Good News Tuesday for Nov. 2, 2021: Climate Summit, Students Save Bus Driver, Top 10 CNN Heroes, and a Dog Who Saved Koalas

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

World Leaders Meet for Climate Summit and Promise to End Deforestation

Last year’s world climate summit was cancelled due to covid. Now, over 120 leaders have come together in Glasgow, Scotland to reduce the negative impact of humans on planet Earth. BBC reports that over 100 leaders from around the world, including Brazil, have promised to sign a pledge to end and reverse deforestation by 2030. Read more about the two week COP26 Climate Summit and the deforestation pledge here.

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Two Middle School Students Act Quickly to Save Bus Driver

Conner Doss and Kane Daugherty are two Atlanta middle school students whose quick thinking saved their bus driver. Read more about it here.

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Top 10 CNN Heroes

CNN is in its 15th year of celebrating heroes. On December 12, they’ll be recognizing their top 10 picks for 2021 who each receive $10,000 and announcing who received the most votes for hero of the year. Read more about the top 10 heroes from CNN.

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A Dog Named Bear has been Recognized as a Hero for Saving Koalas

A dog named Bear recently won an award from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) for saving 100 koalas from Australia’s bushfires last year. Before being trained to rescue koalas, Bear had been rescued himself from a shelter where his former family gave him up due to behavior issues and his “boundless energy and obsessive enthusiasm for play.” You can read more from the Good News Network and watch the video:

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Good News Tuesday 4/7/20: Recovering from COVID, Koala Release, Walking Against the Odds, and Shifting Focus

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

Recovering from the Virus

It’s emotionally staggering to read how many people have died from COVID-19. Reading about recoveries offers hope. 292,188 people have recovered from the virus. John Hopkins University has a dashboard showing the numbers of cases, deaths, and recoveries around the world.

104-year-old William Lapschies is one person who has recovered. A World War II veteran from Oregon, William recently celebrated his birthday with a socially distanced party.   Here’s William’s story.

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First Koala Group Released Back in Australia

The non-profit group Science for Wildlife released 12 koalas (plus one pouch baby) back into their natural habitat in the Blue Mountains in late March. The release happened after the group studied the area and determined enough growth had taken place to support the animals. Here’s the story from Independent. 

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Ten Year Old Walks with Spina Bifida

John Harvey was born with spina bifida. Against the odds, he worked hard to learn how to walk. The following video  shows John’s determination and perseverance. Enjoy!

(There might be a brief ad.)

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Companies Shift to Make Health Care Supplies at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

The 300 acre space known as the “Can Do Yard” during WW2 is earning that name again. Over 500 companies responded to New York City’s call for help to manufacture face masks. I heard this story on NPR and hope you enjoy listening:
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/04/06/navy-yard-brooklyn-medical-factory

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Good News Tuesday 2/18/20: Australia Fires Contained, Soldiers and Koalas, Taxi Driver Interrupts Scam, 10 Billion for Earth, and College Degrees in Prison

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

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All Australian Bushfires Contained in New South Wales

Not all the fires are out, but they are all contained allowing more focus on rebuilding.

The exciting news comes after a week of historic rainfall in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.     Good News Network

Let’s continue to pray for healing.

In this related story, soldiers are using their free time to help care for displaced koalas.

From ABC News

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Taxi Driver Stops $25,000 Scam

When a 92 year old woman asked him to take her to the bank to pay the IRS, taxi driver Raj Singh dug deeper. He ended up taking her to the police, who uncovered the scam. Mr. Singh could have just taken the lady to the bank and not asked questions, but it’s a good thing he cared.  Here’s the story from The Good News Network.

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10 Billion Dollars for Planet Earth

Jeff Bezos, “the richest man in the world,” has announced his plan to donate 10 billion dollars of his own money to help fight climate change. Associated Press reports Amazon, the company started by Bezos, plans to have “100% of its energy use come from solar panels and other renewable energy by 2030.” That will be something to watch over the next 10 years.  The AP article pointed out that Jeff Bezos “only recently became active in donating money to causes as other billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have done.” Wouldn’t it be great if all of the world’s financially wealthy people because so altruistic? Hopefully, it’s not too late to do some good for the planet. Here’s the article from AP News.

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Earning College Degrees in Prison

Hudson Link is a nonprofit program that helps prison inmates earn college degrees for free. According to Hudson Link, the general rate of recidivism in (NY) state is 43%, while the prisoners who walk out with degrees have only a 2% chance of being re-incarcerated. You can read more about it on the Good News Network.

This  video had me grinning and teary eyed.

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#WATWB: Helping Australia’s Koalas

The devastation from fires in Australia is hard to watch.  But there are helpers. A group of quilters in The Netherlands is making mittens for koalas and pouches for kangaroos suffering burns from the bush fires. The mittens and pouches must be made entirely from cotton. Here’s more of the story.

Thank you to all the helpers, including the staff of Port Macquarie Koala Hospital.  Here’s the link for their gofundme page.

Below are two videos of people helping koalas

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We are the World Blogfest (#WATWB) brings us positive stories on the last Friday of every month. For more light in the darkness, visit the WATWB Facebook page:

For more details on WATWB, click here.

This month’s co-hosts,Sylvia McGrath, Lizbeth Hartz, Shilpa Garg, Mary Giese, and Belinda Witzenhausen welcome participants and encourage all to join in.

 

Good News Tuesday: Redirecting Unused Food, Dissection Alternatives, Helping Koalas, and New Zealand’s Legislation for the Planet

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

 

Italian Law Directs Wasted Food to the Hungry

Global Citizen reports that Italy has passed a law to send unsold food to charities.  It’s shameful how much food is thrown away when so many people are hungry. The article gives example of how much of the food thrown away is edible:

“….if white rice is mis-labeled basmati rice, it’s food waste. If a vegetable is misshapen it’s food waste. If a cereal box has a tear, food waste. A can with a ripped label also food waste. A bruised fruit, yup, food waste.”

While some countries impose penalties for wasted food, Italy is providing incentives.

You can read more about Italy’s initiative here.

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Realistic Replica Can Save Frogs from Dissection

SynDaver—the world’s leading manufacturer of hyper-realistic, synthetic human and animal surgical trainers has created a realistic enough non-living frog model for dissection. Despite the replica being more expensive than a real frog, its synthetic tissues are reusable and free of harmful chemicals like formaldehyde. At least 3 million frogs are killed annually in the name of educational dissection. Isn’t it time we moved toward more humane educational pursuits?

If you’d like to read more about this innovation, click here for the Good News Network article.

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Helping Koalas and Kangaroos in Australia

A group of Dutch quilters making mittens for koalas and pouches for kangaroos suffering from fires in Australia. The mittens and pouches must be made entirely of cotton. Here’s the story from SBS  Dutch.

Other good news within this terrible fire, is that $1,705,390 has been raised to help animals in Australia. Here’s a link to the fundraiserfor the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital.  THANK YOU to all the helpers!

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New Zealand Commits to Becoming Carbon Neutral by 2050

“In a historic show of bipartisan agreement” New Zealand passed a new law that will require the nation to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.  The Good News Network provides details, and Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden, inspires:

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