see a beautiful cumaru [Brazilian teak] tree, 300 to 400 years old ... I still touch it, but with a different mindset. I have access to education, technology, a future for the young people living here, and I still contribute to the preservation of our planet in relation to climate change." Brito's transition ... required the support and alignment of financial, social and environmental incentives. In 2008, the government of the Brazilian state of Amazonas created the Rio Negro Sustainable Development Reserve, in order to preserve nature and to support communities living within it. The designation of the sustainable development reserve led to organisations including the Foundation for Amazon Sustainability (FAS) establishing education and health projects there. Brito recalls that one day Virgilio Viana, the director general of FAS, suggested that he might like to work in community-based tourism. "I started receiving people in my own home," Brito says. This trial was a success. He realised that he earned more in a week than he had ever seen in three months of logging. In 2011 – three years after the creation of the sustainable development reserve and over two decades since he cut down his first tree – Brito opened his nature lodge. And he put down his chainsaw. Moving away from blaming or shaming individuals can bring more people into the environmental movement. So can valuing people's prior experiences, such as Brito drawing on his decades of logging as he guides visitors around the forest in his flip-flops.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this about healing the Earth.


‘I'm motivated by the puzzle': how Courtney Dauwalter became ultrarunning's GOAT
2024-09-25, The Guardian (One of the UK's Leading Newspapers)
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/sep/25/courtney-dauwalter-ultrarunner-...

In 2023, Courtney Dauwalter became the first person, male or female, to win the Triple Crown, the three most iconic 100-mile races in the world, in a single season. Dauwalter does not have a coach or a strict training plan. She's never been on Strava and doesn't plan races far ahead of time. She runs in long shorts and baggy clothes because, she says, they are more comfortable. She eats candy while training and drinks beer afterwards, because that's what makes her the most happy. "If I'm happy, the engine works way better." While her philosophy may sound casual, the results say otherwise. In the last decade, Dauwalter has won more than 50 ultras, often in dominant fashion, and is widely considered the greatest of all time. Without a coach or set training plan, Dauwalter trains entirely on feel. Her days are structured loosely, which allows for adaptability. She makes decisions intuitively, like how many hill repeats to run or how big her loop should be that day. Curiosity led her to ultrarunning, but success didn't come immediately. In 2012, Dauwalter dropped out of her first 100-mile race, which initially made her doubt herself. "I remember thinking I was a joke for trying it, but that moment was a key part of my path. It taught me about the mental side of ultrarunning and how important the things you tell yourself are, especially in the hardest moments." Years later, Dauwalter's mental fortitude is what truly sets her apart.

Note: Explore more positive human interest stories and stories about healing our bodies.


The Hospitals That Send Patients Home With Nutritious Food
2024-09-20, Reasons to be Cheerful
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/food-pantries-in-hospitals-nutrition/

The waiting room in the basement of Boston Medical Center looks like any other. But when patients here are called in ... they're welcomed into the Preventive Food Pantry. Over the next few minutes, staff members tailor a grocery cart to each patient's needs. Someone with a renal condition won't get foods high in potassium, like oranges or potatoes. If they're diabetic, they'll get whole-grain pasta and brown rice. And everyone leaves with vegetables, fruit and other fresh ingredients. The pantry opened in 2001 after doctors raised the alarm that many of their patients reported not having enough food for their families. Setting up on hospital premises, the pantry was an early pioneer in incorporating access to nutritious food directly into the medical system. The pantry was initially expected to serve 500 people a month. Today, it serves more than 6,200. Addressing hunger isn't just a question of quantity of food, but also quality. Healthy produce, fresh meat and dairy products tend to be more expensive, so for families trying to stretch their dollar, those foods are harder to afford. Faced with high costs of treating conditions linked to food insecurity, medical systems, health insurers and government programs have become more interested in ways to support nutrition access. A [Greater Boston Food Bank] survey found that among people who were screened for food insecurity in a medical setting, 87 percent followed up on recommended resources.

Note: Read about how German hospitals are offering patients the "planetary health diet," a plant-based, whole food approach that's also in service to the Earth. Explore more positive stories like this about healing our bodies.


The Farmers Abandoning Big Ag to Grow Mushrooms and Herbs
2024-09-17, Reasons to be Cheerful
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/farmers-quitting-factory-farming-transfarma...

Leah Garcés considered Craig Watts her enemy. As CEO and president of the nonprofit Mercy for Animals, Garcés has devoted her life to protecting animals. When she met Watts in the spring of 2014 at his poultry farm in North Carolina, he was one those factory farmers she deeply despised. Watts had raised over 720,000 chickens in 22 years for Perdue, the fourth-largest chicken company in the US. He took out a $200,000 bank loan to build four giant chicken houses. Squeezed by Perdue's profit margins, Watts struggled to pay the bills. Garcés realized that Watts was not her enemy, but an ally: Chicken farmers like him wanted to end chicken farming as much as she did. Yet because of his hefty loans, Watts saw no way out. Together, they released footage from the horrors of chicken farming in the New York Times. Watts has now become one of the poster farmers for the Transfarmation Project, which Garcés founded as an offshoot of the nonprofit Mercy for Animals in 2019. Ultimately, Garcés's vision is not just "helping a few dozen farmers transition to a healthier and more sustainable model, it is about how we transition away entirely from factory farming." The Transfarmation Project connects farmers with consultants and is producing resources and pilots to model successful transitions. In the same warehouse where Watts once had to kill chickens and where he and Garcés filmed the whistleblower video, he is now harvesting mushrooms.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this about healing our Earth.


From dinosaurs to dolphins, what gaze following reveals about the evolution of empathy
2024-09-13, Salon
https://www.salon.com/2024/09/13/from-dinosaurs-to-dolphins-what-gaze-followi...

Following someone's gaze may seem like a simple act, but it has profound implications for the evolution of intelligence. And humans are far from the only animals that do it. A recent study of bottlenose dolphins in the journal Heliyon adds to previous research identifying the ability to follow the gazes of members of other species – a visual and cognitive trick that may relate to the development of empathy – across a wide range of mammals, not just humans and our fellow primates. What's even more interesting is to trace this ability through not just the mammal family but beyond, to reptiles and birds – and perhaps back as far as the Jurassic period. In general, by identifying important objects in their environment, an animal's ability to follow the gaze of another, including another species, may form a basis for advanced social cognition, paving the way for cooperation and empathy. One such high level type, "geometrical gaze following," occurs if you block the thing that the other is looking at so the subject can't see it, so that they will physically reposition themself to see what others are seeing. Geometrical gaze following isn't even seen in human children before eighteen months of age – and yet wolves, apes and monkeys, and birds of the crow (corvid) and starling genuses have all been found to engage in it. Looking at which living species show evidence of advanced gaze following and which don't suggests that even the more advanced type ... evolved back in the time of dinosaurs.

Note: Read about the world's biggest eye contact experiment and explore a powerful social experiment in Australia where people rekindle human connection through a minute of silent eye contact. For more inspiring news related to this article, check out our news archive on animal wonders.


"Out-of-Body Experiences" Can Lead to Profound and Lasting Psychological Transformations, New Research Reports
2024-09-10, The Debrief
https://thedebrief.org/out-of-body-experiences-can-lead-to-profound-and-lasti...

A new study from the University of Virginia's School of Medicine says that out-of-body experiences (OBEs), like near-death experiences, can lead to profound psychological transformations, including increases in empathy and emotional connectivity. The findings ... suggest that these altered states of consciousness transform how people connect with others, fostering greater compassion and understanding. In this state, the sense of self becomes less distinct, allowing individuals to feel a deeper connection to the world around them. "We propose that OBEs might engender these profound changes through the process of ego dissolution," researchers explained. "Ego dissolution fosters a sense of unity and interconnectedness with others. These sensations of interconnectedness can persist beyond the experience itself." Researchers report that 55% of individuals who had an out-of-body experience reported that the experience profoundly changed their lives, and 71% described it as having a lasting benefit. The researchers cite numerous personal accounts that illustrate the transformative power of OBEs. One woman described her experience as being surrounded by "100% unconditional love" and feeling deeply connected to everyone and everything around her. "In an instant, I became part of the Universe. I felt connected to everything. Connected to everyone. I was completely surrounded by 100% unconditional love. I did not want to leave!"

Note: Explore more positive stories like this about near-death experiences and the nature of reality.


NASA astronaut who watched Earth from space for 178 days realized humanity is 'living a lie'
2024-09-04, GOOD Magazine
https://www.good.is/when-nasa-astronaut-realized-a-heartbreaking-lie-after-se...

Former NASA astronaut Ron Garan ... described the striking beauty and stark reality he witnessed from space. "When I looked out the window of the International Space Station, I saw ... dancing curtains of auroras that seemed so close it was as if we could reach out and touch them," he exclaimed. He also noticed something concerning. "I saw the unbelievable thinness of our planet's atmosphere," the astronaut remarked. That "paper-thin" atmosphere is all that stands between humanity and disaster. Garan was troubled by how easily this fact is overshadowed by economic priorities. "I saw an iridescent biosphere teeming with life. I didn't see the economy. But since our human-made systems treat everything, including the very life-support systems of our planet, as the wholly owned subsidiary of the global economy, it's obvious from the vantage point of space that we're living a lie," he said. He shared the concept of the "overview effect," something many astronauts feel after they visit space. "It describes the shift that astronauts have when they see the planet hanging in the blackness of space. There's this light bulb that pops up where they realize how interconnected and interdependent we all are," the astronaut explained. "When we can evolve beyond a two-dimensional us versus them mindset, and embrace the true multi-dimensional reality of the universe that we live in, that's when we're going to no longer be floating in darkness. That's our true calling."

Note: Watch a powerful video where Ron Garan shares the profound revelations he experienced in space. Read about astronaut Edgar Mitchell's mystical experience in space as the sixth person to walk on the moon. Explore more positive stories like this about healing social division.


Robot controlled by a king oyster mushroom blends living organisms and machines
2024-09-04, CNN News
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/04/science/fungus-robot-mushroom-biohybrid/index....

A wheeled bot rolls across the floor. A soft-bodied robotic star bends its five legs, moving with an awkward shuffle. Powered by conventional electricity via plug or battery, these simple robotic creations would be unremarkable, but what sets these two robots apart is that they are controlled by a living entity: a king oyster mushroom. By growing the mushroom's mycelium, or rootlike threads, into the robot's hardware, a team led by Cornell University researchers has engineered two types of robots that sense and respond to the environment by harnessing electrical signals made by the fungus and its sensitivity to light. The robots are the latest accomplishment of scientists in a field known as biohybrid robotics who seek to combine biological, living materials such as plant and animal cells or insects with synthetic components to make partly living and partly engineered entities. [Lead author Anand] Mishra engineered an electrical interface that accurately reads the mycelia's raw electrical activity, then processes and converts it into digital information that can activate the robot's actuators or moving parts. The robots were able to walk and roll as a response to the electrical spikes generated by the mycelia. [Professor of unconventional computing at the University of the West of England Andrew Adamatzky's] lab has produced more than 30 sensing and computing devices using live fungi, including growing a self-healing skin for robots that can react to light and touch. "When an adequate drivetrain (transmission system) is provided, the robot can, for example, monitor the health of ecological systems. The fungal controller would react to changes, such as air pollution, and guide the robot accordingly," Adamatzky said.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this about technology for good.


After Police Didn't Take it Seriously He Exposed an International Bike Theft Ring on His Own
2024-08-30, Good News Network
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/after-police-didnt-take-it-seriously-he-expos...

Mr. Brian Hance is urgently attempting to get the police to investigate what he says is an organized international bicycle smuggling ring depriving hundreds of Americans of their high-end bikes. The police in counties like Sonoma, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz didn't listen to him. "We're not Interpol" they would say. Mr. Hance took up the charge himself, putting together dossiers of evidence on a one-man mission to prevent bike theft in America. Submitting them to various district attorneys, he watched as several key cogs in a giant machine of sophisticated bike theft and smuggling were dismantled. Hance runs Bike Index, a website where bike owners can register their bikes with serial numbers and photos to help ensure that if they're ever stolen, there's a community of people who may be able to help find it. There are 1.3 million bikes on the site. In the spring of 2020, scores of high-end bikes began appearing as missing on Bike Index, and Hance began seeing pictures on Facebook and Instagram of bikes for sale that matched the descriptions of those listed as stolen. Hance urged theft victims to report the crime in as detailed a way as possible to build a case file, and then ask the police to contact him so he could explain what he had stumbled upon. Finally, a major development occurred when the Attorney General's office of Colorado indicted eight people on 227 counts of theft, including 29 bike shop burglaries. All eight pled guilty.

Note: Read about Iceland's "bike whisperer," the man who finds stolen bicycles and helps thieves change. Explore more positive stories like this about repairing criminal justice.


How a gas company and environmentalists united on a first-of-its-kind geothermal project
2024-08-29, Christian Science Monitor
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2024/0828/geothermal-energy-renewable-p...

In December 2016, William Akley sat down in his sprawling headquarters for the biggest gas utility in Massachusetts, Eversource. Across the table were three women from a group that had become increasingly troublesome to his company. The group was Mothers Out Front, and it had been doing things like dressing up in orange costumes depicting gas flames and putting big signs where the company's natural gas lines leaked into the air. As the meeting started, Zeyneb Magavi and each of the other mothers calmly explained their passion to Mr. Akley: "I have three kids," Ms. Magavi said. "I'm worried about climate change. And I'm worried about their future." It was the start of an unlikely partnership that eventually became an audacious idea: to use heat from underground – instead of natural gas – to both cool and heat homes and buildings. The test of that idea is now blinking on in Framingham, Massachusetts. Eversource workers have buried a mile-long loop of plastic pipe underground ... to collect geothermal energy. They are now connecting the loop to heat and cool 36 buildings – homes, a fire station, and businesses. It is the first U.S. trial of this innovative technology being provided to an entire neighborhood by a major utility. It's the kind of scaled-up model that could bring a wholesale change to the nation's infrastructure, replacing natural gas just as natural gas supplanted coal and oil in much of the United States.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on technology for good.


Boko Haram made them child soldiers. Will their communities take them back?
2024-08-27, Christian Science Monitor
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2024/0827/Boko-Haram-child-fighters-co...

Abba Gana was only 10 years old when Boko Haram insurgents attacked his village in northern Nigeria in 2014. Along with the other boys his age, he was kidnapped. By the time he was 15, Mr. Gana had joined the ranks of the group's fighters, carrying out raids like the one on his own village. "Growing up with them, I thought I was fighting for a greater cause," he says of his time with the group, whose goal is to create a fundamentalist Islamic state. In 2022, he heard a government radio program urging Boko Haram members to surrender. "They said ... that we are welcome back [to our communities] if we repent," he recalls. For the first time, Mr. Gana says, he allowed himself to imagine that he might be able to go home. Today, some 160,000 former fighters and their families have been "reintegrated" into Nigerian society, according to estimates by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The experiences of former child soldiers ... point to how complex those efforts can be. Many have struggled to find a place for themselves. But their supporters say it isn't impossible. "Kindness always pays," says Bulama Maina Audu, whose nephew was abducted by Boko Haram in 2014, and who now works with a group helping former child soldiers return home. "The fears and concerns of the communities they are returning to are completely legitimate, but they can only be addressed through dialogue," says Oliver Stolpe, UNODC country representative for Nigeria.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this about healing the war machine.


‘Empowering and healing, people's assemblies are the future of democracy'
2024-08-21, Positive News
https://www.positive.news/opinion/galvanising-communities-to-confront-the-cri...

A wave of local democracy is sweeping across Europe. On the streets of Hull ... democracy is coming to life through people's assemblies. Assemblies are public meetings where local people get together to discuss and decide on a specific issue, without political interference or hidden agendas. These assemblies can help us fundamentally rethink how we make decisions in our society, and create strong, active communities in the process. To survive ecological breakdown and the collapse of our failing economy, we need both, urgently. The culture war has gained a lot of ground. Overcoming these divisions is one of our biggest, most pressing challenges. Through assemblies, it's possible to form self-organising communities where we lift each other out of the conditions that these ideologies prey on. Where we are forced to work alongside people we disagree with or even dislike, and organise positive initiatives that feed us, lower our energy bills, give us purpose and contribute to a stronger community spirit. Our assembly ground rules ask us to look for what we have in common, and there is a wealth of agreement to be found if you care to look for it. Cooperation Hull is holding Neighbourhood Assemblies across the city, and in each one we are learning what happens when a room full of strangers upend social norms to break bread, hold hands (an ice-breaker) and voice their honest opinions on the most important questions of our time. Soon we will launch the first citywide assembly: hundreds of people weighing in on a big issue, then attempting to make practical changes with the help of local organisations – and there are groups like us popping up from Cornwall to Glasgow, and Italy and Germany, too. The potential of assemblies is nothing short of revolutionary. It is the potential to change everything.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this about healing social division.


Ending a war by embracing innocence
2024-08-20, Christian Science Monitor
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2024/0820/Ending-a-war...

In Sudan ... civilians have endured 16 months of a violent civil war. Last week, talks to end the war began in Switzerland, but only one of the two warring factions showed up. By the weekend, however, each side had taken a critical step. The armed group attending the talks agreed to enable the delivery of emergency aid to parts of the East African country where hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of starvation. About the same time, and seemingly independently, the other faction opened a vital border crossing for the same purpose. The mutual acknowledgment of the need to protect innocent life may have opened a door to solving one of the world's gravest crises. "These constructive decisions by both parties will enable the entry of aid needed to stop the famine, address food insecurity and respond to immense humanitarian needs," international mediators in Geneva said in a joint statement. Recent trends in conflict resolution, the International Committee of the Red Cross noted, have shown that protecting innocent civilians from harm "can have an impact on the success of peace negotiations and agreements, as well as on the chances for post-conflict reconciliation." Humanitarian gestures, the ICRC observed, helped the Colombian government build trust with guerrilla factions and strengthen compliance with a 2016 peace accord. More recently, two armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a mutual pledge in March to respect and protect civilians caught in the vast African country's fragmented wars.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this about healing the war machine.


In Nigeria, anti-government protests unite a divided country
2024-08-12, Christian Science Monitor
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2024/0812/nigeria-protests-muslim-chri...

Since religious riots tore across the central Nigerian city of Jos two decades ago, its Muslim and Christian residents have largely kept apart. They have their own neighborhoods. They vote for different political parties. But the cost-of-living crisis that has swept Nigeria over the past year has blurred some of those boundaries. "If there is hunger in the land, the hunger that the Christian is feeling is not different from the hunger the Muslim is feeling," observes Tony Young Godswill, national secretary of the Initiative for a Better and Brighter Nigeria, a pro-democracy group. When nationwide anti-government protests broke out in early August, hungry, angry Jos residents from all backgrounds poured into the streets. When Muslim demonstrators knelt to pray on a busy road one Friday afternoon, hundreds of Christian marchers spontaneously formed a tight, protective circle around them. Nigeria's protests began in response to the soaring costs of food and transport over the past year and a half, which have more than doubled in some cases. Protesters blame the economic stabilization policies of President Bola Tinubu, which have included removing a heavy subsidy on petrol and devaluing the naira, Nigeria's currency. In Abuja, the capital, Ibrahim Abdullahi was among those who marched. As a Muslim, he says he previously thought it was inappropriate for him to protest against a fellow Muslim like Mr. Tinubu. Now, he held a placard that read "We regret Tinubu."

Note: Explore more positive stories like this about healing social division.


‘Every building sits on a thermal asset': how networked geothermal power could change cities
2024-08-09, The Guardian (One of the UK's Leading Newspapers)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/09/every-building-si...

There is a massive battery right under your feet. Unlike a flammable lithium ion battery, though, this one is perfectly stable, free to use, and ripe for sustainable exploitation: the Earth itself. While temperatures above ground fluctuate throughout the year, the ground stays a stable temperature, meaning that it is humming with geothermal energy. "Every building sits on a thermal asset," said Cameron Best, director of business development at Brightcore Energy in New York, which deploys geothermal systems. "I really don't think there's any more efficient or better way to heat and cool our homes." A couple of months ago Eversource Energy commissioned the US's first networked geothermal neighbourhood operated by a utility, in Framingham, Massachusetts. Pipes run down boreholes 600-700ft (about 180-215 metres) deep, where the temperature of the rock is consistently 55F (13C). A mixture of water and propylene glycol ... pumps through the piping, absorbing that geothermal energy. Heat pumps use the liquid to either heat or cool a space. If deployed across the country, these geothermal systems could go a long way in helping decarbonise buildings, which are responsible for about a third of total greenhouse gas emissions in the US. Once a system is in place, buildings can draw heat from water pumped from below their foundations, instead of burning natural gas. The networks ... can be set up almost anywhere.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on technology for good.


How time in nature builds happier, healthier and more social children
2024-08-04, Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/08/04/outdoor-nature-children-co...

The average American today spends nearly 90 percent of their time indoors. Yet research indicates that children benefit greatly from time spent in nature; that not only does it improve their cognition, mood, self-esteem and social skills, but it can also make them physically healthier and less anxious. "Outdoor time for children is beneficial not just for physical health but also mental health for a multitude of reasons," says Janine Domingues, a senior psychologist in the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute. "It fosters curiosity and independence. It helps kids get creative about what they can do … and then just moving around and expending energy has a lot of physical health benefits." [A] 2022 systematic review found that time outdoors can improve prosocial behaviors, including sharing, cooperating and comforting others. Research has found that nature can be particularly helpful for those who've had adverse childhood experiences. Such experiences can include growing up with poverty, abuse or violence. One 2023 study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology looked at how making art in nature affected about 100 children in a low-income neighborhood in England. Their confidence, self-esteem and agency all improved. For all these reasons, it's important for even very young children to have access to nature where they already are, says Nilda Cosco, a research professor.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this about reimagining education.


China ‘Angel' Stops 469 Suicidal People Jumping off Bridge Over 21 years
2024-08-02, Good News Network
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/china-angel-stops-469-suicidal-people-jumping...

Mr. Chen Si, known as the Angel of Nanjing, has volunteered to patrol the Yangtze Bridge every day, and over a 21-year career, he has saved 469 people from committing suicide. One of the most famous bridges in the country, it is also the world's most popular location to commit suicide. Almost daily there are people lingering alone or wandering aimlessly along its sidewalk, and Chen engages them in conversation to test whether or not they are prospective jumpers. It started for Chen back in 2000, when he saw a desperate-looking girl wandering on the bridge. He was worried something might happen to her so he brought lunch for them to share and started to chat with her. He eventually paid for a bus ticket for her to go home, but realized that this was something that must happen all the time. For the past 21 years, he's crossed the bridge 10 times a day on his electric scooter wearing his red jacket with the words "cherish all life" written across the back, he's charismatic, he's determined, he can be almost rude, in a certain Chinese way, in his efforts saving people's life, and he's become an expert. "People with an extreme internal struggle don't have relaxed body movements, their bodies look heavy," Chen [said]. He's caught suicidal people who've been cheated on by their spouses, those who can't afford school, and many other reasons. He has spare rooms in his house to keep those he pulls off the bridge in a safe environment.

Note: Watch the trailer for a 2015 documentary about Chen. Explore more positive human interest stories focused on solutions and bridging divides.


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