Good News Headlines 1/29/2024

Photo courtesy Tony Webster, Creative Commons

Plastic Bag Bans In U.S. Have Reduced Plastic Bag Use By Billions, Report Says

by Paige Bennett, EcoWatch

A new report from nonprofits Environment America, U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund and Frontier Group has found that bans on plastic bags around the U.S. have already reduced the number of bags used by billions. The report, “Plastic Bag Bans Work”, found that bans in three states — New Jersey, Philadelphia and Vermont — and two cities, Portland, Oregon and Santa Barbara, California, have reduced the number of single-use plastic bags used each year by around 6 billion. According to Environment America, the number of bags saved could go around the planet 42 times.

To Help These School Kids Deal With Trauma, Mindfulness Lessons Over The Loudspeaker

by Pien Huang, NPR

At 8:30 a.m., the cafeteria tables at the Patricia J. Sullivan Partnership Elementary School are packed. Dozens of students – from kindergarten through the fifth grade – are hanging out, catching up and eating today’s breakfast. School principal Dave McMeen is greeting students. The first lesson of the day, as they leave the cafeteria, is self control: “Show me that right now me by facing forward. Show me your toes, show me your hands, now show me your body,” he says, to a row of kindergartners assembling in the hallway, “When your body is still, your mind is still and we can focus.”

World’s First Magma Observatory Poised To Monitor Volcanoes While Generating Tons Of Energy

by Andy Corbley, Good News Network

Theorized as a potential future center of volcanology on Earth, a “magma well” in remote Iceland is the site of the world’s first magma observatory. The hopes are that the observatory, called the Krafla Magma Testbed, can lead to breakthroughs in volcanology and geothermal energy technology, as well as offer seismologists the ability to monitor potential eruptions much more accurately. While scientists have found many substandard workarounds throughout history, direct observation and recording of magma under the Earth’s crust has never been done before.

This Could Be Start Of The Biggest Climate Victory Of All

by Bill McKibben, Common Dreams

A few minutes ago, The New York Times moved a story saying that the White House has decided to pause permitting for new LNG terminals—if it’s true, and I think it is, this is the biggest thing a U.S. president has ever done to stand up to the fossil fuel industry. The Times story begins with the next project in line, the mammoth CP2 export terminal planned for Louisiana: The Energy Department is required to weigh whether the export terminal is in “the public interest,” a subjective determination. But now, the White House has requested an additional analysis of the climate impacts of CP2.

To Get Fresh Vegetables To People Who Need Them, One City Puts Its Soda Tax To Work

by Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR

It’s a chilly, winter evening outside the Boulder Public Library. Inside, tucked behind a spiral staircase, a small crowd begins to file into a meeting room. They are here for a distribution of coupons for the Fruit and Veg Boulder program, run by county health department staff and community groups. These distributions happen every three months – a family of two gets $40 a month in coupons, families of four and up get $80. They can be used pretty much anywhere in town where you can buy fresh produce – from big grocery stores to farm stands. “On Tuesday, there was a huge line out the door,” says Ana Karina Casas Ibarra.