Good News

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/indonesia-pongamia-tree-might-restore-degraded-land/

This single tree could restore degraded land, create a biofuel revolution, power cars and feed families

Growing across much of Asia, it’s known by many names: including Indian Beech, pongamia, Karum tree, kranji, and malapari.

Pongamia pinnata is a member of the pea family that is being considered by Indonesian forestry experts for potential landscape restoration and the future of bioenergy.

A number of big challenges are bearing down on the Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, and the government has to find ways in which it can restore 14 million hectares of degraded land to keep its promise to the UN, while also developing a green energy sector worth 23% of total grid contributions in just 5 years.

The country’s natural gas and oil reserves are projected to dry up by 2030, even while energy demand—currently served by fossil fuels—is increasing.

Enter the pongamia tree: growing well on degraded or marginal land in both wet and dry climates, it can be found from India to the west, right the way across to Fiji in the Pacific. For centuries, its orange/brown seeds have been pressed into oil for leather tanning, soap making, wound healing, and more.

 

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/that-song-is-stuck-in-your-head-but-its-helping-you-to-remember/

That song stuck in your head is helping the brain with long-term memory

If you have watched TV since the 1990s, the sitcom theme song I’ll Be There for You has likely been stuck in your head at one point or another.

New research from UC Davis suggests these experiences are more than a passing nuisance—they play an important role in helping memories form, not only for the song, but also related life events like hanging out with friends—or watching other people hang with their friends on the ’90s television show, Friends.

“Scientists have known for some time that music evokes autobiographical memories, and that those are among the emotional experiences with music that people cherish most,” said Petr Janata, UC Davis professor of psychology and co-author on a new study.

“What hasn’t been understood to date is how those memories form in the first place and how they become so durable, such that just hearing a bit of a song can trigger vivid remembering,” said Janata.

The paper, “Spontaneous Mental Replay of Music Improves Memory for Incidentally Associated Event Knowledge,” was published online in theJournal of Experimental Psychology.

 

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/university-california-riverside-research-awe-stress/

If you are anxious do this on thing to feel at ease

An induced feeling of awe, or state of wonder, may be the best strategy yet for alleviating the discomfort that comes from uncertain waiting.

Kate Sweeny’s research explores the most excruciating form of waiting: the period during which one awaits uncertain news, the outcome of which is beyond one’s control. It’s waiting for news from a biopsy, or whether you aced—or tanked—the exam. That’s distinguished from waiting periods such as when looking for a new job, when you have at least some control over the outcome.

Her research has found some clues for alleviating those difficult periods. Meditation helps, as does engaging in “flow” activities—those that require complete focus, such as a video game.

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/floating-gardens-are-a-way-to-keep-farming-despite-climate-change-ohio/

Floating gardens offers a sustainable solution to farming in flood prone areas

 

 

 

Bangladesh’s floating gardens, built to grow food during flood seasons, could offer a sustainable solution for parts of the world prone to flooding because of climate change, a new study has found.

The study suggests that floating gardens might not only help reduce food insecurity, but could also provide income for rural households in flood-prone parts of Bangladesh.

“We are focused here on adaptive change for people who are victims of climate change, but who did not cause climate change,” said Craig Jenkins, a co-author of the study and academy professor emeritus of sociology at The Ohio State University. “There’s no ambiguity about it: Bangladesh didn’t cause the carbon problem, and yet it is already experiencing the effects of climate change.”

 

 

 

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/mr-trash-wheel-family-grows-while-gobbling-tons-of-trash-every-day/

 

Goolgy-eyed trash wheels are keeping garbage out of oceans

For years, the ambiguous yet contented face of Mr. Trash Wheel has been an icon of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

The googly-eyed trash collector has been gobbling up millions of pounds of the city’s river-borne garbage for years, and led to the creation of several water-wheel allies like Capt. Trash Wheel, and Prof. Trash Wheel.

The idea for some sort of garbage collector came from local inventor John Kellet, who would walk across the footbridge spanning the Jones Falls stream that feeds the Baltimore harbor—and be disturbed on seeing the unabated flow of garbage floating towards it.

 

 

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/thai-van-nguyen-goldman-award-pangolins-vietnam/

His passion for protecting the world's most trafficked animal earned him an award

 

The 2021 winners of a major international environmental award have just been announced, and the list includes a Vietnamese conservationist who’s known for his vital work helping protect the pangolin—the world’s most trafficked animal.

Awarded annually to environmental heroes from each of the world’s six inhabited continental regions, the Goldman Environmental Prize honors the achievements and leadership of grassroots environmental activists from around the world, inspiring all of us to take action to protect our planet.

The Prize was founded in 1989 in San Francisco by philanthropists and civic leaders Rhoda and Richard Goldman.

 

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/4302/-039-Nothing-Like-How-Movies-Depict-It-039-Man-Rescues-Pair-From-Crashed-Burning-Car

Nothing like the movies depict, man rescues pair from burning car

It's a night Gabriel Lascurain will never forget.

The shuttle driver for Bend's B&R Auto Wrecking in Deschutes County, Oregon, was on his usual route along Highway 126 early Monday morning when he spotted a crashed car engulfed in flames over the embankment, with a young man and woman trapped inside, screaming for help.

Lascurain said he wasn't sure what was happening at first, but realized fairly quickly this was a 'fight or flight' moment - and at 2:15 a.m., the 43-year-old decided he had to fight.

He jumped over the embankment and, using the tools in his tow truck, managed to pull the two occupants from the car, just moments before it exploded.

"Nothing like how movies depict it," Lascurain told News Channel 21 Wednesday. "It was so much harder to actually deal with, physically, no matter how strong I was, and emotionally. The thoughts and decisions I had to make at a split-second -- I had to just put myself aside and say, 'I have to do this.'"

"There was a moment when I literally thought, 'I might die,'" Lascurain recalled. "'If I get close enough to that car right now, if I got back and get him, I'll die.'"

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/jabari-richardson-goes-viral-when-bystander-catches-him-giving-belongings-away/

College student goes viral when bystander catches him giving belongings to homeless

When American artistic icon Andy Warhol made the 1968 pronouncement, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” no-one knew how close to the truth he’d come.

While these days, the Internet regularly delivers instant gratification and overnight fame, there’s little chance Florida A&M University student Jabari Richardson was thinking about getting “likes” or retweets when he pulled his car over, opened the trunk, and passed out shoes, clothing, and other items to a homeless man standing by the side of the road.

The college senior, who was in the process of moving, decided giving his things away rather than selling them was good karma. Thankful to have more than he needed, he was simply passing it forward.

“As I was growing up, my mom always taught me there’s a lot of people that are in need. Not everyone’s blessed as I am,” Richardson told WXTL-Tallahassee. “My mom always had clothes and shoes on my back. I can definitely take that for granted. Anything can be gone in the blink of an eye.”

[+joc]

On 6/25/2021 at 10:25 AM, Desertrat56 said:

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/jabari-richardson-goes-viral-when-bystander-catches-him-giving-belongings-away/

College student goes viral when bystander catches him giving belongings to homeless

When American artistic icon Andy Warhol made the 1968 pronouncement, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” no-one knew how close to the truth he’d come.

While these days, the Internet regularly delivers instant gratification and overnight fame, there’s little chance Florida A&M University student Jabari Richardson was thinking about getting “likes” or retweets when he pulled his car over, opened the trunk, and passed out shoes, clothing, and other items to a homeless man standing by the side of the road.

The college senior, who was in the process of moving, decided giving his things away rather than selling them was good karma. Thankful to have more than he needed, he was simply passing it forward.

“As I was growing up, my mom always taught me there’s a lot of people that are in need. Not everyone’s blessed as I am,” Richardson told WXTL-Tallahassee. “My mom always had clothes and shoes on my back. I can definitely take that for granted. Anything can be gone in the blink of an eye.”

Reminds me of the story of the man picking up starfish on the beach, which were going to die before the tide came back in, and throwing them back into the ocean...a passerby said, 'You can't save them all!'...the man picked up a starfish and through it into the ocean and replied...'I saved that one!'

Edited June 27, 2021 by joc

[LightAngel]

Wonderful topic. 

Here is a story that gave me a big smile on my face. 

 

 

"Man builds an entire village for mouse he saw in his garden"

 

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/trail-angel-spreads-trail-magic-along-appalachian-trail/

A 'Trail Angel' sprinkles good deeds along appalachian trail for unsuspecting hikers.

Every year, thousands of hikers attempt to complete the 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail, stretching from Georgia to Maine, but only one-in-four are able to conquer the mountainous terrain that has an elevation gain and loss equivalent to hiking Mt. Everest from sea-level and back 16 times.

Hikers typically carry only three days of food and sometimes run short, as they endeavor to reach the next town to resupply. Fortunately, trail angels sprinkle their magic along the way to provide weary hikers food, drink, and a comfy chair in which to rest.

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/inga-tree-creating-organic-farming-climate-resistance-carbon-sequestration-honduras/

This wonder tree is a game changer for Rainforest agriculture in Honduras

There’s a ‘wonder tree’ in Honduras that’s acting as a game-changer—creating organic farming livelihoods, climate resistance, and hope to farmers in the Central American nation and elsewhere.

Because of this tree, the oft-used method of tropical land clearance—which tragically tends to yield one good crop, without another one ever following—is being replaced with another form of agroforestry that ticks every box, and which has rural farmers running towards regenerative farming methods.

This form is called Inga alley cropping. It has been pioneered by a British surveyor in Honduras named Dr. Mike Hands, and the method is built around one special tree class called Inga. This member of the legume family contains over 300 varieties, and its endemic characteristics gave Hands the basis of his revolutionary form of agroforestry.

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/the-sewing-machine-project-is-mending-lives-stitch-by-stitch/

The sewing machine project is mending lives stitch by stitch

Sewing is a craft that’s been passed down through the ages from mother to daughter and from father to son. Traditionally, it’s also served as one of the few consistent sources of income for women, especially marginalized ones.

Margaret Jankowski learned to sew from her mom. As an adult, rather an avocation than a vocation, it wasn’t something she pursued full-time, but she enjoyed it enough that she taught sewing classes and created clothing for her first child.

In 2004, in the wake of the tsunami that devastated Sri Lanka, the story of a woman whose dream of becoming a tailor was dashed after spending years saving up to buy a sewing machine, struck a chord that resonated with Jankowski.

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/how-to-keep-a-room-cool-without-ac-best-ways-to-save-money/

No A/C, no problem - use these tricks to stay cool in the summer heat

It turns out there are simpler methods than air-conditioning to keep a room or house cool and save you a ton of money.

That’s handy, given that depending on your temperature preference and frugality, running an A/C unit can cost anywhere from $14 to $211 per month.

Here in Italy, ground floor units don’t even have A/C, as all the buildings are made of block-and-concrete, and the windows all have wood-slat shutters to let the breeze in and keep the sun out.

If installing brown wood-slat shutters isn’t an option, try with pieces of brown cardboard; cutting small mail slots out to shed light into the room, or change to darker curtains.

Beyond that, here are some innovative, and sometimes ancient ways to keep cool and save money.

 

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/karoline-hjorth-riitta-ikonen-nature-people-photographers/

Seniors play dress up with nature to personify the magic around us

Have you ever stared at a nature photo of an animal hiding in plain sight and had an almost impossible time trying to separate the creature from the background?

Camouflage (a.k.a. cryptic coloration) is an adaptive mechanism that helps organisms to blend in with their surroundings. It can be a life-saving form of self-defense. But when the camera lens captures senior citizens as integral, interconnected parts of the landscape they inhabit, it can also become a life-affirming revelation of self-expression.

 

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/st-louis-research-wastewater-cleaned-electricity/

Researchers use waste water to generate electricity while cleaning it

Whether wastewater is full of “waste” is a matter of perspective.

“Why is it waste?” asked Zhen (Jason) He, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis. “It’s organic materials,” he said, and those can provide energy in a number of ways.

Then there’s the other valuable resource in wastewater.

His lab has developed one system that recovers both, filtering wastewater while creating electricity. Results from bench-scale trials were published in May and featured as a front cover article in the journal Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology.

The waste materials in wastewater are full of organic materials which, to bacteria, are food.

Egyptian researchers who are working with him are interested in using similar technological platforms for water desalination.

There already exist ways to capitalize on bacteria to produce energy from wastewater, but such methods often do so at the expense of the water, which could be filtered and otherwise be used—if not for drinking—for “gray water” purposes such as irrigation and toilet flushing.

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/loughborough-university-student-invents-stab-healing-device-called-react/

Student builds life-saving device that can instantly stop bleeding from stab wounds

A UK college senior is doing his part to ‘stop the bleeding’ of violent knife crime by inventing a device that can help first responders better seal wounds.

Depending on the location, the victim of a stabbing doesn’t have long without proper first aid to stop blood loss, but if Joseph Bentley’s new invention is on the scene it could significantly reduce that possibility.

The device is known as the rapid emergency actuated tamponade, or REACT, and it borrows the long-utilized but hardly perfect function of gauze to apply pressure to a wound site to stop blood loss. Once blood clots stop the bleeding, the removal or disturbance of the gauze can reopen both the wound, and the problem.

 

In contrast, REACT inflates a silicon balloon-like sleeve known as a tamponade, which applies similar pressure and allows the blood to clot. Once the balloon needs to be removed, it’s deflated slowly and gently, allowing the clots to remain intact.

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.optimistdaily.com/2021/07/there-may-be-a-better-and-more-beautiful-way-to-treat-wastewater-willow-trees/

There may be a better way to treat waste water:  Willow trees

In Canada, six trillion liters of municipal wastewater gets released into the environment yearly, while another billion liters of untreated sewage is pushed into untouched waters when water treatment systems and facilities can’t take the intensity of passing storms, which leads to more water contamination.

Fortunately, a team of researchers from a collection of universities in Canada and the United Kingdom may have found a better and more beautiful solution to treating wastewater: willow trees.

The team studied a willow tree plantation in Quebec and discovered that the ethereal-looking trees were able to filter over 30 million liters of primary wastewater, which was administered to the trees through an irrigation system, per hectare over three years.

[Nosy.Matters]

Cottonwood an Willow are never, NEVER utilize d enough in landscaping, new land ,,new houses, Property , commercial resort etc. etc.

Should be manditory federal law for projects ,, realestate  incentives etc. etc. but we will never see that, so the 1% < of fresh water will continue to be more

tox

 

 

ic .

[+Desertrat56]

Just now, Nosy.Matters said:

Cottonwood an Willow are never, NEVER utilize d enough in landscaping, new land ,,new houses, Property , commercial resort etc. etc.

Should be manditory federal law for projects ,, realestate  incentives etc. etc. but we will never see that, so the 1% < of fresh water will continue to be more

tox

 

 

ic .

We have one old cottonwood left in our neighborhood.  It is at least 100 years old and most of it's branches are gone.  It is on the edge of my brother's yard where an old irrigation ditch used to be.   We have to pay a lot for water so cottonwoods are not popular trees nowadays but along the river there are still a lot of them.  When I was a kid there was a subdivision that went in and the landscaping had willows in almost every yard.  They do not get enough water so now most of them are gone.   One crazy governor we had, who had a lot of money from his oil business dealings, donated land and personnel to create a hybrid willow that he called a Navajo willow that would survive drought conditions.  They are now called desert willows and I have a bunch in my yard.  They grow fast and provide good shade with no more water requirements than a cactus.

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/tulum-train-station-build-in-mayan-architecture/

Stunning train station build in Mexico uses Mayan design to bring in sea air and keep rain out.

The ancient Maya civilization was enshrining its legacy in stone more than a thousand years ago, and the ingenious designs from that time are being utilized in fresh ways today.

On a 950-mile (1,525 -kilometer) Mexican railway line, a new station to service the Yucatán town of Tulum is being built using techniques right out of the ancient Maya playbook.

The Mexican-English architecture studio Aidia commissioned for the project came up with a giant sloping eyeball-shaped train roof, and a platform with a lattice-work ceiling that lets air in but keeps rain out, inspired by Mayan building methods.

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/india-volunteer-drive-plants-250-million-tree-saplings-in-a-single-day/

Volunteers in Inda do it again - planting 250 million saplings in a single day

In just a single day, Indians have planted an impressive quarter-billion tree saplings.

Whereas mass tree planting operations around the globe are receiving more and more skepticism for their actual impacts on climate stabilization, the last four major plantings in the state of Uttar Pradesh have climbed to an impressive average saplings survival rate of 80%.

As per Peter Wohlleben, the renowned German forester and author of The Secret Life of Trees, our woody neighbors need an average 50 years of growing before any carbon can actually be considered “sequestered,” so the fact that many of Uttar Pradesh’s new trees are now four going on five means there’s a much better chance for them to survive pests, drought, or other dangers to become contributing members of tree society.

Along riverbanks and highways, and on farms, schools, and in forests, Sunday saw millions of residents of the most-populous Indian state continue what is now a yearly tradition (a year ago, 20 million saplings were planted along the Ganges).

“We are committed to increasing the forest cover of Uttar Pradesh to over 15% of the total land area in the next five years,” said state forest official Manoj Singh.

[Nosy.Matters]

Always say can never plant enough but but but,, holy hell i stand corrected ,,was involved in projects for the rich but nothing like that.

THANKS !¡! for the post.

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news/4323/High-School-Graduates-Use-Senior-Trip-Money-To-Help-Their-Community

High School Graduates Use Senior Trip Money To Help Their Community

This year, members of Islesboro Central School's Class of 2021 — all 13 of them — were eyeing a trip to Greece, or maybe South Korea. Previous trips have gone to the France, Iceland, Norway and Italy.

This year they're going nowhere.

Instead, they donated $5,000 to help out their neighbors struggling in the wake of the pandemic.

"It felt sort of obvious that it needed to go back to the island community," said Olivia Britton, 17, one of this year's graduates.

The seniors raised nearly $8,000 by working concession stands, holding harvest and winter festivals, and hosting community suppers.

$5,000 went to the Island Community Fund to help people who were out of work and needed money for food or rent. The students and are still deciding where to donate the remaining money.

It would have seemed "weird and definitely wrong" to be spending money on an overseas trip during a time of such difficulties, said student Liefe Temple.

"We could really see how the whole world and the island, too, was struggling. So it felt really good to do that with our money, to give it back to the people who gave it to us," Temple said.

[+Desertrat56]

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/pain-free-blood-test-diabetes-niversity-of-newcastle-australia/

No more pricks:  Scientists are rolling out first-of-its-kind blood sugar test

A world-first, pain-free diabetes test could soon be in the hands of consumers following $6.3 million in funding to establish the first manufacturing facility for the device.

Funded by the Australian Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative, the world-class facility will help transition two decades of lab research to retail shelves to benefit more than 460 million people living with diabetes globally.

University of Newcastle physicist and research leader, Professor Paul Dastoor said the first devices are due to roll off the production line by 2023.

For patients afflicted with diabetes, who have up till now had to finger prick multiple times a day in order to monitor their glucose levels, this grant could not have come at a more appropriate time.

Saliva glucose biosensor: How it works

The saliva test makes painful finger-prick testing for type 1 and type 2 diabetes obsolete, representing the first major innovation since the blood glucose test was developed in the 1960s.