Mid-week collection of concise positive news stories to perk up the day.
Game-Changer
Bill Gates-backed startup creates Lego-like brick that can store air pollution for centuries. This is very good news as it's also "A milestone for affordably removing carbon dioxide from the air". The Washington Post detailed a "deceptively simple" procedure by Graphyte to store a ton of CO2 for around $100 a ton, a number long considered a milestone for affordably removing carbon dioxide from the air. Direct air capture technologies used in the United States and Iceland cost $600 to $1,200 per ton, says the Post.
Hats Off to California
This from Bill McKibben in The New Yorker: "Something approaching a miracle has been taking place in California this spring. Beginning in early March, for some portion of almost every day, a combination of solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower has been producing more than a hundred per cent of the state’s demand for electricity. . . . It’s taken years of construction - and solid political leadership in Sacramento - to slowly build this wave, but all of a sudden it’s cresting into view. California has the fifth-largest economy in the world and, in the course of a few months, the state has proved that it’s possible to run a thriving modern economy on clean energy."
Vatican City is set to become the eighth country in the world to generate 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy. Here are the first seven...
Royal Sketches
Queen Victoria is remembered for her long tenure as monarch, which lasted from 1837 to 1901, and the major changes the British Empire underwent during her reign. But the queen, a devoted supporter of the arts, was also a prolific artist, creating detailed sketches and watercolours throughout her life. This week, four drawings by Victoria are going to auction at Roseberys in London. The sketches will be sold as part of an album and are expected to fetch between $1,900 to $3,170.
The Show Must Go On
James Corden delayed the start of his West End stage show on Saturday evening to watch the penalty shootout between England and Switzerland with his audience. The 45-year-old actor and football fan brought an iPad out onto London's Old Vic stage, where he is currently starring in new political play The Constituent. With the score 1-1 after extra-time, England beat the Swiss 5-3 on penalties. To Corden's obvious delight, the play then started.
River's Rights
A ruling described by activists as “historic,” a court in Ecuador has ruled that pollution has violated the rights of a river that runs through the country’s capital, Quito - based on an article of Ecuador’s constitution that recognises the rights of natural features like the Machángara River. In some parts of Latin America, inhabitants have constitutional rights to a clean environment, but Ecuador is one of the few countries that recognise the rights of natural features not to be degraded or polluted.
Ecuador's Galápagos Islands strike the world's biggest debt for nature deal that should be able to fund its conservation in perpetuity.
Remarkable Heuweltjies
Scientists in South Africa have been stunned to discover that termite mounds that are still inhabited in an arid region of the country are more than 30,000 years old. Some of the mounds near the Buffels River in Namaqualand were estimated by radiocarbon dating to be 34,000 years old, according to the researchers from Stellenbosch University. “We knew they were old, but not that old,” said Michele Francis. Some of the biggest mounds - known locally as “heuweltjies”, which means little hills in the Afrikaans language - measure around 100 feet (30 meters) across. The termite nests are as deep as 10 feet underground.
“If people did not sometimes do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.” Ludwig Wittgenstein
On This Day
10 July 1962: Telstar 1, the first communications satellite to transmit live television signals and telephone conversations across the Atlantic Ocean, was launched this day in 1962, inaugurating a new age in electronic communications.
Today's Articles
World First: Denmark to pioneer CO2 tax on livestock emissions to radically reduce the country's climate footprint, and already has widespread support.
Audio Likeness: Glamorous stars like Judy Garland, James Dean and Laurence Olivier to narrate new series of audio books.
Star Fish: Scientists have completely misunderstood this creature, discovering that its ‘body’ is actually just a giant head.
Tiny Changes: Collection of inspiring little recommendations that could change your life for the better.
Mood Boosting Video
Incredible Shots: Top 10 'Only Roger Federer' shots at Wimbledon.