March 20, the first day of spring, and International Day of Happiness !
The latest happiness report is here. Norway is the happiest country with Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and Iceland in the top five. The United States is 14th on the happiness scale.
“What works in the Nordic countries is a sense of community and understanding in the common good,”
To make the world a better and safer place we must generate positive energy. This is another round of amazing news stories that tell us in what direction the future is moving. I congratulate these countries and communities for their sustainable goals and effort. This is my occasional series on great news stories. Renewable energy, managing trash and gender equality are some of the positive energy stories of the past week!
1. In September Kenya is going to ban plastic bags. Read about Kenya here. 
2. Georgetown, Texas, a conservative town in oil country is fueled by wind. Wind power saves them money over oil energy. Read about it at Georgetown
3 Iceland will be the first country in the world to make employers prove they offer equal pay regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality or nationality, the Nordic nation’s government said on International Women’s Day. Read about it at Iceland
4. The United States installed a record-smashing 14,762 Megawatts (MW) of solar power in 2016 — a 97 percent jump over 2015, according to data just released. For the first time ever, solar was the number one source of new generating capacity, beating out wind and gas. Read about it at solar power.
5. A water wheel is cleaning up Baltimore’s harbor picking up plastic and other trash. Read at Baltimore
6. Sweden is on target to be powered entirely by renewable energy by 2040. An amazing goal for this dark northern country. Read about at Sweden.
What sustainable exciting things are happening in your community?
“It is horrifying we have to fight our own government to save the
environment” Ansel Adams
We now have a government that is dismantling all protections the American people have from corporate America. Corporate profits now take priority over the health of people, wildlife and the entire planet earth. The United Nations released a report this week stating how harmful pesticides are to people and the planet.
“The chronic overuse of pesticides across the world has caused “catastrophic” harms to human health, human rights and global biodiversity, according to a report presented to the United Nations human rights council Wednesday.
The UN-solicited study on toxic chemical impacts to global food sources criticizes pesticide manufacturers’ “systematic denial” of the broad harms caused by their products and calls for a transition to healthier farming methods that move away from the current dependence on pesticides.” Read about it here. And more about it from Ecowatch.
And read about the state of our bees from pesticide use and habitat loss.
In his book, Poison Spring: The Secret History of Pollution and the EPA, published in 2014, E. G. Vallianatos, who worked for the EPA for 25 years, wrote:
“It is simply not possible to understand why the EPA behaves the way it does without appreciating the enormous power of American’s industrial farmers and their allies in the chemical pesticide industries, which currently do about $40 billion per in year business. For decades, industry lobbyists have preached the gospel of unregulated capitalism and Americans have bought it. Today, it seems the entire government is at the service of the private interests of America’s corporate class.”
We can only control our corner of the world. I hope you will think twice before putting pesticides on your yard, and speak out against the use of chemicals in agriculture and in our parks! 
A March 15 action item: Send a postcard to Donald Trump. Send at least one card, but it is hard to stop at one. Weekly, I have been sending postcards, and it is good for the soul.
What issues are you passionate about? What are you upset about? What do you think of the first few weeks of this administration? Time is now to express your thoughts. March 15, is “Send a Postcard to Donald Trump Day.”
Spread the word! Everyone on Earth should let Donald J. Trump know how he’s doing as the president of the United States.
No postcards? Make you own. Cut 4 inch by 6 inch pieces from poster board. Walgreens usually has poster board, but they also might have postcards.
On March 15th, mail your messages to:
Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
My postcards this week will be about clean water/clean air, the Great Lakes Restoration Fund, healthcare for everyone, enormous tax cuts for billionaires, travel bans, and all the lies coming out of this White House. I believe in being positive, don’t loose sight of the important issues facing us all. There are so many concerns and so many issues, go for it!! Remember, Wednesday, March 15. Thank you.
In celebration of International Women’s Day, Air India completed an around the world flight with an all-women crew! Congratulations!! Read about it here.
March brings melting snow, longer days and deep blue sun,
but then a big dump of new snow. Today the lake in front of my house is full of white slush, but two days ago it was empty of snow, ice, or any sign of winter. With the winds and currents the lake is constantly refreshing itself!
Today I’m starting an occasional series on good-news events. Three stories have made me happy this past week, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.
*First, this is amazing. New Delhi, India, banned plastic bags and single use plastic. It will make a difference for our oceans, and Delhi’s air quality. A plastic ban will not be easy to implement, and I wish them luck. Read about it from Independent News, and from Ecowatch.
** Second, Solar energy added 73,615 new jobs to the U.S. economy over the past year while wind added a further 24,650. According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy, solar power employed 43 percent of the Electric Power Generation sector’s workforce in 2016, while fossil fuels combined accounted for just 22 percent. Read about it from Forbes
*** Third, PBS did a marvelous story of an American woman making great efforts to educate girls in Liberia. Watch on PBS
February 1st, Lake Superior waves were crashing and pounding the shore, and it was reported that only 5% of the big lake was covered with ice. I was surprised that early morning February 2, our bay became covered with ice. The waves look frozen in time, and the frozen landscape brings a new quiet peaceful reality. How long will it last? Probably not long. Lake ice today is fragile and depends on the winds and sudden whims of this living warming lake. The first big wind will probably break and send the ice onto the shore, or to another bay to continue the fascinating winter entertainment.
“The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face that represents a countdown to possible global catastrophe. It has been maintained since 1947 by the members of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists‘ Science and Security Board,[1] who are in turn advised by the Governing Board and the Board of Sponsors, including 18 Nobel Laureates. The closer they set the Clock to midnight, the more vulnerable the scientists believe the world is to global disaster” Wikipedia
And finally, an environmental summary of the disaster of Trump’s first week from the NRDC.
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Health4earth 