A comment from stonykill on Sunday, Oct. 17th, got me thinking about the Beatles’ song “Fixing a Hole.” The more I thought about it, the more apt it seemed as a metaphor for what we do here with our GNRs. Let’s listen to the song:
The first thing that occurred to me was the Good News Roundup as a refuge. We block out as much negativity as we can (“fixing a hole where the rain gets in”) and try to replace it with good news that helps Progressives stay hopeful and active — “I’m painting the room in a colorful way, / And when my mind is wandering / There I will go.” So we return daily to the GNR to refresh ourselves.
Then I thought about what the hole might represent in this metaphor. One possibility is the hole in news reporting where stories of progress and hope should appear but don’t. That’s a hole that GNR writers do their best to fill. Another possibility is that it’s the hole that was created in our lives by the pandemic lockdown. That hole was filled in different ways by each of us, and some of those ways were less than ideally healthful or helpful, including doomscrolling. The negative rain can definitely get through that hole.
The wonderful lines “It really doesn’t matter if I’m wrong, I’m right / Where I belong, I’m right / Where I belong” resonate here in Gnuville as well. We’re wrong plenty of times, sometimes by being too hopeful, sometimes by not being hopeful enough, and sometimes we’re a bit fuzzy on our facts. But we’re right where we belong, here in this group of smart, open-minded, heart-centered Progressives who care passionately about the truth and about doing as much good as we can. Around here, we’d much rather encourage than judge.
“See the people standing there who disagree / And never win / And wonder why they don’t get in my door.” We all know who those people are: doom ‘n’ gloomers, pie-throwers, contentious pundits, RWNJs. They don’t get into Gnuville because we all take responsibility to shut down rude, unhelpful behavior around here. Well-reasoned dissent is fine, emotional attacks are not.
Finally, I love the lines in the final verse: “I’m taking the time for a number of things / That weren’t important yesterday.” This couldn’t be more relevant for us. No matter where we each started as activists, we find we need to remind each other constantly that there are two must-dos for us: stay engaged in working for change, and put an equal amount of effort into self-care. If you fail to take the time do the latter, you’ll burn out and be of no use to anyone.
Meanwhile, out in the Wingnutosphere, it’s raining panic all the time. Tom Tomorrow, one of our most brilliant cartoonists, nails it in his most recent cartoon. [BTW, I highly recommend you subscribe to get his cartoons to arrive regularly in your inbox — go to manage.campaignzee.com/…, it’s just $10 every six months.]
I’ll close this intro with another song, which I’m sending out to anyone falling prey to conspiracy theories or fear messaging. Stevie Wonder reminds us, “When you believe in things that you don’t understand, then you suffer.” Superstition — and panicky group-think — ain’t the way.
So here’s Stevie, age 23 (!), in a somewhat fuzzy 1973 video from “Sesame Street,” to deliver the message himself in my favorite live performance of this favorite song. Get up and groove along to the funkiest bass line and horn riff ever written!
Now grab the morning beverage of your choice, find a comfortable seat, and join me on a tour of some of the good news that’s been happening lately.
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Good news in politics
Pelosi Says Democrats Are “Pretty Much There” on Spending Bill Deal
We need to chill out and accept that this is going to take as long as it’s going to take. I choose to put my faith in NDP to bring us the best outcome we can get in this very challenging political climate.
From Mother Jones:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that Democrats are close to reaching a deal on President Joe Biden’s social spending bill and will lock it down by the end of next week. Pelosi told CNN’s Jake Tapper that Democrats have “90 percent of the bill agreed to and written, we just have some of the last decisions to be made.”
Tapper asked if there would be a deal by the time President Biden leaves for Europe Thursday or Friday, and Pelosi said, “I think we’re pretty much there now.”
“You think you have a deal now?” Tapper asked. “We’re almost there,” Pelosi replied. ✂️
Pelosi acknowledged that Democrats couldn’t agree on the bill as it was first proposed, so what’s on the table now is “less than what we had projected to begin with but it is still bigger than anything we have ever done in terms of addressing the needs of America’s working families.”
Biden warms to nixing filibuster for voting rights legislation
This is a great sign. Remember that although Biden prefers consensus, he’s also a pragmatist, and he cares deeply about the bills that the filibuster is impeding.
From The American Independent:
President Joe Biden said he's warming to the idea of eliminating the filibuster for targeted issues such as voting rights and the debt ceiling, a major shift for the longtime senator turned chief executive of the United States, who was once a staunch defender of the procedure that Senate Republicans are using to block legislation in the closely divided chamber.
Biden made the comments at a CNN town hall Wednesday night after host Anderson Cooper asked what Biden thought about Democrats who wanted to see the filibuster eliminated specifically for voting rights, which are currently under attack by GOP-controlled legislatures across the country. ✂️
Here's what Biden said about the talking filibuster at the town hall:
It used to be, you had to stand on the floor and exhaust everything you had. And when you gave up the floor, and someone else sought the floor, they had to talk until they finished. You're only allowed to do it a second time. After that, it's over. You vote. Somebody moved for the vote.
I propose we bring that back now, immediately. ✂️
Biden [also] said at the town hall:
The idea that, for example, my Republican friends say that we're going to default on the national debt because they're going to filibuster that, and then we need 10 Republicans to support us, is the most bizarre thing I ever heard. I think you're going to see — if that gets pulled again, I think you are going to see an awful lot of Democrats being ready to say, not me. I'm not doing that again. We're going to end the filibuster.
Biden's comments are notable, as the debt ceiling will once again become an issue in December, when the United States will reach its borrowing limit and have to raise the ceiling again.
And here’s a good overview from Beau of the Fifth Column of the risks and rewards for Dems if they amend or nuke the filibuster :
Dems Consider Groundbreaking Shift In Tax Policy
From Talking Points Memo:
Democrats may be coalescing around what’s come to be known as a billionaire tax — a proposal that would take American taxation to a place its never been before: unrealized capital gains.
Confused by what that might mean? I have an article out today which explains it. In short, the proposal would make billionaires and those who have more than $100 million in income annually for three years straight pay an annual tax on growth in the value of their capital assets. At the moment, those taxes are only assessed if and when they sell the asset in question.
It’s basically a wealth tax. Some experts say it would mark the largest transformation in federal tax policy in a century — since the progressive era.
Read the story here.
Senate Democrats Aim To Protect Child Tax Credit In Case Of 2022 GOP Takeover
And BTW, f*** Joe Manchin.
From Talking Points Memo:
To the dismay of a large swath of Senate Democrats, they may only manage to extend the enhanced child tax credit another year in the reconciliation bill. Many are still fighting that possibility in favor of a longer run. ✂️
If the child tax credit’s proponents are only able to get a one-year extension, the enhanced credit will expire at the end of 2022. … So Democrats are working to make all versions of the child tax credit permanently fully refundable. ✂️
Making a credit fully refundable means that it pays down what a person owes in taxes, and then also gives them whatever money is left over. If a person makes so little money that they don’t owe any money in taxes, then, they get the full amount of the credit as a refund.
In other words, these Democratic senators are trying to make the credit accessible to the very poorest families whose children are most likely to live in poverty. ✂️
Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) push for the child tax credit to be contingent on work requirements is in direct conflict with the permanent full refundability effort. ...If Democrats manage to win Manchin over, they can pass a provision ensuring that all versions of the child tax credit are fully refundable forever.
Pentagon, intelligence agencies detail climate threat to security
Obviously, this is not good news. What is good news is that the Biden administration is facing it head on without any sugarcoating. When we face situations like this with open eyes, we can begin to work on mitigating the harm, especially if we work with our allies.
From Phys.org:
Reports released Thursday by the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community laid out in frank terms the national security threat posed by climate change, and how rapidly evolving weather patterns will impact global stability in the decades to come.
The release of the documents, which was announced by the White House, comes as President Joe Biden prepares to attend COP26, the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, next month.
"We are already experiencing the devastating impacts that climate has wreaked on almost every aspect of our lives—from food and water insecurity to infrastructure and public health," a senior administration official told reporters on a call Wednesday.
"And these security challenges are among the many reasons the administration has prioritized addressing the climate crisis both here at home and as a core element of our national security and foreign policy," the official said.
And finally, a message from AOC that I think belongs in a GNR because it’s evidence of how truly thoughtful and compassionate our Dem lawmakers can be. And besides, it’s really good advice.
AOC: My tips on burnout
From an email from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
When there is so much happening in the world around you and in your direct sphere of influence, it can be especially overwhelming. That’s why I wanted to share some of the tips I’ve learned here about recovering from and preventing burnout.
First off, if you’re feeling burnout — I’m sorry. Burnout is awful, and especially hard to manage because it’s hard to figure out that 1) you’re burnt out and 2) what to do about it. I’ve experienced burnout in both big and small episodes, and having been there and back a few times, here’s what I’ve learned:
- It’s important to create healthy expectations and compassion for yourself when recovering from burnout. This sucks, but burnout can take a long time to recover from. In some cases it can take weeks, months, or even years — but don’t panic. No matter how burnt out you are, you can recover.
- Burnout has a lot of contributing factors — it’s not just working long hours (though that can be a contributor). It’s much deeper than that. Think of your whole self as a cup. Participating in certain activities that are physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally demanding means that you’re pouring from your cup. These may be activities you choose and even love, but you’re still pouring from your cup to participate in them.
A healthy balance is when you both fill and pour from your cup. When you do things you’ve always wanted to do, or that bring you joy and are just for you — you fill your cup. But when you’re obligated to fulfill mentally, physically, spiritually, or emotionally demanding work that crowds out any time or energy for you to do things that fill your cup, your cup runs dry — and that’s burnout. ✂️
Recovering and healing from burnout is really hard, because while you may be able to get some rest — rest alone won’t heal it. You need to start doing the opposite of what got you here: which means...a prescription for indulgence [doing things you love] and strong boundaries [learning to say “no.”]. ✂️
Also, no matter what you do, you always need...scheduled things to look forward to. I found that when I’ve pre-planned time off, blocked it off on my calendar and scheduled around it, my life started to feel way more manageable. When I started to let that practice slip, it felt overwhelming again. ✂️
Like I said, recovering from burnout may not be easy, but it is possible. Carve out that time for yourself and fill your cup. You can do this.
Take care,
Alexandria
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Good news from my corner of the world
Thousands Offer to Host Tiny Homes With Homeless Residents in Their Own Seattle Backyards
This is my favorite story of the past few weeks.
From Good News Network:
A pair of non-profits are housing homeless people in tiny sustainable homes in the backyards of charitable volunteers who decide to host them. ✂️
After befriending a homeless resident outside of his architecture studio, Rex Hohlbein transitioned his career towards helping others by starting the BLOCK Project—its name playing on the words for neighborhood, and for the shape of the tiny houses he would pioneer.
Seattle has the dual problems of expensive real estate and the third-largest homeless community in the country, which led Hohlbein to reason that kindly neighbors could have a much better impact than waiting for a big-budgeted government program.
He founded BLOCK, along with Facing Homelessness. The latter would find backyards in which the former could build small, low-emission housing, and the government stepped in to make the process as legally expedient as possible.
So far thousands of Seattle residents have registered their properties under the BLOCK Project, and fundraisers ensure everyone gets a “Welcome to the Neighborhood” gift bag with pots, pans, shampoo, towels, bed linens, and more.
Advocates say Portland is first in nation to provide bereavement leave for employees after abortion
This is a truly enlightened policy. It’s easy to understand feeling a sense of loss after a miscarriage and especially after the heartbreak of a stillbirth, but there is a sense of loss after an abortion, too. Being unready to bring a new life into the world doesn’t mean that choosing to end it comes without some sadness that requires time to work through. And destigmatizing abortion is especially important in the current climate.
From OPB:
A seldom-read section of Portland city government’s human resources policy has started to draw national attention from abortion-rights advocates.
The city council unanimously approved changes earlier this month to their bereavement leave policy that advocates say puts Portland on the cutting edge of abortion-rights legislation. ✂️
Under the new policy, city employees will be able to take up to three days of bereavement leave if they’ve had a miscarriage, stillbirth or any other type of pregnancy loss. The policy states that this includes abortion “irrespective of whether deemed medically necessary.”
Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst with reproductive health research organization Guttmacher Institute, has been tracking local reproductive health policy for over two decades. She said bereavement leave that incorporates miscarriages and stillbirths is rare. She’d never heard of policies that include abortion.
“This is just incredibly uncommon,” she said.
Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, said she believed the policy could help destigmatize a procedure that some employees may feel uncomfortable talking about with anyone, much less their boss.
Portland Has Nearly Made Up Its Rain Deficit for the Year
This is such a relief!! Now we’re praying that the snow pack in the Cascades grows enough this fall and winter to get us out of the drought category.
From Willamette Week:
The “bomb cyclone” soaking the Pacific Northwest this weekend could dump 3 inches of rain in Oregon’s wildfire-ravaged southern forests and send Portland’s autumn foliage flying into gutters.
It’s also making up for lost time.
As of this morning, Portland is just 0.45 inches behind its standard annual rainfall through Oct. 22, says the National Weather Service’s Portland office.
That might come as a surprise, given how hot and parched the summer was—at one point, the city went 46 consecutive days without measurable rain. But a wet autumn is closing the deficit.
“Realistically, we could make it up this next week,” says NWS meteorologist John Bumgardner. “We’re not forecasting that, but it’s possible.”
The weather systems in the Pacific Ocean over the past week—called bomb cyclones because the atmospheric pressure drops so steeply—have soaked Oregon since Tuesday evening...
The cascatelli have arrived!
In some hyper-local news from my own house, here’s a photo of a dish of cascatelli (“waterfalls”), the only brand-new pasta shape in decades, which I mentioned a couple of months ago and promised to report on when I’d had a chance to try it. The shape was designed to grab the maximum amount of sauce, and it really does! Plus it has great “tooth” and flavor. Five stars!!
If you want to order some, here’s the link: www.sfoglini.com/...
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Good news from around the nation
Biden admin announces program allowing private individuals to sponsor Afghan refugees
I’m putting this story in national news instead of political news because I want to emphasize the impact it will have all over the country.
From Gabe Ortiz on Daily Kos:
Private individuals and community groups will now be able to sponsor Afghan refugees under a new program announced by the Biden administration on Monday. Under the Sponsor Circle Program for Afghans, groups of vetted individuals would form “sponsor circles” that will be responsible for securing housing and financial support for families, and help situate them in their new communities.
“Americans of all walks of life have expressed strong interest in helping to welcome these individuals,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “The Sponsor Circle Program for Afghans harnesses this outpouring of support and enables individuals to become directly involved in the welcome and integration of our new neighbors.”
The [program] requires interested applicants to first pass a background check, complete mandatory training, and pledge that they can support newly arrived individuals or families for three months. “Once sponsor circles are certified, CSH will work to match them with arriving Afghans who choose to participate in the program,” Blinken said. Per the application website, “sponsor circles” must consist of at least five adults.
This marketing agency pivoted to helping local nonprofits pro bono after losing work to Covid-19
From CNBC:
As the coronavirus pandemic’s impact in the U.S. became more severe in the spring, organizations such as Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation realized their services were going to be more in-demand than ever. The nonprofit, which provides free legal services and social support to people experiencing intimate partner abuse as well as landlord-tenant issues, needed to recruit more attorneys to keep up with an increasingly dire caseload. ✂️
The organization was concerned how to use its limited resources to recruit new volunteers when their usual outreach efforts usually yielded just 10 new people per month to its database of over 1,000 private attorneys.
But in July, one AVLF board member introduced the organization to a new campaign called BrandAid being launched by local PR and marketing firm Jackson Spalding. The agency, which had experienced a drop in client work..., wanted to use their newfound time to provide pro bono marketing help to local nonprofits instead.
One of those beneficiaries was AVLF. BrandAid marketers pitched AVLF’s call for volunteers to the local press and launched a targeted LinkedIn recruitment campaign. Within a few weeks, over 100 people filled out AVLF’s volunteer interest form to provide legal services to people in need during the pandemic.
Dads spend time in Louisiana high school after 23 students were arrested in string of violence
From CBS News:
After a violent week of fighting in school that saw 23 students arrested in three days, Southwood High School parents knew something had to change.
Some dads decided to take matters into their own hands. They formed Dads on Duty — a group of about 40 dads who take shifts spending time at the school in Shreveport, Louisiana, greeting students in the morning and helping maintain a positive environment for learning, rather than fighting.
The students say it's working — and the numbers prove it. There hasn't been a single incident on campus since the dads showed up.
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Good news from around the world
‘It’s a game-changer for us’: [Irish] artists welcome guaranteed basic income plan
From The Irish Times:
The pilot for a new basic income guarantee scheme for [Irish] artists and arts workers could see “around 2,000” creative workers drawing income from March 2022, or “the beginning of April, and no later than that”, said Minister for the Arts Catherine Martin. ✂️
A basic income guarantee was the top recommendation of the Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce’s Life Worth Living report in November 2020, and the Minister said she intends to follow it “as closely as possible and to deliver a scheme that benefits artists and creative arts workers”. The three-year pilot will involve a weekly payment of €325 [$378] a week. The department later confirmed there will be no means test to take part in the scheme.
Internet Sleuth Solves 45-Year Guitar Mystery Returning the Beloved ’57 Gretsch to a Rock Idol
From Good News Network:
Back in 1976, when Canadian rock star Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive discovered his favorite guitar had been stolen from his Toronto hotel room while he was on tour, he cried all night.
Having done every odd job on the block as a boy to afford the $400, 1957 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins model in Western Orange, its departure left a hole in his heart that would only be filled 35 years later, when an internet sleuth managed to track down the distinctive instrument to Japan.
...it was stolen after the road manager didn’t use the 12-foot long tow chain to lock it up, as was Bachman’s custom, and in the aftermath he would buy hundreds of Grestch guitars trying to replicate the magic of the one he’d lost.
Fast forward more than three decades, and a fan of Bachman was watching some Guess Who videos on YouTube when he came across one of Bachman and his son explaining the story of the guitar theft, and—being a fan of solving puzzles—he decided to see if he could locate the missing Gretsch by comparing hi-resolution imagery of the stolen guitar with second-hand listings of the same model around the world.
Long story short, the fan found Bachman’s Gretsch in a listing from a Tokyo vintage music store, discovered it had been sold, then found it being played online by a Japanese guitar player, who after being contacted agreed to return it to Bachman if a similar one could be found. Bachman did indeed find one from the same batch, and the exchange will take place after all COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.
Vienna Tourist Board thwarts social media with unusual platform
From Optimist Daily:
Due to the pandemic, many of us are perceiving the world through our screens, and it’s only been too easy to flood those screens with misinformation. Now, amplifying this discussion is the Vienna Tourist Board, as they’ve been forced to move their public accounts to the less restrictive OnlyFans sharing platform.
The Vienna Tourist Board and some of Vienna’s museums had been posting some of the city’s historical artwork on the common roster of social media platforms, but according to Helena Hartlauer, a spokesperson for the Vienna Tourist Board, the images were removed and at times, the accounts would be closed, which is what spurred their move to OnlyFans.✂️
Those who subscribe to Vienna’s OnlyFans channel before the end of October will be eligible for a free Vienna City Card or an admission ticket to one of the featured museums, including the Leopold Museum, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Naturhistorisches Museum Vienna, and Albertina.
While Hartlauer admits that the OnlyFans account is a way to pique the public’s interest in the city … she hopes that people will be prompted to ask themselves what it could mean for the rest of us if we continue to allow social media platforms and algorithms to dictate the content we see and share.
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Good news in science and medicine
A loophole in the greenhouse effect paves way for a cool invention
From Warp News:
... Cooling systems are estimated to be responsible for about seven percent of global emissions, and their use is constantly increasing in developing countries.
UCLA researchers, led by scientist Aaswath Raman, are experimenting with a disruptive invention to reduce the impact of cooling systems without using electricity or other fuels. The idea is simple and elegant: special black panels that reflect sunlight emit heat into space during the day, cooling the surrounding environment. So, using the cold sky as a new renewable resource for cooling. ✂️
The principle is Radiative Cooling; a law applied since ancient times. In the arid Middle Eastern regions, it was used to freeze water placed in jars during the night, without the air temperature dropping below the freezing point.
...a loophole was identified in the greenhouse effect: the greenhouse gas layer can reflect only specific infrared wavelengths, but not a narrow window between 8 and 13 micrometers.
Thanks to in-depth technological knowledge in nanotechnologies, the UCLA team created a thin film composed of seven micro-layers of materials suitably designed at the molecular level. The unique optical properties obtained allow it to interfere with the incident radiation, rejecting it towards the cold sky in the wavelength between 8 and 13 micrometers. As a result, even during the day, 97 percent of the incoming heat can be emitted into space, cooling surrounding objects up to 10°C.
Good medical news from Haiti
It’s wonderful to get some good news from this much-battered nation.
From Future Crunch (for details, click the link at the end):
In an unexpected public health victory, Haiti has successfully controlled the largest cholera epidemic ever recorded in a single country, while simultaneously improving maternal and child healthcare. There have been no confirmed cases of cholera since January 2019, and the quality of maternal and child health has improved significantly in the last decade thanks dto a program that pays local clinics when they meet predetermined targets. World Bank
AI provides better diagnoses in breast cancer
From Warp News:
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have used AI to provide doctors with a better basis for how a patient should be treated. The AI has learned to distinguish between different tumors by analyzing digital microscope images. Based on the images, the AI can determine if a tumor is grade 1, 2 or 3.
Grade 1 are low-risk tumors, grade 2 are intermediate-risk tumors and grade 3 are high-risk tumors. Each degree requires different treatment methods so it is important to give a correct diagnosis from the beginning. For patients with grade 1 or grade 3 tumors, it is clear what type of treatment is needed, but for grade 2, it may be more difficult.
"About half of breast cancer patients have a grade 2 tumor, which unfortunately does not provide any clear guidance on how the patient should be treated. This means that some patients are overtreated with cytotoxic drugs, while others are at risk of undertreatment. We have tried to find a solution to this problem", says Yinxi Wang, researcher at Karolinska Institutet and the study's first author, in a press release.
The AI developed by the researchers has the advantage that it can divide patients with grade 2 tumors into two subgroups. A high- and low-risk group, with a clear distinction in the risk of relapse. ✂️
...”the method is ... is cost-effective and fast because it is based on microscopic images of stained tissue samples that are already part of routine medical care.”
Anti-Cancer Drug Derived From Himalayan Fungus Clears Early Clinical Trials
From Good News Network:
An Oxford University study has shown that the new drug NUC-7738—a novel chemotherapy drug, derived from a fungus—has up to 40 times greater potency for killing cancer cells than its parent compound, with limited toxic side effects.
The naturally-occurring nucleoside analogue known as Cordycepin (a.k.a 3’-deoxyadenosine) is found in the Himalayan fungus Cordyceps sinensis and has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years to treat cancers and other inflammatory diseases.
However, it breaks down quickly in the blood stream, so a minimal amount of cancer-destroying drug is delivered to the tumor.
...biopharmaceutical company NuCana has developed Cordycepin into a clinical therapy, using their novel ProTide technology, to create a chemotherapy drug with dramatically improved efficacy. ✂️
NuCana have utilized novel ProTide technology to design a therapy that can bypass...resistance mechanisms and generate high levels of the active anti-cancer metabolite, 3’-dATP, inside cancer cells. ...This technology has already been successfully used in the FDA approved antiviral drugs Remdesivir and Sofosbuvir.
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Good news for the environment
Access to a healthy environment, declared a human right by UN rights council
From UN News:
The text, proposed by Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia and Switzerland, was passed with 43 votes in favour and 4 abstentions - from Russia, India, China and Japan.
At the same time, through a second resolution (48/14), the Council also increased its focus on the human rights impacts of climate change by establishing a Special Rapporteur dedicated specifically to that issue.
In a statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, called on Member States to take bold actions to give prompt and real effect to the right to a healthy environment. Ms. Bachelet said that, having long called for such a step, she was “gratified” that the decision “clearly recognises environmental degradation and climate change as interconnected human rights crises.”
“Bold action is now required to ensure this resolution on the right to a healthy environment serves as a springboard to push for transformative economic, social and environmental policies that will protect people and nature,” she added.
France banned plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables
From Positive News:
The French government said au revoir to plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables on [October 12th], giving retailers until the end of the year to find alternatives.
The environment ministry published a list of some 30 fruits and vegetables that will have to be sold without plastic packaging when the ban comes into effect on 1 January 2022.
“We use an outrageous amount of single-use plastic in our daily lives,” the ministry said in a statement. “[This] law aims to cut back the use of throwaway plastic and boost its substitution by other materials or reusable and recyclable packaging.”
The move is expected to save one billion pieces of single-use plastic from being produced annually.
Global energy storage is growing exponentially
From Future Crunch (for more info, click the link at the end):
Global energy storage is growing so quickly and at such a large scale it’s difficult to grasp the significance. 12.4 GW of capacity, mostly batteries, is on track to be installed in 2021, up from 4.9 GW in 2020, which was already a record. To put that into perspective, the world installed 1 GW of new capacity in 2016. Five years later, we're doing that every month. Inside Climate News
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Good news for and about animals
Brought to you by Rosy, Nora, and Rascal.
This Senior Dog Sanctuary Provides Love, Sense of Home for Abandoned Pets in Their Final Days
This is Rosy’s pick, of course.
From Daily Paws:
Valerie Reid is the owner of Whispering Willows Senior Dog Sanctuary, ...a lifetime hospice sanctuary, which means they take in dogs who are approaching the end of their life and care for them until they pass. Unlike other pet sanctuaries, the dogs who arrive at Whispering Willows aren't going to be fostered or adopted, and they are never kenneled or caged—they move in with Reid and her family and stay there until their last breath.
"They just get to be here and get to be home," Reid tells Daily Paws.
The senior dogs who come to Whispering Willows arrive at the home for a number of reasons—some have been abandoned, others have had their pet parents pass away, some dog's owners have moved into nursing homes, and some dogs have been removed from their owners by court order.
But that doesn't seem to dull their zest for life. "What I love about senior dogs is that they're so forgiving," Reid says. "No matter what has happened in their life—whether it be trauma, abuse, neglect, or that they've lost their owner and feel hopeless—they continue to forgive and they continue to love."
Istanbul Improves the Lives of Thousands of Stray Cats with Elaborate Outdoor Cat Houses
Nora was a street cat (raising four babies!) when she was rescued, so she loves the idea of comfy houses for street cats to live in. Of course, she says that being rescued is an even better idea.
From the Good News Network:
In Istanbul, a city of 15 million people that’s famous for its relaxed attitude towards stray cats, groups of volunteers build elaborate houses for their feline neighbors. There, cats can find donated food and toys, cushions and boxes to keep them out of harsh weather, and even a new owner if they’re lucky.
It all started back in 2008, when, according to one source, an interior architect named Didem Gokgoz regularly passed through a park on her way to work in the district of Sisli… Attempting to help the felines, she placed several plastic boxes they could shelter in around Mistik Park, but officials removed them because they were seen as an eyesore.
Gradually, Gokgoz came to know the people who would feed the stray cats, and formed a plan to build more refined and pleasant shelters anchored to the ground with chains. ✂️
After getting [the mayor’s] word that new houses would not be removed, Gokgoz, who now runs the nonprofit cat supplier Podo, installed two houses in Mistik Park with her friends.
The Mistik Park houses, whimsical and colorful, were a turning point, which after being covered by local news saw replication in parks around the city’s 39 districts. ✂️
The cats too, responded to the real estate boom, and moved to them in droves.
After Using Tools, Crows are Happier and Behave More Optimistically: ‘The pleasure of accomplishment’
Rascal can relate. After getting a good start on his food dish first thing in the morning, he spends the next few hours at his job: reducing a thin piece of wood to splinters with his sharp hooked beak. We’re not sure what he thinks he’s accomplishing, but it’s clear he feels a great sense of accomplishment when he’s done.
From Good News Network:
...a recent paper, co-authored by Dakota McCoy, a graduate student working in the lab of David Haig, George Putnam Professor of Biology, ...found that crows behaved more optimistically after using tools. The study is described in an Aug. 19 paper in Current Biology.
“What this suggests is that, just the same way we enjoy something like solving a crossword, they actually enjoyed simply using a tool,” McCoy said. “I think it suggests there’s a lot more going on in that little head than we think. They get satisfaction out of doing things they’re good at, have trained for their whole lives, and that they use frequently.” ✂️
“One potential answer for why tool use evolved is because crows are used to picking up objects and caching them,” she said. “They actually love, when you’re experimenting with them, to pick up your equipment and cache it way up high where you can’t get it.”
Once crows started using tools, she said, the fact that it made them feel good encouraged them to keep at it, refining and developing the behavior further.
“Maybe crows are just like humans and other primates in that, when they’re doing these complicated actions, they’re reinforced not just by getting a prize out of it, but because they actually enjoy the process itself,” she said.
And finally, here’s a story all three of my co-editors asked me to include:
Could Property Law Help Achieve ‘Rights of Nature’ for Wild Animals?
From The Revelator:
Humans share the Earth with billions of other species. We all need somewhere to live, yet only humans own their homes.
What if other species could own theirs as well?
That’s what Karen Bradshaw, Arizona State University law professor, proposes in her recent book, Wildlife as Property Owners.
Drawing on Indigenous legal systems and the ideas of philosophers and property law theorists before her, Bradshaw argues that wild animals should be integrated into our system of property law to prevent further habitat destruction — the leading cause of species extinction.
Under what Bradshaw calls an “interspecies system of property,” animals and people would co-own land through a legal trust. This would give animals, through their human representatives, standing in court, like other property owners.
The proposal may seem radical, but it fits into the more well-known concept of “rights of nature.” These Indigenous-led efforts to establish legal personhood for natural entities have seen expansive rights granted to ecosystems such as the Klamath River in Oregon and Te Uruwera rainforest in New Zealand.
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Hot lynx
www.dailykos.com/… “Meet the Press,” like the other Sunday shows, is a relic of a lazy, low-stakes era. Terrific piece by DK staffer Hunter.
www.theatlantic.com/… Stop shopping. Buying unnecessary stuff is clogging up the supply chain and making it hard to deliver necessities like food.
www.motherjones.com/… What if Everything You Know About Murder Rates and Policing Is Wrong? Five common myths debunked.
proprivacy.com/… European Parliament backs ban on biometric mass surveillance. “...individuals should only be monitored if they have been suspected of a crime, and not otherwise.”
www.wired.com/… Carbon-Capturing Sunglasses Offer a View of Fashion's Future. ”A new biomaterial created by methane-munching marine organisms can be molded into eyeglass frames or formed into leather-like sheets.”
www.newyorker.com/… It’s Time to Stop Talking About “Generations.” ”From boomers to zoomers, the concept gets social history all wrong.”
www.newyorker.com/… The Singular Work of a California Photographer, Unearthed. Fascinating art photography by a previously unknown amateur photographer.
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The Funnies
Here are three of my favorite recent New Yorker cartoons and some great cartoons and memes that I received from a friend.
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Wherever is herd…
A tip of the hat to 2thanks for creating this handy info sheet for all Gnusies new and old!
Morning Good News Roundups at 7 x 7: These Gnusies lead the herd at 7 a.m. ET, 7 days a week:
- The Monday GNR Newsroom (Jessiestaf, Killer300, and Bhu). With their five, we survive and thrive.
- Alternating Tuesdays: NotNowNotEver and arhpdx.
- Wednesdays: niftywriter.
- Thursdays: Mokurai the 1st and 2nd Thursdays, WineRev the 3rd, MCUBernieFan the 4th, and Mokurai the 5th (when there is one).
- Fridays: chloris creator. Regular links to the White House Briefing Room.
- Saturdays: GoodNewsRoundup. Heart-stirring and soul-healing introduction and sometimes memes to succumb to.
- Sundays: 2thanks. A brief roundup of Roundups, a retrospective, a smorgasbord, a bulletin board, an oasis, a watering hole, a thunder of hooves, a wellness, a place for beginners to learn the rules of the veldt.
hpg posts Evening Shade diaries at 7:30 p.m. ET every day! After a long day, Gnusies meet in the evening shade and continue sharing Good News, good community, and good actions. In the words of NotNowNotEver: “hpg ably continues the tradition of Evening Shade.” Find Evening Shades here.
oldhippiedude posts Tweets of the Week on Sundays at 6:00 p.m. Central Time — New time! Our second evening Gnusie hangout zone! In search of a TOTW diary? Look here or here.
For more information about the Good News group, please see our detailed Welcoming comment, one of the first comments in our morning diaries.
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How to Resist: Do Something …
Here’s a great suggestion that Progressive Muse posted in a comment a couple of weeks ago. Hearing from us by mail might get their attention!
...here is the address for the Postal Regulatory Commission if you’d like to piggyback on the attorneys generals’ complaint and send the PRC a friendly note about firing DeJoy:
Postal Regulatory Commission
901 New York Avenue NW
Suite 200
Washington, D.C. 20268
The following invaluable list was put together by chloris creator:
Indivisible has created a Truth Brigade to push back against the lies.
Propaganda, false characterizations, intentionally misleading messages, and outright lies threaten our democracy and even our lives. We can effectively combat disinformation, despite the well-funded machines that drive it. They may have money, but we have truth and we have people. People believe sources they trust. When we share and amplify unified, factual messages to those who trust us, we shift the narrative. When we do this by the thousands--we’re part of the Indivisible Truth Brigade, and we get our country back. Join us.️
Our own Mokurai is a member. You can see his diary on the California recall here.
From GoodNewsRoundup (aka Goodie):
Most important: DON'T LOSE HOPE. This is a giant and important fight for us but, win or lose, we keep fighting and voting and organizing and spreading truth and light. We never give up.
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Closing music
I think we all feel like we’re in limbo waiting for action on Build Back Better, so this feels like a good song to close with.
❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
Thanks to all of you for your smarts, your hearts, and
your faithful attendance at our daily Gathering of the Herd.
❤️💙 RESIST, PERSIST, REBUILD, REJOICE! 💙❤️