All News - Page 2 of 1633 - Good News Network
Home Blog Page 2

Okra and Fenugreek Extracts Safely Remove Microplastics From Water in New Texas Research

By
Good News Network
-
Okra plant By Mae Monares
Okra plant By Mae Monares

The substances behind the slimy strings from okra and the gel from fenugreek seeds could trap microplastics better than a commonly used synthetic polymer.

Texas researchers proposed in 2022 using these sticky natural polymers to clean up water. Now, they’ve found that okra and/or fenugreek extracts attracted and removed up to 90% of microplastics from ocean water, freshwater, and groundwater.

With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Rajani Srinivasan and colleagues at Tarleton State University found that the plant-based polymers from okra, fenugreek, and tamarind stick to microplastics, clumping together and sinking for easy separation from water.

In this next stage of the research, they have optimized the process for okra and fenugreek extracts and tested results in a variety of types of water.

To extract the sticky plant polymers, the team soaked sliced okra pods and blended fenugreek seeds in separate containers of water overnight. Then, researchers removed the dissolved extracts from each solution and dried them into powders.

Analyses published in the American Chemical Society journal showed that the powdered extracts contained polysaccharides, which are natural polymers. Initial tests in pure water spiked with microplastics showed that:

  • One gram of either powder in a quart (one liter) of water trapped microplastics the most effectively.
  • Dried okra and fenugreek extracts removed 67% and 93%, respectively, of the plastic in an hour.
  • A mixture of equal parts okra and fenugreek powder reached maximum removal efficiency (70%) within 30 minutes.
  • The natural polymers performed significantly better than the synthetic, commercially available polyacrylamide polymer used in wastewater treatment.

DID YOU KNOW: There’s a Surprisingly Easy Way to Remove Microplastics From Drinking Water: Boil it

Then the researchers tested the plant extracts on real microplastic-polluted water. They collected samples from waterbodies around Texas and brought them to the lab. The plant extract removal efficiency changed depending on the original water source.

Okra worked best in ocean water (80%), fenugreek in groundwater (80-90%), and the 1:1 combination of okra and fenugreek in freshwater (77%).

The researchers hypothesize that the natural polymers had different efficiencies because each water sample had different types, sizes and shapes of microplastics.

Polyacrylamide, which is currently used to remove contaminants during wastewater treatment, has low toxicity, but its precursor acrylamide is considered toxic. Okra and fenugreek extracts could serve as biodegradable and nontoxic alternatives.

“Utilizing these plant-based extracts in water treatment will remove microplastics and other pollutants without introducing additional toxic substances to the treated water,” said Srinivasan in a media release, “thus reducing long-term health risks to the population.”

CHECK OUT: Plant-Based Sawdust Filter Removes Up to 99.9% of Microplastics from Water

She had previously studied the use of food-grade plant extracts as non-toxic flocculants to remove textile-based pollutants from wastewater and thought, ‘Why not try microplastics?’

MAKE A SPLASH on Social Media By Sharing the Texas Breakthrough…

Your Weekly Horoscope – ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny

By
Good News Network
-

Our partner Rob Brezsny, who has a new book out, Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)

Here is your weekly horoscope…

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of May 10, 2025
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Classical ballet dancers often seek to convey the illusion of weightlessness through highly stylized movements. Innovative Taurus choreographer Martha Graham had a different aim, emphasizing groundedness. Emotional depth and rooted physicality were crucial to her art of movement. “The body never lies” is a motto attributed to her, along with “Don’t be nice, be real.” I recommend you make those themes your guides for now, Taurus. Ask your body to reveal truths unavailable to your rational mind. Value raw honesty and unembellished authenticity over mere decorum.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Gemini photographer Margaret Bourke-White (1904–1971) was a trailblazer. She was the first American woman war photojournalist, the first professional photographer permitted into the Soviet Union, and among the first to photograph a Nazi concentration camp. She was consistently at the right place at the right time to record key historical moments. She’s your role model in the coming months. You, too, will have a knack for being in the right place and time to experience weighty turning points. Be vigilant for such opportunities. Be alert and ready to gracefully pounce.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
“Each negative word in a news headline increases click-through rates,” writes Joan Westenberg. “Negative political posts on social media get twice the engagement. The system rewards pessimism.” She wants to be clear: “Doomsayers aren’t necessarily wrong. Many concerns are valid. But they’ve built an attention economy that profits from perpetual panic. It’s a challenge to distinguish between actionable information and algorithmic amplification, genuine concern and manufactured outrage.” Westenberg’s excellent points are true for all of us. But it’s especially important that you Cancerians take measures to protect yourself now. For the sake of your mental and physical health, you need extra high doses of optimism, hope, and compassion. Seek out tales of triumph, liberation, pleasure, and ingenuity far more than tales of affliction, mayhem, and corruption.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Bees are smart. The robust and lightweight honeycombs they create for their homes are designed with high efficiency, maximizing storage space while using the least amount of resources. Let’s make the bees’ genius your inspirational role model for the coming weeks, Leo. It will be a favorable time to optimize your own routines and systems. Where can you reduce unnecessary effort and create more efficiency? Whether it’s refining your schedule, streamlining a project, or organizing your workspace, small adjustments will yield pleasing rewards.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
In 1971, Virgo poet Kay Ryan began teaching English at a small community college. Though she wrote steadily, working hard to improve her craft and publish books, she never promoted herself. For years, she was virtually unknown. Finally, in 2008, she flamed into prominence. In quick succession, she served as the US Poet Laureate, won a Pulitzer Prize, and received a $500,000 “genius grant” as a MacArthur Fellow. Why am I telling you about her long toil before getting her rightful honors? Because I believe that if you are ever going to receive the acclaim, recognition, appreciation, and full respect you deserve, it will happen in the coming months.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Libran author Diane Ackerman combines an elegant poetic sensibility and a deft skill at scientific observation. She is lyrical and precise, imaginative and logical, inventive and factual. I would love for you to be inspired by her example in the coming weeks. Your greatest success and pleasure will arise as you blend creativity with pragmatism. You will make good decisions as you focus on both the big picture and the intimate details. PS: If you immerse yourself in the natural world and seek out sensory-rich experiences, I bet you will inspire a smart solution to an achy dilemma.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Scorpio-born Sabina Spielrein (1885–1942) was one of the earliest woman psychoanalysts. In the 21st century, she is increasingly recognized as a great thinker who got marginalized because of her feminist approach to psychology. Several of her big contributions were Scorpionic to the core: She observed how breakdown can lead to breakthrough, how most transformations require the death of an old form, and how dissolution often serves creation. These will be useful themes for you to ruminate about in the coming weeks. For best results, be your deep, true, Scorpio self.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
In the middle of his art career, Sagittarian painter Paul Klee (1879–1940) was drafted into the German army as a soldier in World War I. Rather than fighting on the front lines, he managed to get a job painting camouflage on military airplanes. This enabled him to conduct artistic explorations and experiments. The metal hulls became his canvases. I am predicting a comparable opportunity disguised as an obstacle for you, Sagittarius. Just as the apparent constraint on Klee actually advanced his artistic development, you will discover luck in unexpected places.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
“To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else,” wrote poet Emily Dickinson. I often feel that truth. As much as I would love to devote 70+ hours a week to creative writing and making music, I am continually diverted by the endless surprises of the daily rhythm. One of these weeks, maybe I’ll be brave enough to simply give myself unconditionally to ordinary life’s startling flow and forget about trying to accomplish anything great. If you have ever felt a similar pull, Capricorn, the coming days will be prime time to indulge. There will be no karmic cost incurred.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
David Bowie was a brilliant musical composer and performer. His artistry extended to how he crafted his persona. He was constantly revising and reshaping his identity, his appearance, and his style. The Ziggy Stardust character he portrayed on stage, for example, had little in common with his later phase as the Thin White Duke. “I’ve always collected personalities,” he quipped. If you have ever felt an inclination to experiment with your image and identity, Aquarius, the coming weeks will be an excellent time. Shape-shifting could be fun and productive. Transforming your outer style may generate interesting inner growth. What would be interesting ways to play with your self-expression?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
The Voynich manuscript is a famous text written in an unfamiliar script filled with bizarre illustrations. Carbon-dated to the early 15th century, it has resisted all attempts at deciphering its content. Even Artificial Intelligence has not penetrated its meaning. I propose we make this enigmatic document an iconic metaphor for your life in the coming weeks. It will symbolize the power you can generate by celebrating and honoring mystery. It will affirm the fact that you don’t necessarily require logical explanations, but can instead appreciate the beauty of the unknown. Your natural comfort with ambiguity will be a potent asset, enabling you to work effectively with situations others find too uncertain.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Just for now, you might benefit from moderating your intensity. I am pleased to see how much good stuff you have generated lately, but it may be time to scale back a bit. At least consider the possibility of pursuing modest, sustainable production rather than daring to indulge in spectacular bursts of energy. In conclusion, dear Aries, the coming days will be a favorable time for finding the sweet spot between driving ambition and practical self-care. Your natural radiance won’t have to burn at maximum brightness to be effective.

WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com

(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)

SHARE The Wisdom With Friends Who Are Stars in Your Life on Social Media…

“There’s a great power in words, if you don’t hitch too many of them together.” – Josh Billings

By
Good News Network
-

Quote of the Day: “There’s a great power in words, if you don’t hitch too many of them together.” – Josh Billings

Photo by: Eric Ward

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Good News in History, May 10

By
Good News Network
-

Happy 65th Birthday to Bono, the singer-songwriter of U2. With his rose-colored glasses, the businessman and philanthropist (in the ONE Campaign, Product RED, and The Global Fund) has dedicated more than 20 years to eradicating global poverty—especially south of the equator in Africa—and has worked with most US presidents going back to Bill Clinton to achieve that goal. Before that he was a ‘bono-fied’ rock star, whose powerful voice and frontman persona transcended both stadium rock and adult alternative, allowing the band to acquire fans as fast as a vacuum sucks up dust. READ about his activities during COVID-19… (1965)

Continue

New Caledonia Bans ‘Dangerous’ Seabed Mining for Half a Century in the South Pacific

By
Andy Corbley
-
Île Balabio, off the northern tip of Grande Terra, New Caledonia’s main island - credit NASA/GSFCLandsat 7
Île Balabio, off the northern tip of Grande Terra, New Caledonia’s main island – credit NASA/GSFCLandsat 7

The Pacific island territory of New Caledonia has announced a moratorium on seabed mining for nickel across 1.3 million square kilometers of ocean.

The rare and sweeping move places the French territory among the most restrictive in the world in terms of seabed extraction, and should enable the protection of roughly one-third of the world’s pristine coral reefs.

Lawmakers on the sovereign yet-not independent islands adopted the measure on Tuesday with broad support for a length of 50 years.

“Rather than giving in to the logic of immediate profit, New Caledonia can choose to be a pioneer in ocean protection,” said Jérémie Katidjo Monnier, the local government member responsible for the issue, during the public session according to RFI. 

“It is also a strategic lever to assert our environmental sovereignty in the face of multinationals and a strong signal of commitment to future generations,” he added.

Only 1.5% of all coral habitat in the world is considered pristine, so the protection of the New Caledonian seabed is one of the most robust measures that could be taken to ensure they stay that way.

Certain members of a political party loyal to France have argued that the measure was “disproportionate” and protects huge areas of seabed “we’ve never even seen before” in addition to the known reef locations.

Deep sea mining is extremely controversial. Japan, possibly the nation with the most advanced existing infrastructure for doing so, has the benefit of commanding territorial waters where manganese “nodules” containing copper, nickel, and other battery metals sit on top of the seabed rather than below it.

CORAL REEF STORIES: First-Ever Coral Crossbreeding Hopes to Mimic the Resilience of an ‘Invincible’ Reef in Honduras

However, Japan is also planning to mine deep sea “cobalt crusts,” mud, and hydrothermal vents. Extensive environmental surveys are being planned to coincide with the first large-scale deep sea mining projects ever conducted by a country in her own territorial waters.

MINING MORATORIUMS: Norway Rewilds Arctic Coal Mining Town in Largest Operation of its Kind, Gives New Hunting Ground for Polar Bears

More than 20 nations have expressed great concern over the practice, believing its environmental harms haven’t been fully understood, and have either called for outright moratoriums or strategic pauses to allow proper scientific research to be conducted.

SHARE New Caledonia’s Bold Decision To Protect Reefs And Oceans… 

China’s Dying EV Batteries and Solar Cells Are Powering a Circular Economy Worth $38 Billion per Year

By
Andy Corbley
-
A BYD e5 Electric Vehicle Battery Model (CC 4.0. BY-SA DKMclaren) and used cathode particles from a spent lithium ion battery ( David BaillotUC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering CC 3.0.)
A BYD e5 Electric Vehicle Battery Model (CC 4.0. BY-SA DKMclaren) and used cathode particles from a spent lithium ion battery ( David BaillotUC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering CC 3.0.)

China has always placed importance on self-sufficiency, and now the world’s largest consumer of industrial metals is digging mines into its own waste streams.

The largest producer of solar panels, batteries, and EVs, Chinese businesses are seeing in these valuable products equally valuable opportunities for recycling and revenue.

The China Resources Recycling Group, created by the State Council last year, is seeking to bring together businesses with the expertise and infrastructure to recycle offline e-waste in large quantities for its lithium, cobalt, copper, gold, aluminum, and nickel.

According to the national publication Economic Daily, the trade in recycled materials from wind and solar power and EV batteries has grown to an enormous sum of $38.5 billion per year, more than double of what the US market for solar recycling was predicted to be in 2050, and also more than the current market for recycling both solar panels and lithium-ion batteries.

Chinese manufacturers produce the greatest share of the world’s electric vehicles, and after a decade of growth, the first wave of battery retirements is crashing down on the Chinese economy. In just a few years, the retired battery tonnage is expected to reach 4 million.

Speaking with South China Morning Post, a pair of business owners said they are seeing big revenues in recycling coming from batteries and solar cells. One, Tianli Technology in Zhejiang Province, earns a quarter of all profits from just batteries, while the much larger Henan Hairui Intelligent Technology, has 70% of its productive capacity dedicated to making machines that recycle batteries and solar panels.

“There is huge potential in the business of new-energy waste, because new energy is where China and the world are going,” said Hairui sales manager Ma Long.

Beijing has so far enrolled 156 businesses to standardize the battery-recycling market’s practices for avoiding workplace accidents and environmental contamination.

Previous eras of industrial growth in China have led to disastrous instances of environmental contamination, something subsequent CCP efforts have strived to prevent. Lithium-ion batteries contain toxic metals and compounds that can leech into soils and waterways, so proper recycling is key. It’s also rewarding, as every gram of nickel and lithium safely extracted helps keep bottom lines high.

MORE RECYCLING GROWTH: China’s War on Pollution Improved Air Quality 42%, Reduced Global Pollution Average, and Returned 2 Years of Life to Citizens

Perhaps even more astonishing than the growth of the EV market in China was its expansion of solar panel production and installation. In one single desert solar array, 3 million panels are shimmering already under the Sun. This is an outgrowth of a ridiculously-large expansion of clean energy industry.

China became the first country to have over 100 GW of total installed photovoltaic capacity in 2017, and as of 2024, was home to 1 in every 3 panels installed worldwide as it added 277 GW of solar power in that one 12-month period, equivalent to 15% of the world’s total installed solar capacity.

Chinese firms are the industry leaders in almost all the key parts of the solar industry supply chain, including polysilicon, silicon wafers, batteries, and photovoltaic modules.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: China Announces Completion of a 1,800-Mile Green Belt Around the World’s Most-Hostile Desert

The recycling chains for solar power are less developed than for batteries, in part because the environmental impact of batteries is higher than retired solar panels. But if the growth in producing panels, producing batteries, and recycling batteries is any indication, one would expect this deficiency to disappear rapidly as the country begins to retire its first generation of solar panels.

SHARE This Uplifting Economic Trends With Your Friends…

The First Ever American Pope: A Missionary and Villanova Graduate From Chicago is Now ‘Leo XIV’

By
Andy Corbley
-
Edgar Beltrán / The Pillar (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Pope Leo XIV waves at the people gathered in St. Peter’s Square in first public appearance as pope – Edgar Beltrán / The Pillar (CC BY-SA 4.0)

After a conclave of merely two days—a shock in itself—a far greater shock emerged when the white smoke billowing out into the skies over Vatican City heralded the election of the first American ever to hold the papacy.

Robert Prevost, born in Chicago, holds in his hands the keys to the kingdom of Catholics as the ‘Vicar of Christ’.

CNN, reporting on one of the least-predicted outcomes the College of Cardinals could have produced, said that the United States has long been considered too powerful: militarily, culturally, and diplomatically to be afforded the honor of leading the Catholic Church.

But Prevost, who considers himself a missionary at heart, is very much a child of the world. In fact, he was termed the “least American” of the US cardinals.

Pope Leo XIV is also a Peruvian citizen, having held the position of bishop during a 20-year stay in the South American country. Two years ago, Pope Francis appointed him to prefect for the Dicastery for Bishops at the Vatican. Speaking fluent Italian, he delivered the first speech of his papacy in the language of Rome. (Watch the speech below…)

Following the appointment, in an interview with Vatican News, Prevost, then 67, said of himself “I still consider myself a missionary—my vocation, like that of every Christian, is to be a missionary, to proclaim the Gospel wherever one is.”

Additionally, the revolutionary papal tenure of his predecessor, Pope Francis, whose acclaim and whose own words were on the new Pope’s lips within two minutes of his first speech as the leader of the Vatican, saw in Prevost the capability of leadership.

Francis “respected him and thought of him very highly,” according to CNN’s Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb. “Clearly Pope Francis saw in him something—he saw him as a capable leader.”

Multiple news outlets report that it’s expected Prevost will carry on much of Francis’ work and reforms, which were some of the most impactful in the modern history of the Church, but also controversial.

For example, in the same Vatican News interview, Prevost was asked what he thought of Francis’ decision to include three women in the Dicastery for Bishops.

“I think their appointment is more than just a gesture on the part of the Pope to say that there are now women here, too. There is a real, genuine, and meaningful participation that they offer at our meetings when we discuss the dossiers of candidates,” he replied.

The Worker’s Pope

As for his papal name, Leo, it follows from Leo XIII who was known as the “Worker’s Pope” in reference to his 1891 encyclical Rarum novarum, which outlined the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the formation of trade unions, while affirming the rights to property and free enterprise.

IN MEMORY OF FRANCIS:

The Vatican described the new Leo as the first pope from the Order of Saint Augustine, for which he served two six-year terms as Prior General, the first pope from North America, the first pope born after World War II, and the first pope from an English-speaking country since Adrian IV in the 12th century.

For certain he’s the first pope to ever graduate from Villanova. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics in 1977 from the school founded by the Augustinians (the Order of Saint Augustine). He’s also a Chicago White Sox baseball fan.

Approximately 5 minutes into his speech, Saint Peter’s Square fell silent as the new pope paused, and, changing from Italian to Spanish, he beamed a smile and said “and now a greeting in Spanish to the people of my Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru.”

“To all you brothers and sisters of Rome, of Italy, of the world, we want to be a sinodal church, a church that walks forward, a church that always seeks peace, a church that always seeks to be close to those who suffer,” she added, switching back to Italian.

WATCH the speech below with a translator courtesy of CBS… 

SHARE This Overview Of Our Nation’s First Pope With Your Friends… 

Zookeeper Becomes Surrogate Parent to Two Baby Gorillas Rejected by Mothers After Pregnancy Complications

By
Andy Corbley
-
Alan Toyne and one of his baby gorillas - credit SWNS
Alan Toyne and one of his baby gorillas – credit SWNS

Like any good foster parent, Alan Toyne shared everything with the babies he was responsible for rearing—his bed, his dining table, his life.

And if you paid him a visit in his Bristol home during a seven-month period in 2016, you’d be impressed with his dedication to ensuring those babies learned how to climb, swing, grunt, and beat their chest—since they were a pair of lowland gorillas.

Toyne had been working for 10 years working as a zookeeper at the Bristol Zoo when he became part of the first team in the UK to hand-rear baby gorillas by working to replicate as much natural behavior as possible.

The surrogacy was necessary because Kera, one of 7 lowland gorillas at Bristol Zoo, developed pre-eclampsia, a birth complication that also occurs in humans, and her baby, later named Afia, was born 4 weeks early through an emergency C-section and rejected.

“We were the first team to use the surrogacy method of hand-rearing gorillas,” Toyne explains to the British media outlet SWNS, “other gorillas were hand-reared in the UK, but weren’t introduced to adult gorillas until they were four years old.”

The team leader of 6, Toyne, who had worked in the finance department of an engineering firm before joining a volunteer zookeeper program at Bristol Zoo in 2006, described the process as “an amazing experience.”

“I still remember the first day bringing Afia back to my home in her car seat and putting her asleep on table,” Toyne said. “My partner, Sharon, was like ‘oh my goodness’, and fell in love with her straight away.”

Unlike the other hand-rearing methods Toyne mentioned, he and his team brought Afia up side by side with the other gorillas to ensure they grew up “proper.”

“The first thing the gorillas had to learn how to do is cling onto their mothers—so we would wear these string vests,” to replicate gorilla fur, he explained. “It was all about training her how to be a proper gorilla, so you had to replicate all of the necessary factors.”

“During the day she would spend time with the gorillas, and if they came over to interact with Afia we would make sure they could—it was important to make them think she was part of the troop, as we always knew she would return to them.”

Toyne looked after both Afia and Hasani, who was also rejected by his mother after she stopped feeding him four weeks in, for around 7 months each.

The zookeeper recently wrote a memoir illustrating his unique journey with the fascinating primates in his audiobook, brilliantly-titled Gorillas in Our Midst.

“When I first brought Afia home—gorillas all eat at the same time—so when we had our tea, we’d all eat together, having our dinner with a gorilla at the table,” Toyne told SWNS, beginning to recall all the bizarreries of living with a gorilla in the house.

“If Afia wanted to wake me up to play she would slap me on the head like a bongo drum but with Sharon, Afia would gently stroke her face.”

“Like human babies, they don’t remember sitting in a car seat: they think of themselves as gorillas.”

FOSTER PARENTS OF ALL STRIPES: Crow Believes He’s a Rabbit After Being Fostered With Broken Leg by Couple With Five Bunnies

Alan admitted it was emotional to say goodbye to the baby gorillas at first, but he was overjoyed their hand-rearing experiences had been positive and successful.

Kera, Afia’s mom, had been reared in captivity 20 years ago, and experienced the problems that led to a re-examination of how best to hand-rear gorillas.

“Back then, if a baby gorilla needed rearing, they would go into a crèche all together, which spurs on their development and play behaviors; but the downside is they don’t understand gorilla social behavior. This meant Kera never fitted in, and was isolated,” Toyne said.

A SIMILAR LIFE STORY: Doctors Called in for Rare Emergency C-Section on Gorilla in the Zoo–and the Baby Pics Are Incredible

“The method we were using was to get the babies in with a surrogate to pick up natural gorilla behavior, then they would fit in normally and be ‘a normal gorilla.’”

After seven months, a surrogate mother took care of raising him socially, while the zoo team continued to bottle-feed Afia and Hasani for three years.

SHARE This Man’s Wild And Unforgettable Experience With Your Friends… 

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” – Mother Teresa

By
Good News Network
-
By CHUTTERSNAP (cropped)

Quote of the Day: “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” – Mother Teresa

Photo by: CHUTTERSNAP

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

By CHUTTERSNAP (cropped)

Good News in History, May 9

By
Good News Network
-
Treaty of Windsor, held in the Portuguese National Archives.

639 years ago today, the Treaty of Windsor, the world’s oldest international accord still in force, was signed between Great Britain and Portugal. It was signed and sealed by King Richard II of England and King John I of Portugal to cement commercial ties and mutual defense. Subjects of one king had the rights, under the treaty, to relocate to the kingdom of the other king without special procedure, and it also gave the right of both countries to trade on the terms enjoyed by the subjects of that country, rather than their monarchs. READ more… (1386)

Continue

School Kids Help Ensure Mountain Pygmy Possum Population Bounces Back in Australian Alps

By
Andy Corbley
-
A mountain pygmy possum - credit, supplied by the New South Wales government
A mountain pygmy possum – credit, supplied by the New South Wales government

As other endangered Australian wildlife, the mountain pygmy possum has recovered to its pre-wildfire population in the Snowy Mountains.

While conservationists are to be applauded for the turn around, they maybe aren’t the experts you’d expect to be managing such a delicate species, but rather groups of students from the local schools.

Home for this miniscule species is a mountain range in Australia’s New South Wales state, and in the Victorian Alps in the country’s northeast. The adults weigh just 40 grams, and are the only species on the continent that will hibernate under snow.

Following the 2017 drought and the 2020 Australian bushfires which touched Kosciuszko National Park in the far south of the state, the numbers of this endangered arboreal marsupial fell to as low as 700, but after several years of emergency snack delivery, they have rebounded dramatically to almost 1,000.

Linda Broome, a threatened species officer with the NSW Environment Department, described the animal as “very endearing,” and told ABC News AU that the population had recovered to “normal” levels.

“They’re alpine specialists and there’s so little alpine country in Australia that they’re very unique,” said Dr. Broome. “They’re cute, they’re very endearing.”

Even more than the bushfires, it was the 2017 drought that sent their population into free fall. One of their main staples is the larva of the Bogong moth, which was significantly diminished by the lack of moisture.

MORE ANIMALS LIKE THIS: Recovery of Endangered Marsupials is Utterly ‘Extraordinary’– Population Up 45% Since Australian Bushfires

But students at the local NSW schools in the Snowy Mountains towns of Berridale, Jindabyne, Cooma, and Adaminaby, intervened by making “Bogong Biscuits,” a mixture of macadamias, mealworm, and various oils that replicated the fat content in the moth larvae.

“We fed them for two years, until the vegetation recovered,” said Dr. Broome. “If we hadn’t fed the possums, they would have dropped down to 500.”

SHARE This Cute Little Possum And Its Cute Protectors With Your Friends… 

Raising a Glass to the Bronze Age Vintners Who Domesticated the Grape 3,200 Years Ago

By
Andy Corbley
-
Getty Images for Unsplash +
Getty Images for Unsplash +

A new study examining 7,000 years of human consumption of grapes found that the domestication of the fruit occurred gradually rather than suddenly, and that wild varieties continued to be used for wine making long after domesticated species emerged.

The data leaves one to with little else to conclude than that vinting in Italy got better with age.

Italian wine is sold and prized around the world, and the consumption of grapes on the peninsula and its related islands goes back millennia. A team of researchers from Italy and France looked at over 1,700 grape seeds from institutional collections to examine trends in domestication over the years.

The results offer valuable insight into the ancient practice of vinting, and tell the tale of a gradual transition from wild to domesticated types over millennia.

“It was believed that it was the Phoenicians and later the Romans who spread domesticated grapes in Italy, while our study showed that domesticated grapes were already present in Sardinia around 3,000 years ago,” study co-author and archaeobotanist Mariano Ucchesu told Popular Science.

“This discovery led me to further investigate the phenomenon; I wanted to understand whether the case of Sardinia was an isolated one or if there were similar cases elsewhere in continental Italy.”

The authors write in their study that grape seeds from Early Bronze Age sites (2050 – 1850 BCE) display the same characteristics from the Early Neolithic period, that is to say, all wild-type.

The Middle Bronze Age sites (1600 – 1300 BCE) continue to exhibit a predominance of wild grape pips, but a notable transition occurs at the end of that period when grape seeds classified as domestic begin to be found in the majority in archaeological sites, indicating a definitive establishment of cultivation practices and selection of domestic grapes by these communities.

The study found the earliest cultivation evidence in Italy’s Campagna region, and Sardinia.

While domesticated varieties began to be found in large numbers from 1100 BCE onward into the Roman era, the seeds of wild grapes underwent their own remarkable transformations beginning as far back as the sixth millennium BCE, showing how important even wild grapevine was for Neolithic Italians.

LISTEN: Making Wine the Way the Romans Did: These Wineries are Cutting The Additives

After the Roman period saw wide-scale cultivation of grape vine and winemaking, the surprises didn’t stop.

“During the Roman period… some sites exhibited a high presence of domestic grape pips and intermediate forms between wild and domestic morphotypes, suggesting introgression between local wild and domestic grape allowing the formation of new varieties,” the authors wrote in their abstract.

MORE RED AND WHITE STORIES: Tuscany’s New Airport Terminal Will Have a Vineyard on the Roof, Obviously

In other words, blending—a signature technique in modern vinting which has produced some of the most famous wine names in the world—Bordeaux, Chianti, Champagne, Valpolicella, Amarone, Rijoa, and Côtes du Rhône.

Ucchesu concluded with Pop-Sci, saying he invites readers to imagine that, “with each sip of fine wine, we are tasting the echoes of a thousand-year journey, a story woven through time to arrive at our palate.”

SHARE A Sip Of The History Of Wine Making With Your Friends… 

Sotheby’s Auction of Sacred Gemstones Found Next to Buddha’s Ashes is Halted as India Intervenes

By
Andy Corbley
-
The gem relics of the Buddha - credit, Sotheby's
The gem relics of the Buddha – credit: Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s has halted their planned auction of a cache of gemstones that were found alongside the Buddha’s ashes and bone fragments after a formal complaint was raised by the Indian government.

Known as the Buddha’s “gem relics,” those that were up for sale were a portion of the original archaeological discovery of 1,800 stones found in a large sarcophagus-like chamber under one of Buddha’s 8 relic stupas, which are round buildings built upon the sites.

Large portions of the discovery, made by a British colonial engineer William Claxton Peppé in a town in Uttar Pradesh called Piprawha, were distributed at the time to a museum in Kolkata, while the bone and ash fragments were sent via Hong Kong as gifts to the king of Siam, and interred in stupas across Southeast Asia. Approximately one-fifth of the gem relics were retained by Peppé.

“Nothing of comparable importance in early Buddhism has ever appeared at auction,” Sotheby’s had earlier said on its website, adding they held “unparalleled religious, archaeological and historical importance.”

The web page dedicated to the sale has since been taken down, CNN reported after covering the news on May 6th that the gem relics were set for the hammer.

“In a legal notice dated May 5th and addressed to Ivy Wong, associate general counsel of Sotheby’s Hong Kong, the Indian Ministry of Culture called for the relics to be withdrawn from the auction because the sale would violate Indian and international laws as well as United Nations conventions,” South China Morning Post reported from Hong Kong where Sotheby’s is located.

The gems “constitute inalienable religious and cultural heritage of India and the global Buddhist community,” the notice read.

The gem relics of the Buddha – credit, Sotheby’s

The World-Honored One

Prince Siddhārtha Gautama of the Shakya clan was born in Lumbini, Nepal, just 20 miles from the border of the Indian state of Bihar. He would later become Buddha in India, and spend his whole life preaching and eventually passing away there.

During the time of Peppé, there would have been virtually no Buddhist presence in India to speak of, and even today Buddhists make up a tiny fragment of the overall religious population of the country. Yet after independence it was a Lay Buddhist, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, who authored the Indian constitution, and his influence sparked something of a Buddhist revival in the country.

Today, as territorial custodians of virtually all sites connected to the Buddha’s life, India takes its responsibilities to global Buddhism seriously.

India’s foreign ministry said that the Peppé family had no right to sell the gem relics, since they were taken as a form of colonial plunder.

“In light of the matters raised by the Government of India and with the agreement of the consignors, the auction of the Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha, scheduled for May 7, has been postponed. This will allow for discussions between the parties, and we look forward to sharing any updates as appropriate,” the auction house said in its announcement.

When Peppé excavated at Piprahwa, he found the remains of an ancient Buddhist stupa, under which lay a huge sandstone sarcophagus-like chamber. Inside lay five vessels containing the gem relics and ashes with bone fragments. An urn bore an inscription that read “relics of the Buddha, the August One,” in ancient Pali.

Imagining the bones of Jesus gives one a sense of the religious significance and value of this discovery—and it is one of several burials related to the Buddha’s relics. At the ancient site of Vaishali, in Bihar, another of these relic stupas was discovered, containing a green sandstone urn filled with ashy substance. The Pali Canon—the primary historical account written after the Buddha’s life, describes there being 8 of these stupas, each raised at places that had offered patronage to the Buddha’s mission.

MORE INDIAN NEWS: Indian Governor Offers $1 Million to Anyone Who Can Decipher This 5,300-year-old Writing System

This urn was later buried beneath a modern stupa in Buddha Memorial Park in the capital city of Bihar.

In a statement provided to CNN before the close of the auction, Chris Peppé, William’s descendant, explained that it has always been his family’s intention to find an appropriate way to get the gem relics into the possession of a Buddhist nation or community. They have routinely toured the world in museums, with Chris allegedly hoping they would attract the attention of an institution that would allow them to be owned in trust for a Buddhist public.

ANCIENT AUCTIONS: 6 Saplings of Dinosaur-Era Tree Species Being Auctioned to Spread the Pines Around Australia

“Despite exhibitions in major museums including the Met, there has been relatively little interest from the public (including Buddhists) in the gems. Choosing temples and museums for donation all presented different problems on closer scrutiny,” he said.

“The auction seems to have finally brought the gems into the spotlight and may present the fairest and most transparent way to transfer this small part of the original find to Buddhists.”

SHARE This Wild Story Of Religious Significance, And Sotheby’s Doing The Right Thing…

This Rarely-Trained Muscle Is Recognized Worldwide as a Marker of Human Health–And the Test for Living to 100

By
Andy Corbley
-
Mika Baumeister (left) and Giulia Squillace (right) via Unsplahs +
Mika Baumeister (left) and Giulia Squillace (right) via Unsplash +

If the man on the street had to guess the best metric for healthy aging, they might say blood pressure, cholesterol levels, lean muscle mass, blood triglycerides, or even telomere length if they follow aging science closely.

But it turns out that one of the best is grip strength. This relatively underdeveloped area of conditioning is increasingly recognized as one of the most reliable markers of human health, according to Joshua Davis at the University of Derby, UK.

Grip strength is associated with positive health outcomes, whether measuring for diabetes risk or depression, and you don’t need any expensive equipment to measure it. Davis recommends you simply pop the top off a can of tennis balls.

“Being able to maintain a maximal squeeze on something like a tennis ball for 15-30 seconds would be a good standard to strive for,” Davis told the BBC.

It’s not necessarily the case that being the one in the house whose hands are the most capable of opening a stubborn pickle jar means you’ll live the longest, rather it’s the case that grip strength is an efficient proxy for total muscle conditioning, which is itself a great proxy for overall nutrition, physical activity, and disease profiles. In other words, it’s a proxy for a proxy.

For example, the BBC report cites one study that found grip strength to be an effective predictor of sarcopenia, the decline in muscle conditioning associated with aging that’s strongly correlated with mortality. The correlation can be seen in another study which found that of those in middle age who had their grip strength measured in 1965, the ones which lived to be 100 were 2.5 times more likely to have had grip strength results in the highest third.

The prognostic value of grip strength for human longevity was found in yet another paper to exceed blood pressure—one of the vital signs controlled for in any patient that visits a hospital.

It’s almost certainly not the case that developing grip strength alone will protect against disease and early mortality; as mentioned above, it’s a proxy for overall muscle conditioning.

STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING: When Your Muscles Work Out, They Help Neurons Grow and Heal 4x Faster, MIT Study Shows

There’s an old saying in medicine: “Break your hip, die of pneumonia.”

Muscle mass is one of the best defenses against the ravages of age. It cushions the joints and bones and provides protection from falls and the subsequent fractures that gave rise to this ghastly adage. It also soaks up excess glucose in the blood to reduce the risk of developing type-2 diabetes or insulin resistance.

LONGEVITY SCIENCE: Man’s Biological Clock Set Back 10 Years After 93 Days Living Under the Ocean in a Research Station

The BBC also spoke with Mark Peterson, a physical medicine and rehabilitation professor at the University of Michigan, who ran a 2022 study which found that deep down in our DNA, patterns of methylated molecules in those who had weak grip strength indicated they were aging at an accelerated rate.

If you don’t happen to have a grip dynamometer on hand to measure exactly how much force your handshake can doll out, you can always perform the tennis ball test.

SHARE This Surprise Measure Of Health And Fitness With Your Friends… 

“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” – H. L. Mencken

By
Good News Network
-

Quote of the Day: “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” – H. L. Mencken

Photo by: Getty Images for Unsplash+

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Good News in History, May 8

By
Good News Network
-

Happy 99th Birthday to Sir David Attenborough, the legendary naturalist, broadcaster and producer who created and wrote the influential documentaries Life on Earth (in 13 parts) and The Life of Birds, among many others. After studying Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, he launched his famous Zoo Quest BBC series in 1954. Life on Earth in 1979 led to The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990), a celebration of Antarctica called Life in the Freezer (1993), and 1995’s epic The Private Life of Plants (1995). His services to television were recognized in 1985, when he was knighted as Sir David Attenborough. He is set to narrate one last documentary, which he says will be the most important of his career. READ his recent quotes about his new documentary releasing today and WATCH a trailer… (1926)

Continue

Exceptionally Well-Preserved Remains of a 5,000-Year-Old Woman from Elite Coastal Culture Found in Peru

By
Andy Corbley
-
- credit, Ministry of Culture, released
– credit, Ministry of Culture, released

A team of archaeologists has found the burial of an elite woman in Áspero, an ancient fishing city of the Caral civilization (3000-1800 BCE) located in the province of Barranca, near Lima.

She was between 20 and 35 years old when she died, and was entombed inside the building known as the Huaca de los Ídolos, one of three that sit atop a raised mound at the heart of the settlement.

The team was led by Ruth Shady Solís, who works for the Ministry of Culture in the permanent archaeological presence at the site. The woman offers a striking glimpse into the nature and customs of this pre-ceramic society.

When people think of the Pre-Colombian American civilizations, three names come to mind invariably: Aztec, Inca, and Maya. In full fact, the continents, both north and south, boast a number of others whose accomplishments, if less preserved or propagated by modern literature, were incredible.

To name a few, there are the Mississippians, the Olmec, and the Caral-Supe Civilization of Peru which despite being of such antiquity as to predate even pottery, produced incredible architectural works spanning dozens of acres using quarried stone and river cobbles.

The Caral-Supe, to which the buried woman belonged, are recognized as one of 6 societies that originated human civilization independent of contact with another, already civilized society.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Culture of Peru, the woman was buried with objects that suggest an elite status. The body was wrapped in various materials, such as cotton fabrics, reed mats, and a panel embroidered with macaw feathers, delicately arranged in a net, and one of the oldest examples of feather art in the Andes.

On top of her head they placed a headdress of fibers with bundles of wound threads which was preserved along with her hair and skin, offering the archaeologists the outline and ornament of a face not seen for 4,500 years.

This discovery joins other elite burials in Áspero: the “Lady of the Four Tupus” found in 2016 and located 3 meters to the north, and the “Elite Male” found between the women in 2019.

ALONG THE SAME LINES: Mystery of Nazca Lines Deepens as AI Survey Doubles Number of Geoglyphs and Alters Their Meaning

Due to their stratigraphic location, they would all correspond to the same period of occupation, and their grouping is similar to the later burials of nobles that were documented in the settlement of La Galgada, in Tablachaca, Ancash.

At the bottom of the burial, four reed baskets were filled with 30 sweet potatoes, weaving tools including an inlaid needle, and a selection of animal remains from the Amazon Basin’s creatures, such as a shell from an Amazonian snail and the beak of a toucan inlaid with green and brown beads.

ANCIENT AMERICAN HISTORY: Circular Stone Plaza Moves Up Start of Stone Age Construction in the Andes on Par with Stonehenge

With some items originating from the Amazon and others from the highlands, it suggests exchange networks maintained by the Caral-Supe with other regions.

The Áspero settlement, located 700 meters from the Pacific Ocean, is made up of 22 architectural complexes stretching more than 30 acres. It is recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

SHARE This Incredible Discovery With Your Friends Who Love Amerindian Civilization… 

‘Starquakes’ Inside Universe’s Densest Objects May Have Seeded Earth with Large Amounts of Gold

By
Andy Corbley
-
This artist's concept depicts a magnetar releasing material into space. The magnetic field lines, shown in green, influence the movement of charged material around the magnetar - credit, NASA/JPL-Caltech
This artist’s concept depicts a magnetar releasing material into space. The magnetic field lines, shown in green, influence the movement of charged material around the magnetar – credit, NASA/JPL-Caltech

It’s long been suspected to the point of certainty that heavier elements like gold are created inside supernovae, and that over the billions of years Earth has existed, the dust from these explosions swept much of the periodic table onto it.

But a new hypothesis has been developed that may describe another way that the universe put the Au in Australia.

Out in the cosmos there are objects known as neutron stars, or pulsars, which are the unfathomably dense (one teaspoon of their material would weigh one-billion tons on Earth) remnants of exploded stars.

Fascinating objects, pulsars spin at incredibly fast speeds and release constant streams of clear radio waves that have been used as a method for interstellar coordinate calculation. Some pulsars carry magnetic fields one trillion times more powerful than Earth’s, and are called magnetars because of it.

It’s these that Anirudh Patel, lead author of a new study published Tuesday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, believes could be the another producer of gold in the universe.

“It very cool to think about how some of the stuff in my phone or my laptop was forged in this extreme explosion (over) the course of our galaxy’s history,” Patel told CNN.

Just like on Earth, magnetars sometimes experience instability—so-called “starquakes.”

“Neutron stars have a crust and a superfluid core,” study coauthor Eric Burns, assistant professor and astrophysicist at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, told CNN in an email.

“On magnetars these starquakes produce very short bursts of X-rays. Just like on Earth, you have periods where a given star is particularly active, producing hundreds or thousands of flares in a few weeks. And similarly, every once in a while, a particularly powerful quake occurs.”

It’s supposed by some of Patel’s coauthors, including his PhD advisor Professor Brian Metzger that during these powerful starquakes, ejections of the neutron star crust occur, and would be a prime candidate for heavier elements like gold, uranium, and iron.

Magnetars are also believed to have formed very early on in the history of the universe, perhaps as early as 200 million years after the Big Bang. Evidence of heavy element creation was theorized by Patel and Burns to be identifiable in gamma ray radiation from a large magnetar ejection.

HOW DIAMONDS ARE FORMED: Huge Black Diamond Sold for $4.3 Million–and No One Knows Where it Came From or How it Was Formed

Burns looked at previously gathered data of a giant starquake from a magnetar from 2004, captured by the now-retired International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory mission. Back then, astronomers collected and isolated the signal of a gamma ray, but didn’t know how to interpret the data.

That gamma ray’s characteristics matched predictions in Professor Metzger’s previous work on what the creation and distribution of heavy elements would look like in a giant magnetar flare.

INTERSTELLAR WEALTH: Mercury Could Have A Layer of Diamonds 11 Miles Thick Beneath the Surface

The researchers believe that big starquake ejections could be responsible for up to 10% of elements heavier than iron in the Milky Way galaxy.

It’s enough to change one’s perspective of the ring around their left-hand finger, for example—that not only will it never corrode and always be able to be smelted back into pure gold, but it was created to be such a unique treasure via the seismic perturbations on the densest objects in the universe.

SHARE This Interstellar Story With Your Friends On Love Science… 

How a Gift from Pope Francis Inspired a Restaurant Owner to Feed the Hungry for Years

By
Andy Corbley
-
Bruno Serato (right, in black) showing Pope Francis his charity work - credit, Bruno Serato, supplied
Bruno Serato (right, in black) showing Pope Francis his charity work – credit, Bruno Serato, supplied

When firefighters pulled a silver crucifix from the ashes of Bruno Serato’s burned out California restaurant, he took it as a sign from god: though he lost so much, he needed to keep faith in the lord and keep going.

Since that day, one of Anaheim’s most beloved Italian imports has opened the doors to a new location, as well as the doors of his heart, feeding the city’s wealthy during the evening so he can feed the city’s poor during the day.

CBS News’ Steve Hartman brings the story of how a gift from Pope Francis transformed the life of Chef Serato, and how his revolutionary papacy continues to inspire him even after the Pope’s passing.

Chef Serato was named a CNN Hero in 2011 for his work in feeding underprivileged children. His charity, Caterina’s Club, founded in 2005, now serves free dinners to over 5,000 children daily in Orange and LA counties. Every meal served at Serato’s private dinning and ballroom—the swanky Anaheim White House—helps serve a pasta meal to a child.

The charity always has something going on, and it won Serato the Ellis Island Heroes award for his service to his adopted country, arriving with zero English skills and just $200 in his pocket.

This year in October, the charity will celebrate its 20th anniversary—a perfect occasion for looking back at accomplishments made, challenges overcome, and moments to cherish.

FEEDING THE HUNGRY: GNN Readers Donate 20,000 Meals to Hungry Kids in Partnership With Nutrition Company

“I was like, ‘No way!'” Serato told CBS News, remembering the moment the firefighter handed him the crucifix—a gift from Pope Francis, whom he met four times. “This is a sign, a sign of god for sure, no doubt about it.”

On the last occasion that he met the pontiff, Francis, looking at a small book of Serato’s work, told him “Bravo, bravo, continua cosi,” which means “continue like this.”

MORE IMMIGRANT STORIES: Run by Grandmothers, a Staten Island Restaurant Highlights Homecooking from Around the World

Serato told Hartman he took that as both command and confirmation, and that he’s doing more than he’s ever done in his whole career to help those in need: a fitting tribute to Francis, who took the name of Saint Francis of Assisi, famous for helping the poor.

“I have to keep doing what I’m doing, if I don’t he come down!”

WATCH Chef Serato’s life story below from Steve Hartman’s On the Road… 

SHARE This Man’s Mission From God And Francis With Your Friends…

Beach Litter Falls by 30-45% Across European Beaches Since 2015 Report Shows

By
Andy Corbley
-
Getty Images for Unsplash +
Infographic via the JCR at the European Commission

Litter on European beaches from the Baltic to the Aegean is falling, according to a new report.

If you’ve ever rented in Europe, or you’re a European and you live there, there’s a good chance you’ve had to comply with the strict waste control standards that require you to separate trash into several categories.

If that’s the case, and if it’s a pain in the neck sometimes, well crack a smile, because the hard work is paying off in one of the best, perfectly-tangible ways: how much trash is on European beaches.

In its latest EU Coastline Macro Litter Trend report, the Joint Research Center of the European Union has found that between 2015 and 2021 total beach litter has fallen 30%, with the biggest reductions seen in single-use plastic items (40%). The density was measured in pieces per 100 meters.

Fisheries-related items decreased by 20% as were plastic bags. The beaches that improved the most were concentrated around the Baltic Sea (45%) while the despite the enormity of the Mediterranean, it too experienced a dramatic decline (38%).

The report gathered data on macro marine litter trends across 253 beaches, and was pursuant to tracking the EU Zero Pollution Action Plan’s Target 5a, which aims to reduce plastic litter at sea by 50% by 2030.

LITTER DISAPPEARING ELSEWHERE TOO: 

That target would be well on the way to being met, if the report is accurate. Mediterranean beaches are subject to some of the highest densities of beach goers anywhere in the world, and for the improvement to be so dramatic, with 150 fewer pieces of litter found on average across every 100 meters of sand or stones, is a testament to more than just tight regulations.

SHARE This Great Success In De-Cluttering Europe’s Beautiful Beaches… 

123...1,633Page 2 of 1,633
© Copyright 1997–2025 GNN, LLC