#053 - The Best News of Last Week - September 5, 2022
⛰️ - Hope you had a great weekend. Let's start the week with some positivity
1. Painting one wind turbine blade can reduce bird fatalities by 72%
Each year, turbine blades kill hundreds of thousands of birds and bats. As wind power becomes more prevalent, this number may rise into the millions.
A simple paint job can save birds from wind turbines, a small study in Norway showed. Researchers picked four pairs of adjacent turbines. One turbine in each pair was painted, while the other was left white. For three and a half years, they counted how many birds were killed by each turbine. They then compared these counts with the number of birds that had been killed by those same turbines in the years prior to the study. Painting one blade of a wind turbine black reduced bird mortality by over 70%.
Banff’s bison herd has grown to between 85 and 90 animals after 16 bison calves were born in the spring.
Parks Canada officials say the herd is doing well. “Overall, the bison are doing well in the 1,200 square kilometer re-introduction zone,” said Kat Trivers, strategic communications advisor for Parks Canada, in a statement.
Bison, considered a keystone species that help hold an ecosystem together, were absent from Banff National Park for about 160 years before being brought back
3. Unmarried Partners, Queer Relationships Constitute Family: Supreme Court of India
"Familial relationships may take the form of domestic, unmarried partnerships or queer relationships", the Supreme Court has observed, while noting that an ''atypical" manifestation of a family unit is as real as its traditional counterpart and deserves protection under the law.
The observations are significant as activists have been raising the issue of recognising LGBT marriages and civil unions as well as allowing live-in couples to adopt after the apex court decriminalised homosexuality in 2018.
4. Thirty-six rescued beagles sent from illegal research facility to Chicago
Thirty-six one-year-old female beagles arrived at the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago, Illinois. The dogs were checked and immunized after being freed from inhumane breeding and research at "Envigo.
5. Man builds benches for bus stops after seeing woman sitting in dirt
James Warren was walking in his Denver neighborhood when something gave him pause. "A woman was waiting for the bus, sitting in the dirt. And I was like, 'Oh man, that sucks.' That's not dignified at all. We need to be doing better by our fellow city members," Warren told CBS News. "And so, I thought, 'I could do something about that, I can build a bench.'" That moment led him on a mission to help his community.
Warren found some scrap wood, thanks to construction sites in his neighborhood with piles of discarded wood. And, because his dad builds homes, he grew up around tools — he knew he had the basic skills needed to build a bench.
6. Gender Queer Graphic Novel Ban Dismissed as Unconstitutional in Virginia
A Virginia district judge dismissed an obscenity lawsuit filed in that state against Maia Kobabe and Oni-Lion Forge using a Virginia law that went into effect earlier this year that could have had Kobabe's acclaimed graphic novel memoir, Gender Queer, ruled "obscene" and banned from sale in the state.
The judge determined that the new law violated not only the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, but also the Constitution of Virginia itself.
7. 'I've been able to dream big': 62-year-old Canadian becomes oldest woman to summit K2 in Pakistan
Belarusian-Canadian Liliya Ianovskaia holding a Belarusian national flag at the K2 peak in Pakistan on July 22. Ianovskaia, now 63, said she took up mountaineering at the age of 50.
Liliya Ianovskaia, not only managed to successfully summit Mount Everest in Nepal, she went on to climb two more mountains above 8,000 metres just weeks after.
Despite Mount Everest being the highest mountain on earth at 8,849 metres, K2 in Pakistan, the second highest peak, is known to be one of the most dangerous and difficult treks due to avalanches, steepness and unpredictable weather.
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Have a great week ahead.
Yay, these always make my day!