With solar panels, energy efficiency improvements and electric vehicles, US national parks are trying to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by ‘greening’ their own operations in an effort to lessen their impact on the environment.
AP Video below may take a moment to load, or watch it at the NewsRoom.
Lebanon’s civil war may be over, but it’s no secret that social and religious divisions remain. Finding understanding and common ground between communities is the idea behind a new television series for kids that premiered this month.
Kilna Bil Hayy (All of Us in the Neighbourhood) was created in the hope of enlightening young viewers to the commonalities shared between Lebanon’s different communities.
The 13-part series, which was funded by Denmark’s Rockwool Foundation, focuses on six families that live in the same apartment building. Representing Lebanon’s wealth of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, the families are Armenian, Christian, Druze, Palestinian, Shi’a and Sunni. The building has a conscience, personified by a woman called Lina, who gives shrewd advice to the children in times of crisis.
In an effort to boost peace efforts, Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders have agreed to open a new crossing point linking their two communities on Cyprus during United Nations peace talks yesterday.
The remote crossing point was long demanded by locals living on both sides in the mountainous area of the Mediterranean island.
The crossing will be under escort of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, which has been in place on the island since 1964, after the outbreak of inter-communal violence.
Plans announced Wednesday unveiled a new green renovation plan for the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, The Sears Tower. The project will result in unparalleled energy savings and reduced CO2 emissions, cutting electricity use by up to 80 percent and incorporating its own wind power with the installation of compact turbines on the tower’s tiered roofs.
The energy savings will equal 68 million kilowatt hours or 150,000 barrels of oil every year. The sustainability plans also include installing solar panels on the tower’s 90th floor and planting 30,000 square feet of roof gardens.
Michael Jackson died yesterday but his musical legacy is alive and well, like this music video featuring his 1988 hit, “Man in the Mirror.” It uses historical film footage of key points in humankind’s evolution, with leaders championing civil rights and social justice around the world, to ultimately express beautifully a message of hope and peace — and CHANGE: “If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then Make A Change!” (full lyrics here )
Some of the footage used in the video includes: Rescue footage of Baby Jessica McClure; Martin Luther King; Funeral of John F. Kennedy; Robert F. Kennedy; 1984 Famine in Ethiopia; South Africans marching for the release of Nelson Mandela; Mahatma Gandhi; Live Aid; Willie Nelson at the first Farm Aid concert; Mother Teresa; Lech Walesa; Adolf Hitler; Iran hostage crisis; Muammar al-Gaddafi; Mikhail Gorbachev & Ronald Reagan at the 1987 INF Treaty signing; Jimmy Carter, Menachem Begin, & Anwar El Sadat at the 1978 Camp David Accords; Bob Geldof; Bishop Desmond Tutu; Jackie Kennedy; Coretta Scott King; Farm Aid; John Lennon & Yoko Ono and Keiko from the movie Free Willy.
(Thanks to Karma Tube for the inspiration to post)
Johnny Depp visited Gibsons Steakhouse in Chicago last week with co-star Marion Cotillard, director Michael Mann, and a dozen other folks, after the premiere of their new gangster movie “Public Enemies”.
They ordered several bottles of $500 Italian wine along with appetizers, and kept a waiter working until 2:30 am. Mohammaed A. Sekhani, who had been his waiter several times when Depp had stopped in during the filming of the movie, was paid generously for his time with a a $4,000 tip.
Chase Abrams started taking college classes at the same time he began high school. The next thing he knew, he had two caps and two gowns.
Abrams was involved in the Pre-Accelerated College Enrollment program at Cal Sate Los Angeles. With his busy schedule, he didn’t miss any of the fun of high school, though maybe a little bit of sleep.
Watch the inspiring video below, or read it here at NBC.
(Thanks to another GNN supporter who sent this story as well!)
The Scottish Parliament unanimously voted on Wednesday to accept a climate change bill that includes setting higher targets for cutting CO2 emissions — 42% by 2020, and 80% by 2050. Europe’s largest wind farm debuted south of Glasgow in May, and is already set to expand to help meet those goals.
The Guardian reported that the Whitelee wind farm “Already powerful enough to meet Glasgow’s electricity needs, will expand by more than a third,” as part of this major green energy push by Scottish ministers.
The new bill calls for more support for alternative energy production, such as wind and wave power, and more energy-efficient buildings. Coverage on Radio Scotland said that the bill also included a council tax rebate for private citizens who were taking measures to cut CO2 emissions.
Thirty years ago it was officially declared extinct in Britain.
But the beautiful large blue butterfly has made an astonishing return.
Around 20,000 will be flitting through the countryside this summer as a result of reintroduction efforts, scientists say.
A Colorado family returns a silver money clip containing $360, a driver’s license, and a credit card to Memphis Grizzlies millionaire player Marko Jaric, four months after Jaric apparently dropped it.
Honesty is the best policy for this family, even when that amount of money would be significant for them, and not so much for Jaric.
Video may take a moment to load, or read the story at NBC-2. ..
Here are 11 simple strategies that you can put into effect immediately. They will make a huge difference to your well-being and sense of energy and vitality.
If you have persistent low energy, you should consult your doctor because a thyroid problem could be responsible for your lack of pep.
Some of Jonny Bowden’s suggestions include simple things you may not have heard before, like boosting your Vitamin D intake by soaking in a few minutes of unscreened sunshine every other day and de-cluttering your space, which can unplug hidden energy channels.
(Forbes magazine has the list)
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
For the second year in a row Beyonce is asking her fans to bring cans of food to her concerts to help feed the hungry people of America.
The singer is inviting fans to donate non-perishable food items to ‘Feeding America’ so it can deliver more than 3.5 million meals to local food banks.
READ the news fromthe Bean Soup Times…
The UN has reported a sharp decline in the production of opium in Afghanistan (used for heroin) and cocoa fields in Columbia (used to make cocaine). In these two countries, which produce over 90% of the world’s supply, crop size has dropped 19 and 18 percent respectively since last year, reflecting government security efforts.
In the report, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime urges the world to shift law enforcement crackdowns from drug users to drug traffickers. Drug use, he said, should be treated as a health issue.
Instead of being put out to pasture, former race horses are embarking on second careers as members of mounted police units in places like Newark, N.J.
The police officers show a lot of love and care and respect for the quick-footed partners.
(Video below may take a moment to load, or view at the NewsRoom)
She is known as the “smart girl”. . . the girl who landed at Jefferson High School only 18 months ago. What her friends did not know is that she has been homeless for years.
But not anymore. Her plane left for Harvard the day after graduation.
As long as she can remember, Khadijah Williams has floated from shelters to motels to armories in Los Angeles with her mother. She has lived out of garbage bags among pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers. Every morning, she upheld her dignity, making sure she didn’t smell or look disheveled. And she held fast to the fact that her teachers marked her as gifted, when she was 9-years-old after scoring in the 99th percentile on a state exam.
(Read the inspiring story and see photos at the LA Times)
In a blatant act of defiance, a group of Mullahs took to the streets of Tehran, to protest election results that returned incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.
This photo from GOOYA, showing Iranian clerics prominently participating in an anti-government protest, speaks volumes about the new face of Iran’s opposition movement — not just students like in 1999.
Whether these clerics voted for Ahmadinejad or one of the opposition candidates is unknown. What is important here, is the decision to march against the will of Iran’s supreme leader who called the results final and declared demonstrations illegal.
Some Mullahs and former presidents of Iran have also released statements denouncing the crackdown and election irregularities. Watch the CNN video below…
After avoiding B.C.’s coast for decades, blue whales are returning to the region to feed in the same areas where they were once hunted to near extinction.
Scientists hope recent sightings mean an increase in the population of the highly endangered whales, but the whales may have simply migrated north from California following the tiny shrimp on which they feed.
Actress Angelina Jolie commemorated World Refugee Day in Washington last week. She is the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for refugees and has visited refugees in countries around the world rallying support for their cause.
She and her partner, actor Brad Pitt, donated $1 million Thursday to help more than two million Pakistanis displaced by fighting between the government and Taliban militants.
The Jolie-Pitt Foundation also donated $2 million in September to help children in Ethiopia stricken by disease.
Jolie tearfully thanked invited guests at the ceremony where an award was presented to a former refugee now helping others to survive upheaval. (Watch two videos below)
Deaths from cardiovascular ailments plunged a remarkable 30 percent in Canada over a 10-year period, a new study shows.
Experts credit the decline in deaths due to heart attack, heart failure and stroke to prevention campaigns, like blood pressure control as well as anti-smoking and cholesterol-lowering campaigns.
“We’re talking about success with the No. 1 killer in the country,” says Dr. Peter Liu, head of circulatory health at the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. “It shows that all our efforts are paying off.”
Therapy and psychiatric medications are the most common treatments for depression and anxiety. Many people, however, prefer alternative, more natural remedies. These can include lifestyle changes, herbal treatments, and alternative approaches not typically used in Western medicine, but practiced in other cultures for centuries. Clients reach for alternatives when Western medicine is unhelpful or they simply want a more natural approach. Especially for milder depression and anxiety, alternative remedies offer much hope.
