Today’s good news comes from the Good News Network. Here it is in its entirety.

80-Year-old Woman Celebrates Doing a 5K Every Day Since Pandemic–1,000 in a Row!

By

Andy Corbley Mar 8, 2023

A Cherokee woman determined not to let the pandemic get her down began running or walking a 5K every day for 100 days.

Through lockdowns, Alpha, Delta, Omicron, and beyond, Mae Dean Erb kept on running until she completed her 1,000th 5K last Friday, two months short of her 80th birthday.

“I don’t know how she managed to do a 5K walk or run every single day for the last 1,000 days, but she did,” Erb’s daughter, Julie Erb-Alvarez, told GNN. “Her milestone was celebrated by a gathering of friends and family – even some virtually. She is our hero.”

A member of the Cherokee Nation, Erb lives with her husband of 56 years, Jim Erb, in a rural town called Blackgum, near her hometown of Vain, Oklahoma.

She has by no means stopped doing these continuous 5Ks, and in fact, at the time of publishing, she would be on her 1,006th, noting that good habits are as hard to break as bad habits.

“I don’t hurt anywhere. I have knee issues every once in a while, with, I guess, age, but it’s a really wonderful thing (walk/run) to do,” she told the Cherokee Phoenix.

“It’s just something you should do for yourself and your family, and when you have a 4-year-old grandson, you want to stay young enough to pick him up and run with him and catch him if he’s going in the wrong direction.”

She often runs and walks with her friends, who note that going out for a walk doesn’t even feel like a walk anymore unless it’s 5K.

Julie notes that Mae has become an inspiration to the whole community, not least to herself, who wants to be just like her mom when she reaches her golden years.

The good news here is it is never too late to pursue a dream or self-improvement. Today’s JohnKu talks about achieving goals. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Your Way by John W. Howell © 2023

Your life is for you,

To live it as you see fit . . .

Nothing should stop you.

Also, I’m at Story Empire today talking about the Day of Awesomeness. Come on over. Here’s the link.

Strangers around the country are rewarding a Michigan woman for her honesty after turning in nearly $15,000 cash to the police that she found at a gas station.

It turned out to be the contributions of guests to a pair of newlyweds, who were more than overwhelmed by her integrity.

65-year-old Dianne Gordon has been walking 2.7 miles to and from her job behind a deli counter every day since her Jeep broke down, and she didn’t have enough money to fix it. One day she decided to stop at a gas station for a snack and noticed a plastic bag. Inside there was a lot of money; turning it around, there were some greeting cards and a lot more money.

Just doing what she “was taught to do,” the grandmother of two called the police, who sent an officer to take custody of the sum.

Gordon could have walked into any dealership in the state and driven something off the lot that day, but knew because the money wasn’t hers, it wasn’t correct to take it.

“If it doesn’t belong to you, you don’t keep it,” she told the Washington Post. “I didn’t do anything special. All I did was return something that didn’t belong to me.”

Police Chief Dan Keller of the White Lake Township Police Department telephoned Gordon later that day to tell her they had used the information on the cards inside the bag to track down the owners. The happy couple was “overwhelmed” by Gordon’s honesty, as was Keller’s wife Stacy Connell.

“As a police officer’s wife, I typically hear the bad things, so this was obviously heartwarming,” said Connell. “I was hoping we could help her get a car since she could have walked into any dealership and used that money.”

Connell set up a GoFundMe, and in just 6 days, it raised four times as much money from people wanting to reward Gordon’s act of selflessness as she had found in the sealed bag that morning.

Grateful for the money and the words of encouragement from all the contributors, who celebrated with comments like “there are still good people in the world,” Gordon said she was stunned by the outpouring of generosity, which at the time of publishing, raised $82,000 and then closed.

On February 8th, Friends of Dianne wrote: “Dianne officially signed for her new Jeep Compass yesterday at Szott M-59 in White Lake Township. Along with the new car, she also got an extended warranty, maintenance, insurance, and plates/tabs.”

There was also an inspection done at her home to evaluate some much-needed repairs that will be done very soon.

The good news here is a beautiful story that shows, more often than not, honesty pays. Today’s JohnKu talks about honesty. I hope you have a wonderful weekend

Choices by John W. Howell © 2023

A choice to do right,

Or to select the wrong way . . .

Do we think it out?

Our Good news comes from the Goodnews Network. I have reported on this ocean cleanup system before, and now there is more good news. Here’s the story in its entirety, with major typos corrected.

Ocean Cleanup Nonprofit Gets $25Mil From Airbnb Co-Founder to Launch Massive Plastic Pollution Cleanup.

By Andy Corbley

The co-founder of Airbnb.org has just donated $25 million to support the Dutch nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup as they prepare to assemble and deploy the largest plastic capture system ever developed for use in the ocean.

The Ocean Cleanup’s pilot-scale ocean cleaning system, System 002, has been deployed in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) located between Hawai’i and California since late 2021. It has so far removed close to 200,000 kilograms, or roughly 440,000 pounds, of plastic that otherwise would have remained trapped for decades or more.

“I’m proud to partner with The Ocean Cleanup in their crucial work to remove harmful plastics from our oceans,” said Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb and Samara. “The Ocean Cleanup has created systems and technology that actually work at scale. In order for them to deploy across our oceans and rivers, they now need to scale their funding. It is my hope that this donation can inspire others to act.”

As the only group currently cleaning the trillions of plastic pieces in the GPGP, The Ocean Cleanup has streamlined its cleaning systems to be as cost-effective as possible, allowing their entirely not-for-profit income generation and any potential donations to go far.

Dutch wiz kid and Ocean Cleanup founder Boyan Slat has been developing the capture system for a decade and has gradually enlarged and improved it based on fieldwork harvesting plastic from the GPGP. System 03 cleans ten times faster than the previous system and could clean all the plastic patches of the world’s oceans with about 10-50 systems.

“Joe’s continued support of The Ocean Cleanup’s mission has a direct impact on our operations all over the world,” said Slat. “Thanks, in part, to his generous assistance, we are able to scale up our work in oceans and rivers, helping us reach our goal of ridding the world’s oceans of plastic. On behalf of the world’s largest ecosystem, we are immensely grateful for the support.”

Slat’s work in the GPGP will go down as one of the greatest accomplishments in the 21st century. In front of him was a true leviathan of a problem—a patch of plastic trash twice the size of Texas swirling in International Waters where even the loudest climate-hollering nation-state had no desire to even crack an idea about how to clean it.

Relying only on his team and his vision of basic scientific deduction and elegant engineering solutions, Slat proved that the most absurd problem was nevertheless solvable.

His vision attracted millions in private contributions from philanthropists like Gebbia, even while government scientists sneered at his use of fossil-fuel vessels to pull the nets to capture the plastic.

Here is a photo of the system.

The good news here is that with additional funding, the oceans become closer to being cleaned. Today’s Johnku talks about this important project.

Funding by John W. Howell © 2023

To finally conquer,

The oceans plastic problem . . .

Money speaks loudly.

I hope you have a great weekend.

Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network. Here it is in its entirety.

Aviation Startup ZeroAvia Flies Largest-Ever Hydrogen Electric Aircraft

An aviation start-up just set a new world-first for the largest hydrogen-powered aircraft flight in history—a 19-seat aircraft called the Dornier 228.

Designed by ZeroAvia, the start-up is developing hydrogen-powered engines for regional flights and has taken off over the last 12 months.

This most recent flight was a 10-minute affair from the Cotswolds Airport in Gloucestershire, England, but was only the most recent manifestation of their success.

ZeroAvia counts American and United airlines as their investors, and by 2025, the firm has 1,500 pre-orders of their hydrogen-electric powertrains to fulfill. In addition, the prototype powertrains have received approval from the UK and US civil aviation authorities.

“This is a major moment, not just for ZeroAvia, but for the aviation industry as a whole, as it shows that true zero-emission commercial flight is only a few years away,” ZeroAvia founder and CEO Val Miftakhov said in a statement Thursday.

The flight comes after news in August that the company signed a memorandum of understanding with American Airlines for 100 of the powertrains being developed for 90-seat aircraft.

“Having support from [one of the] world’s largest airline is a strong indication of the progress we’re making on the development of hydrogen-electric, zero-emission flight,” added ZeroAvia Founder and CEO Val Miftakhov. “We are focused on delivering sustainable travel and are delighted that American, a visionary leader in the industry, sees ZeroAvia as a part of the future of aviation.”

Hydrogen as a fuel source is currently one of two more sustainable alternatives to powering aviation. Accounting for 2.8% of all global emissions, passenger aircraft need high-octane, energy-dense fuel sources because of the weight limitations that batteries can’t account for.

The ZA2000-RJ powertrain from ZeroAvia is predicted to have a 500-mile range on a full tank, which United Airlines said would restore the economic viability of smaller regional flights.

“A lot of small cities have lost service because of the cost, and we think that these technologies will allow United to bring back more frequent service and service to airports that don’t have any service today,” Michael Leskinen, president of United Airlines Ventures, told CBS.

For reference, 500-mile jumps could service distances such as Pittsburgh to Chicago, Amarillo to Austin, or Fort Myers to Savannah. In Europe, the benefits compound because of the size of the continent. ZeroAvia could easily service Milan to Naples, Munich to Hamburg, or Newcastle to Exeter.

The good news here is zero emissions are possible for air travel. Today’s JohnKu talks about innovation. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Discovery by John W. Howell © 2023

Like we always have,

Is not an excuse anymore . . .

Innovation rules.

Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network. Here it is with few modifications.

A group of South Korean tourists narrowly avoided a ruined vacation, with good fortune swapping it for an unforgettable experience waiting out a blizzard and cooking with a New York family.

Traveling from Niagara Falls to Washington DC, a tour group of 10 South Koreans got stuck in a blizzard near Buffalo. Two of the group went to a local house to ask for a shovel to dislodge their vehicle.

It was Christmas Eve when Alex Campagna heard their frantic knocking on his door. Outside, he recounted on Facebook, was “the worst blizzard I’ve experienced,” and knowing the folly of trying to carry on, he invited them all inside, putting them up on couches, air mattresses, and sleeping bags.

“As a Buffalonian, this is on another level, the Darth Vader of storms,” he told the New York Times.

Eager to repay his kindness, the guests cooked several South Korean meals like jeyuk bokkeum, stir-fried pork, and dakdori tang, a spicy chicken stew. As it turns out, Campagna and his wife really like Korean food and actually happened to have some of the more extravagant ingredients on hand.

The Times reports they stayed Friday and Saturday. They swapped stories and even enjoyed some American football matches on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas day. Drivers came to pick up the tour group and took them to New York for some impromptu flights.

“We have enjoyed this so much,” said Choi Yoseob, a member of the group who described the experience as unforgettable and a “unique blessing.”

The Good News here is that someone had empathy for his fellow human beings who were in trouble. Today’s JohnKu talks about good deeds. I hope you have a very Happy New Year.

A Helping Hand by John W. Howell © 2022

Reaching out to help,

Someone who is in trouble . . .

Fills both hearts with joy.

Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network. Here it is in its entirety.

Landscape Company Gives Employees $28 Million in Appreciation Bonuses for Job Well Done

End-of-year bonuses are always a welcomed sight, but these smiles bear witness to an extraordinary act of corporate generosity.

Ruppert Landscaping gave bonuses of between $7,000 to $200,000 to all employees with a tenure of over one year “as a thanks for the role they’ve played in the company’s growth and development.”

A total of 1,200 workers, excluding those in top leadership positions, received the enormous thank you presents which added up to be $28 million.

“Everyone receiving this bonus was instrumental in helping create the value that we’ve been able to realize,” said CEO Craig Ruppert. “This bonus is money that is well-deserved and a way for us to acknowledge the value of our teams’ contributions and the essential role that they will play in our company’s future.”

Residential lawns turned into developments, parks, and corporate campuses, while the focus on hustle and efficiency expanded to include horticultural knowledge and technical specialization. Today, the company serves commercial clients in over nine states from 30 locations and continues its tradition of charitable giving at the local level.

The good news here is a company recognizes the contributions of its employees. Today’s JohnKu talks about recognition. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Thankful by John W. Howell © 2023

A company thinks,

Employees equal success. . .

Would love to work there.

Today’s good news story is from the Good News Network; here is the story in its entirety. (some typos have been corrected)

Once Devastated Pacific Reefs See Amazing Rebirth, Recovering With ‘Shocking Speed’

As remote as they were beautiful, the coral reefs around the 5 volcano tips making up the Southern Line Islands dazzled National Geographic explorers in 2009 during a visit.

Remarking that they re-painted the image of what a pristine coral reef looks like—bursting with color and life—the team of the Pristine Seas Expedition had been crushed when a record-warming El Niño event in 2015 caused mass coral die-offs.

Then a return in 2021 revealed a remarkable scene—bright, healthy corals teeming with life as far down as 100 feet off the island slopes. After record numbers of coral deaths, a team member estimated their populations averaged around 43 million to 53 million coral colonies per square mile.

The Southern Line Islands belong to the Pacific island nation of Kiribati. Enric Sala, a marine biologist and member of Pristine Seas, detailed that it took longer to reach them by plane and boat than it took the astronauts of the Apollo missions to land on the Moon.

During the 2017 trip to Vostock, Flint, and Millennium islands, the vast swaths of cauliflower corals, pocillopora were all gone, while the species Acropora was also hard hit. Some other species were less damaged, however, giving the Sala, who was preoccupied at the time and didn’t get to join the 2017 trip, hope they could recover.

In fact, the expedition found promising signs the reef could do just that since rather than being covered with seaweed, the dead corals were covered in “crustose coralline algae,” a marine plant that coral larvae can latch onto to build new reefs in the same way that a brick latches onto mortar.

Sure enough, this foundation led to near-total regeneration of the reefs around the Southern Line Islands.

“The reef was covered by light-blue corals that looked like giant roses—a garden of Montipora aequituberculata stretching as far as I could see,” says Sala.

Since the Southern Line Islands are so remote, no one was keeping an eye on how the corals were able to regrow so significantly, but Sala has an idea. Since most of the montipora were the same size, it’s possible that one or two massive coral spawning events, where they reproduce and launch their eggs out into the sea before the larvae rain back down on the reef, are enough to repopulate large areas of dead corals.

Its resilience earned it the moniker of a “super reef” among the crew.

“The corals that were resistant to the phenomenal 2015-16 El Niño provided the reefs’ resilience,” wrote Sala. “The Southern Line Islands lie in one of the hottest hot spots of warming in the Pacific Ocean, so the corals apparently have adapted to heat.”

As for the flush of the mortar-like crustose coralline algae over the dead corals as opposed to seaweed, Sala chalks it up to the great numbers of grazing fish like zebrafish, parrotfish, surgeonfish, and others that would simply devour any seaweed before it could overgrow the coral.

Kiribati’s government has ensured that these seas, which have never seen large-scale commercial fishing, will never see it, and now make up the Southern Line Islands Marine Protected Area (SLIMPA)

The good news here is that natural healing of the coral has taken place. Today’s JohnKu talks about the power of nature. I hope you have a great weekend.

Nature by John W. Howell ©2022

Still under attack,

Yet finding a way to thrive . . .

Mother is her name.