Oh
moan! Oh groan! Struggling economies. Corrupt politics. Crime. Misery. Every
time you open the newspaper, you find out about another species in decline and
another nasty person or corporation either causing it or benefiting from it.
Dire predictions come out of every corner. One could really pick up a gruesome
case of the blues just by glancing at the headlines.
Is
there any hope for us? Any at all?
Why
yes, it turns out there is. It’s a very special and unique hope with a very
unique name, as a matter of fact. Now, what is it called again? Think…..Think….
Oh,
right. TREMENDOUS! That’s what it’s called! Tremendous hope! And it’s all over
the world and even in your back yard.
I’ve
recently been to one a wonderful website known as “The Good News Network”, and
I was so excited to see some of the most amazing and exciting things happening
out there these days! Things that provide a cool, refreshing tidal wave of hope
for a better future. Now why don’t stories like these appear on more web sites?
Care
for a gander? Here are a few.
·
We hear a lot about falling oil prices. You’d
begin to think oil was the center of the universe. Well, we can all stop
thinking that, now. It turns out that while oil has been floundering, natural
energy sources, such as solar power, have reached an all-time record high. In
2015, they raked in a record $329 billion dollars in investments. Gives you an
idea of where the world’s focus is turning.
·
And speaking of renewable resources, how about
this? In West Virginia, they’re building a plant that will convert trash into
fuel! Imagine! We could reduce the landfill problems and produce a fuel that
doesn’t involve digging great holes in the earth at the same time! Two birds!
One stone! Who could ask for anything more?
·
You love elephants, don’t you? Those big,
amazing creatures with the big, flappy ears and the gentle, kindly eyes. And
you hate hearing about how they’re being driven off the Earth by ivory hunters,
right? Well apparently, so are the ivory hunters. The price of ivory in China
has dropped by 50% as the market for the illegal material dries up. Somewhere,
the elephants are dancing.
·
About 50 years ago, the famous River Thames of
London, England was declared so polluted and dirty that nothing could possibly
live in it. It was an empty stream of yuck. But that was 50 years ago. The good
people of England have been taking care of their river, and it has become clean
enough for fish to settle in. Now, in recent months, there have been dozens of
sightings of whales and dolphins in the river, too! The Thames is buzzing with
life once again!
·
We’ve all heard about the deep and beautiful
Rainforests of South America. They kind of make us shudder a bit, though,
because every time we hear about them, we also hear about the horrifying rates
at which they’re being ruthlessly destroyed. Well, shudder no more. It seems
that, in the last ten years, deforestation in Brazil has dropped by – get this!
– 90%! Did you hear that? We’re destroying 90% less forest!
So, send the mopes packing and
smile a big smile. Mother Nature’s been down, but there are amazing people out
there doing incredible things for her. And she’s feeling a bit better. If we
keep up like this, we could be in for a nice, green future after all.
Kind of makes you want to go out
and breath in some outdoors, doesn’t it? And is it me, or does that air feel a
little bit fresher?
Photo by Frank Vassen
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