This should make you feel good on a Monday. Bend’s very own Alyvia is a superstar. Here’s the link to the KTVZ story.

A Bend girl will be seeing herself on the big screen in New York City’s Times Square to help kick off the National Down Syndrome Society’s annual Buddy Walk.

Eight-year-old Alyvia Hallman and her family head to New York City for the event on Sept. 14, where her photo will be featured in an accompanying video presentation shown in Times Square.

Her mother, Celeste Hallman, entered Alyvia’s photo in the NDSS worldwide call for photos for four years in a row. Out of the 3,000 pictures submitted, Alyvia’s was one of the 500 selected photos.

Creating awareness of the problem of plastic trash in the world’s oceans seems like positive news. This article from the India Times about an African community who did something about it is inspiring and shows every action counts. See the full article HERE.

“On the Kenyan island of Lamu, a few hundred miles off the coast of Zanzibar, sits a colorful water vessel that looks more patchwork quilt than boat.

It’s not just an eccentric paint job though, it’s because the boat is actually made from recycled plastic and flip flops.

The Flipflopi as it’s called is a life-size sailing boat, approximately 30 feet long. More importantly, it’s constructed entirely from 10 tons of recycled plastics and around 30,000…

The summer is winding down and moving into fall gives us the chance to reflect and determine if we need to shift something in our lives.  We found this to share that may be helpful for moving into and through a major shift.

From Zen Habits and author Leo Babauta.

“There are a lot of us who would like to change something, but find it difficult to make that change. I’m here to share with you the fact that making a shift like this is absolutely possible, and share how that shift might happen.

So let’s start with this: making a shift in our lives is absolutely possible. Not only have I made dozens of changes in my life, I’ve…

As you are out adventuring in #backyardbend this weekend keep this in mind for after sunset. An incoming G1 or G2 geomagnetic storm is forecasted for Saturday and Sunday.

Have you ever seen the creeping, twisting, and sometimes pulsing green lights they call the aurora borealis? Also known as the northern lights, if this celestial sight is on your bucket list be prepared to make a little effort this weekend and you may just get lucky. A G1 or G2 geomagnetic storm is predicted by the NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, and it may cause northern lights to be visible in the U.S.

How to see the northern lights in the U.S.…

This looks positively positive and worthy of ‘Positive News”.  This article from the India Times reminds us that good things are happening in the world.

From the India Times

We’ve always known that plastic in the wild is a bad thing, given that it’s not biodegradable.  But it’s only more recently we’ve been able to pinpoint the specific negative effects it has on the environment. So now, researchers are trying whatever way they can to deal with it.  Christofer Costes says he’s developed a machine capable of breaking down plastic into a liquid fuel.  See the full article HERE.

Creating more of what we want by focusing on positive in the world.

“Nepal will make the Everest region a plastic-free zone by 2020 by banning single-use plastics, a move that will curb excessive pollution on the highest point of the Earth’s surface.

The executive council of Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality in Solukhumbu district reached this decision on Wednesday, the Efe news reported.

The new rule will come into effect from January 1, 2020.” See the full article HERE.

Los Angeles — Like many urban singles, the mountain lion P-22 lives a solitary life in a too-small habitat. And he has a hard time finding a mate in the big city.

Famous for traveling across two freeways and making a huge Los Angeles park his home, the lonesome big cat has become a symbol of the shrinking genetic diversity of wild animals that must remain all but trapped by sprawling development or risk becoming roadkill.

Hoping to fend off the extinction of mountain lions and other species that require room to roam, transportation officials and conservationists will build a mostly privately funded wildlife crossing over a major Southern California highway. It will give big cats, coyotes, deer, lizards, snakes…

Our body makes antibodies to fight infections. But the synthetic versions of these molecules could hold the key to stimulating the body’s ability to regenerate.

The findings come from a decade-long collaboration between the teams of Sachdev Sidhu, a professor in the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, and Stephane Angers, Associate Dean of Research in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, that have been creating synthetic antibodies for diverse applications.

Antibodies are increasingly being developed into drugs thanks to their ability to bind and affect the function of other proteins in cells. Because they are encoded by genes, antibodies can be created in the lab using genome and protein engineering technologies.

Leonardo DiCaprio has always been an outspoken environmental activist and conservationist—and now, he is helping to lead the fight against the wildfires raging through the Amazon rainforest.

While wildfires in the Amazon are not uncommon, there has been an increase of 32,000 blazes recorded in Brazil this year compared to the same time in 2018. This week alone, there have been about 9,000 fires recorded throughout the region.

That’s why the Hollywood actor is contributing $5 million to the Amazon Forest Fund: an emergency response fund created by the Earth Alliance earlier this week.  See the full article HERE. 

Delaware has officially become the first and only no-kill US state for shelter pets.

According to the Best Friends Animal Society—which is the only national animal welfare organization dedicated to ending the euthanization of shelter animals—a state is considered to be “no-kill” if it is able to save at least 90% of the animals that enter its shelters.

The nonprofit helped Delaware to achieve the historic milestone by collaborating with state shelters and government officials to implement several animal control tactics that have been proven to improve adoption rates and curb shelter intakes.

Link to full article HERE!