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Spain’s Olive Oil Producers Turn Tons of Their Pits into Fuel–For Homes

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By www.GoodNewsNetwork.org  – Sep 28, 2024

Curated Lifestyle – Unsplash.

In a rather unique story from Reuters, the Spanish olive oil market is profiled for what it can do to power Spain’s homes, not just its economy and kitchens.

Accounting for half the production of olive oil in the EU, growers are now getting to sell olive pits as a valuable ingredient for biofuel. Hundreds of thousands of tons of olive pits are now being consumed in Spain every year to heat homes, power oil mills, and even airplanes.

Pits make up between 8% and 10% of an olive crop by weight. During the pressing stage in the oil production process, the pits are squeezed out and separated before being washed and dried to create fuel similar to wood pellets used in certain domestic stoves, grills, and fireplaces.

Incredible New Image Captures Evidence of Once-Flowing River on Mars

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Riverine gravel ridges on Mars as captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – NASA via SWNS

By Andy Corbley for www.GoodNewsNetwork.org – Feb 8, 2024

The picture above was taken not on Earth, but by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) as it searches for signs of water and ice on the Red Planet.

The MRO typically flies at an altitude of about 155 to 196 miles (250 to 316 kilometers) above the planet’s surface, allowing it to capture intricate details.

These ridges show the location of the old river beds in Mars’ distant past.

“River beds often get filled with gravel and the surrounding terrain is often built up of fine-grained mud from river overflows. The gravely river bottom and the fine-grained surroundings can lead to a strange phenomenon that geologists call inverted channels,” the space agency wrote.

“After the river disappears, the fine-grained surroundings can be easily eroded away leaving the gravely river bed as a high-standing ridge. The angle at which the ridges join together indicates that these rivers flowed from top-right to bottom-left.”

Thank you John Perkins for using the terminology I created in 2000, and told you about during an interview on March 15, 2015: The Life Economy Vs the Death Economy. I knew you could take this banner to the world. Thank you!

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Out With Predatory Capitalism, In With a “Life  Economy”

Illustration by Fanatic Studio/Getty Images

John Perkins in YES! Magazine Sep 16, 2020

The long march of hierarchical and colonial history has led us to this moment of awareness. We are learning that the melting glaciers, coronavirus pandemic, species extinctions, racial and income inequality, political turmoil, and other heart-wrenching events are symptoms of a global social-governmental-economic system that is consuming itself into extinction. This is what I call the Death Economy that defines success as the maximization of short-term profits for corporations and short-term accumulation of material things for individuals, regardless of the environmental and social costs.

79-Year-old Diver and This Fish Have Been BFFs for Nearly 30 Years After He Nursed Her Back to Health

By in Animal Rights, Featured Homepage Items Tags: , ,

In fishing lore, tall tales abound. Whether it’s ‘the one that got away’ or ‘the one that jumped right into the boat,’ pretty much every story involves a fisherman catching a fish—not the other way around.

japanese-diver-wrass-fish
Image Credit: Great Big Story/YouTube

May 6, 2021 — ByJudy Cole for GoodNewsNetwork.org

But in a plotline straight out of Disney, an adorable aquatic denizen of Japan’s Tateyama Bay has captured one man’s heart in a friendship that’s lasted close to three decades.
Yoriko, an Asian sheepshead wrasse (kobudai in Japanese), first met scuba diver Hiroyuki Arakawa nearly 30 years ago when he was supervising the construction of an underwater Shinto temple gate 56 feet beneath the surface of the bay.

Arakawa started diving at the age of 18. Now 79, he still loves his sojourns in the deep water. His longstanding kinship with Yoriko is certainly one of the highlights.

The World’s Food Systems Are In Crisis: Big Agribusiness Is To Blame

By in Environmental Justice, Featured Homepage Items, Sustainable Farming Tags: ,

Photo by Oleksandr Sushko on Unsplash

February 1, 2022 by Lorena Cotza and Ouafa Haddioui on www.LocalFutures.org

In 2017, the people of Zagora, Morocco, took to the streets in what became known as the ‘thirst revolution’. They were demanding safe drinking water and an end to the excessive use of water by big agricultural companies. In an already arid area experiencing frequent droughts and heatwaves due to climate change, much of the available water supply was being used to grow watermelons for export to Europe. Residents had been left with an insufficient, unreliable and undrinkable supply. Twenty-three of the demonstrators were arrested.

In Morocco, irrigation for agriculture consumes almost 90% of the annual available fresh water. This intense extraction dates back to the colonial period, when the French authorities replaced the khettara – a traditional irrigation system developed and managed by local communities – with water-intensive structures that allow production to fulfill the demand of European markets.

Teen Rescues Bumblebee And Now it Won’t Leave Her Side –Even Sleeping in a Jar by Her Bed

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A teenager who rescued a bumblebee says it’s now a loyal pet, following her everywhere, and even sleeping in a jar by her bed.

Lacey Shillinglaw with Betty the bumblebee.

By Good News Network – Aug 22, 2021

It all started two weeks ago when Lacey Shillinglaw, 13, spotted the large bumblebee lying in the road while walking her dog. She scooped up the bee and noticed it had a crumpled wing.

She tried to put it in a safer spot, on some flowers in a nearby park, but it refused to stay put, buzzing back over to Lacey and crawling all over her, and after an hour she gave up and headed home with the creature perched on her shoulder.

What does self-reliance really mean?

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Amazing stories from India’s villages

Photo:  “Residents of Kunariya village in Kutch taking part in a local governance exercise.” Kunariya Panchayat.

by for www.LocalFutures.org

Not so long ago, Dalit women farmers in Telangana used to face hunger and deprivation. Today, they have contributed foodgrains for pandemic relief. Farmers on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border have been sending organic produce to Bengaluru even during the lockdown. And Adivasi villages in central India are using community funds to take care of migrant workers who have returned home.

These inspiring stories show the potential of empowered rural communities to cope with crisis. And they expose the tragedy of a path of ‘development’ and governance that has not recognized or, worse, taken away the extraordinary agency of ordinary villagers to manage their lives.

Costa Rica Set to Become World’s First Plastic-Free, Fossil-Fuel-Free Country

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Costa Rica pledges to eliminate all single-use plastics and fossil fuels by 2021

Author: for www.ReturnToNow.net

Costa Rica is positioning itself to be the first country in the world to be totally free of single-use plastics and fossil fuels by 2021.

At his inauguration earlier this year, President Carlos Alvarado Quesada announced his initiative to ban fossil fuels and become the world’s first decarbonized society:

“Decarbonization is the great task of our generation and Costa Rica must be one of the first countries in the world to accomplish it, if not the first.”

While it may sound like a pipe dream, the country is already almost there.

Almost 99% of Costa Rica’s energy already comes renewable sources, such as rivers, volcanoes, geothermal, wind and solar power.

750 Million GMO Mosquitoes to be Released in Florida and Texas

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Jurassic Park-like killer mosquitoes to be released in Florida this summer, and Texas next year

www.ReturnToNow.net

State regulators in Florida and Texas recently approved a biotech company’s plan to release nearly a billion genetically modified mosquitoes.

These GMO super bugs will be deployed on marsh ecosystems where plenty of natural mosquitoes already exist.

The goal is to depopulate Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which are responsible for spreading viruses that trigger yellow fever, dengue fever, and Zika fever.

The genetically modified male mosquitoes will pass on a special protein to their female offspring that will kill them.

British-based Oxitec claims that by reducing mosquito populations, they’ll also reduce the transmission of “disease-causing” viruses.

However, with zero reported cases of Zika in Florida this year and in 2019, and only 1 locally reported case of dengue, some are question whether such drastic measures are necessary.

Backyard Chicken Ownership is Booming Thanks to Corona

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Wait-lists at hatcheries grow as Americans return to the tradition of raising their own eggs and chicken meat

www.ReturnToNow.net

There’s been a sharp rise in backyard chicken ownership, and rentals, in the wake of CoVid-19.

Hatcheries can’t keep up with orders for chickens and baby chicks, as people scramble for a more secure source of food.

“We are swamped with orders,” owner of Cackle Hatchery in Missouri Nancy Smith told NPR. “We can’t answer all the phone calls, and we are booked out several weeks on most breeds.”

“We’ve never seen anything like this and I’ve been here since 1964. Everyone is very anxious, and in some cases very impatient.”

Tiny Forests are Sprouting Up All Over Europe, Inspired by Japan, to Restore Biodiversity

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Europeans are rapidly reforesting cities with tiny, dense patches of native forest with a Japanese method that makes them grow 10 times faster than normal

www.ReturnToNow.net

Japan’s most famous botanist Akira Miyawaki has inspired a fast-growing tiny forest revolution in Asia and now in Europe.

The goal is to restore a patchwork of native forests throughout urban areas, where they have almost entirely disappeared.

You’ve heard of ‘food deserts‘ in densely populated cities… hand in hand with this problem are ‘forest deserts.’

The vast sprawl of human development around the globe has disconnected wildlife from their natural habitats and hunting and grazing ranges so much that an alarming number of species is going extinct.

Wild Bison Are Returning to England’s Forests for the First Time in 6,000 Years

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European bison in Germany – Michael Gäbler, CC license

ByAndy Corbley for GoodNewsNetwork.org

A relative of the iconic beast that roams the American Great Plains is going to be released in an ancient forest in Kent, England—where they haven’t resided for 6,000 years.

But the four animals won’t be arriving by way of South Dakota or Wyoming because Europe has their own subspecies—the European wood bison.

The project is slated to begin in Spring of 2022, when a single male Bison bonasus and three females arriving from Poland and the Netherlands will be allowed to roam and reproduce naturally in the remaining wilds of Britain—and it is hoped that their presence will ignite a chain reaction throughout the forest.

Bison have the power to change a forest in dramatic ways; ways that humans don’t have the time or manpower for, and they are being considered as a possible solution to species loss in Great Britain.

‘The Game Is Up’: Report Says Asset Sales and Debt-Driven Dividends Show Fossil Fuel Industry Cannot Be Saved

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“To continue to throw money at an industry that is not only causing environmental destruction but also facing economic decline is as imprudent as it is indefensible.”

Extinction Rebellion protestors stage a demonstration outside the Bank of England in London on July 2, 2020. (Photo: Ilyas Tayfun Salci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams

Recent efforts by oil and gas giants to project an outward appearance of financial stability amid the Covid-19 pandemic by selling off assets or accumulating debt to continue paying out steady shareholder dividends represent strong evidence that the fossil fuel industry has reached its “endgame” and should not be bailed out with taxpayer dollars.

That’s according to a new report released Thursday by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), a policy research and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

Hair From Ghostly Bears Reveals New Genetic Secrets

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First Nations peoples along British Columbia’s Central Coast led research to help preserve the area’s white-furred Spirit bears.

white spirit bears next to waterfall
A white-furred Spirit bear in territory of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation. Photo Credit:  Philip Charles

Lesley Evans Ogden for The New York Times

Douglas Neasloss was skeptical that Spirit bears existed. A member of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation in Canada, he had heard the stories of white-furred bears that roamed British Columbia’s rainforest. But Mr. Neasloss, a former tour leader and cultural interpreter, had never seen one until 2005, when he experienced “one of the most magical moments” of his guiding career. During a hike, he caught sight of a cinnamon-tinged white bear as it walked out ahead of him, then lay down 50 feet away to munch on a freshly caught salmon.

After his first Spirit bear encounter, Mr. Neasloss asked community elders why these bears weren’t widely discussed. During the fur trade of the 1800s, he learned, existence of the ghostly bears was kept secret to keep them safe. Today, they are the official mammal of British Columbia, and known also as the Kermode bear.

In Blow to Trump and Win for Bears, Federal Appeals Court Upholds Endangered Species Protections for Yellowstone Grizzlies

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“This decision solidifies the belief of numerous wildlife advocates and native tribes that protecting grizzly bears should be based upon science and the law and not the whims of special interest groups.”

A mother and baby grizzly bear spotted in Yellowstone National Park. (Photo: I-Ting Chiang/CC BY-NC 2.0)

Andrea Germanos, staff writer for CommonDreams.org

Conservation and tribal groups scored a legal victory Wednesday after a federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s bid to remove endangered species protections for Yellowstone-region grizzly bears.

The ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upholds a Montana district court’s decision, means grizzlies in the national park and surrounding area won’t be subjected to trophy hunting.

Spreading rock dust on fields could remove vast amounts of CO2 from air

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It may be best near-term way to remove CO2, say scientists, but cutting fossil fuel use remains critical

Crushed basalt is applied to an arable field in Norfolk as part of the research programme of the Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation. Photograph: Dr Dimitar Epihov

Damian Carrington, Environment editor, The Guardian

Spreading rock dust on farmland could suck billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air every year, according to the first detailed global analysis of the technique.

The chemical reactions that degrade the rock particles lock the greenhouse gas into carbonates within months, and some scientists say this approach may be the best near-term way of removing CO2 from the atmosphere.

More Than 220 Sheep Saved From Australian Bushfires After Heroic Pup Herds Them to Safety

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collie

By McKinley Corbley – Jan 13, 2020 for www.GoodNewsNetwork.org

This courageous pup is being credited for saving an entire flock of sheep from impending bushfires in Australia earlier this month.

On New Year’s Eve, Stephen Hill saw the wildfires approaching his sister’s farm in Corryong, Australia sometime around 4:15AM.

Hill and his 6-year-old pup Patsy then rushed over to the farm, hopped onto a 4-wheeler, and rode out to where the sheep were wandering the fields.

World’s Last Known ‘Dinosaur Trees’ Saved From Australian Bushfires Thanks to Determined Firefighters

By in Environmental Justice, Featured Homepage Items, Uncategorized

Wollemi

By McKinley Corbley – Jan 16, 2020 for www.GoodNewsNetwork.org

Conservationists are celebrating the success of a mission to save the world’s last remaining “dinosaur trees” from the Australian bushfires.

The ancient Wollemi Pine was thought to be extinct until a small grouping of the prehistoric trees was discovered in the mountains roughly 124 miles northwest (200 kilometers) of Sydney back in 1996.

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