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Waste Heat Generated from Electronics to Warm Finnish City in Winter Thanks to Groundbreaking Thermal Energy Project

By
Andy Corbley
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An illustration of Varanto's seasonal energy storage facility - credit, Varanto Energy, released
An illustration of Varanto’s seasonal energy storage facility – credit, Varanto Energy, released

Heat stored underground in caverns can be set aside in Finland’s summer months to be re-used during frigid winters thanks to a state-of-the-art ‘seasonal energy’ storage facility.

Slated for construction this summer near Helsinki, it will be the largest in the world by all standards and contain enough thermal energy to heat a medium-sized city all winter.

Thermal exchange heating systems, like those built underground, or domestic heat pumps, are seen as the most effective way available of reducing the climate-impact of home heating and cooling.

Their function relies on natural forces or energy recycling to cool down or heat up water and then using it to radiate hot or cold energy into a dwelling.

In Vantaa, Finland’s fourth largest city neighboring the capital of Helsinki, the ambitious Varanto seasonal energy storage project plans to store cheap and environmental friendly waste heat from datacenters, cooling processes, and waste-to-energy assets in underground caverns where it can be used to heat buildings via the district heating network whenever it is needed.

In Finland and other Nordic countries, the heat consumption varies significantly between seasons. Heat consumption in the summertime is only about one-tenth of the peak load consumption during the cold winter months.

Varanto will utilize underground caverns equal in space to two Maddison Square Gardens—over a million cubic meters—filled with water heated by this waste heat and pressure that will allow the water to reach temperatures of up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit without the water boiling or evaporating.

“The world is undergoing a huge energy transition. Wind and solar power have become vital technologies in the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy,” says Vantaa Energy CEO Jukka Toivonen.

“The biggest challenge of the energy transition so far has been the inability to store these intermittent forms of energy for later use. Unfortunately, small-scale storage solutions, such as batteries or accumulators, are not sufficient; large, industrial-scale storage solutions are needed. Varanto is an excellent example of this, and we are happy to set an example for the rest of the world.”

The total thermal capacity of the fully charged seasonal thermal energy storage is 90 gigawatt-hours. This capacity could heat a medium-sized Finnish city for as long as a year. Broken down into smaller energy units, this amount of energy is equivalent to 1.3 million electric car batteries.

MORE HEAT EXCHANGE IDEAS: Refrigerator-Sized Data Center Transfers Its Heat to English Swimming Pool, Saving Thousands in Energy Costs

“Two 60-MW electric boilers will be built in conjunction with Varanto,” adds Toivonen. “These boilers will be used to produce heat from renewable electricity when electricity is abundant and cheap. Our heat-producing system will work like a hybrid car: alternating between electricity and other forms of production, depending on what is most advantageous and efficient at the time.”

The project cost is estimated to be around $217 million (€200 million,) and it has already been awarded a €19-million investment grant from Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. Construction of the storage facility’s entrance is expected to start in summer 2024, while it could be operational as early as 2028.

District heating is by far the most popular form of heating for buildings and homes in Finland.

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In district heating networks, the thermal energy produced in production plants is transmitted to customers as hot water in a closed, two-pipe system. In these pipelines, the hot water flows to the buildings, and the water that has released its heat flows back to the production plant for reheating. The heat is always transferred to the building via heat exchangers, so the district heating water itself does not circulate in the heating networks of the buildings.

There are more than 600 kilometers of underground district heating networks in Vantaa, and around 90% of Vantaa residents live in a home heated by district heating.

In 2023, a total of 37.3 terawatt-hours of district heat was produced in Finland. Of this, 53% was produced from renewable heat sources and 14% from waste heat.

WATCH a short illustration below… 

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Fish Swim in Schools for Stealth–as 100 Fish Make Less Noise Than an Individual Swimming Alone

By
Andy Corbley
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Kris-Mikael Krister - Unsplash
Schooling makes fish more stealthy, allowing them to avoid predators like sharks from far away. Kris-Mikael Krister – Unsplash

Watching a school of fish move can be hypnotic. The way they turn in near-perfect synchronicity is equal parts beauty and evolutionary brilliance.

While scientists know that fish school as a defense mechanism against predators, what researchers from Johns Hopkins University have just discovered is that, while this is true, it’s true not only for the reasons you might expect.

Along with increasing the chance hungry jaws will chomp down on your friend rather than you, swimming in schools actually makes fish more silent, with a group able to sound like a single fish.

“It’s widely known that swimming in groups provides fish with added protection from predators, but we questioned whether it also contributes to reducing their noise,” said senior author Rajat Mittal. “Our results suggest that the substantial decrease in their acoustic signature when swimming in groups, compared to solo swimming, may indeed be another factor driving the formation of fish schools.”

The team created a 3D model based on the common mackerel to simulate different numbers of fish swimming, changing up their formations, how close they swam to one another, and the degrees to which their movements synched. The model, which applies to many fish species, simulates one to nine mackerel being propelled forward by their tail fins.

The team found that a school of fish moving together in just the right way was stunningly effective at noise reduction: A school of seven fish sounded like a single fish.

“A predator, such as a shark, may perceive it as hearing a lone fish instead of a group,” Mittal said. “This could have significant implications for prey fish.”

The single biggest key to sound reduction, the team found, was the synchronization of the school’s tail flapping—or actually the lack thereof.

If fish moved in unison, flapping their tail fins at the same time, the sound added up and there was no reduction in total sound. But if they alternated tail flaps, the fish canceled out each other’s sound, the researchers found.

“Sound is a wave,” Mittal said. “Two waves can either add up if they are exactly in phase or they can cancel each other if they are exactly out of phase. That’s kind of what’s happening here though we’re talking about faint sounds that would barely be audible to a human.”

MORE WONDERFUL ETHNOLOGY: Scientists Discover Butterflies Originated in America 100 Million Years Ago When Upstart Moths Wanted to Bask in the Sun

The tail fin movements that reduce sound also generate flow interaction between the fish that allow the fish to swim faster while using less energy, said lead author Ji Zhou, a Johns Hopkins graduate student studying mechanical engineering.

“We find that reduction in flow-generated noise does not have to come at the expense of performance,” Zhou said. “We found cases where significant reductions in noise are accompanied by noticeable increases in per capita thrust, due to the hydrodynamic interactions between the swimmers.”

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The team was surprised to find that the sound reduction benefits kick in as soon as one swimming fish joins another. Noise reduction grows as more fish join a school, but the team expects the benefits to cap off at some point.

“Simply being together and swimming in any manner contributes to reducing the sound signature,” Mittal said. “No coordination between the fish is required.”

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Good News in History, April 12

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Good News Network
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View of central Cuenca - Flickr, CC 3.0. Christian Cattani

467 years ago, Cuenca was founded in Ecuador, a city of such beauty that it has become known as the “Athens” of South America. Founded on the ruins of the Inca city of Tomebamba (a major administrative center) and the Cañari city of Guapondelig, in 1999 its historic center was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. READ more… (1557)

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“Fall in love over and over again every day. Love your family, your neighbors, your enemies, and yourself.” – Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Fall in love over and over again every day. Love your family, your neighbors, your enemies, and yourself.” – Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Photo by: Becca Tapert

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

A Teacher Promised His 1978 Class an Eclipse Party in 50 Years–And He Just Hosted It

By
Andy Corbley
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Patrick Moriarty and a group of his former students watched the solar eclipse together on Monday in New York. (Caitlin Moriarty Hynick)
Patrick Moriarty (center, blue shirt) and a group of his former students watched the solar eclipse together on Monday in New York. (Caitlin Moriarty Hynick)

The year was 1978: Prime Minister Aldo Moro had been kidnapped in Italy, the US Senatorial proceedings were broadcast on the radio for the first time, and Patrick Moriarty was teaching his high science class about solar eclipses.

Explaining their trajectories, the path of totality, and other such details, the class took a look at which upcoming eclipses would pass over their hometown of Rochester, New York.

“Hey, circle that one on April 8th, 2024,” Moriarty recalled telling his students. “We’re going to get together on that one.”

Laughing, the class carried on the lesson, and every new group of 17-year-olds that came through his classroom got the same joke, with inevitably the same reaction.

The years went by. The Berlin Wall fell, the Dot Com Bubble crashed the stock market, the US elected a black man to be president, social media embedded itself into our lives; and then suddenly, Moriarty was looking at the calendar and it said ‘2022.’

He always used to tell his students that he’d take out an ad in the newspaper, but since people don’t really do newspapers anymore, he set up a Facebook group to track down some of his old charges and see if his promise meant as much to them as it did to him, but didn’t expect much forty to fifty years on as one might imagine.

But the group soon circulated among former students who kept up connections, and hundreds expressed interest in the event. Soon plans began to take shape, and Moriarty hired a local pizzeria to cater the event, and bought 130 pairs of eclipse glasses.

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Then the big day came, and the head-spinning reconnection began with all the students, whose faces Mr. Moriarty mostly did not remember, but whose names he did. The students came from all over the country, with children, with life stories, and with 45 years of life experiences to share.

Jokes were made: ‘you seemed taller’ said one, ‘this has got to be the longest homework assignment ever’ said another.

In the hour before the eclipse, Moriarty was back in class: teaching the variety of middle-aged students exactly as he once did about the science behind an eclipse.

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Eventually, the Moon passed over the Sun, but even the spectacular stargazing event couldn’t eclipse the incomprehensible moment shared between strangers who were nevertheless bound by an almost 50-year joke.

“When teachers go into education, they hope that they can be that kind of teacher that would have an impact on people and make a difference for people,” Moriarty, 68, told The Washington Post’s Kyle Melnick.

“And this event right here just firmed it up for me that I guess I did okay.”

SHARE This Amazing And Heartwarming Story With Your Friends… 

Playful Competition Brings Together Muslims and Non-Muslims Over Street Vendor’s Ramadan Snack

By
Andy Corbley
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A takjil stand on the first day of Ramadan. credit Trugiaz CC 2.0.

In the world’s largest Muslim nation, a street food vendor’s tasty sundown snack has become so popular that people rush to get one whether they’re breaking a Ramadan fast or not.

The resulting rush has created a kind of friendly competition in the decidedly laid-back country of Indonesia, and even though the vendor first made the snacks for Muslims, he and thousands like him relish how it is bringing people together.

Mr. Kusmanadi opens a stall to sell his “takjil” every year during Ramadan, the holy month in Islam wherein Muslims forsake water and food between sunrise and sunset. This year however, non-Muslims are commonly seen “hunting takjil” which is the phrase used in situ.

Takjil is an Indonesian word that means a snack for breaking the Ramadan fast, but this year, Kusmanadi is serving all kinds of people. Every country has its own “takjil” but in Indonesia, it’s often just traditional snacks like coconut milk compote, pandan glutinous rice balls filled with palm sugar, and mung bean and sesame balls.

“So even though it’s Ramadan at the moment and the ones fasting are Muslims, the non-Muslims are also hunting,” Kusmanadi told ABC News Australia. “I’m… also happy that non-Muslims are participating. I think this is a good thing. It’s very Indonesian.”

Natasya Salim and Erwin Renaldi, writing for ABC, report that social media is beginning to swell with the content of non-Muslims partaking at takjil stands, with some humorous results, such as vendors quizzing them on the Five Pillars of Islam and teasing them about not knowing the answers.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Fishermen Getting Paid to Collect Plastic Trash at Sea, As Indonesia Slashes Pollution

The ultimate humor is the origination of the trend to seek out takjil at sundown, which came from a Christian preacher at the Tiberius Church in Jakarta of all places.

“Our religion is tolerant, but when it comes to takjil, we have to be first,” the pastor joked during a sermon that was being recorded by a congregant who posted it on TikTok where it went viral.

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The clip of the sermon now has about 23.8 million views. Asked about the “takjil war” as social media has dubbed it, Pastor Saerang who made the original comment said it demonstrates how Indonesia practices “tolerance on the next level.”

“But with the takjil war, we are actually leveling up… We support and also become a part of a religious ceremony of our brothers and sisters whichever their religion is,” Saerang said, according to Salim and Renaldi. “I think that’s the real Indonesia.”

SHARE This Wonderful Story Of Tolerance And Humanity In Southeast Asia… 

A Pat on the Back Statistically Improves Free Throw Numbers in Basketball–Demonstrating the Power of Touch

By
Andy Corbley
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Sylvia Fowles shoots a free throw, Minnesota Lynx vs Washington Mystics game at Capital One Arena, Washington DC - CC 3.0. Lorie Shaull, Flickr
Sylvia Fowles shoots a free throw, Minnesota Lynx vs Washington Mystics game at Capital One Arena, Washington DC – CC 3.0. Lorie Shaull, Flickr

In difficult situations, physical touch like a hug or a pat on the back can reduce stress; so much so that researchers from the University of Basel have found it can statistically improve free throw points in collegiate basketball.

The research demonstrates just how sensitive humans are to physical touch, and how marriage and family therapist Virginia Satir’s famous quote “we need four hugs a day for survival, eight hugs a day for maintenance, twelve hugs a day for growth,” is spot on.

One of the most stressful situations during any basketball game is a free throw, which happens when a player is fouled while attempting to score. Unlike in soccer where anyone can take a penalty kick, in basketball, it is only the fouled player who gets the free throw.

They can win one point per successful shot, and typically get 2 per foul. Games are decided by free throws.

Of the 10 most successful NCAA teams (based on win percentage) since 2001, only one (Michigan State) shot fewer free throws than the median of 20.6 per game. Estimates of the number of games decided by free throws during a single season range from four to as many as one-half of all games according to published research.

Evidently then, whatever can improve free throw completion can only be a good thing for a team.

A team of researchers headed by Christiane Büttner at Basel’s Faculty of Psychology investigated this phenomenon, with their results appearing in the journal Psychology of Sport & Exercise.

MORE POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: How Self-Compassion Can Help People Achieve Weight Loss Goals Despite Setbacks–and Resume Dieting Faster

Büttner and her colleagues at the University of Landau and Purdue University studied the situation using videos of basketball games. The study included a total of 60 games played by women’s basketball teams and 835 incidents of two free throws.

The researchers counted how many of her four teammates touched the shooter before a shot, for example by tapping her on the shoulder or squeezing her hand. They then calculated whether there was a statistical association between the number of touches by teammates and the success rate of the subsequent shot.

The data showed that the chance of scoring rose when teammates showed their support through touch. The effect only appeared after a failed first shot, which makes sense because such a scenario is likely to spike stress levels.

“So support from teammates is most helpful when your stress level is already high because you’ve missed the first of the two shots,” Büttner says in summary.

OTHER NEWS LIKE THIS: Participating in Group Sports Can Offset High Stress and Contribute to Academic Competence During Challenges

It’s conceivable that a pat on the back or squeeze of the hand could also help manage stress and improve performance in other team situations, says the psychologist.

Stress management is key in sports such as golf, tennis, and racing events since the onus is entirely on the single athlete. In basketball, soccer, and other team sports, certain game mechanics put aside the collective responsibility for brief moments in which it’s all put on the shoulders of a single player.

These situations offer an exceptional insight into how high-functioning athletes deal with stress, and it’s interesting to note that even for such supremely confidant members of society—professional athletes—a physical touch of encouragement and support can make all the difference.

SHARE This Tremendous Insight Into Human Sports Psychology… 

Dog That Flunked Out of Police Academy Becomes a Hero in Taiwan’s Earthquake Response

By
Andy Corbley
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Credit – Kaohsiung Fire Department

To be a drug-sniffing dog you have to be impassionate, which is exactly what this golden retriever was not.

Though Roger flunked out of the Kaohsiung City police academy in Taiwan, his career in public service was not over, and has now captured the hearts of his people with his rescue efforts during Taiwan’s recent earthquake.

Striking the northern part of the island with a magnitude of 7.4, it caused a landslide in a popular national park that destroyed several buildings and claimed a dozen victims.

Roger flunked out of police academy for being too jubilant – credit Kaohsiung Fire Department

8-year-old Roger was quickly deployed to the area, where his exuberance and independent streak put him in good stead for locating the body of a 21-year-old victim who hadn’t been found.

Whether Chen Chih-san, captain of the rescue dog unit of the Kaohsiung Fire Department has other dogs that assisted in the rescue efforts, it was only Roger who captured the island nation’s hearts because of his earlier career setback and subsequent redemption arc.

OTHER SERVICE DOGS: ‘Hero’ Dogs From Rescue Operation in Turkey Get First Class Seats on Airliners Flying Them Home

“I’m not saying he was not good or that he didn’t get along with others. But the requirement for narcotic detection dogs is that they can’t be too restless and independent,” Chen said. “But (these attributes) are what we want in rescue dogs.”

These attributes were perfectly on show when he lunged for the reporter’s microphone as his handler was being interviewed by Taiwan’s official Central News Agency.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: India Deploys Super-Sniffer Dogs to Protect Newly-Introduced Cheetahs from Poachers

Having participated in 7 rescue organizations throughout his career, which included his being certified by the International Rescue Dog Organization in 2022, an accolade last achieved by a Taiwanese rescue dog in 2019, Roger’s retirement is fast approaching.

CNN reports that he will have a wonderful home suitable for an active precocious dog like him, but before he puts his paws up for his golden years, one family will have the closure of laying a loved one to rest because of his excellent nose and personality.

SHARE This Dog’s Career Calling With Your Friends On Social Media… 

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” – Rudyard Kipling

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” – Rudyard Kipling

Photo by: Matt Botsford

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

 

Good News in History, April 11

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Good News Network
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Jeremy Clarkson in 2006 - CC 2.0. Ed Perchick - flickr

Happy 64th Birthday to Jeremy Clarkson, the journalist and television personality who hosted the iconic motoring show Top Gear. Since hanging up his BBC boots, he bought a rather large farm, and has been entertaining these days on Amazon Prime’s Clarkson’s Farm, where he takes his blithering idiocy and orangutan-like demeanor into the agriculture sector. Born in Doncaster, England, his opinionated and humorous tongue-in-cheek writing and presenting style made the show one of the most popular on the BBC. READ more… (1960)

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Astronauts Watched the Eclipse From ISS Space Station And Grabbed Some Cool Pictures and Video

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Good News Network
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The Moon's shadow is seen covering portions of Canada and the U.S. in unique eclipse images taken from the International Space Station. Orbiting 260 miles above the Northeastern coast of the United States – NASA
The Moon’s shadow covering portions of Quebec and New Brunswick and the state of Maine – ISS / NASA

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station orbited right past the solar eclipse Monday and grabbed some intriguing photos.

The path of totality in the Moon’s shadow can be seen plunging the Northeastern coast of the US and part of Canada into darkness, while seven crew members watched from space.

Orbiting 260 miles above the ground, members of the Expedition 71 crew experienced the shadow, or umbra, moving across portions of Quebec and New Brunswick and the American state of Maine.

Then, it was gone—because the ISS is traveling at 17,500 miles an hour.

Aboard the International Space Station to witness the celestial event were NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Tracy Dyson, as well as cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Alexander Grebenkin.

The Moon’s shadow is seen covering portions of Canada and the U.S. in unique eclipse images taken from the International Space Station. Orbiting 260 miles above the Northeastern coast of the United States – NASA

Other satellites captured unique images like these, too.

WATCH the video from NASA and Starlink satellites below…

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Florida Police Officers Complete Grocery Delivery After Arresting Delivery Driver (WATCH)

By
Andy Corbley
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credit - Joe Neu
credit – Joe Neu

“Hello, uh, you ordered groceries? Your driver got arrested, so we’re delivering your groceries!”

It would have been difficult to summarize the sense of surprise that homeowner Joe Neu and his family felt when Florida police officers arrived carrying bags of produce and groceries.

The story made national news on Fox 35 Orlando, where in a neighborhood called Titusville on March 26, two police officers went “above and beyond” to finish the job that the man they had just arrested was carrying out.

Suspect Richard Robertson, 40, was wanted on felony charges both in Florida and Texas. Officers who spotted his plate numbers and pulled him over confirmed his identity, but also noticed a large delivery order in the car.

Having finished the “protect” part of the job, they switched over to the “serve” part, which had a woman in the home remarking that she would make sure the officers received Robertson’s tip.

MORE GOOD COP-GOOD-COP STORIES: Police Give Motorists a Thanksgiving Surprise–Handing Out Free Turkeys Instead of Tickets

Arriving at the house, the policewoman rang the doorbell, and video captured by the Ring camera on the door and shared on social media, shows her noting with a smile on her face “funny” while waiting for an answer.

“My dad was a police officer when I was growing up, so I have the utmost respect for them, so when I saw that, it was wonderful to see,” Mr. Neu told Fox.

WATCH the video below… 

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Mexican Wolf Numbers Growing in U.S. for 8th Consecutive Year, Soon to Be Howling at a Reserve Near You

By
Andy Corbley
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A collared Mexican wolf around Eagle Creek - credit Aislinn Maestas, Public Domain
A collared Mexican wolf around Eagle Creek – credit Aislinn Maestas, Public Domain

The wild population of Mexican wolves saw another year of growth in 2023, according to the results of the annual survey published by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The 2023 population census revealed a minimum of 257 Mexican wolves distributed across Arizona and New Mexico. This increase marks the eighth consecutive year of population growth, the longest continuous streak since recovery efforts began.

The 2023 population minimum count represents a six percent increase from the minimum of 242 wolves counted in 2022.

“In the aggregate, the 2023 data points out that Mexican wolf recovery has come a long way since the first release,” said Jim deVos, Arizona Game and Fish Department Mexican Wolf Coordinator.

“Each year, the free-roaming Mexican wolf population numbers increase and the areas they occupy expand. Genetic management using pups from captivity is also showing results. In total, 99 pups carefully selected for their genetic value have been placed in 40 wild dens since 2016, and some of these fosters have produced litters of their own. While recovery is in the future, examining the last decade of data certainly provides optimism that recovery will be achieved,” added deVos.

Mexican wolf population information is gathered from November through February by the Interagency Field Team. During this time, the team conducts ground and aerial surveys, using a variety of methods, including remote cameras, scat collection, and visual observation. Counting the population at the same time each winter allows for comparable year-to-year trends at a time of year when the Mexican wolf population is most stable.

The field team documented additional success with fostering efforts in 2023. To date, a minimum of 15 fostered Mexican wolf pups have survived to breeding age, and at least 10 fostered wolves have successfully bred and produced litters in the wild. Fostered Mexican wolves have produced more than 20 litters and several of those offspring have gone on to produce pups of their own.

YOU’LL DEFINITELY LIKE: Birth For World’s Critically Endangered Red Wolf Brings Rising Population to Nearly 250

“It’s encouraging to see success across the board with our recovery efforts,” said Brady McGee, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator. “Having fostered Mexican wolves survive, disperse, pair up, breed, and start packs of their own tells us that fostering is working. These genetically diverse wolves, which came from captivity as pups and were placed into wild dens, play a vital role in boosting the genetic diversity of the wild population.”

The Mexican wolf is listed separately from the gray wolf as an endangered subspecies under the federal Endangered Species Act. In 1977, the Service and its partners initiated efforts to conserve the subspecies by developing a bi-national captive breeding program stemming from just seven Mexican wolves. Mexican wolves were first reintroduced to the wild in 1998.

In addition to the minimum wild population, there are approximately 350 Mexican wolves currently maintained in more than 60 facilities throughout the United States and Mexico under the Mexican Wolf Saving Animals From Extinction program.

MORE WILD CREATURES RETURNING: Camera Catches Sighting of a Tiger with Cubs for First Time in 10 Years, Raising Hopes for Species in Thailand

The only reason that any of these wolves are held in these facilities today is because of the work of Rory T. McBride, a legendary trapper of these beautiful animals who hung up his rifles and traps to work with the US government to rescue them from the brink of extinction.

A recognized subspecies, (Canis lupus baileyi) the Mexican wolf was extirpated from the United States in 1970, leaving only a small and reviled population hiding out in the remote reaches of northern Mexico. From the individuals McBride captured, the FWS was able to begin a captive breeding program, the fruits of which are on show today.

SHARE This Inspiring Trendline For The Cause Of Hearing Wolves Howl Out West…

Millions of Wildflowers Now Delight the Town After Vermont Couple Got Tired of Mowing the Lawn All Day

By
Andy Corbley
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Natalie Gilliard and her husband John Yacko - credit, Natalie Gilliard, released to the Post.
Natalie Gilliard and her husband John Yacko – credit, Natalie Gilliard, released to the Post.

From a small Vermont countryside community comes the story of two Long Islanders who ditched mowing their massive lawn and planted wildflowers instead—delighting the neighbors, birds, bees, and butterflies.

They’ve steadily grown their wildflower meadow to 2-1/2 acres, which has become so popular that it’s inspired others nearby to do the same.

Jonathan Yacko and Natalie Gilliard started their makeover during the pandemic when Gilliard lost her job and Yacko’s hours were cut. He still worked remotely for the same company he had when they lived on Long Island, and told the Washington Post that their 5-acre property in Chittenden used to boast a sea of grass that required a whole day to mow and trim.

Wanting to do something different, they explained their predicament of exhaustive mowing to a local whom they had befriended who just so happened to work for a company called American Meadows.

It would cost a couple hundred dollars and require a fair amount of initial work, but the friend suggested they plant a wildflower meadow that would grow on its own ever afterward.

They liked the idea and so ripped up an acre’s worth of grass, tugged out all the large stones, tilled the land, threw down the contents of a 50-pound bag of wildflower seed containing 27 species, and then waited.

In the spring of 2021, they arrived.

First came ‘baby’s breath’ or Gypsophila elegans, then came “red and yellow poppies, pink catchfly, bright orange sulphur cosmos, red columbine, and purple foxglove,” reports Vermont Public, which was the couple’s first taste of national media.

“We had no idea what we’d be looking at after we first planted the meadow, but that was part of the fun,” Yacko told the Post.

credit – Natalie Gilliard, released to the Post

“And what’s so cool is every couple of weeks the meadows look totally different,” Yacko said, this time to Vermont Public. “You don’t know exactly what’s gonna come up or when it’s going to come up and that’s part of the magic.”

MORE ALTERNATIVE LAWNS: ‘No Mow May’ Gives You a Reason to NOT Mow the Lawn: Leave the Weeds to Feed the Bees

The beauty of the meadow was striking, and soon it began to draw attention among the local community. People offered gratitude for coloring up their morning commute, people brought baked goods, bouquets, and most importantly for newcomers who had had difficulties meeting new people on Long Island, they brought friendship.

– credit, Natalie Gilliard, released to the Post.

Neighbors Jenna Baird and her partner Jacob Powsner were so inspired by the meadow that they asked to work together with Yacko and Gilliard on seeding another acre on their property to connect with an additional half-acre plot which the couple had started after their first dazzling year of blooms.

MORE ALTERNATIVE LAWNS: Ditch That Hard-to-Grow Lawn And Start Cultivating Moss, Instead

“We started this as not wanting to mow grass, never expecting it would become what it has,” Yacko said. “Now we’re helping the bees, we’re adding beauty to the landscape and we’re making the community happy.”

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India Approves Massive $9 Bil. Rooftop Solar Plan with Panels for 10 Million Homes

By
Andy Corbley
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- Architect Eskew Dumez Ripple
– Architect Eskew Dumez Ripple

Passed in February, a massive subsidy program to help Indian households install rooftop solar panels in their homes and apartments aims to provide 30 gigawatt hours of solar power to the nation’s inventory.

The scheme, called PM-Surya Ghar, will provide free electricity to 10 million homes according to estimates, and the designing of a national portal—a sort of Healthcare.gov for solar panels—will streamline the process of installation and payment.

The program was cooked up because India had fallen woefully behind on its planned installations for rooftop solar. In many parts of the subcontinent, the sun is absolutely brutal and relentless, but by 2022, Indian rooftop solar power generation topped out at 11 gigawatts, which was 29 gigawatts under a national target set a decade ago.

Part of the challenge, Euronews reports, is that approval from various agencies and departments—as many as 21 different signatures in some cases—was needed to place a solar array on your house. Aside from this bureaucratic nightmare, the cost of installation was often higher than $5,000; more than half the average yearly income for a working Indian urbanite.

Under PM-Surya Ghar, subsidies for a 2-kilowatt solar array will cover as much as 60% of the installation costs, falling to 40% for arrays 3 kilowatts or higher. Loans set at around 7% interest rates will help families in need get started. 750 billion Indian rupees, or $9 billion has been set aside for the project.

MORE SOLAR STORIES: ‘A Beautiful Idea’: This French Town Is Making its Cemetery a Source of Solar Energy

Even in New Delhi, which can be covered in clouds and smog for days, solar users report saving hundreds during summer time on their electricity costs, with one apartment shaving $700 every month off energy bills.

GREEN INDIA: A Coal Billionaire Is Building the World’s Biggest Clean Energy Plant to Power 16 Million Homes in India

PM-Surya Ghar is also seen as having the potential to cause a boom in the Indian solar market. Companies no longer have to go running around for planning and permitting requirements, and the government subsidies ensure their customer base can grow beyond the limits of household income.

SHARE This Ambitious Plan With Your Friends Worries About Climate Change… 

“The very winds whispered in soothing accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more.” – Mary Shelley

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “The very winds whispered in soothing accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more.” – Mary Shelley

Photo by: Zooey (CC license)

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

Good News in History, April 10

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Good News Network
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99 years ago today, one of the great American novels, The Great Gatsby was published. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work was a commercial disappointment and strangely, as it sometimes happens with artists, it only became a contender for the Great American Novel after his death. It was based on an affair that Fitzgerald had with a New York City socialite, and on the wild parties he would accompany her to on Long Island’s north shore during the Jazz Age. READ more about this seminal work… (1925)

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Incredible 60% of Europe’s Electricity Was Powered by Clean Energy in the First Two Months of 2024

By
Andy Corbley
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Irish wind turbines - David de la Iglesia Villar, marked CC License.
Irish wind turbines – David de la Iglesia Villar, marked CC License.

According to an energy think tank, Europe’s generation of 516.5 terawatt hours of renewable electricity in January and February satisfied 60% of overall power demand.

The generation is a year-over-year gain of 12% from the same period in 2023, and was driven by strong year-on-year growth in hydro and wind, and a rebound in nuclear.

Coinciding with this was a 12% year-over-year fall in the use of fossil fuels, with a 15% drop in energy from coal-fired power plants, the think tank Ember, reports.

Contrary to the assumption that this is the work of solar farms and wind turbines, the two fastest growing sources across Europe, the strong performance was led by nuclear, which grew 4% y-o-y, and hydropower which at 17.2% of total continental power demand was the highest percentage share of hydroelectricity ever generated in Europe.

Hydroelectricity use grew 23% y-o-y to 152 terawatt hours, led by Norway, France, Switzerland, and Portugal. This was six times the amount of Europe’s total solar power yield, which topped out at 24 TWh.

Wind power generated an impressive 137.5 TWh of electricity during the first two months of 2024, up 14%.

MORE RENEWABLE NEWS: A Coal Billionaire Is Building the World’s Biggest Clean Energy Plant to Power 16 Million Homes in India

Several countries, like Ireland and Portugal, are recording single days or multi-day stretches in which a two-thirds majority or greater of their populations are using renewable energy entirely.

Additionally, European countries are coming up with clever as well as ambitious ideas for how to integrate more green energy sources into their communties; epitomized by Liverpool’s steadily advancing plan to build the world’s largest tidal power project across the Mersey river delta.

SHARE This Impressive Progression Towards Net-Zero On Social Media… 

‘The Javan tiger still exists’ – DNA Found May Herald an ‘Extinct Species’ Comeback

By
Andy Corbley
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This photograph of a live Javan tiger was taken in 1938 in Ujung Kulon, at the western tip of Java Island, and published in Andries Hoogerwerf’s “Ujung Kulon The Land of the last Javan Rhinoceros.” credit - Andries Hoogerwerf via Wikimedia Commons
This photograph of a live Javan tiger was taken in 1938 in Ujung Kulon, at the western tip of Java Island, and published in Andries Hoogerwerf’s “Ujung Kulon The Land of the last Javan Rhinoceros.” credit – Andries Hoogerwerf via Wikimedia Commons

Ripi Yanuar Fajar and his four friends say they’ll never forget the evening after Indonesia’s Independence Day celebration in 2019 when they encountered a big cat roaming a community plantation in Sukabumi, West Java province.

Immediately after the brief encounter, Ripi, who happens to be a local conservationist, reached out to Kalih Raksasewu, a researcher at the country’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), saying he and his friends had seen either a Javan leopard (Panthera pardus melas), a critically endangered animal, or a Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica), a subspecies believed to have gone extinct in the 1980s but only officially declared so in 2008.

About 10 days later, Kalih visited the site of the encounter with Ripi and his friends. There, Kalih found a strand of hair snagged on a plantation fence that the unknown creature was believed to have jumped over. She also recorded footprints and claw marks that she thought resembled those of a tiger.

Kalih then sent the hair sample and other records to the West Java Provincial Conservation Agency, or BKSDA, for further investigation. She also sent a formal letter to the provincial government to follow up on the investigation request.

The matter eventually landed at BRIN, where a team of researchers ran genetic analyses to compare the single strand of hair with known samples of other tiger subspecies, such as the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) and a nearly century-old Javan tiger pelt kept at a museum in the West Java city of Bogor.

“After going through various process of laboratory tests, the results showed that the hair sample had 97.8% similarities to the Javan tiger,” Wirdateti, a researcher with BRIN’s Biosystemic and Evolutionary Research Center, said at an online discussion hosted by Mongabay Indonesia on March 28.

The discussion centered on a study published March 21 in the journal Oryx in which Wirdateti and colleagues presented their findings that suggested that the long-extinct Javan tiger may somehow—miraculously—still be prowling parts of one of the most densely populated islands on Earth.

Their testing compared the Sukabumi hair sample with hair from the museum specimen collected in 1930, as well as with other tigers, Javan leopards, and several sequences from GenBank, a publicly accessible database of genetic sequences overseen by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The study noted that the supposed tiger hair had a sequence similarity of 97.06% with Sumatran tigers and 96.87% with Bengal tigers. Wirdateti also conducted additional interviews with Ripi and his friends about the encounter they’d had.

A Javan tiger pelt from 1930 that is stored at the Bogor Zoological Museum in West Java. Image by Rahmadi Rahmad/Mongabay Indonesia.

“I wanted to emphasize that this wasn’t just about finding a strand of hair, but an encounter with the Javan tiger in which five people saw it,” Kalih said.

“There’s still a possibility that the Javan tiger is in the Sukabumi forest,” she added. “If it’s coming down to the village or community plantation, it could be because its habitat has been disturbed. In 2019, when the hair was found, the Sukabumi region had been affected by drought for almost a year.”

The single strand of hair from the suspected Javan tiger collected from a community plantation in Sukabumi, West Java. Image courtesy of the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency.

Poaching and habitat loss in Java, an island the size of Mississippi and home to more than half of Indonesia’s 270 million residents, were thought to have driven the extinction of the Javan tiger, one of three subspecies of tigers once found in Indonesia (the third is the Bali tiger, Panthera tigris balica, also officially declared extinct in 2008). The Sumatran tiger is listed as critically endangered, or one step away from vanishing in the wild, due to hunting and rapid deforestation on its native island.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Farmer Saves Sickly Leopard by Carrying it to Forest Officials on His Motorbike

Rumored sightings of Javan tigers have been reported mostly by locals over the years, with the most recent one going viral in 2017, before being debunked almost immediately when the creature turned out to be a Javan leopard. Research expeditions since the 1990s have also failed to prove the continued existence of the Javan tiger.

“Through this research, we have determined that the Javan tiger still exists in the wild,” Wirdateti said. “For this reason, follow-up field studies are needed, such as observations through camera traps, looking for droppings or footprints and scratches.”

MORE BIG CAT CONSERVATION: Camera Catches Sighting of a Tiger with Cubs for First Time in 10 Years, Raising Hopes for Species in Thailand

Didik Raharyono, a Javan tiger expert who wasn’t involved in the study but has conducted voluntary expeditions with local wildlife awareness groups since 1997, said the number of previously reported sightings coupled with the new scientific findings must be taken seriously. He called on the environment ministry to draft and issue a policy on measures to find and conserve the Javan tiger.

“What’s most important is the next steps that we take in the future,” Didik said.

Republished from Mongabay on CC 4.0. License. Original authors , .

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‘I Was Born Without a Uterus but My Gym Buddy Volunteered to Have My Baby’

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Andy Corbley
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Brooke Smith-Sanders, and husband Walt Sanders with their twins Maverick and Shepherd - SWNS
Brooke Smith-Sanders, and husband Walt Sanders with their twins Maverick and Shepherd – SWNS

For most of us, a gym partner is someone who is always reliable and can keep us excited to start and motivated to push on during tough workouts.

But for Brooke Smith-Sanders, her gym buddy became so much more than that when she volunteered to carry Brooke’s child.

Brooke was born without a uterus, which was first discovered when she was 17. With the understanding that she would never carry a child, she and her husband Walt Sanders went straight for IVF with a surrogate when they were ready to have kids.

They started attempting the surrogacy in 2018 but it fell through at the last minute when the local woman discovered she was already pregnant, and then again after a lab accident resulted in all of Brooke’s eggs dying after being exposed to carbon dioxide.

“It was such a heartbreaking disappointment because we had finally got to the point of starting and it just fell apart,” said Smith-Sanders.

That’s when Brooke’s CrossFit buddy Dawn Crawley agreed to become their surrogate instead, even at the age of 47.

The third time was lucky, and Crawley became pregnant with eventual twins Maverick and Shepherd.

Walt Sanders, Brooke Smith-Sanders, and surrogate Dawn Crawley.

Brooke said they feel “so blessed” and want to share their story to give other families hope when going through infertility.

“I am adopted—someone gave me a chance from birth,” said Crawley. “I wanted to repay that any way that I could. Something just said to me ‘I need to help them.’ Knowing that I was able to help them makes me so happy, not just for the parents, for those babies too.”

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Entire Family Shares Same Birthday as Twins Are Born the Same Day as Both Their Parents

The daughter Maverick and son Shepherd were born on November 1st, and were small but healthy as a result of pre-eclampsia which saw Dawn rushed to the hospital a month early and the twins staying in the NICU for three weeks with oxygen and feeding tubes until they were strong enough to go home.

Brooke said that the process was at many times difficult, as will be the case for almost any couple seeking to conceive via IVF.

YOU’LL ALSO LIKE: New Non-Invasive Test Could Make it Easier for Doctors to Predict Success for Women Undergoing IVF

“For a long time I was sad I couldn’t carry them, but I did my part to bring them into this world,” said Brooke, who added that anyone going through what she went through should seek guidance and advice as early on as possible.

She feels blessed to have two 4-year-old reminders every day that it was all worth it.

SHARE This Inspiring Story Of Family Planning With Your Friends… 

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