Good morning, fellow Gnusies!
I admit that I have been quiet lately. I’ve had my schedule forcibly rearranged a lot the last week or so, and the non-GNR-worthy news has had me in hiding. I did manage to read a bit of Tuesday’s GNR, but didn’t manage to give my take on the roundup process. So here’s mine:
My social media of choice these days is Tumblr; over the course of the month, I have a text file open and whenever an interesting good news piece — no matter how old — comes across my dashboard, I’ll copy the link and headline down.
Then, closer to my posting date, usually a few days before, I’ll open up all those saved links and decide which ones are actually GNR-worthy, and as some of them are from sources I haven’t seen before, I’ll go through other articles for more material. (This month it’s The World at Large and undark.org; usually there’s some Good News Network, sometimes Upworthy, sometimes Scientific American.) Sometimes I’ll grab humanitarian stories from DKos if they aren’t hugely followed/high on the rec list. A lot of my more obscure material I find from clicking through to the “Originally posted on [website]” link at the bottom of a re-posted article.
If I have a particular topic in mind, as with last month’s focus on Africa (big topic, yes, I know), I’ll hit a search engine and see what I can pull up that way.
Then, I get to trawl youtube for some tunes!
Once I have all my links and quotes, it’s just a matter of pasting it all in a blog post, writing the intro and transitions if needed.
My first round up took what seemed like forever. These days I can manage in a couple of hours.
Since I tend to avoid the political news — other GNR authors and commenters do a bang-up job at getting me the scoop on that topic — this process works for me, and also reinforces the good news I’m looking for through repetition.
On with the news!
Scientists Enlist The Help Of Plants In A Simple,
Yet Elegant Climate Change Solution
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, have not only dug up their third grade homework, but turned it into an ambitious plan to combat climate change. This month they announced they received $35 million in grants from ten separate donors to pursue the Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI) an ambitious plan to bio-engineer common plants to soak and store more CO2.
“We are overjoyed with this strong show of support for the Harnessing Plants Initiative from donors through The Audacious Project,” says Chory, director of Salk’s Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory. “Plants have evolved over time to be an ideal vehicle for carbon capture and storage. If we can optimize plants’ natural ability to capture and store carbon we can develop plants that not only have the potential to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (negative emissions) but that can also help enrich soils and increase crop yields.”
…..
Part of the root system of most plants is a substance called suberin. Suberin is a carbon-rich substance that also resists decomposition. Tweaking a few genetic pathways in plants, Salk's plant biologists believe they can help plants grow bigger, more robust root systems that contain more suberin than normal – thereby increasing the amount of carbon they can store in soil.
Once the team succeeds with test plants, they hope to perform similar changes to corn, rapeseed, cotton seed plants, soya, and wheat. These crops represent a huge percentage of the total vegetation in America, and increasing the amount of carbon they can store would go a long way in contributing to prevent climate change.
Since Father-Son Duo Designed Revolutionary ‘Honey on Tap’ Beehive,
There Are 51,000 New Bee Colonies
Back in 2015, a father-son duo changed the beekeeping game simply by redesigning the traditional beehive – and now, honeybees are benefitting from their profits.
Stuart and Cedar Anderson are the co-creators of the Flow Hive: a brilliantly designed beehive that saves beekeepers hours of work simply by channeling all of its honey into a tap that can be turned on and off at will.
The Flow Hive allows honey to flow out of the hive straight into a jar without crushing or disrupting the bees inside. It can also fit in a small backyard or on a rooftop or balcony.
Veterans Are Finding Renewed Purpose
Through Scuba Diving Missions to Protect Coral Reefs
Force Blue is an organization that recruits former military members to go on scuba diving missions to plant, nourish, rescue, and preserve coral reefs along the coast of Florida.
Not only does the project help to protect underwater ecosystems, it has also proved to be particularly therapeutic for the veterans, many of whom struggle with PTSD or depression.
...
“We were like, ‘wait a second, we can do some real good for out veteran community and at the same time, we can use our veteran community to help the environment and reach an audience that currently isn’t getting the message,” Ritterhoff told the news outlet.
“[That audience] may not listen to scientists, but they’ll listen to navy seals and they’ll listen to marines because these guys are their heroes.”
One of the things I like about this is that audience that currently isn’t getting the message. Just what audience might that be, hmm?
Good news is not just an accomplishment! It’s also a process!
For Health and Habitat: Rescuing the Great Lakes
The Great Lakes Areas of Concern program has helped clean up rivers, restore wetlands, and boost economies — but there’s still a long way to go.
Restoration of the Great Lakes began unofficially in 1969, after the notoriously polluted Cuyahoga River caught fire in Cleveland, near where it empties into Lake Erie. Nearly two decades later, in 1987, the U.S. and Canada signed an agreement creating the Great Lakes Areas of Concern program, which identified 43 Great Lakes watersheds that were most in need of environmental restoration. It also created a process whereby an area can be delisted once its environmental quality has improved.
In 2010, the Obama administration launched the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), which, among other things, provides funds for the Areas of Concern program so that all of the areas left in the U.S. can eventually be delisted. Last year, President Trump called for massive cuts to the GLRI, but Congress fully funded it at $300 million, in a bipartisan effort.
This bipartisan support stems from the economic benefits of environmental restoration. A study by a team of economists released last fall found that every dollar invested in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative brings more than $3 in additional economic benefits across the region. “It is no longer the economy versus the environment,” said Jill Jedlicka, executive director of Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, a Western New York nonprofit focused on protecting and restoring the Niagara River watershed. “You cannot have a healthy economy without a healthy environment.”
Last minute DKos bits I couldn’t resist adding, even though they are trending and on the rec list and I totally expect to see them tomorrow too (hint hint!):
I grew up with ‘Highlights for Children’, so this is SWEET.
‘Highlights for Children’ becomes the enemy of the people
Circular firing squads are sometimes fun to watch. David Hogg emailed me and told me to get out the popcorn for this one:
NRA pulls the plug on NRATV, removing one tiny slice of evil from the airwaves
Deserving of a tune, I think!
Lightning roundup!
Glut Of International Agreements Look To Improve Wildlife Rights
Bald Eagle Weighed Down by Large Ball of Ice is Freed By Locals Who Jumped into Frozen Lake
California Condors May Find New Home For Release In Pacific Northwest
Song of One of the Rarest Whales On the Planet Recorded for First Time
Since 2011, Elephant Poaching Has Fallen Dramatically
One of the reasons I find this particular piece so interesting is that it’s reinforcing the research showing that if the underlying causes for the poaching are addressed — poaching in and of itself almost always appears to be a symptom of problems, namely poverty and corruption — the people who once made their living killing the animals for a living can become their (extremely effective) protectors. I’ve read it here, and with snow leopards in Asia, and elsewhere. It’s a pattern that can be repeated.
That’s it for me! Play us out, Steven!