Germany mulls over offering free public transit to improve air quality
Air pollution levels in Germany are high according to EU standards. In order to improve air quality and encourage people to limit their car usage, the German government is planning to offer free public transit. Since a lot of people in the country own diesel vehicles, the move would mean reduction in particulate and Nitrogen dioxide emissions. According to Die Welt, the program would take place in a number of...
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Couple who lost everything in a wildfire wins $1 million in lottery
In May 2016, Bill and Carrie Pendergast lost everything they had when a wildfire burned their house down. All they were able to save were the family pets — Sydney, a spaniel, Lefty the bird and Ozzy the black cat — three totes of photo albums and a box containing music cassettes. Since then, the couple spent time and money rebuilding their home, hoping for some miracle to change their lives. And as they say,...
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This social enterprise in Kenya is turning human excreta into clean fuel
29-year-old US environment engineer Andrew Foote knows that even discussing human poop is considered cringe-worthy by most. Yet that did not deter him from starting his firm Sanivation in 2014 that provides toilets to poor households in a small Kenyan town, collects their human waste and turns it into clean fuel. In Kenya, an average of 17,000 under-fives die of diarrhoea every year. Foote was convinced these...
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Green cover in India increases by an impressive 8,021 sq km in just 2 years
Thanks to multiple afforestation programs undertaken by the Environment ministry, India managed to increase its green cover by a whopping 8,021 sq kilometers in a span of just two years. The country now ranks tenth in the world for forest area and eighth for annual forest gain. According to an official report, over 24.39% of the country’s geographical area now constitutes of green cover. Recorded using satellite...
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Military man wins hearts by taking the daughter of fallen serviceman to daddy-daughter dance
A night that would’ve otherwise been quite heartbreaking for 5-year old Cayleigh Hinton turned out to be one of her most memorable ones, thanks to a military man named Joseph Bierbrodt. Cayleigh participated in her very first dad-daughter dance last week – only that she was accompanied by 1st Sgt. Joseph Bierbrodt of the Illinois Army National Guard instead of her own father, who died in a military...
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These new LA parking meters collect change for the homeless
Two bright orange parking meters newly installed in LA’s Grand Park accept change from people that would be used to house the homeless. These two meters are among a total of six donation meters installed across the downtown area. As the city witnesses a rise in the number of homeless people, these new parking meters offer a way for people to donate for a good cause. “This is a way for people to give....
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This young man with Down Syndrome starts his own million-dollar sock company
John Lee Cronin is a young man with Down’s Syndrome and he’s on a mission — he wants to spread happiness and cheer through colorful socks! The 21-year-old entrepreneur decided to turn his love for socks into a business once he graduated from high school. In December 2016, John and his dad Mark Cronin started an online business and named it John’s Crazy Socks. It is basically a...
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Dunkin’ Donuts aims to ditch foam cups for paper cups by 2020
Dunkin’ Donuts is finally ditching plastic foam cups for an environment-friendly option. The world famous coffee chain plans to eliminate foam cups in its global supply chain beginning Spring 2018. By 2020, the chain plans to completely switch to paper cups. It has been a long time coming, and goes to show that big changes can’t just happen over night – in fact, it took seven years in this case. In 2011,...
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How Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio gave this pregnant cancer patient the gift of life
A young pregnant woman named Gemma Nuttal had cancer, so the doctors told her to start with the treatment or she’d die. But Gemma refused all cancer treatments to save her baby’s life. When she finally gave birth to a healthy baby girl, doctors gave her six months to live. Gemma and her mother launched a £300,000 crowdfunding campaign to raise enough money for her treatment in Germany. That’s...
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A chemical found in McDonald’s fries might just cure your baldness!
A team of Japanese scientists claim that the cure to baldness might just be there in your McDonald’s fries! They’ve found that dimethylpolysiloxane, a chemical which is added to oil to cook french fries at the fast-food restaurant, was able to mass produce hair follicles in mice. Initial tests suggest this “simple” method could also be used to treat hair loss in humans, the scientists at...
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