Well this could be a silver lining from COVID 19 and certainly is a positive development. Think about it, nearly every person has someone they know affected by cancer.  Think positive today Backyardbend and create what you want.

From KOIN 6 and the AP News Wire

BERLIN (AP) — The scientist who won the race to deliver the first widely used coronavirus vaccine says people can rest assured the shots are safe, and the technology behind it will soon be used to fight another global scourge — cancer.

Ozlem Tureci, who co-founded the German company BioNTech with her husband, was working on a way to harness the body’s immune system to tackle tumors when they learned last year of an…

Did you know there is a group of tribal nations, farmers, businesses, agencies, and environmentalist working together to protect water quality, fisheries and the Klamath Basin economy? This is the Klamath River Renewal Corporation.

This effort will remove old and outdated Klamath River dams and restore the river to health for the community. South of Central Oregon lies the Klamath Basin – a region rich in history, agriculture, and wild and scenic places.

Could this be the future path to healthy ways to manage natural resources? We hope so. Take a look at what this group is doing, we think you will be surprised at the diverse people and organizations working together for the betterment of their community.

From InHabitat by Dawn Hammon

Designer Piotr Czyżewski is well aware of traffic jams and parking issues, so he decided to try to tackle the problem by developing EXO ONE, a single-person electric vehicle, in the hopes that it will replace the multiple-person cars cramming the roadways.

The EXO ONE is futuristic, even by 2020 standards, and it addresses many environmental and societal issues that will continue in the years to come. The motor, brilliantly tucked inside the back wheel to save space inside the vehicle, propels the three-wheeled car at 0-60 km/h in just 3 seconds. That will help the vehicle seamlessly and safely merge into traffic. Although the electric battery can last up to 130 km on a…

Happy Sunday Backyardbend. We are happy you are here and happy to have found this article on Connection and Kindness to share. We hope you enjoy great connections today, for today is the only one we truly have.

From Envision Kindness and their series ‘The Science of Kindness’. READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE. 

Connection is made possible by embracing kindness and compassion.  Embracing kindness and compassion happens once we realize that it is essential to our state of being and longevity.  And it just feels good.

As there is some needed detail to describe this concept, this class runs longer than our usual sessions.  In case you can’t stay, here’s the “secret sauce” of this blog:  kindness works its…

How Paving with Plastic Could Make a Dent in the Global Waste Problem

Roads in which waste plastic is melted down and mixed with paving materials are becoming more common around the world. Although for now they remain a niche technology, experts say the roads could become one of a diverse array of uses for discarded plastic.

From the Yale School of the Environment by Ann Parson – READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE. 

A road running through Accra, Ghana’s capital, looks like any other blacktop. Yet what most drivers don’t realize is that the asphalt under them contains a slurry of used plastics — shredded and melted bags, bottles, and snack wraps — that otherwise were destined for…

PLANTING TREES TO EMPOWER WOMEN AND RESTORE THE ENVIRONMENT

From One Tree Planted  by Meaghan Weeden – READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE. 

International Women’s Day is coming up and we’re proud to have many female-led initiatives dedicated to reforestation at the heart of our organization. And this year, we’re taking it one step further: in celebration of International Women’s Day, One Tree Planted and Planet Women are uniting with female smallholder farmers to plant trees, support healthy communities, and restore the environment.

And we’re not just doing it because seeing women empowered to improve their lives and help the environment makes us do a happy dance (which, for the record, it does). Studies have found that women reinvest 90%…

Who would have thought – mushrooms can do so many things!

From the Good News Network by Andy Corbley.

While there aren’t any species of mushroom large enough to live in, one Bay-area designer thinks he can make one if he only cranks out enough of his patented “mushroom bricks.”

In fact, he knows he can do it, because he’s already build a showpiece called “Mycotecture”—a 6×6 mushroom brick arch from Ganoderma lucidum or reishi mushrooms.

Phil Ross doesn’t use the mushroom, or fruiting body of the reishi; he uses mycelium, the fast-growing fibrous roots that make up the vast majority of fungus lifeforms.

Mycelium grows fast, and is incredibly durable, waterproof, non-toxic, fire-resistant, and biodegradable.

Ross uses it to build bricks…

Below is an interesting and thought provoking look at the way we look at things. It’s not a fluffy piece and requires openness and study of the lengthy information provided. We agree, “Humanity is Beautiful” if we just take a look at it with that mindset.  We hope you enjoy it.

From Kindling By Peter Schulte

The world is on fire. The Amazon is burning. The seas are rising. Our communities are bombarded by hurricanes, floods, droughts, and wildfires. Racism, misogyny, and homophobia run rampant across the globe. Hundreds of millions are in the grips of addiction and depression. A handful of people own half the world’s wealth while millions die of hunger and preventable disease. Children are murdered in…

From Forbes by Jim Dobson

Deep in the dry, windy desert of Northern Nevada is a great basin filled with playas, hot springs, and lava beds, surrounded by numerous volcanic and geothermal features.

Every year since 1986, right before Labor Day, almost 80,000 people gather to celebrate Burning Man, the legendary assembly of spirited people guided by the founders ten principles: “radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy.”

With the pandemic eliminating the annual bohemian gathering in 2020 and possibly in 2021, a new frontier has started. Without the enormous experimental structures and mutant vehicles reminiscent of “Mad Max,” the now-aging devoted followers of Burning Man are focused on creating something even…

Not every call to the police requires an armed response. Now, a more compassionate alternative is catching on. David Byrne of the Talking Heads tells the story from Eugene, Oregon’s leading edge initiative that started the White Bird Clinic in 1989.

From Reasons To Be Cheerful by David Byrne.

It sounds like the plot of some cop-buddy movie: an anarchic hippie social worker (Snoop Dogg or Owen Wilson) is forced to team up with a straight-laced conservative cop (Clint Eastwood, the Rock). Chaos and hilarity ensue. Life lessons are learned. In this case, it actually happened.

It started decades ago in Eugene, Oregon, where police responses to drug- and mental health-related calls were ending badly. So Eugene tried something different:…