Please donate here to support this vital work.
Revealing News For a Better World

Inspirational News Stories
Excerpts of Key Inspirational News Stories in Major Media


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

Note: This comprehensive list of news stories is usually updated once a week. Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news stories on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.


A Mission of Kindness
2024-09-11, Tooele Transcript Bulletin
Posted: 2025-04-01 19:28:14
https://www.tooeleonline.com/articles/hometown/a-mission-of-kindness/

"BACA" stands for Bikers Against Child Abuse. BACA is an organization, or corporation, not to be confused with a motorcycle club, whose impact statement reads, "No child deserves to live in fear!" BACA is much more than a group that gets together to ride motorcycles. BACA members' sole purpose is to do all they can to create a safer environment for abused children, according to Tyson "The Kidd" Hamilton, BACA's Utah State President. BACA members are ready at any time and any place to support children who have been abused. Members work with local law enforcement and other officials to protect children from further abuse. They consider children to be a part of their organization. They form friendships with the children to let them know they have someone in their corner, even if it's just a few bikers. The children they empower get to choose their own road name when they receive a vest with a kids' patch on the back that states "empowered." Members of BACA will attend court, visit families where they feel safe, and respond to the child's needs when they are in fear. Although BACA members don't condone violence or physical force, they are always prepared to protect abused children from further abuse. "We go to court with children, because when they are testifying, they're scared," Hamilton explained. "We give kids support at their homes 365 days a year, 24/7. If they call us at 2 a.m. and they're scared, we are going to respond. We are going to help that child."

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


‘It's tough when you see a small child who's wounded': How Bikers Against Child Abuse are making a difference
2024-09-08, Chek News
Posted: 2025-04-01 19:26:24
https://cheknews.ca/its-tough-when-you-see-a-small-child-whos-wounded-how-bik...

Revving their engines, the Bikers Against Child Abuse love to ride, and they love to make a difference by helping children who have been abused. It is about giving them back some of the power balance that has been stolen from them, giving them back some of the childhood that has been stolen from them," says Bikers Against Child Abuse‘s Tom Goudreau, whose road name is ‘Motown'. The Bikers Bikers Against Child Abuse – BACA for short – has chapters all over North America and around the world. Children they help are welcomed in a special ceremony and they can reach out for help whenever they need it. "They get a road name like we have, and two primaries who will be responsible, 24/7, for that child whenever they need it," Motown says. "We'll be there at three o'clock in the morning, if necessary." It's something Motown wishes he had had as a child after being abused by a family member. "A lot of us are survivors," he says. "The number one thing that people say to us around the world is, I wish you were there when I was a kid. That's usually with a tear in their eye. Child abuse is epidemic. We need to face the facts. This happens everywhere. That's why we're in 19 countries around the world because child abuse is everywhere." "It's tough when you see a small child who's wounded, needs help, but when you see them, change from that small child to somebody who's empowered, it's the best feeling in the world," [a member] adds.

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


Badass bikers show up for abused children, offering advocacy and protection
2024-07-07, Upworthy
Posted: 2025-04-01 19:24:27
https://www.upworthy.com/bikers-against-child-abuse-biker-family-rp7

When you are a child who has been abused by people who are supposed to protect you, how do you feel safe? That question is the heart of Bikers Against Child Abuse International (B.A.C.A.), an organization dedicated to creating "a safer environment for abused children." With specific training and extensive security checks, the frequently big and burly members of B.A.C.A. serve as protectors of chid abuse survivors. They take a photograph with the child, which the child keeps to remind them that they have family to call on. They serve as escorts when kids feel frightened to go somewhere. They show up at court hearings to help kids feel less intimidated. And check out the B.A.C.A creed to see how dedicated these folks are to this work: "I am a Member of Bikers Against Child Abuse. The die has been cast. The decision has been made. I have stepped over the line. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past has prepared me, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and showed up for all wounded children."

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


First Direct Image of the Cosmic Web Reveals the Universe's Hidden Highways
2025-02-16, SciTech Daily
Posted: 2025-04-01 18:33:23
https://scitechdaily.com/first-direct-image-of-the-cosmic-web-reveals-the-uni...

Dark matter, which makes up about 85% of all matter in the Universe, plays a crucial role in shaping cosmic structures. Under gravity's influence, it forms a vast, intricate web of filaments. At the intersections of these filaments, the brightest galaxies take shape. This cosmic web serves as the backbone of the Universe, guiding the flow of gas that fuels star formation in galaxies. Studying how this gas moves and interacts could significantly improve our understanding of how galaxies form and evolve. However, directly observing this intergalactic gas is extremely difficult. In [a] new study, an international team led by researchers at the University of Milano-Bicocca and including scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) obtained an unprecedented high-definition image of a cosmic filament using MUSE (Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer), an innovative spectrograph installed on the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. The study, led by Davide Tornotti, PhD student at the University of Milano-Bicocca, used this ultrasensitive data to produce the sharpest image ever obtained of a cosmic filament spanning 3 million light-years and connecting two galaxies, each hosting an active supermassive black hole. The discovery, recently published in Nature Astronomy opens new avenues to directly constrain gas properties within intergalactic filaments and to refine our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on the mysterious nature of reality.


British woman wakes up from stroke speaking Italian
2024-12-22, The Telegraph (One of the UK's Leading Newspapers)
Posted: 2025-04-01 18:31:39
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/22/althia-bryden-stroke-italian-fore...

A British woman has said a stroke left her with an Italian accent and the ability to speak the language, despite having never visited the country. Althia Bryden, 58, was found unresponsive by her husband Winston one evening after suffering a stroke. Mr Bryden described finding his wife "staring and unable to talk" as "terrifying" and said he immediately called an ambulance. The grandmother of two remained in hospital for nine days. On July 30, Mrs Althia was admitted back into hospital for surgery ... and, after three months being unable to speak, awoke with an Italian accent and the ability to say words in the language. It is thought that she has foreign accent syndrome, which is a rare medical condition that causes a person's speech to sound as though they have a foreign accent, even if they have not acquired it. Mrs Althia ... said: "I spent three months after my stroke thinking I'd never be able to talk again... I felt like a shell of the person I once was. "A nurse came to my hospital bed do a routine check and completely out of the blue, I just started speaking. She looked as shocked as I did. "Firstly, I couldn't believe it was me talking, but I also didn't recognise the sound of my voice. To my amazement, I'm also able to speak Italian... a language I've never learnt or spoke ever before. "Without realising, I will say an Italian word mid-conversation, which is the Italian word for what I'm trying to say in English. "I have no idea I'm about to do it – my brain just converts the English word into Italian."

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on the mysterious nature of reality.


Caltech Researchers Find Evidence of a Real Ninth Planet
2016-01-20, Astrobiology at NASA
Posted: 2025-04-01 18:30:02
https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/caltech-researchers-find-evidence-of-a-rea...

Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the sun. The researchers, Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown, discovered the planet's existence through mathematical modeling and computer simulations but have not yet observed the object directly. "This would be a real ninth planet," says Brown. "There have only been two true planets discovered since ancient times, and this would be a third." Where did Planet Nine come from and how did it end up in the outer solar system? Scientists have long believed that the early solar system began with four planetary cores that went on to grab all of the gas around them, forming the four gas planets–Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Over time, collisions and ejections shaped them and moved them out to their present locations. "But there is no reason that there could not have been five cores, rather than four," says Brown. Planet Nine could represent that fifth core, and if it got too close to Jupiter or Saturn, it could have been ejected into its distant, eccentric orbit.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on the mysterious nature of reality.


This Black Fungus Might Be Healing Chernobyl By Drinking Radiation
2024-11-02, Forbes
Posted: 2025-03-19 16:54:36
https://www.forbes.com/sites/scotttravers/2024/11/02/this-black-fungus-might-...

The explosion of the No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat, Ukraine on April 26, 1986 remains the worst nuclear disaster in human history. It left a 30-kilometer exclusion zone–a deserted landscape where high radiation levels remain even now, decades after the incident–where human settlement and habitation are restricted. Within this zone, however, scientists have discovered an unlikely survivor: a resilient black fungus called Cladosporium sphaerospermum. After the Chernobyl disaster, scientists observed patches of blackened growths on the walls of the No. 4 reactor–fungi that seemed to thrive where the radiation was highest. This fungus has adapted to a level of radiation that would be lethal for most life forms. Even more fascinating is its ability to "feed" on this radiation, using it as a source of energy, similar to how plants use sunlight for photosynthesis. Cladosporium sphaerospermum belongs to a group of fungi known as radiotrophic fungi. Radiotrophic organisms can capture and utilize ionizing radiation to drive metabolic processes. In radioactive sites like Chernobyl, where conventional cleanup methods are challenging and hazardous, radiotrophic fungi can provide a safer, natural alternative, according to an April 2008 article published in FEMS Microbiology Letters. Scientists are exploring the feasibility of deploying these fungi to contain and potentially reduce radiation levels in contaminated areas.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing the Earth and technology for good.


This alien plant is lethal for the environment. Now it's being turned into a plastic to regrow forests
2025-01-07, CNN News
Posted: 2025-03-19 16:53:01
https://www.cnn.com/world/africa/hyacinth-alien-plant-environment-plastic-spc...

Water hyacinths are native to South America, but were introduced as an exotic ornamental to many other countries. They've since taken over freshwater environments and are labeled an alien invasive species on every other continent aside from Antarctica. As well as their impact on biodiversity and livelihoods, the floating plant can clog hydroelectric and irrigation systems, meaning that one does not need to live in their proximity to be affected. It's the highest-profile example of an invasive aquatic plant crisis that has cost the global economy tens of billions of dollars historically, and now more than $700 million annually. Now a Kenyan company is addressing the problem as well as the country's plastic pollution issue by turning the invasive plant into a bioplastic. HyaPak Ecotech Limited, founded by Joseph Nguthiru, began life as a final year project by the former Egerton University civil and environmental engineering student. Nguthiru's bioplastic is made from dried water hyacinth combined with binders and additives, which is then mixed and shaped. The product, which biodegrades over a few months, was first used as an alternative for plastic packaging. HyaPak has gained widespread attention, winning the Youth category at the East Africa Climate Action Awards, a prize at UNESCO's World Engineering Day Hackathon, and a Prototype for Humanity Award 2023 announced at the COP28 climate conference.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing the Earth and technology for good.


A new life for empty offices: Growing kale and cucumbers
2025-01-28, BBC News
Posted: 2025-03-19 16:51:26
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250127-why-veg-is-growing-in-empty-offic...

In some cities, as many as one in four office spaces are vacant. Some start-ups are giving them a second life – as indoor farms growing crops as varied as kale, cucumber and herbs. In countries including Canada and Australia, landlords are struggling to fill vacant office spaces as companies embrace remote and hybrid work. In the US, the office vacancy rate is more than 20%. "Vertical farms may prove to be a cost-effective way to fill in vacant office buildings," says Warren Seay, Jr ... who authored an article on urban farm reconversions. There are other reasons for the interest in urban farms, too. Though supply chains have largely recovered post-Covid-19, other global shocks, including climate change, geopolitical turmoil and farmers' strikes, mean that they continue to be vulnerable – driving more cities to look for local food production options. Workers are currently aiming to transform a floor of 32-story historic Niels Esperson building in Houston, Texas, into an indoor farm. In September 2024, US indoor farm startup 80 Acres, which opened its first indoor farm inside a vacant building in Hamilton, Ohio, developed a 200,000-sq-ft (18,600-sq-m) facility inside a former commercial building in Florence, Kentucky. Overall, vertical farms have the potential to outperform regular farms on several environmental sustainability metrics like water usage, says [director of the Arell Food Institute] Evan Fraser.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing the Earth and technology for good.


This Mexican Priest Performed as a Wrestler to Pay for Orphanage that Nurtured Thousands
2025-03-05, Good News Network
Posted: 2025-03-11 19:43:44
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/this-mexican-priest-performed-as-a-wrestler-t...

Fray Tormenta was a masked wrestler that delighted crowds in Mexico's lucho libre circuit for years, but few would have known that underneath the mask there was a man of god–a drug addict turned priest, who wrestled purely to raise money for an orphanage. The story, though decades old, resurfaced and was retold recently on a Spanish news outlet. Sergio Gutierrez Benitez was born in 1945 the second-youngest of 18 children. By the tender age of 11, Benitez was addicted to drugs and proceeded down a path of crime, robbery, and odd jobs to fund his various dependencies. After that ... he joined the seminary and became a priest in the Piarist Order, studying in Spain and Italy to cement his faith. After joining the Diocese of Texcoco, he wanted to build a shelter for the city's many homeless children and orphans, but the costs were prohibitive. So he pulled on a lucho libre mask and started wrestling for $15 per hour under the name Fray Tormenta. He ended up wrestling for 23 years, from 1977 to 2000, traveling from town to town elbow dropping, tombstoning, and double-legging his way to semi-stardom. Relying on his mask to hide his identity, he eventually revealed his double-personality to officiate the wedding of a close wrestling colleague shortly before opening his orphange ... at the turn of the millennium. Fray Tormenta's Puppies Children's Home, has seen over 2,000 children pass through its walls.

Note: Explore more positive and inspiring human interest stories.


Mud boots of empathy in Spain
2024-11-05, Christian Science Monitor
Posted: 2025-03-11 19:41:49
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2024/1105/Mud-boots-of...

A week after an intense storm battered its eastern coast, Spain has seen thousands of volunteers come from all directions to help towns devastated by floods. "Humanity is still capable of forgetting its differences," said Toni Zamorano, who spent hours on the roof of his submerged car in the town of Sedaví. "Here, race or economic level don't matter. This solidarity makes you feel great," he [said]. Political differences in Spain bore little relation to the unity felt by ordinary citizens during the disaster. "Polarization is a major distraction," [España Mejor, a civil society group] stated. The storm's impact brought a visit by King Felipe VI on Sunday to the city of Paiporta, where floods had swept away thousands of homes and businesses. Some residents pelted him and his entourage with mud and insults out of anger over the government's slow response to the disaster. In Paiporta, the [king's] security detail begged him three times to leave the throng. He and Queen Letizia stayed. They listened, hugged, and wept with residents. Anger softened. In a poll published Tuesday in the online newspaper El Español, the townspeople expressed their gratitude for the monarchs' visit. They acknowledged the risk they had taken to be there. Back in Madrid, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón said his government should have done more sooner. Spain's unity at this moment is from the bottom up. Or, as Spanish professional soccer player Ferran Torres wrote on social media, "The people are the ones who save the people. ... Long live Spain."

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


When dignity, not labels, defines a people
2025-02-07, Christian Science Monitor
Posted: 2025-03-11 19:39:57
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0207/When-dignity...

In coming days, Iraq will do something extraordinary in a Middle East where identities are often anchored by tribe, religion, or ethnicity. It will release detailed results of its first national census in decades – without any of those pigeonholing categories. In other words, data collated from a two-day, door-to-door survey conducted last November will not break down people by labels such as Shiite or Sunni, Kurd or Arab. Aimed at simply helping officials divvy up elected seats and spread resource wealth equally to everyone, the census will not reduce individuals to demographic stereotypes. For more than four decades, [Iraq] suffered major conflicts and several civil wars driven in large part by identity differences. In 2019, student-led protests against corruption took aim at a governing system that ensures the prime minister is always a Shiite Muslim, the parliamentary speaker a Sunni Muslim, and the president a Kurd. (That quota system is akin to one in Lebanon.) With the Mideast in high flux from Gaza to Syria to Iran – and with elections expected in Iraq this year – "There is a maturing among the Iraqi public and its leadership," wrote analyst Muhammad Al-Waeli in the website 1001 Iraqi Thoughts. Young Iraqis may be the most eager to define themselves as Iraqis first. Preliminary data from the census showed 56% of the population of 45.4 million was born after the 2003 American-led invasion that ousted a dictatorship. This cohort took the brunt of the 2013-2017 civil war fueled by the Islamic State. Civic ideals, not social stigmas, may now unite many Iraqis.

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


From source to stomach: How blockchain tracks food across the supply chain and saves lives
2024-08-12, World Economic Forum
Posted: 2025-03-06 17:36:55
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/08/blockchain-food-supply-chain/

Efficiently run food supply chains can positively impact communities and lives across the globe. Real-time tracking supports sustainability, prevents food waste, and ensures compliance with environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. Communication throughout the supply chain can help producers earn fair compensation for their efforts. Traditional approach to food supply chain management face challenges to efficiency, security and transparency. The consequences can be dire, from food waste to death by contamination. Blockchain technology can provide much-needed transparency, traceability and privacy, as well as co-ordination across disparate parties, enabling greater food access and quality improvements across the global supply chain. Built on a blockchain backend, Silal Fresh adopted a comprehensive traceability solution that utilizes consumer apps, a web-based dashboard, and integration with existing supply chain management systems. This significantly improved identifying and flagging delays in their deliveries, as well as increased satisfaction, trust and brand loyalty. They even added tracking to each piece of produce so that a consumer could pick up a vegetable, scan a QR code, and see that food item's journey. Ultimately, increased transparency and traceability can save lives. With improved traceability, food recalls can happen faster, and the source of contamination can be determined quicker.

Note: Our latest video explores the potential for blockchain to transform society for the better. Explore more positive stories like this on technology for good.


Social prescribing: why purpose is good for your health
2024-07-23, BBC News
Posted: 2025-03-06 17:34:47
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240723-how-volunteer-social-prescribing-...

Akeela Shaikh is a natural carer. But the care jobs she loved so much started to tax her physically. She tried antidepressants, then counselling although neither worked for her. But then a nurse gave Shaikh a different kind of medicine: "She gave me a card that read 'social prescribing'." The card led to a phone call with Joanne Gavin, at the time a link worker with Bolton Community and Voluntary Services. Instead of asking "what's the matter with you", link workers ask patients "what matters to you" and find suitable community activities that fit their answer. It was clear what mattered to Shaikh was really another chance to take care of someone. Gavin intuited this. And when she asked Shaikh what she thought might help her feel better, she honoured her answer: "a job". Gavin prescribed the perfect gig for Shaikh: a shift at the office of Lagan's Foundation, a non-profit providing caregiving to children with complex needs. After Gavin intervened, Shaikh says she started feeling more like herself. "It was a way for Akeela to still be involved with the care inside, without the heavy lifting." The power of social prescribing – helping patients to improve their health and wellbeing by connecting them to community resources and activities – is increasingly backed by scientific studies. Prescriptions can cover everything from art classes and cycling groups to food and heating bills. One particularly surprising 2019 study of nearly 7,000 older Americans found that life purpose was significantly inversely linked with all-cause mortality. In other words, having a high sense of life-purpose could help you live longer than those who lack one. "My approach is to listen to someone's story and look at not just what's going on now but what they were like before they started to feel depressed or anxious," says Gavin.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing our bodies and healing social division.


'The Connection Cure' explores social prescriptions to improve mental and physical health
2024-06-25, WBUR
Posted: 2025-03-06 17:32:54
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/06/25/connection-cure

A social prescription is officially defined as a nonmedical resource or activity that aims to improve a person's health and strengthen their community connections. Don't let the "social" bit fool you: These are not small-talky, introvert hellscapes where docs sprinkle friendship fairy dust and motley crews of strangers suddenly become best buds. And they're not prescribed only for social isolation, either. Social prescriptions can cover everything from orchestra practice to fresh vegetables and can help treat everything from depression to poverty. Instead of replacing other kinds of medicine, social prescriptions complement them, offering healing that pills and procedures can't offer alone. Instead of just treating symptoms of sickness, social prescriptions reconnect us to our sources of wellness. And instead of just addressing "What's the matter with you?", social prescriptions address "What matters to you?" History is filled with examples of "social prescribing" from all around the globe. Indigenous groups have long linked an individual's health to the health of their interconnected relationships– both with their neighbors, and the natural world. African villages have long used community rituals to help heal and prevent stress and pain. Traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda in India have long emphasized the relationship between a person's body and their surrounding environment. If we want to change our health, we have to change our environment, too.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing our bodies and healing social division.


The restaurant staffed solely by people who've experienced homelessness
2027-02-17, Positive.News
Posted: 2025-03-01 17:23:47
https://www.positive.news/society/the-restaurant-staffed-by-people-whove-expe...

It's 4pm on a Friday, and the staff at Home Kitchen, north London's buzziest new restaurant, are prepping for another busy evening's service. Not only is the restaurant run not-for-profit, but nearly all of the staff members have experienced homelessness: a first of its kind in the fine-dining industry. The project is run by a five-strong team, which includes two-time Michelin-starred chef Adam Simmonds and Soup Kitchen London director Alex Brown. Home Kitchen partnered with homelessness charity Crisis and social enterprise Beam to fill eight kitchen and eight front of house roles, when they opened their restaurant in autumn 2024. Other partners include the Beyond Food Foundation, the Only A Pavement Away charity and fellow charity, The Passage. Funded by a Ł500,000 crowdfunding drive and social investment loans, Home Kitchen provides staff with a comprehensive package that's designed to help them avoid returning to homelessness. The 16 staffers are employed on full-time contracts, paid at London Living Wage, have their travel cards covered for zones one and two, and receive catering qualifications in addition to in-house training. The employee support offered by Crisis and Beam is ongoing, while the Home Kitchen team leaders take it upon themselves to check in with staff every day. "[There's] a lot of support, a lot mentally. If someone's upset, straight away they'll take them to a corner and be like: ‘Talk to me, what's happening?' It's really, really, really nice," [French-Algerian chef] Mimi says. At the end of daily service, the team sit down and break bread (literally) with a communal meal. "It's a brilliant team. Everybody supports everybody," adds Jones, with a smile. "When service starts, we're all equal."

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on reimagining the economy.


Cycling to school almost became extinct - until one man revived the bike bus
2025-02-20, The Guardian (One of the UK's Leading Newspapers)
Posted: 2025-03-01 17:21:53
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/20/cycling-to-school-almost-...

"It's a movement, not a moment." That's the mantra from Sam "Coach" Balto, a former school teacher from Portland, Oregon who quit his day job to stoke a revolution called the "bike bus" – groups of kids and families cycling to school together. How did one person in a mid-sized American city turn a weekly bike ride into something of a phenomenon? He leaned on the power of social media. In the past two years his videos have been viewed by hundreds of millions of people. In Portland, a "bike train" movement kicked off in 2010 when a 24-year-old bike advocate named Kiel Johnson began organising what he referred to as "bike trains" at an elementary school, where riders would join a mass of cyclists at various stops along a route to school. It caught on and in just a few months Johnson had signed up six other schools, won a grant, and had been interviewed by a national television show. "When you joined one of the big bike trains it really felt like you were part of something," Johnson recalls. The children loved it, and why wouldn't they? It's good for children's health – mental and physical – and also has a ripple effect of advantages for the whole family, as any Dutch person will argue. Many of Balto's students say the best thing about the bike bus is that it's simply a cool thing to do with friends. In the past year alone, Balto's videos have been viewed more than 200m times. Balto, who now runs the nonprofit Bike Bus World, credits social media for building the movement.

Note: Watch an inspiring video of Sam Balto leading a massive bike bus on Earth Day in Portland. Explore more positive human interest stories.


Solar Experiment Lets Neighbors Trade Energy Among Themselves
2017-03-13, New York Times
Posted: 2025-03-01 17:19:31
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/business/energy-environment/brooklyn-solar...

Brooklyn is known the world over for things small-batch and local, like designer clogs. In a promising experiment in an affluent swath of the borough, dozens of solar-panel arrays spread across rowhouse rooftops are wired into a growing network. Called the Brooklyn Microgrid, the project is signing up residents and businesses to a virtual trading platform that will allow solar-energy producers to sell excess-electricity credits from their systems to buyers in the group, who may live as close as next door. The project is still in its early stages – it has just 50 participants thus far – but its implications could be far reaching. The idea is to create a kind of virtual, peer-to-peer energy trading system built on blockchain, the database technology that underlies cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The ability to complete secure transactions and create a business based on energy sharing would allow participants to bypass the electric company energy supply and ultimately build a microgrid with energy generation and storage components that could function on their own, even during broad power failures. "The long-term goal is to be at least partially independent of the grid in emergencies, which was a reasonable argument to join," said Patrick Schnell, whose Gowanus basement flooded during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. "Hopefully it will expand and more people will join and it will be more worthwhile."

Note: Our latest video explores the potential for blockchain to transform society for the better. Explore more positive stories like this in on technology for good.


The role model for Syria's unity
2024-12-18, Christian Science Monitor
Posted: 2025-02-20 22:44:38
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2024/1218/The-role-mod...

Since their liberation from a dictatorship Dec. 8, Syrians have been in a cheering mood. People in the capital gave a hero's welcome to a grassroots rescue organization widely seen as the country's most selfless, trusted, and impartial group: the Syrian Civil Defense, otherwise known as The White Helmets. This band of some 3,000 unarmed and local volunteers, who wear white headgear, has saved more than 129,000 people during 13 years of civil war. They have rushed to bombed-out buildings to search for survivors – whether they be children, terrorists, or soldiers of the regime. After they served as first responders, they would then clear rubble, rebuild homes, and restore communities. Even though some 10% of them have been killed, the volunteers hold fast to their motto (a verse in the Quran): "Whoever saves one life, it is as if they have saved all of humanity." Its leader, Raed Al Saleh, says the group's neutrality and independence have been an important shield. "We existed before all these armed groups and we continue to exist based on the power of the people," he told Berkeley News in October. Now The White Helmets wants to help Syrians "shake off the dust of war," he said in a video on the social platform X. That effort includes their help in freeing political prisoners, clearing land mines, and preserving documents of the regime's abuses. "The Syria of peace and civilization will return to you," said Mr. Saleh.

Note: Check out our video on transforming the war machine, highlighting the stories of courageous individuals and groups who channel their skills into service and solidarity. Explore more positive stories like this in our comprehensive healing the war machine.


9 Organizations Promoting Peace That Are Worth Watching In 2025
2024-11-19, Forbes
Posted: 2025-02-20 22:42:08
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timothyjmcclimon/2024/11/19/9-organizations-prom...

While praying for world peace and an end to national, ethnic, and religious conflicts is a good start, as Emmanuel Acho and Noa Tishby remind us in their recent book, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew, actions are more important than words. Getting involved with and supporting organizations that fight discrimination and promote peaceful dialogue can do more to change the world. The Carter Center in Atlanta is guided by the principles and its founders, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, and it has a commitment to human rights as well as preventing and resolving conflicts, enhancing freedom and democracy, and improving health. One of the ways, the Carter Center advances its mission is by observing elections (125 elections in 40 countries so far), and working in countries such as Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, Haiti, and the Middle East. While The Carter Center is primarily focused outside the United States, during the recent polarized presidential election, it created a series of pro-democracy, sports-themed ads that were centered on the idea that we may not like the same teams, but we love the game and believe that everyone should adhere to its rules. The campaign sought to push the message of American unity into unexpected places where audiences might be more open to it, such as in Sports Illustrated, and professional baseball and football programs.

Note: Check out our video on transforming the war machine, highlighting the stories of courageous individuals and groups who channel their skills into service and solidarity. Explore more positive stories like this in our comprehensive healing the war machine.


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

Kindly donate here to support this inspiring work.

Subscribe to our free email list of underreported news.

newsarticles.media is a PEERS empowerment website

"Dedicated to the greatest good of all who share our beautiful world"