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Disneynature, an offshoot of the Walt Disney Company, recently pledged to plant a tree for every single ticket sold during the opening week of their new film Earth. The picture was released on Earth Day, 22nd April, with more than 500,000 cinema tickets being bought
in advance.The trees will be planted in Brazil’s Mata Atl‚ntica ñ the Atlantic forest ñ which conservationists have identified as the most endangered rainforest in the world and a critical area in regard to biodiversity loss.
Earth follows the remarkable story of three very different animal families ñ Polar Bears, African Elephants and Humpback Whales, as they make their amazing journeys across the planet. The film captures their most intimate moments, combining rare action with spectacular scenery ñ perfect for the big screen.
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Photo reblogged from The Animal Blog
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The world’s second highest palm oil producer has announced it will halt the destruction of key areas of Indonesia’s forests previously caused by its operations and will lead a transformation in industry practices.
Golden Agri-Resources Limited (GAR), an arm of conglomerate Sinar Mas, said it will work with the government of Indonesia and The Forest Trust to create a “fully sustainable palm oil industry,” while helping the Indonesian economy and raising the living standards of local communities.
The company said it will take a “holistic approach” towards meeting its comm-itments, central to which is a pledge not to clear ‘high carbon storage’ forest and areas with significant biodiversity.GAR has drawn up a conservation policy in collaboration with The Forest Trust, which aims to ensure that its activities have “no deforestation footprint” and respect the rights of indigenous and local communities.
Scott Poynton, executive director of The Forest Trust said GAR’s commitment is the fruit of many discussions and field visits. “The company told us it was serious about leading the effort to solve the issue of deforestation facing the palm oil industry,” he said. “If we get it right, it will be huge for Indonesia’s forests and the people and biodiversity that depend on them; not to mention a shot in the arm for the fight against climate change.”
(via Huge palm oil company promises to end deforestation | Positive News)
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While instantly gratifying, buying ice cream from a vending machine isn’t quite as much fun as it could be. Which is why Sapient Nitro and Unilever created the world’s first smile-activated ice cream vending machine as part of Unilever’s “share happy” campaign. The technology behind it is sophisticated, but the concept is simple: consumers walk up to the machine, smile and are rewarded with a frozen treat. When its motion detectors sense someone is near, the machine beckons them to come closer and interact. Using facial recognition technology, it can then recognize a person’s age, gender and emotion, and measure their smile using a “smile-o-meter”. If their grin is wide enough, they get free ice cream. Users can also opt to have a picture of their happy self uploaded to Facebook, which ties in perfectly with Unilever’s brand message: “share happy”. Currently being showcased at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the smile-activated ice cream vending machine will be rolled out at high-traffic locations across the globe over the next 18 months. From security checkpoints that recognize eyes, to cameras that spot friends and family, machines are increasingly capable of smart interaction with humans. Throw in emotion and delight, and you’ll create a memorable experience that knocks the socks off traditional advertising.
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![Cole Rasenberger’s quest to save forests in the US South started as a school assignment to ‘be an activist’ about something important to him. However, after learning from Dogwood Alliancethat coastal forests in North Carolina are being destroyed to make throw-away paper packaging for big fast food companies—such as McDonalds and KFC—Cole Rasenberger, at the age of 8, became more than an activist; he became an environmental leader!
He started by targeting McDonalds directly. With the help of 25 friends, and his elementary school administration, he got every student in his school to sign postcards to McDonalds. In all, Cole sent 2,250 postcards to McDonalds. “I asked my principal and teacher if I could get my whole school to sign my postcards. I told them I am only one voice; if we get my school to sign it would be thousands of voices. I think that would be better than just me,” Cole says, telling mongabay.com how he was able to get his whole school to join in his activism. “McDonalds is always doing things for kids, so I thought it would be a great place to start. I drew handmade postcards of animal habitats. […] I asked McDonald to be the environmental leader for my generation and please increase your use of post consumer recycled fiber.”
Not long after receiving the postcards, McDonalds announced it would soon be switching their bags to 100 percent recycled paper. But Cole, who won the 2010 Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes for his activism, was not yet done: “The reason KFC was my next choice was because they are such a big company,” he says. “They don’t use much post consumer recyclable fibers in their paper products. If we could get them to use even a little bit, it would save a lot of trees. If KFC and McDonald become the Environmental Leaders for my generation, everyone else will follow.”
(via Ten-year-old takes on KFC for destroying US forests)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ln9gsw6lLz1qlkobmo1_500.jpg)
Cole Rasenberger’s quest to save forests in the US South started as a school assignment to ‘be an activist’ about something important to him. However, after learning from Dogwood Alliancethat coastal forests in North Carolina are being destroyed to make throw-away paper packaging for big fast food companies—such as McDonalds and KFC—Cole Rasenberger, at the age of 8, became more than an activist; he became an environmental leader!
He started by targeting McDonalds directly. With the help of 25 friends, and his elementary school administration, he got every student in his school to sign postcards to McDonalds. In all, Cole sent 2,250 postcards to McDonalds.
“I asked my principal and teacher if I could get my whole school to sign my postcards. I told them I am only one voice; if we get my school to sign it would be thousands of voices. I think that would be better than just me,” Cole says, telling mongabay.com how he was able to get his whole school to join in his activism. “McDonalds is always doing things for kids, so I thought it would be a great place to start. I drew handmade postcards of animal habitats. […] I asked McDonald to be the environmental leader for my generation and please increase your use of post consumer recycled fiber.”Not long after receiving the postcards, McDonalds announced it would soon be switching their bags to 100 percent recycled paper.
But Cole, who won the 2010 Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes for his activism, was not yet done: “The reason KFC was my next choice was because they are such a big company,” he says. “They don’t use much post consumer recyclable fibers in their paper products. If we could get them to use even a little bit, it would save a lot of trees. If KFC and McDonald become the Environmental Leaders for my generation, everyone else will follow.” -
A baby born won 16 weeks premature was declared dead by doctors at a state-run hospital in Asuncion, capital of Paraguay, only to wake up hours later. Dr. Ernesto Weber, head of pediatric care, has said that the baby weighed just 500 grams at birth, had practically no respiratory reflexes and staff could not detect a heartbeat, causing them to declare the foetus dead. A death certificate was issued, and the child was placed in temporary cardboard coffin. When the family took him from the hospital to prepare for a funeral, the impossible became possible. A family member took the baby out and he suddenly began to cry, before starting to move his legs, and arms, terrifying the family who believed him to be dead.The baby is now in an incubator, and is in a stable condition, and the hospital is beginning an investigation.
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GALLE, Sri Lanka — A nocturnal, forest-dwelling primate with orb-like eyes and short limbs was photographed in central Sri Lanka late last year after being feared extinct, researchers said Monday.
A Horton Plains slender loris was caught on camera after lengthy surveys of the forest by researchers from the Zoological Society of London, the University of Colombo and the Open University of Sri Lanka.
Team leader Saman Gamage said the mammal was not sighted for more than 60 years until in 2002 a researcher reported spotting its eyes during a search — inspiring the effort to view it fully and photograph it to prove the primate existed.
(via Primate Feared Extinct for 60 Years Photographed in Sri Lanka - FoxNews.com)
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A laid off paramedic who turned to delivering pizzas to make ends meet is credited with saving the life of a man who went into cardiac arrest just as a pizza was delivered to his door.
Christopher Wuebben, 22, was delivering a pizza late last week to the suburban Denver home of George Linn, when he heard the man’s wife screaming for help, according to Wuebben’s boss, John Keiley.
“Chris told the woman that he was trained in CPR and knew what to do,” Keiley, owner of Johnny’s New York Pizza, said on Tuesday. “He got him on the floor and brought him back to life before the fire department showed up.”
Linn was transported to Swedish Medical Center where he is listed in serious condition in the hospital’s critical care unit, hospital spokeswoman Julie Lonborg told Reuters.
Keiley said Wuebben is a military veteran who recently moved to Colorado after he was laid off from his paramedic job in Illinois. He said Wuebben is not scheduled to work at the pizza restaurant until later in the week, but Keiley may not have his new employee for long. At least one local hospital and a fire department have called to offer Wuebben a job in his chosen field after hearing of his heroics.
“He’s a good kid who was very nonchalant about what he did and hopefully this will work out for him,” Keiley said.
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http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/war_vet_saves_gal_after_fall_from_dgWrAJhpmPcaVON2BQyS7J
An Afghanistan war vet dived into New York Harbor early yesterday to save a woman who had slipped from a ferry and been pulled under a pier near Wall Street.
“I saw her head disappear under the water, and she was gone for a good 60 seconds,” said former Navy sailor Nicholas Przybyla, of Brooklyn.
Danielle Julia DiMonda, 33, fell into the water at 1:10 a.m. while disembarking from a NY Waterways Ferry on her way home from a Governors Island concert.
“He saved my life. People don’t do that — but I guess some people do,” DiMonda, a social worker from Manhattan, told The Post.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/war_vet_saves_gal_after_fall_from_dgWrAJhpmPcaVON2BQyS7J#ixzz1Q8Neh3CI -
Two best friends who have known each other 16 years have made an amazing discovery: they are sisters. Alison Slavin, 41, and Sam Davies, 43, found they share the same father after adopted child Alison tracked down her biological mother. The pair from Bristol never suspected they were related despite living remarkably similar lives - they look alike, have similar taste in clothes, both work as childminders, have two children and live less than a mile apart. Alison made the discovery when a friend helped her trace her birth mother, who revealed her natural father was called Terry Cox. She immediately recognised it as the name of Sam’s father - and DNA tests later confirmed the pair are half sisters. (via Girls who were best friends for 16 YEARS discover they are sisters | Mail Online)
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Thomas and Ann Rose, a couple from Allentown, Pennsylvania, are well into retirement age: Thomas is in his 70s, and Ann is over 80. Yet, rather than relaxing by the beach, the couple is preparing to become parents. They’ve already done it more than 70 times. No, they’re not an even more extreme version of the Duggars: The generous couple has been welcoming in foster children for the last 15 years, since their own biological children grew up and left home. “We have children. We have grandchildren,” Ann Rose told local news channel WFMZ. “They were getting older, didn’t have any babies, so we thought we’d do this.” The Roses are providing a much-needed service: In Pennsylvania alone, there are over 27,000 children in need of foster care. Most are at least a few years old, and many are teenagers. Many have physical or mental disabilities. But no matter what their situation or history, they all need a loving family to help them on their journeys to adulthood. Although some of the children surely haven’t been easy to care for, the most difficult part of the process, says Ann Rose, is giving the child up. “Part of your responsibility is to take care of them while you have them, and the giving them up part, while it is hard, it’s something you have to do,” said Thomas Rose. And while most couples their age are enjoying their golden years on the golf course or RVing cross-country, the Roses say there’s nothing else they’d rather be doing. “It will be the time of your life because they need to have a safe home,” said Ann Rose. “They need a home with structure. They need to have a home with boundaries and they need to have a home with love.” Want to become a foster parent? Check out your state’s requirements and resources here.
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Writer Mark Twain captured turn-of-the-century America in a way that few others could, writing books and essays full of imagination and satiric wit. He also had plenty of great advice that stands the test of time—here are just a few of his pearls of wisdom.
Mark Twain, public domain image
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.
Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.
When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain.
(via http://gimundo.com/stuff/view/10-inspiring-quotes-by-mark-twain/) -
Half way there – clearing the World of landmines
It has been reported that significant progress has been made in removing land mines around the world, but the hidden devices killed more than 1,260 people last year, the International Campaign to Ban Land mines said Thursday.Land mines have been cleared from 3,200 square kilometers (1,236 square miles) in 90 countries — an area twice the size of London — in the last decade, said the group, which won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its work to establish the Mine Ban Treaty. But more needs to be done because a similar amount of land is still mined and dangerous, the group said.
(via Half way there – clearing the World of landmines | Good News Stories)
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(CBS) In this electronic age a lot of children still like to read. A survey found half of 9-year-olds read for fun almost every day. What may be surprising is the books kids are reading.
Seven-year-old Ella Biehle is a thoroughly modern girl, riding a skateboard, listening to an iPod, reading books on a kindle.
But the book she’s reading is about a girl from another time: “Ramona Quimby,” written by an author from another time, Beverly Cleary.
“I have no idea what a Kindle is like,” says Cleary with a laugh. “Or an iPod.”
Somehow Cleary, now 94, still connects with today’s children. She retired from writing more than a decade ago but her 39 books remain popular. They’ve sold more than 75 million copies in the United States and been translated into 14 languages, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone.
The kids in her books don’t have computers or iPods or Facebook pages, but as Cleary says, “Inside, children are very much the same.”
This summer, Ramona, Cleary’s most popular character, made it onto the big screen for the first time in the film “Ramona and Beezus.”
The movie, like Cleary’s books, doesn’t have any superheroes, just normal kids being kids, something that Cleary saw was missing when she started writing in 1950.
“I was a children’s librarian,” said Cleary, “and a little boy said to me, ‘Where are the books about kids like us?’ Well, there weren’t any.”
Now generations of kids have seen themselves in Cleary’s books. Ella’s not the first in her family to be captivated by Ramona.
“I just remember identifying with [Ramona] because she was always getting in trouble. She was always dirty,” says Ella’s mother Margot. “And her older sister was always doing everything right and that seemed sort of a lot like my life.”
The continuing popularity of Cleary’s books shows that in a changing world some things about growing up don’t change.
“I threw up in the library at school,” said Ella as she covered her face. “It was really embarrassing.”
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/24/eveningnews/main6802341.shtml#ixzz1Q8HsuB9Q
