Good News Good Planet

Neccessity is the mother of invention and there's an app for those who want to find handicap accessible businesses around the world.

Play Everywhere by Mandy Stapleford

Forest Man2 by Mandy Stapleford

Magic Mushroom Material by Mandy Stapleford

To Bee Or Not To Bee by Mandy Stapleford

Dressed Up Education by Mandy Stapleford

Teen Ocean Clean by Mandy Stapleford

Bedtime Stories for All by Mandy Stapleford

Aussie Sleep Bus by Mandy Stapleford

Free Pharmacy by Mandy Stapleford

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* Street Vet It’s often overlooked that people who become homeless are not likely to be able to care for their pets properly. Disturbed by this issue and the rising problem of homelessness in America, California veterinarian Kwane Stewart realized his unique opportunity to make a difference. Since 2011, Kwane has visited the poorest areas of Los Angeles carrying his medical bag and offering his services, free of charge. He treats a myriad of animal illnesses from infections to allergies, bad teeth, flea infestations, and even arthritis. He also arranges surgeries at no or low cost, often paying for medicines and supplies out of his own pocket. While the majority of his patients are dogs, he also sees cats, birds, and reptiles too. He gets to know these animals and their owners, who often open up about their lives on the street and their reasons for being there. Anyone whose loved a pet knows how strong the bond of love can be. Homeless people are with their animal every minute of every day and that relationship means everything to them. These animals can provide their owners with a sense of belonging, purpose, security and hope within the hard times they face on the street. It is not unusual for the owners to treat their animals better than they treat themselves. “I’ve seen homeless people feed their pet before they feed themselves,” he says. “I’ve seen them give their last dollar to care for them. They sustain each other and that is the power of pet companionship.” To expand his mission, Kwane set up a GoFundMe page called “The Street Vet.” He is also documenting his experiences in a TV series of the same name, where he hopes to not only take care of the animals in need but to also challenge the preconceived notions of the homeless people who love them. This story brought to you by Arroyo Seco Live. “Building community through creativity. SecoLive.org #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* Talk to the Hands Over 30 million people use sign language to communicate, but only a fraction of the world's population can understand them—until now. Kenyan inventor Roy Allela has designed a pair of gloves that translate signed hand movements into speech. Called Sign-IO, it relies on sensors that are stitched into each finger which can detect the movement and positions of the hands, and interpret them into words being signed. The gloves connect via Bluetooth to a phone app, also designed by Allela, which convert the gestures into audible speech for others to understand. Allela got the inspiration for his invention from watching his family's struggle to communicate with his six-year-old niece, who was born deaf. "My niece wears the gloves, pairs them to her phone or mine, then starts signing and I'm able to understand what she's saying," says Allela. "Like all sign language users, she's very good at lip reading so she doesn't need me to sign back." But these gloves also double as a tool to teach non-signers by way of the visual and audible working together. Both the gloves and the app are adjustable to different users’ needs, from speed of movement of the hands, to different pitches and tones of voice in the electronic speech of the app. Allella first launched his talking gloves in 2018, at a special-needs school in south-west Kenya, and he hopes to make them available to as many children as possible worldwide. Sign-IO is just one of a growing number of assistive technology devices for people with impairments and limitations. The market, which is expected to top $30 billion dollars by 2024, is exploding as people find new ways to break down communication barriers and overcome obstacles via technology. And breaking down communication barriers of every kind, is a positive game changer for everyone. This story brought to you by Arroyo Seco Live. “Building community through creativity. SecoLive.org #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* A Solar Road Trip Recreational Vehicles cost big bucks and are often big gas guzzlers. Can you even imagine travelling across the country in an RV, without regularly fueling up at gas stations? Well, now you can, and you'll be able to get away from it all in a completely solar-powered, electric motorhome, that doesn’t leave a carbon footprint behind you. German RV company Dethleffs has built an RV prototype that is completely powered by the sun. Called the e.home, this large, Type C motorhome is covered in over 300 square feet of thin-film solar panels. The panels can generate 3000 watts of electricity, powering the vehicle for 175 miles per solar charge. It also has the significant advantage of being able to run all the extra home devices without any additional type of energy source for the vehicle. The e.home supplies all the on-board services with electricity for the living area, from its own solar power production. New technologies are also adding to the comfort, and safety of the vehicle. Built-in monitoring systems streamline vehicle operations and provide driver assistance, creating a "Smart Motorhome" that squeezes the most out of its power production. This extraordinary eco design also uses heat-releasing infrared panels in the floors, walls, and furniture and exterior heat absorbent materials that release heat inside, when the temperature drops at night outside. The luxury e.home eco RV also features a sofa lounge and dining area that converts into a bedroom, complete with starlit ceiling. Creature comforts include a sleek kitchen, toilet room, and flat-panel TV, along with a wireless charging pad for mobile devices, all powered by the sun. Dethleffs is making its e.home part of its future lineup of RVs, inspiring other manufacturers while bringing green, off-grid mobile living to a highway near you. This story brought to you by Arroyo Seco Live. “Building community through creativity. SecoLive.org #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* Homeless Tiny Homes Sadly, there are over half a million homeless people living across America with varied responses to the problem from the local communities. In San Jose, California, the local nonprofit HomeFirst came up with the idea to offer tiny homes—very tiny homes—to the homeless. The project is aimed at getting people off the streets, onto their feet and back into society. With support from the city’s Mayor Liccardo and Governor Gavin Newsome, HomeFirst teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to build a 40-unit community on vacant city property. Each tiny home is 80 square feet and contains a twin bed with storage drawers beneath it. The units are equipped with lighting, electrical outlets, smoke detectors, and locking doors. Residents also have access to shared bathrooms, showers, laundry facilities, and kitchens, plus a common room building with computers and job boards. The entire site is fenced in and provides around-the-clock security. The idea was years in the making, but in early 2020 the Maybury Bridge Housing Project was finally ready for residents. Built with volunteers from Habitat for Humanity and HomeFirst, each unit cost just $6500—a small price to pay for such a big reward. Residents stay for 60 days or until they can get into more permanent housing. They are supported with a range of services to help along the way, including healthcare resources and career counseling. Although tiny in size, these homes serve as a giant step forward for those sheltering in them. A second site is already in the works, and will offer another 40 residences to those who need it most. If this proves to be successful, San Jose will expand it to other unused industrial sites and vacant lots in the city, chipping away at homelessness--one tiny home at a time. This story brought to you by Arroyo Seco Live. “Building community through creativity. SecoLive.org #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* Super Adobe Hormuz is an island south of Iran, in the Persian Gulf. It lays claim to being an historic port that controls shipments of petroleum from the middle east. Its mountainous terrain is jagged and dramatic, full of rich, earthy color. The geography is indeed beautiful, but without sufficient tourism residents often fall prey to illegal trafficking activities, using their boats. In a unique attempt to boost the local economy and empower its residents in another direction, the Tehran based firm ZAV Architects, have built a brightly colored and visually engaging community right on the beach, with the sensational jagged mountain range as the backdrop. The multipurpose development is called ‘Majara’ and it is intended to tie together the lives of the local people and visitors, both culturally and economically. What you see from the sea is a cluster of candy-colored domes, like huge, pointy Easter eggs of multiple sizes pushed down into the sand. Over 100 of these bulbous forms are grouped together amid winding pathways. The interiors are extraordinary in their different heights and primary colors, and are beautifully simplistic and minimalist in design. The structures are made using an innovative building method called superadobe, which involves layering long fabric tubes filled with earth and other organic materials, like straw, to form a compression structure. The multicolored domes were built with the help of the local residents, who were trained in the superadobe process. This mud bag construction is well suited to the hot, arid climate, as earth-based materials are both readily available and provide wonderful thermal mass. The interiors are cool during the day as the thick earthen walls absorb the sun’s heat and then radiate it back inside at night. This successful and gorgeous eco-friendly design has won multiple architectural awards and achieved its purpose of encouraging tourism, boosting the economy and uniting the community that lives there. This story brought to you by Arroyo Seco Live. “Building community through creativity. SecoLive.org #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* Tap the Power Torrents of water flow beneath cities all over the world, creating pressure in their pipelines which must be vented. Lucid Energy in Portland, Oregon, has found a way to harness that pressure and change it into useable energy, without disrupting water delivery or the environment. The company has invented a series of water turbines, which look like giant egg beaters that are placed in large, gravity-fed pipelines. As water flows through the pipes, the turbines spin, creating renewable energy which can then be used to generate clean water or be sold back to the power company. Sensors installed in the pipes can also detect changes in water pressure, helping to predict potential burst pipes, saving millions of gallons that would otherwise be wasted. They can also monitor for contaminants in the drinking water. This system is capturing energy—free energy—that is otherwise being lost. It operates day and night and is completely independent of the weather. And since it's already enclosed, no fish or wildlife are harmed. For water utilities, which use massive amounts of electricity, this approach is a game changer that can make it cheaper to provide clean drinking water. They can either use the power themselves or sell it as a new source of revenue. Now, in places like Riverside, California and Portland, Oregon, when you turn on the tap, you are generating excess electricity that runs water operations during the day and powers the streetlights at night. With the U.S. water infrastructure due to be overhauled over the next 20 years, there's an opportunity here, to add these water turbines everywhere, creating renewable energy within existing water delivery systems. And this is just the beginning, as this technology is gaining worldwide attention, because the production of clean water and energy are so closely dependent, and are now, more sustainable. This story brought to you by Arroyo Seco Live. “Building community through creativity. SecoLive.org #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* Flip Flop Art For billions of people, colorful, rubbery flip-flops are the most affordable footwear option. But the flimsy shoes don't last long and often end up in dumps, ditches, and waterways. Millions end up in the oceans, where they can travel hundreds of miles, washing up on distant shores. On the shores of Kenya, east Africa, entrepreneur Julie Church is finding ways to turn this never-ending stream of trash into treasure. She established “Ocean Sole Africa,” a social enterprise centered on cleaning the world's oceans while also supporting impoverished families in coastal areas. In a country with a 40% unemployment rate, this Kenyan company offers a lifeline to disadvantaged and displaced workers. It hires local women, kids and fishermen to collect flip-flops from the shorelines. The discarded footwear is then washed, sterilized, and sorted by color, before being compressed and glued into giant blocks. Local artists then sculpt and sand the blocks into bright, colorful toys, animal figures, jewelry, and more. Many of the artisans are woodcarvers who were displaced when the deforestation of ebony and mahogany was outlawed. Now their artwork is helping to restore balance to nature while also supporting and building their community. The company has already recycled millions of flip-flops and contributes a portion of its revenue to beach cleanups, vocational and educational programs, and conservation efforts, wasting nothing in the process. Even the leftover rubber is shredded and made into mattresses for refugees. “Ocean Sole Africa” sells their unique upcycled creations both online and offline. They've created large sculptures for malls and businesses, and a collection even resides in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. They’ve proven that conscious entrepreneurship can turn a profit while helping people and the planet at the same time. #### This story brought to you by Arroyo Seco Live. “Building community through creativity. SecoLive.org *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* 37 MLK As California's housing crisis deepens, due to skyrocketing rents, many locals have been forced from their long-time homes and are now homeless within their own neighborhoods. But a neighborhood in Oakland shines as an example of what neighbors can do when they work together. Stefani Echeverría-Fenn walked past a vacant lot every day on her way to work for years. After learning of a friend who had lost her home due to rising rents, she became inspired and took action. She cleared the land of weeds and set up a tent for herself to show others what could be done with it. Now called 37MLK for its address, it grew into a community of long-time female residents who had lived in the area for most of their lives but could no longer afford housing. Many grew up together and knew each other. Stefani lives in an apartment nearby, but also in her tent at 37MLK, because she feels that if she can’t live there, it’s not good enough. With the support of neighboring homeowners, the site has become a homeless sanctuary complete with a solar shower, a communal kitchen and dining area, camping toilets and a pump-operated sink. Walkways between tents are lined with solar-powered lights and mini white picket fences. A garden provides fresh food, and chickens are kept for eggs and pest control. The entire area is kept clean by the resident women, while neighbors help with trash and waste disposal. Together, this community has made 37MLK a model for local lawmakers, showing how residents, with and without homes, can work and live alongside one another while much-needed affordable housing is erected. In early 2020, inspired by this success, Oakland city council allocated $600,000 to launch a pilot project based on the homeless encampment, intending to build more communities where all neighbors can care for one another. This story brought to you by Arroyo Seco Live. “Building community through creativity. SecoLive.org #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* Food from Sun and Sea How do you feed the Earth's growing population with a finite amount of land? You get smart and creative, that’s how, and that's just what the Australian company Sundrop Farms has done. Addressing the increasing human population alongside the increasing shortages of food, water and energy, this company is growing food with only sunlight and sea water, even in the desert. Their off-grid farming solution negates the effects of droughts, floods, and other weather challenges, without using soil, fossil fuels, groundwater, pesticides, or GMOs. Sundrop Farms chose to focus on what resources were abundant, to come up with food growing solutions. Starting in the coastal Australian desert, they’ve utilized the abundance of sunshine and sea water. Their hi-tech greenhouses integrate solar power, electricity generation, fresh water production and hydroponics that can produce 37,000 pounds of food a year on just 49 acres. The entire operation is powered by a solar tower that creates 39 megawatts of electricity on a sunny day, enough to run the entire farm. The crops are grown hydroponically with a million gallons of sea water that is pumped in daily, desalinated, and enriched with coconut husks and sustainably-sourced nutrients. Sea water is also a natural disinfectant and pest control, eliminating the need for pesticides. Leftover water is returned to the sea, further reducing the farm's environmental impact. The success of Sundrop Farms in Australia has allowed them to expand to other countries, where they’re building farms to meet the needs of local supermarkets. Their unique eco-friendly process doesn’t compete with, but rather compliments, other local food production. Using smart innovation while caring for the health of our planet, they are breaking farming’s dependence chemicals and finite resources and that equals a long term, win-win solution for all. This story brought to you by Arroyo Seco Live. “Building community through creativity. SecoLive.org #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* Flip Flop Art For billions of people, colorful, rubbery flip-flops are the most affordable footwear option. But the flimsy shoes don't last long and often end up in dumps, ditches, and waterways. Millions end up in the oceans, where they can travel hundreds of miles, washing up on distant shores. On the shores of Kenya, east Africa, entrepreneur Julie Church is finding ways to turn this never-ending stream of trash into treasure. She established “Ocean Sole Africa,” a social enterprise centered on cleaning the world's oceans while also supporting impoverished families in coastal areas. In a country with a 40% unemployment rate, this Kenyan company offers a lifeline to disadvantaged and displaced workers. It hires local women, kids and fishermen to collect flip-flops from the shorelines. The discarded footwear is then washed, sterilized, and sorted by color, before being compressed and glued into giant blocks. Local artists then sculpt and sand the blocks into bright, colorful toys, animal figures, jewelry, and more. Many of the artisans are woodcarvers who were displaced when the deforestation of ebony and mahogany was outlawed. Now their artwork is helping to restore balance to nature while also supporting and building their community. The company has already recycled millions of flip-flops and contributes a portion of its revenue to beach cleanups, vocational and educational programs, and conservation efforts, wasting nothing in the process. Even the leftover rubber is shredded and made into mattresses for refugees. “Ocean Sole Africa” sells their unique upcycled creations both online and offline. They've created large sculptures for malls and businesses, and a collection even resides in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. They’ve proven that conscious entrepreneurship can turn a profit while helping people and the planet at the same time. This story brought to you by Arroyo Seco Live. “Building community through creativity. SecoLive.org #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

GN 7.2 ForOneSmile by Mandy Stapleford

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* Teaching Empathy Empathy: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another. Empathy is vital for a civilized society to thrive, yet it is not necessarily instinctive and sometimes needs to be taught. In Denmark, a nation that has consistently been voted the happiest in terms of the quality of life for its citizens, empathy is taught in schools from a very young age. Introduced in 1993, a mandatory program called “Step by Step”, begins as early as pre-school. Children are not born with racism or hate or suspicion, they learn those terrible traits from society. So why not teach them how to stay kind instead? “Step by Step” shows kids images of other kids in different emotional states; sadness, anger, fear, frustration, happiness, confusion and so on. The students then talk about what they see, what the other child is feeling and what they think it would feel like to themselves. They learn the life-affirming skills of how to read facial expressions and body language of problem solving, self-control and of course, empathy. Teaching non-judgement is also essential, they are to simply recognize the emotions they see and respect those sentiments. The Danish go even further with an anti-bullying programs that encourage kids to talk about bullying and teasing and to learn to become more caring to each other. It has yielded such positive results that 98% of teachers say they would recommend it to other institutions. And it has been proven that empathy is one of the most important factors in fostering successful leaders, entrepreneurs, managers and businesses. While history, science and math are important, the Danish understand that empathy is a necessary life skill that will empower a person and take them farther in life than numbers and facts ever will. This story brought to you by Arroyo Seco Live, building community through creativity. SecoLive.org. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* “Via Verde” While there are multiple ways to combat air pollution, some ways just aren’t as feasible, especially when trying to combat it in one of the world’s most congested cities. Mexico City, populated by almost 9 million people, has gotten innovative and greener at the same time. In 2017, A Change.org petition was started to gauge if the public would support the “Via Verde” or “Green Way”. It was developed by Fernando Ortiz Monasterio from the firm “Verde Vertical". The project received an unprecedented level of support by gaining 80,000 signatures in just one week. Though also approved by the government, this project is unique for its scale as it is all privately funded. A group of eligible Corporations came together to invest a whopping $15.1 Million into this environmentally and life-changing endeavor. Via Verde uses the concept of vertical gardening to transform their highway pillars into air-cleansing and people-pleasing monoliths. Covering over 1000 gray concrete columns, these hanging gardens use plants that are resistant to the elements; have low water consumption and air cleansing properties. The highway pillars are first covered in prefabricated panels, which still allow the pillars to be serviced. The plants are watered naturally by the rain as well as by a monitored, automated, and a remote controlled micro-spraying system, which only employs treated and reclaimed rainwater. This is win-win enterprise on multiple levels. The special felt for the seedlings is made from recycled plastic bottles, and this venture enlists inmates at two of the cities prisons as part of a work-experience rehabilitation program. Via Verde has also created hundreds of jobs through the projects’ design, installation, and maintenance. In Mexico City, bringing nature back is helping clear the air while at the same time, creating a more beautiful and mentally peaceful urban commute. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* "Street Store" We’ve all seen the homeless rummaging in bins and trash cans to find not only food but often, much needed clothing. Clothing for the homeless has long been an issue, and now a dignified solution has been invented. The Street Store was founded by Kayli Lee Levitan and Max Pazak of the public relations firm, M&C Saatchi Abel. The two co-workers witnessed from their office balcony in the trendy neighborhood of Greenpoint, South Africa, a daily divide in the street below between those with resources and those without. This led them to a partnership with the Haven Night Shelter, and The Street Store charity was born. Street Store is a rent-free, building free, pop-up clothing store that is organized and worked by volunteers, to give clothing to the homeless absolutely free of charge. It’s unique, in that the company created downloadable, open source graphics to make posters and cardboard hangers to advertise and display the clothes professionally. For many homeless it’s the first respectable ‘shopping’ experience they’ve ever had. The first Street Store was set up in Cape Town, South Africa in January of 2014, and was supposed to be a one-time event. It was advertised on social media with requests for donations of clothes. That event resulted in over 1,000 bags of clothing being given away that day. That first success led to The Street Store concept going global. As of late 2019, pop-up Street Stores have been opened in over 500 locations in over 200 cities around the globe. Today, anyone can download the artwork and host their own Street Store. It is a perfect example of how an observation, an idea and a little ingenuity can lead to a decreasing the gap between the haves and have-nots, which leads to a better world for us all. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* BUS STOP BEES Honey Bees are one of the most important pollinators on the planet. Unfortunately, Honey Bee populations are declining due to human interference on many levels. But there’s a news buzz of hope on the horizon in Europe… In Utrecht, Holland, they’ve taken the declining bee population problem into their own hands or should I say, over their bus stops! The City of Utrecht has planted the roofs of their bus stops with Sedum, as a way to help the honey bee and bumble bee populations. Sedum are bee friendly succulents which are easy to grow and improve air quality. Last year the Dutch Government introduced this Pollinator Strategy in an attempt to revive the bee, butterfly, and other insect populations which are necessary for more than 75% of the country’s edible crops. Not only do the buzzing bus stops aid in recovering the bee population, but they also aid in improving the city environment by capturing fine dust, reducing noise and absorbing carbon. The new roofs also store rainwater, and provide cooling in the summer. The buzzing bus stops are maintained by city workers who go from one stop to the next via electric vehicles. These environmentally friendly hubs have also been equipped with energy efficient LED lights and sustainable bamboo benches. As of late 2019, Utrecht had 10 electric busses in service with a plan to have all their busses emission-free by the year 2028. The city is also encouraging its residents to alter their home roofs to be buzz-worthy and bio-diverse by offering available eco-funding to do so. Utrecht’s long-term plan is to create a more sustainable city, and a model that others can easily replicate. Improving the lives of the pollinators, the people and the planet, one buzzing green roof at a time! #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* GERMAN WATER TRAINS While public transportation is an essential part of a cleaner world, when it comes to trains, most of them run on diesel which emit greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide. But nowthere is an amazing eco-alternative. So all aboard… Germany is one of the first countries working towards eliminating emissions completely from their rail service, as they’ve recently introduced the world’s first zero emission, hydrogen powered passenger train. In 2017, 14 trains called the Coradia iLint were purchased by Germany from the company Alstom. It is expected that 14 more zero-emissions trains will be in service by 2021. France is anticipating having its first zero-emission train by 2022. The new hydrogen powered railcars are equipped with fuel cells, which produce electricity through a combination of hydrogen and oxygen. Where traditionally trains would emit pollution due to being diesel powered, hydrogen trains only emit harmless steam and water—any excess energy not used is stored in ion-lithium batteries on board the train for future consumption. The bright blue Coradia iLint trains can run on an electrified railway, for about 600 miles on one tank of hydrogen, which is comparable to the diesel version. This technology is not only greener, but a much quieter alternative. The hydrogen train is slightly more costly up front than the diesel version, but in the long run operations are less expensive. Hydrogen is the lightest element on the periodic table and it is also the most abundant chemical in the universe. These trains are a good option for nations that have limited petroleum reserves—as well as for the U.S. which already produces a large amount of Hydrogen annually. The hydrogen powered train is high performing, smart alternative to traditional rail travel and the first of its kind to be sustainable too. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* CANCER K9S Cancer is going to the dogs. While canines are often used to sniff out drugs and bombs, researchers are now using them to nose out certain types of cancer. A British organization called Medical Detection Dogs is conducting one of the largest clinical trials of canine cancer detection. In the studies, trained dogs circle a carousel of blood serum samples containing both normal and malignant ones. The canines were able to sniff out the cancerous ones with 97% accuracy, better than some traditional lab tests. A dog's nose has about 300 million sensors compared with a human's 5 million. Dogs also have a second smelling device known as a Jacobson's organ, essentially giving them two noses. This double smelling system makes them 10,000 times more sensitive than humans, and allows them to detect cancer's unique odor signatures called volatile organic compounds. These signatures are contained in a person's sweat, breath, urine, and other bodily fluids. With such powerful sniffers, certain dogs can identify colon cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and melanomas. Until now, most reports of canines detecting cancer were anecdotal. The study's findings confirm these stories and will hopefully reduce or eliminate expensive, invasive screening. "I absolutely believe that dogs can detect cancer,” says Cynthia Otto, director of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine Working Dog Center. “The bigger question is how we will use them in the battle to fight cancer?” Scientists are still working on how to implement dogs in clinical practice and on a broader scale. Possibilities include using them in conjunction with traditional diagnostic tests or creating something entirely new, such as an "electronic nose" that could imitate a dog's powerful smelling abilities. One thing remains clear: man's best friend is proving to be man's greatest ally as well, in the fight against cancer. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* AVOCADO FORK From pit to plastic A Mexican company has created a pollution solution from its most favorite fruit. BIOFASE (Bee-o Fassa) offers a line of cutlery and straws created from avocado pits. Founder Scott Munguia came up with the idea while studying chemical engineering. He observed that avocado seeds have a molecular structure similar to corn, which is often used in bioplastics but is expensive and it’s a useable food. His home country of Mexico produces half of the world's avocado supply but leaves a waste product of millions of seeds. Munguia theorized a solution and set about finding a way to make low-cost biopolymers from the discarded pits. A year and a half later, his business had created resins that can be mixed into plastics making them more compostable. The resulting products are strong, tolerant to heat and cold, and designed to biodegrade in just 240 days rather than the 10 to 10,000 years normal plastics take to decompose. They break down without needing to be separated for recycling and have a lower carbon footprint. These avocado alternatives are also affordable, selling for the same price as their traditional counterparts. The company ships its cutlery and straws to over 19 countries worldwide. While that's only a drop in the bucket of the 6-billion-dollar plastics industry, what makes BIOFASE extraordinary is how they take local waste and transform into something sustainable and profitable. What's next for the award-winning Mexican startup? "Our company aims to become an international leader in the development and distribution of bioplastics," says Munguia, who is back in the lab, finding more ways to turn food waste into useful products. He hopes other types of biomass can help replace plastics globally. Until then, he's building a better world now, one avocado pit at a time. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* MEDITATION EDUCATION You've heard the term "mind over matter," but how about mind over detention? In America, schools nationwide are replacing detention and discipline with mindfulness programs and meditation, garnering some amazing results: suspensions have been cut in half, attendance is up and so are grade point averages. How? By teaching children to recognize and deal with stress before it becomes a disciplinary issue in the first place. In Baltimore, Maryland seventeen schools are participating in the Mindful Moment Program. Classrooms are guided through daily breathing and meditation, during 15-minute recorded sessions. Teachers are taught how to check in with students for emotional issues throughout the day, and help them practice mindfulness skills when they're having a rough time. Overwhelmed students can request a break in the "Mindful Moment Room" or be sent there. Instructors talk to each child and help them engage in mindfulness practices, including breathing exercises and yoga. Many of the staff are former students themselves and can relate firsthand to the issues the children face. The goal is to help kids identify and process their emotions, rather than bury them or lash out. Studies show a mindfulness approach reduces problematic responses to stress. Outbursts and tantrums are down and teaching minutes are up with students of all ages. Parents are getting in on the act too as many kids are teaching them to breathe out their stress and tension. The impact has been especially felt in urban communities where stress levels are high and in the long term can affect a child's ability to focus and learn. Teaching children mindfulness skills at a young age will serve them and benefit all far beyond the classroom and into adulthood, leading to better choices and a more peaceful existence. And that’s good news for a peaceful planet. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* THE ABILITY APP From disability to ability, with an app. Holding a job, running errands, or just going out to dinner can be challenging for those with disabilities. An Idaho teenager hopes to avert those challenges through the power of an app. Alex Knoll was just nine years old in 2014 when he came up with the idea while watching a man in a wheelchair struggle to open a heavy door. He wondered if there was an app or website that could’ve told him what stores around the area had automatic doors. But there weren't any, so Alex set out to build one. Four years later, Alex’s "Ability App" was nearly finished. It’s designed so that the disabled and their caregivers can search for accessibility features of local businesses such as wheelchair ramps, disabled parking, braille menus and more. After an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Alex was flooded with thousands of emails saying how life-changing this groundbreaking app would be for them. Ellen also helped fund his project and hooked him up with her App team. His TV appearance then lead to an invite to Apple for their Keynote conference. As of mid 2019, the app was in its early Phase 1 stage. Phase 2 will include services such as in-home care, grocery delivery, transportation, and occupational therapy. Phase 3 will add employment listings as well as reviews from users. Alex has also recruited over 800 volunteer "Ability Ambassadors," people that help identify and rate local communities on their accessibility. The idea is to create a digital ecosystem similar to Yelp, for those with disabilities. As Alex nears completion of the Ability App, he says he can't wait to share this amazing tool with the world… well, neither can we. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* BIO-GAS They say that one man's trash is another man's treasure, and now it’s also another’s power. Garbage collection comes at a high cost, environmentally speaking, due to the colossal amount of fossil fuels trash trucks require. But what if their load became their power as well? The city of Toronto is in the process of converting their entire garbage truck fleet to run on Biogas. Their newly-constructed Dufferin Solid Waste Management Facility is state-of-the-art, and it uses anaerobic digestion to convert food scraps and other compostables, into Bio-gas. It then transforms it into renewable natural gas called RNG. RNG can then be injected into the natural gas grid and be used to fuel vehicles, provide electricity, and heat homes and businesses. According to city officials, RNG generated from food waste is actually considered to be carbon-negative. The amount of RNG burned is offset by the savings of traditional fossil fuel and by keeping organics out of the landfill. In March of 2020, 170 Toronto garbage trucks will run their pickup routes on a mixture of standard natural gas and RNG. Eventually they’ll go full RNG once the pilot program has worked out any kinks. Trash trucks will pick up and deliver food scraps to the waste facility and then immediately fill up their fuel tanks with RNG before heading out to collect more trash. The trucks will essentially be fueled by what they pick up, creating a constant supply of fuel. This closed-loop, renewable energy project is one of the first of its kind in Canada and North America. It's also a double win, allowing Toronto to reduce its carbon footprint and save money on fuel at the same time. The project is part of the city's Long-Term Waste Management Strategy, which strives to save energy by creating it, while reducing carbon emissions, which leads to a healthier world for us all. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* GAMING FOR PEACE Gaming is everywhere—from cell phones, to video consoles, to tablets, etc. While the majority of games tend to be violent, one young man has developed a game that teaches peace. When Lual Mayan saw his first laptop at the age of twelve, he knew what he wanted. He lived in a refugee camp in northern Uganda, with no schooling and no power, but that didn't stop him from dreaming of doing something more. Noticing his interest, his mother worked for three years mending clothes so she could buy him a used laptop. Lual taught himself computer programming and game development all while walking three hours a day to charge his computer. His first game is called "Salaam," which means peace, and it tells his personal story of survival. The objective is to help the refugees in the game flee falling bombs, find water, and gain energy points to stay alive and thrive, while the environment transitions from war to peace. The main character is based on his mother who never gave up on his dreams. Since its release, Salaam has caught worldwide attention. It leads the way in a new category of games called "social impact gaming" that teaches users positive skills such as empathy building and conflict resolution. This game also raises money through the sale in-app items, whose profits are then directed to grassroots organizations at refugee camps making real, positive impact where it is needed most. The game's success has also allowed Lual to immigrate to the United States, where he's now the CEO of his own software company, Junub Games. Lual says, “As someone who has been through war, I feel like if I can make a game about peace, I can change the mindset of people." And that is just what he is doing - teaching others how to win through peace, not war, both in games and in real life. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* BIOLOGICAL BUILDING Historically, ‘sustainability’ is not a word often associated with the construction industry, and the impact of traditional building methods on our planet are huge considering their sheer scale. The addition of vertical gardens on building facades is one beautiful and eco-friendly way to green-up architecture. But this type of added feature can be difficult to maintain and require complicated supporting structures. Researchers in Barcelona, Spain have invented a simple and elegant solution in the form of living concrete. This biological material has multiple layers that allow for the growth of plants on the outside of a building, without sacrificing strength and durability of its structure. The concrete's top layer is acidic, which allows certain mosses and fungi to grow on it. It's also permeable and absorbs moisture that can feed the organisms. The base layer is waterproof and protects the building from wind, water, and other elements. The results are an aesthetically pleasing layer of vegetation that serves both form and function. It insulates the building, captures rain water, and regulates the building's temperature, saving energy on heating and cooling costs. Structural supports aren't required as the vegetation grows in the concrete itself, without damaging the building. The moss and lichen that grow clean the air by absorbing carbon dioxide and omitting oxygen, providing the purifying effect of several acres of forests. This living concrete requires very few changes to existing construction methods, and no special tools or training. What it does require is a temperate, Mediterranean-like climate for the mosses and fungi to thrive in. Too far north, and the vegetation will freeze. Too far south, and it will burn. Though not a universal solution, living concrete is a significant step toward designing better building materials that result in beautiful and literal ‘green’ buildings, bringing nature back to the urban world, and doing a world of good. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* FOR THE LOVE OF LAKES 32-year-old Indian activist, Arun Krishnamurthy, has always had an affinity for the water. Growing up in an Indian neighborhood surrounded by rivers and lakes, he watched with concern as India's waterways became more and more polluted. He was so alarmed that he quit his comfortable job at Google to take on the problem himself. He started the Environmentalist Foundation of India which specializes in cleaning, restoring and aerating the country's water bodies. The organization works with local communities and governments to clean waterways of trash and over-growth. Each project is unique and may require a variety of strategies including dredging and deepening ponds and lakes, strengthening their embankments, and in some cases, fencing them for protection. As of 2019, the foundation has restored 93 lakes across 14 states. Efforts are funded entirely by donations and volunteers. Arun says educating the locals and winning their hearts and minds is the key to the entire process. If they feel connected and they care, it’s easy. Arun reminds them that “The idea is not to point fingers, but to do something about it.” With nearly 65% of India's reservoirs running dry over the past several years, environmental efforts are more important than ever, and they are most effective when you start by educating the young. To that end, Arun has implemented kids' programs to make conservation fun and interesting. One of these projects is "Cycle Lakes" which offers weekend bicycle tours to lakes and habitats for children to connect with nature, stay fit, and develop a passion for the environment. Arun Krishnamurthy's plans for the future include working with the neighboring country of Bhutan which already has strong conservation models in place. He is committed toward his vision to clean and restore as many waterways as he can, both in his own country and beyond. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* FREE FOOD FOREST More than 23 million people in America live in "food deserts"—low-income areas, mostly in cities, that lack access to fresh, whole foods. Without healthy foods, these populations are at a higher risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease and depression. The city of Atlanta, Georgia is changing that reality by transforming 7 acres of unused land into the nation's largest food forest. The Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill was once a farm. After a business deal fell through, a conservation group bought it and eventually sold it to the city. Now it's a public park and garden with walking trails and gathering places. It’s also an educational space where volunteers and students tend crops of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and herbs. For many, it’s their first time interacting with food right from the ground. The land already had a pecan orchard, black walnut trees, muscadine grapes and blackberry brambles. Now, figs, nectarines, plums, apples, pears, pomegranates, cherries and native pawpaws have also been added. There are beehives, medicinal herbs and mushroom beds too. The public is encouraged to forage for whatever they want, and it’s all for free. There are only two rules, don’t take more than you need, and don’t pick it if it isn’t ripe. This project is a landmark step in addressing Atlanta's food deserts. The city's ultimate goal is to strengthen the local food economy, and the health of its residents, by ensuring that 85 percent of its dwellers are within a half mile of fresh food by 2021. This Urban Food Forest is the first in Georgia and the largest in the United States, but it's not the only one. There are now over 70 food forests nationwide, and growing. Access to fresh food can now be a soothing walk in the park, bringing residents closer to good health and the planet, and its amazing abundance. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* ALGAE TILES Industrial wastewater is a hazard to everyone, and finding ways to clean it before it harms the local community is challenging. Enter Indian Architect, Shneel Malik and her invention,” Indus”, with its Bio-Integrated Design, or Bio-ID tile system. She has created ceramic tiles that are designed to clean dyes and toxic metals from wastewater. This system is specifically geared toward artisans in countries like India, where water is most often toxic. Local small-scale jewelry makers and textile dyers rely on water from natural streams nearby, which are heavily contaminated with cadmium, lead, and arsenic—a problem created by those industries themselves. Indus offers an affordable way for local artisans to reclaim their waste water and reuse it to create their crafts. The modular, clay tiles are designed to emulate the veins of leaves, distributing water evenly. Their narrow channels are filled with a micro algae suspended in a gel. Waste water is poured over the tiles and runs through the channels where the algae cleans it through bio-remediation, destroying contaminants and purifying the water in a sustainable way. The pollutants are trapped and stored within the algae cells. Once saturated, the algae can be replaced and the base tiles can be reused. The modular tiles fit together to form a wall which can be adjusted to any size and need. They are quite attractive too, shaped like fanned Ginkgo leaves that fit together. While still in its early stages, initial results are promising, yielding significant reductions of heavy metals. A second phase of Indus is in the works, where the hydrogel is processed to not only remove the heavy metals from the algae cells, but recycle them too. Eventually, the team wants to tailor the tiles with specific kinds of algae to trap different kinds of metals, adapting the tiles to the specific needs of different industries around the world. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* FREE LAUNDRY FOR THE HOMELESS When we think of the needs of the homeless, most people think of food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters. But homeless people have many other needs just like everyone else, like finding a place to shower or a cheap place to wash their clothes. As a former social worker, laundromat owner Samuel Van De Cruze, recognized these challenges firsthand. “Clean clothes and bedding are necessities to function and be healthy—almost as important as food and shelter,” he says. Van De Cruze realized he was in a position to help. It started as an Easter gift to the local community. He offered his laundry services, free of charge, to a local homeless shelter. Each evening for a week, he and his staff picked up the laundry, washed, dried and folded it, then returned it by 7 a.m. the next morning. This gave families time to dress in clean clothes for school, job training or job- and house-hunting. All in all, Van De Cruze ended up washing a thousand pounds of laundry, saving 75 families about $5000 that they could use elsewhere for food and other essentials. Through his simple act of kindness, Van De Cruz connected with those in need by addressing a basic need. He saved the families money and gave them clean clothes. And he also gave them the gift of time, which they could use to help find themselves a job, go to classes, or look for a permanent home. Van De Cruze acknowledges that he’s runs a business that has to turn a profit, so he cannot do this all the time. But he serves as an example of simple, real world assistance that makes an immediate impact. And funding laundry for the homeless is something anyone can do any time, at laundry marts nationwide. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* THE MILKMAN COMETH As consumers become more aware of the damage plastics do to the environment, more people are turning to a blast from the past—the milkman, and his delivered glass bottles. The trend is surging across Great Britain, particularly among the Millennials. Dairies in London have noted a remarkable upsurge in interest from younger consumers, amid growing public concerns about plastic waste. Paul Lough, of Parker Dairies in East London, says the recent interest in glass bottles has been “absolutely phenomenal”. And UK company Milk & More says it has gained more than 2,500 new customers in the last month, of which 90 percent of them are ordering their milk in the iconic glass bottles. The return to glass isn't isolated to the UK. Across the pond in the U.S., milk in glass bottles can be found in some supermarkets and ordered through smaller dairies that deliver to big cities. But a return to glass does have its challenges. The bottles need to be used at least twenty times to have a significant environmental impact. A deposit is often required, the milk costs more and there's always the chance of breakage and...spilt milk, which is one of the very reasons companies went to plastic in the first place. On the bright side, a reused bottle can be 2 to 3 years old and have been used up to 70 times, and that’s a lot of plastic that did not get tossed away. But whether consumers are making the change for nostalgic or environmental reasons, the return to classic milkmen and glass bottles may be here to stay, merging the old with the new. Patrick Müller, managing director of Milk & More, believes that the surge of the traditional milkman deliveries, also offers communities opportunity for more products, like locally sourced produce. Creating a new nostalgia, for the modern consumer. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* TUTUS IN THE HOOD Ballerina Aesha Ash is on a mission, to help change the often demoralizing, objectified images of African-American women, and she’s doing it in a tutu. Her ‘Swan Dreams Project’ is aimed at promoting diversity in the arts through imagery. Ash learned just how effective photographs could be when she was a student at the School of American Ballet. After especially long, tough days of training, she would gain inspiration and courage by looking at photos of the black ballet dancer Andrea Long. The power of those images spurred her to create her own to help young women of color see new possibilities. So, after dancing professionally in the New York City Ballet for thirteen years, Ash decided to take her tutus and ballet slippers to another stage—the inner-city streets of Rochester, New York where she grew up. Her goal was to dispel some of the myths about women of color through ballet. The resulting photographs have gone viral— Ash in full tutu, posing en pointe before a porch full of young people, Ash teaching a pose to two young girls on the sidewalk, and Ash dancing on a basketball court while a game continues behind her. It is a visual conversation between the streets and the fine arts, highlighting her surroundings and the people around her just as much as they highlight the ballerina herself. The excessive positive response from her photo shoots have been remarkable. Ash wants her ‘Swan Dreams Project’ to encourage younger generations not to give up on their dreams, especially if those dreams involve tutus. She offers free dance lessons for children at her daughter’s school and has participated in nonprofits that mentor young women. Aesha Ash has a message to future ballerinas, of all colors: “I want to show the world, that beauty and grace, are not defined by status or race.” #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* FROM WASTELAND TO WONDERLAND In 1969 fried-chicken tycoon J. David Bamberger had a novel idea: to buy the worst piece of land he could find in the hill country of Texas and restore it back to being one of the best. Inspired by his mother, an early environmentalist, Bamburger began one of the largest restoration projects in the state. He named this 5,500 acre swathmthe Selah Bamberger Ranch Preserve. The land was overrun with brush and totally devoid of water. Seven wells were drilled without finding a drop. But the hills were full of honeycombed limestone, which could act as natural aquifers under the right conditions. Culling out overgrowth and planting native grasses proved to be the key to rejuvenating the landscape, and streams began to flow where none had been before. Fifty years later Selah is full of grassy hills and wildflower meadows. Countless springs, ponds, and lakes grace the property supporting the ranch, an abundance of wildlife and the five families who live there. The waters also feed into the Perdenales and Colorado Rivers, providing more water for the city of Austin. Increasingly, the ranch's most important guests are the children who come for outdoor fun and learning, and to experience what Bamberger, now 91 years old, calls “Selah Moments”—the opportunity for the next generation to pause and reflect, while surrounded by nature. Now Bamburger is looking toward the future, slowly donating the land piece by piece to a foundation that will continue long after he is gone. Selah means "to stop and reflect," which is what visitors do when they view the land's stunning transformation. Bamberger’s ranch has received the nation’s highest awards for land stewardship. And this early visionary has a message for us: “Given the chance, nature can heal itself,” he says. “Nature can heal us.” #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* ROMAN THE RESCUER Roman McConn of Augusta, Georgia is not your typical seven-year-old. Every weekend, he visits animal shelters with his mother where he gets to know unwanted pets. He then makes videos with them and uses the internet to introduce the animals to potential owners, urging people to adopt them. The idea started in 2016 when Roman was just 4 years old, and he noticed dogs in need of adoption outside of a PetSmart and wanted to do something more. That "something more" has grown into ‘Project Freedom Ride’, an organization that rescues pets from high-kill shelters in Texas and Georgia, and matches them to forever homes in the Pacific Northwest. The process from kill-shelter to final placement typically takes about a month. Local rescue groups pull at-risk animals from kill-shelters and collect strays off the streets. The animals are then placed in foster care and put through health and behavior assessments to ensure that they're fit to adopt. Once cleared, they can be matched to loving homes through direct adoption, or transferred to no-kill shelters in the northwest. Funded entirely by donations, Project Freedom Ride spends $25,000 a month transporting dogs across the country. So far, over 1500 dogs and over 50 cats have been saved. Every single animal Roman has made a video with has been adopted, including one guinea pig named "Nibbles." Roman was recently recognized by the SPCA as "Kid of the Year." He was also a guest on the Ellen show, where he received a $20,000 donation. Roman is very optimistic. "I want to get every dog in the world adopted," he said. "I think we might be able to do it in the next 15 years or so." While a dog may be known as man’s best friend, we now know, that a homeless dog’s best friend, is a kid named Roman. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* PLARN Plastic bags have a huge impact on our planet. Over a hundred billion are used every year worldwide. Each bag takes five hundred years to degrade, releasing chemicals that contaminate our environment as they break down and cause harm to marine animals who often mistake them food. But what if you could keep these bags out of the landfill and turn them into something that helps others? High school students in Denver, Colorado are doing just that by recycling grocery bags into "plarn", or plastic yarn, which can then be crocheted into blankets and mats to help the homeless. The students got their inspiration from a group of women called "Bev's Bag Brigade" who have been making the bag mats since 2009. The kids decided to get in on the act and the Lakewood Plarn Club was created. Soon, the teenagers were churning out plastics mats of their own. The idea itself isn't new. At one time, people recycled bread bags and other plastics into crocheted floor rugs and even slippers. But now a new generation is discovering plarn and its many uses. “You take plastic bags and you cut them into strips, and you tie those strips together and that makes this thing called plarn, plastic bag yarn,” says teenager Shelby Tillema, who founded the club. Once the plarn is made, the students use large hooks to crochet it into sleeping mats. The mats are comfortable, soft, very long-lasting and water-resistant. You can find instructions for plarn and its uses on crochet websites such as Ravelry. You can even find a group near you—or start your own. It's a great community project for people of all ages, from kids to the elderly, teaching everyone, through creativity, to care for the environment as well as each other. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* HEDONISTIC SUSTAINABILITY Skiing is big in Denmark even though the country’s landscape happens to be flatter than a pancake. Most enthusiasts travel elsewhere to enjoy their sport, but now Copenhagen offers a ‘powerful’ and unique alternative. The city’s newest powerplant doubles as a mountain climbing wall, a hiking trail and a ski slope. The designer, Danish architect Bjarke Ingels’ goal was to redefine the relationship between the waste plant and the city, providing a social as well as physical infrastructure. Hedonistic Sustainability is the idea that living sustainably should be enjoyable for all. It’s called "Copenhill", and this huge glass and mirrored structure features a 2,000-foot-long ski slope and the tallest climbing wall in the world. Construction took 8 years and cost 660 million dollars. The power plant processes 400,000 tons of waste each year using furnaces, turbines and steam, yet it can be operated by just two engineers. It runs 24 hours a day and produces enough energy to heat 160,000 homes with enough power for 60,000 more. It also uses clean emission technology so it’s safe to be around. Developers hope to see 300,000 visitors a year, turning the public utility into a popular destination that is both affordable and profitable. Access to the ski slope costs $22 an hour or $366 for a full season pass. A recreation area with water sports, soccer fields, and a go-kart track also surrounds the building. The developers went the extra mile too, covering Copenhill's ski slope with a knobby plastic grass that's coated to simulate the perfect winter conditions, allowing this "green slope" to be used year-round. And fans of Copenhill claim that the course surprisingly has the perfect friction for all levels. Copenhagen continues to work toward their ambitious goal of becoming the world’s first zero-carbon city by 2025, building in fun, along the way. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* COMPOST CITY Often real change takes place only when we take matters into our own hands. That’s exactly what New Yorker Kate Zidar decided on instead of waiting for her local government to step up for her city neighborhood. In the early 2000’s Kate had been volunteering at a community garden in Brooklyn. She discovered that the garden they had been tending was plagued with toxic soil. Kate’s focus then became replacing the top layer of soil so her group could safely grow food. Composting food scraps is the easy and natural way to create new nutrient rich soil which doesn’t need chemical fertilizers. Kate wrote to the Parks Commissioner and sent him a flower bulb in hopes that she’d garner his attention and approval for a community composting pile. When, after many weeks, she received no response, Kate commenced with her plan anyway. When people would ask her what the commissioner thought of the project, she’d just respond, “He knows about it”. At first it was just Kate bringing her scraps to the 55-gallon barrels in the garden, and then local passersby started bringing their scraps, and before you knew it of families were bringing their scraps—and instead of it being Kate’s Project, it became a collective. The idea had spread like wildfire, and compost piles started sprouting up all over Brooklyn. By 2013 Mayor Bloomberg’s government finally took notice and announced it would move towards a city wide, curbside compost program. Nourishing the earth’s soils while keeping food waste out of landfills is a win-win for all, it just has to start somewhere with someone. It was author Margaret Mead who correctly said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* TREES INSTEAD OF TOMBSTONES Worldwide, death services is a 20 billion dollar industry. Most people don't like to think about death let alone its environmental impact on the Earth. Embalming fluids, caskets, and other aspects of traditional burials take a toll on nature on a large scale. So how can we make our last foot print on Earth an environmentally-friendly one? A San Francisco startup has a unique answer that also protects an endangered Redwood Forest. ‘Better Place Forests’ offers its customers trees instead of tombstones. Clients claim a particular tree and scatter their loved one's ashes there. The location is reserved for them in a protected forest with conservation easements that prevent the land from ever being commercially developed. Each tree is marked with a placard so that mourners can easily find their loved ones. And this forest has 21st century technology, with each placard containing memory chips which visitors can scan to watch a digital memorial of the deceased talking about his or her life. Founder Sandy Gibson came up with the idea after years of dealing with his parents' less-than-stellar cemetery arrangements. His fondest memories of them were in nature—not the busy city street they were buried near—a place he did not enjoy visiting to pay his respects. He just knew there had to be a better option so he and some friends decided to redesign the entire end of life experience. They purchased a large chunk of Redwood Forest on the California coast and they are now accepting reservations for plots. You can also request a bio-degradable urn with seeds for a new tree. There are currently over a million acres of cemeteries in the United States alone. Using the laws that protect cemeteries from destruction, Gibson's goal is to protect a million acres of forests instead. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* DOG FORESTING Watch out Johnny Appleseed, there's a new kid…or rather dogs…in town, and they're part of an effort to reseed central Chile. In 2017 forest fires devastated the El Maule region, with over 100 fires scorching over a million acres and taking animal and human lives. Though fire is often part of the natural life cycle of a forest, the recovery process can take years across such a vast area. Two local sisters came up with an ingenious solution to speed up the forests’ recovery process. Francisca and Constanza Torres use their trained border collies to spread seeds through the burnt forests encouraging flora, and hopefully fauna, back into them. The dogs frolic through the woods with specially designed packs of seeds strapped to their backs. Seeds sprinkle out along the way and take root in the damaged areas. Choosing the right dog breed was important. Border Collies are used to herd sheep and are less likely to be distracted by forest animals than other breeds. The operation has a low carbon footprint while giving the dogs and their handlers plenty of fun and exercise. The dogs are faster and more efficient than humans, and can spread twenty pounds of seed over eighteen miles a day. It's a simple and low-cost solution that the sisters, who run a dog training facility, currently pay for out of their own pockets. And their labor of love is beginning to pay off, as they are beginning to see new growth on the forest floor, and animals are making a return to the burnt woods. So far, the dogs Das, age six, and her two pups, Summer and Olivia, have re-seeded over fifteen forests. They run, jump and dart back and forth, loving their job, all while returning the forest back to life. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* "WHERE THE RUBBER IS THE ROAD" We’ve all hit and cursed a pot-hole somewhere along our travels. Pot-holes are everywhere, and repairing them is costly and time consuming. The majority of road damage is caused by bad weather which weakens the surface and then, compounded by constant traffic, creates cracks, potholes, and other issues. But what if roads could repair themselves before becoming a hazard for vehicles? And what if they were economical and environmentally friendly as well? Mexican civil engineering student Israel Antonio Briseño Carmona, has created a self-healing pavement that works with the weather. His new invention called “Paflec", uses recycled tire rubber and other additives that are formed into a putty. When the mixture comes into contact with water it becomes malleable and expands and fills in any cracks, keeping the surface smooth and less likely to be damaged. The invention won him the James Dyson Award, an international award that challenges students to design something that solves a problem. Briseño's inspiration came from a simple question: Why do potholes appear every time it rains? He learned that when water filters down to the subbase of pavement, it creates a fault. And when cars pass over it, it collapses. Briseño’s genius was using the source material of the deterioration as the source material of the maintenance instead. The ‘Paflec’ rubber pavement could make roadworks cheaper and more sustainable, saving billions of dollars on infrastructure costs for governments and construction companies around the world including his home country of Mexico. It will also assist in repurposing the excessive amount of used tires around the world, which have few recycling options. While patented in 2018, more testing is ahead before it can be utilized on a large scale. But for the young student inventor, he’s already on the road to success. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* Meditation Education You've heard the term "mind over matter," but how about mind over detention? In America, schools nationwide are replacing detention and discipline with mindfulness programs and meditation, garnering some amazing results: suspensions have been cut in half, attendance is up and so are grade point averages. How? By teaching children to recognize and deal with stress before it becomes a disciplinary issue in the first place. In Baltimore, Maryland seventeen schools are participating in the Mindful Moment Program. Classrooms are guided through daily breathing and meditation, during 15-minute recorded sessions. Teachers are taught how to check in with students for emotional issues throughout the day, and help them practice mindfulness skills when they're having a rough time. Overwhelmed students can request a break in the "Mindful Moment Room" or be sent there. Instructors talk to each child and help them engage in mindfulness practices, including breathing exercises and yoga. Many of the staff are former students themselves and can relate firsthand to the issues the children face. The goal is to help kids identify and process their emotions, rather than bury them or lash out. Studies show a mindfulness approach reduces problematic responses to stress. Outbursts and tantrums are down and teaching minutes are up with students of all ages. Parents are getting in on the act too as many kids are teaching them to breathe out their stress and tension. The impact has been especially felt in urban communities where stress levels are high and in the long term can affect a child's ability to focus and learn. Teaching children mindfulness skills at a young age will serve them and benefit all far beyond the classroom and into adulthood, leading to better choices and a more peaceful existence. And that’s good news for a peaceful planet. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* INVISIBLE ALGAE PLASTIC When it comes to food packaging, single use plastics have become so normal they’re almost invisible. Lettuce in plastic boxes, cookies in plastic trays, and bread in plastic bags are just some of the everyday items that rely on plastic packaging to make it from production to your kitchen table. What if there was a way these one-time plastics could literally disappear? Margarita Talep, a Chilean based designer, made that her mission when she began experimenting with making algae based bioplastic. It made no sense to her that materials that we use so briefly should be so durably constructed that it takes decades to get rid of them. Talep has created algae-based plastics that dissipate in the ocean and only take 4 months maximum to completely biodegrade. She uses agar, a compound commonly used in food preservation or as a thickening agent to sauces as the base of her packaging solution. By boiling the agar out of red seaweed and then mixing it with water as a plasticizer, this innovative substance cools into a version of thin paper or plastic that is 100% food-safe and can be molded into all kinds of versatile shapes. Keeping it completely earth friendly, Talep uses only vegetables like cabbage, carrots and beets, to color-tint the packaging so that every ingredient in her bioplastics are all-natural. Altering the amount of agar to water ratio cans create thicker plastics that can act as trays for products to sit in, or thinner materials that can be used as bags for dry goods. Talep insists that her container contribution to sustainability is only the tip of the iceberg. She is adamant that bioplastics must also be manufactured ethically to feel the full effect of this re-packaging revolution. Fortunately she is not alone, but part of a growing wave of innovative designers and makers rethinking the daily items that we rarely think about.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* COLLEGE BEHIND BARS The likelihood of actually being rehabilitated in prison without education is minimal. Studies prove that education is the best insurance against repeat offenders enduring another term of incarceration. Bard College, a small Private University in New York State, offers the Bard Prison Initiative, or BPI, to interested inmates who have committed serious crimes and are serving lengthy terms. The over 300 enrolled students, are currently serving sentences inside of six different New York State Prisons. BPI provides high level education and results that rival some of the most prestigious colleges. The BPI debate team has won debates against Harvard, Cambridge, and the University of Pennsylvania. The only teams to have ever won against BPI are Brown University and West Point— however BPI has won three matches against West Point. For those who struggle with the notion of state funded, free college for lawbreakers, it’s actually a cost saving program as well as a progressive win. The annual cost of housing a prisoner is around $69,000, where as the BPI is around $9,000 for each student annually. Typically, over 67% of released prisoners are rearrested within three years and over 76% of those released, are rearrested within five years, yet over 97% of BPI Graduates NEVER go back, and over 75% of educated offenders find steady income. Ultimately, graduates learn how to lift themselves up and make wiser decisions in the world. So this successful prison college program actually saves taxpayers a large amount of money and benefits society as a whole To get a more in depth look at this program, you can view the Ken Burns documentary, ‘College Behind Bars’. BPI and programs like it offer inmates hope through education, and give them a chance for redemption. Because education is always the key to a better life for all. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* A Worm Food Win-Win As plastics and other non-biodegradable materials pile up in landfills and in our oceans, scientists are looking for new solutions. And solutions that often are already in our mists, are the most promising. Studies at Stanford University have shown that meal worms are able to eat Styrofoam and the enzymes in their guts break it down into something compostable. Inspired by this research, four students at Ellisburg High School in Washington state decided to conduct their own experiments, this time using superworms. These dark beetle larvae are bigger than meal worms and remain larvae for up to a year if kept with other superworms. These superworms ate a lot faster and they were twice as efficient. The superworms appeared to stay healthy and expelled the remaining styrofoam in their waste. So far, plants grown with this waste showed no differences from those grown in other composts. Though further testing is still needed, these results were a surprise to the Stanford plastic researchers as well. As for the student team at Ellisburg High School, the experiment won them first place in the ‘Iron Food, Energy and Water Challenge at Alaska Airlines Imagine Tomorrow competition’, and team members were awarded $300 each. Meanwhile, researchers continue to examine how insects and small animals can solve the global plastic pollution problem both on land and in the sea. They aim to discover whether microorganisms within meal worms and other insects in their larval stage can safely biodegrade substances such as polypropylene, microbeads and bioplastics. This knowledge will lead to the engineering of more powerful enzymes for plastic degradation and guide manufacturers in the design of polymers that do not accumulate in the environment or in food chains in the first place And that's a win-win for all of us - one tiny bug bite at a time. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.