What Good News Is There, Anyway?
The time has come, my friends, to take a break from the toil of the modern world and slip into something a little more comfortable - good news! As is customary, Olivia and Brooke decided that they’d had enough of the doom and gloom and went out of their way to find the gems in our current news media (though few they may be). Listening is highly recommended, but here’s an overview of the topics:
Olivia brought two pieces of Amazon Rain Forest news to the table. First, with the help of environmental organization One Tree Planted, Peru is working to restore the Amazon over the course of three years and three planting seasons. So far, over 250,000 trees have been planted (and a few of those were donated by Olivia)! Even better, several large-scale corporations have opted to boycott Brazil-produced leather in protest of their systematic deforestation in the Amazon. Vans, H&M, Timberland, and others have attributed their boycott directly to the actions taken by President Bolsonaro and the Brazilian leather farming industry which has led to the burning of thousands of miles of rain forest, and they will continue their boycott until Brazil adopts environmentally-friendly farming procedures.
Olivia’s final piece centered around cherry tomato-sized sea urchins, which may be instrumental in saving Hawaiian coral reefs from invasive species of algae. As it turns out, these tiny urchins love to munch on all kinds of algae. Once they were released into the reef, the coral began to regenerate on its own. Score 1 urchins, algae 0.
Brooke brought two news stories and one personal (but you gotta listen to hear that one). For the first time in the 18 years it has been brought to the Department of Homeland Security’s attention, the DHS has acknowledged that white supremacy is a threat to domestic security. In a blunt statement, the DHS recognized white supremacy as a blight on our nation - one which cannot be ignored. Though it is discouraging that it took 18 years for a concrete statement, it is promising to see a major government outlet openly defying the United States President’s own words about the white supremacist threat. Eat it, Nazis.
In somewhat lighter news, a San Francisco-based company, Makani, has developed a potentially-revolutionary product that hopes to harness the power of deep ocean winds. By placing an outpost equipped with a massive self-flying kite, Makani is tapping a previously-untouched resource that could prove invaluable to areas where other forms of renewable energy is impossible. Better yet, these kites are far more environmentally friendly and humane than traditional wind turbines, which are far more labor intensive to construct and wreak havoc on the ecosystems in which they are built. As of September, they had just completed the kite’s first unmanned flight. Here’s to a future with awesome electricity kites!
Yeah, the world is crazy, and a lot of the stuff that happens these days is awful. Believe us, we know. But whenever possible, take a few minutes and actively seek the good things - no matter how small they are. People everywhere are striving to be their best, if only you know where to look.
*Gong noise*