More countries than ever before now have policies that support renewable energy production. This is obviously a good thing as we are seeing the impact of climate change (like the recent tornados in Japan). We are now a seeing a global effort to slow climate change via policy over the
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Things Are Good: A Protest Song About the NSA Reading Your Emails
The band YACHT has gone back to the glory days of Dylan and the like by writing a protest song. The song is about the NSA illegal spying the USA, which should bother pretty much anyone who cares about privacy. Until now, there was no good news to mention about
Continue readingThings Are Good: German Coal and Gas Power Plants Closing Due to Cheap Renewable Energy
Germany has been so effective in tranisitioning from unsustianble (econmically and environemntally) energy sources to renewable ones that it is uncompetitive to burn fossil fuels for power! “Due to the continuing boom in solar energy, many power stations throughout the sector and across Europe are no longer profitable to operate,”
Continue readingThings Are Good: Joelle O’Reilly-Hyland: One Person Making a Difference
When it comes to making the world a better place most of us try to do so, and so does Joelle O’Reilly-Hyland. She is a self-described “philanthropist with a big heart” and it does look that way. Joelle has worked on various projects around the world and each of them
Continue readingThings Are Good: 50 Small Things to Help the Planet
There are so many small things we can do throughout our day that can make the world a better place. Sometimes it may seem like there are so many we can’t focus on which activity to accomplish. Luck for us there is a website that lists 50 small ways to
Continue readingThings Are Good: New Solar Powered Vehicles Seemingly from the Future
Last month an airplane known as Solar Impulse completed a fully solar-powered flight across the USA as a demonstration of current solar solutions. In the video above you can see why they made the flight and how the Switezerland-based company wants to change air travel. At the Guardian there is
Continue readingThings Are Good: Open Tech Forever Hardware Cooperative in Colorado
Colorado has a new permaculture and open sourced initiative taking shape and it look promising. The team is adding open source technology from hardware and software to a sustainable agriculture setup. On top of all of that they are also developing an open source business model! This is an exciting
Continue readingThings Are Good: Artists Better Protected Against Cognitive Decline
People who engage in music or visual arts are better protected against dementia and other cognitive decline issues. Nows the time to pick up that instrument you keep meaning to learn how to play! Artists compared with non-artists are better protected, he added. “Due to their art, the brain is
Continue readingThings Are Good: Sponsored Post: Joelle Wyser-Pratte
Joelle Wyser-Pratte works at an investment management company and still finds time to accomplish many other things. When one goes to get an education in whatever they are interested it, those that are fortunate can go and work in their chosen field. Other times, one may be interested in something
Continue readingThings Are Good: Help Me Support Team Fox
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a degenerative disorder that impacts a person’s motor skills and often PD can impact mental functions. PD is in no way a good thing and that’s why I’m one of many people who are fundraising for research. The Michael J. Fox Foundation funds research into PD
Continue readingThings Are Good: No Strings Attached: Giving Cash to Poor People
GiveDirectly is a charity that just gives money to poor people in Kenya. There isn’t anything complicated about the idea: it’s just straight up handing out cash with no deliverables. The NPR recently investigated the operation. Planet Money reporters David Kestenbaum and Jacob Goldstein went to Kenya to see the
Continue readingThings Are Good: Making People Laugh in The New Yorker
The New Yorker is one of my favourite magazines and the first thing I do when I open it is to read all the cartoons. Some are hilarious and others just don’t resonate with me and in the TED Talk below you can see that having a mixed bag of
Continue readingThings Are Good: Ideas to Get Consumers to Buy Sustainable Products
Every year more sustainably produced products hit store shelves yet consumer uptake on these products isn’t as strong as it should be. Sure, there are increasing sales overall but the amount of people who are buying environmentally-concious products isn’t increasing at a fast enough rate.Over at Fast CoExist a writer
Continue readingThings Are Good: Bicycle Commuters Save Economy $21 on Each Commute
Australian research has led to the conclusion that bicycle commuters are great for the economy! Every time a commuter chooses to ride a bicycle instead of a car or public transportation the economy benefits. With the obviousness of health benefits from riding a bicycle and the ever-increasing amount of economic
Continue readingThings Are Good: The B Team – A Plan B for the Economy
The economic stupidity of a few years back is still causing problems and the fact that the wrongdoers got bailouts for their transgressions hasn’t helped. Even years later economies haven’t recovered and the class divisions within multiple societies have widened. It’s time for an alternative to this current form of
Continue readingThings Are Good: Lovebots Invade Toronto
Lovebots are a fun art project that aims to fill Toronto with little concrete robots. The goal is to remind people that the city is a lovely place filled with nice people. No fewer than 100 2′ tall concrete statues of Lovebot will be put on display in “secret locations”
Continue readingThings Are Good: Evidence for Democracy: A Group Championing Fact-Based Policy
Evidence for Democracy is a new organization in Canada that wants government policy to based on reality. The federal Canadian Conservative government (which openly hates the environment) continually cuts finding to scientific research that can lead to a better understanding of the world around us. The constant cutbacks and denials
Continue readingThings Are Good: Global Solar and Wind Energy Production Continues to Grow
The sustainable energy market consistently needs to prove its worth despite the obvious benefits, whats worse is that the industry as a whole is up against the subsidized fossil fuel industry. Despite the artificially lowered fossil fuel prices sustainable energy solutions continue to prove their economic worth. Global solar and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Choose Cage Free
Animal cruelty sadly still exists and we can all make a difference in the suffering of domesticated animals by changing our shopping habits. The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has launched an education campaign to get people aware of the dangers of factory-farming hens while celebrating the
Continue readingThings Are Good: Better Urban Design Can Increase Happiness and Sexiness
Obesity is a growing problem in North America and it looks like this health issue will continue to grow. There are many contributing factors to what’s referred to as an obesity epidemic, and some designers think that we can curb at least one contributing factor: poor urban planning. Not coincidentally,
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