Drones are popularly associated with American air strikes on civilians and thus have a negative reputation. The technology underlying the drones can be used for good though. One example of a good use of drones is for aerial surveillance of plants and animals in hard to access/expensive areas. What are
Continue readingAuthor: Adam Clare
Things Are Good: China’s Wind Turbine Industry Booming
For years China has been trying to improve its sustainable energy production but to do so Chinese companies had to rely on patents and techniques from the rest of the world. Due to an increase in demand (and production knowledge) China is now poised to make the best, most efficient,
Continue readingThings Are Good: In One year, Rooftop Solar Power Doubled in California
In one year California was able to increase power output from solar panels installed on roofs from 1,000 MW to over 2,000 MW. This is impressive and hopefully this trend continues in the very sunny and warm state! To put this in perspective, it took California over 30 years to
Continue readingThings Are Good: More Evidence That Streetcars and Light Rail Improve North American Cities
In Toronto there is a crack smoking mayor who believes that streetcars and light rail are an urban blight. The evidence that rail-based transit is an economic boom to cities in North America continues to grow and more cities on the continent are benefiting from political decision (not made while
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Game Designed to Help Solve Eye Problems
Diplopia – A VR Game to Help Strabismus and Amblyopia is exactly what it sounds like. This sounds like a great gaming project! The game is meant to help people who have some eye issues strengthen their weak eye to restore (near) perfect control over their stereo-vision. You can contribute
Continue readingThings Are Good: Blackfish Documentary Hurts SeaWorld
SeaWorld is an entertainment company that has large aquatic mammals in captivity performing tricks for humans. Their entertainment shows look impressive, but what goes on behind the scenes is rather scary. The good news is that in 2013 this aquatic animal abuse got mainstream attention. In Canada, the Toronto Star
Continue readingThings Are Good: Bill Gates Shares Some (More) Good News From 2013
Bill Gates is best known for his hyper capitalistic behaviour creating Microsoft, but since he left the company he’s trying to change that perception. Indeed, he has done good things for the planet since he left he company he once founded. Gates and his wife have created the Gates Foundation
Continue readingThings Are Good: Beer Brings Bonus to Businesses
Something exciting is happening in Cleveland and it’s that beer is bringing a bountiful amount of success to a failing neighbourhood. Great Lakes Brewing Company (not to be confused with GLB in Toronto) is one of many brewers that are drawing people and jobs back into the core of Cleveland.
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Toy Designed to Increase Empathy
Who doesn’t like toys? Nobody! Everybody loves playing and we all can remember the joy that toys bring us when were kids. Now some educators are looking to make a toy that is not only fun but also teaches kids empathy. Empathy is perhaps the most important skill one can
Continue readingThings Are Good: In Plant Photosynthesis, Scientists See Clues for Improving Solar Energy Cells
Solar cells optimized to suit local light conditions, or made more efficient by using a broader part of the solar spectrum, are among the imaginative applications foreseen from ground-breaking new insights into plant photosynthesis pioneered in Canada. Indeed new, more fully detailed knowledge of how plants and other living organisms
Continue readingThings Are Good: Stop Procrastination Using Science
Procrastination is the easy act of not doing what you should be doing. For some, like me, it’s an uphill battle trying to get things done and stop procrastinating. I’ll get to the point: here are some scientifically-proven things one can do to stop procrastinating. Do the “Right” Kind of
Continue readingThings Are Good: Selling Sustainability at All Levels of a Company
Every company ought to behave and operate in a sustainable way at all levels of operation. There is an obvious environmental argument for doing this, but some people don’t initially see the economic value. In this TED talk the economic efficiencies of sustainable manufacturing, distribution, and marketing are explored.
Continue readingThings Are Good: Beets for Road Ice Removal
The traditional approach to deicing roads is to cover the roads (and thus the ground around the road) in salt – which is absolutely awful for the environment. Because so many people drive cars the demand for road salt is high and has come to negatively impact local economies and
Continue readingThings Are Good: A GM & Pesticide Free Rice Growing Revolution
Rice farmers have been growing their crop in the same way for hundreds of years and most people have assumed the most efficient way to grow rice has been figured out. That is until some farmers in India decided to change how they grow their bounty and now scientists have
Continue readingThings Are Good: Video Games to Help the World
A game based on the story Half the Sky puts players into a perspective usually different than their own: a young girl in the developing world. It teaches young gamers in the developed world empathy and what it’s like to be a young girl trying to make a living in
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Hanging Gardens of Singapore
The Hanging Gardens of Ancient Babylon was known for it’s amazing vertical garden and to this day it’s not clear how the gardens functioned (or how it was built). That hasn’t stopped enterprising architects in Singapore from creating a modern version of the hanging gardens in skyscraper form! Designed by WOHA,
Continue readingThings Are Good: Nifty Looking Glow in the Dark Paths
Saving energy is always a good thing, and sometimes that means turning out the streetlights. As a result, pathways go unlit and this can be problematic for cyclists and pedestrians. Enter a new surface treatment that glows in the dark for free night time illumination known as Starpath. Seeing that
Continue readingThings Are Good: Changing Car-Based Infrastructure for Walkable Communities
The suburbs are designed for cars as opposed to people and this is a problem that has surprising side effects from personal health issues to an increase in violent deaths. So how do we modify the suburbs to stop these side effects? In this TED talk, Jeff Speck explores what
Continue readingThings Are Good: Mediterranean-Style Diet Contributes to Longer Life
For people of all ages, it’s been proven that a diet similar to what’s popular around the Mediterranean helps with fending off negative health issues. Now, new research points out that even people in they “mid-life” can benefit greatly by eating a more Mediterranean-stlye diet. “In summary, we found that
Continue readingThings Are Good: Studying Positive Emotions
How do we study emotion and how do we even think about positive emotions? Why do we even have positive emotions? These questions and more are being investigated by June Gruber, and here she is talking about them: I thought I’d first start briefly with a tale of positive emotion.
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