WHILE COVID-19 HAS US ALL TUGGED BY THE HEARTSTRINGS, HERE ARE SOME POSITIVE UPDATES THAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED OUT ON | #ITSNOTALLDOOMANDGLOOM

The evidence of the grimness around the world is self-evident. We don’t need to tell you about the challenges and gloom that the world is facing at the moment. Newsfeeds are full of COVID-19 updates and stories that are impossible to avoid. 

Despite all the grimness here are some incredible developments happening in this world that demonstrate the prevailing power of good. These stories remind us how not everything is sad around the world, and there are good things to talk about with our friends and family. Enjoy!

 1. The South Georgia Island off the coast of Antarctica saw the largest animal ever to live- the blue whale, resurface in great numbers even after having lost 97% of the species due to decades of whaling!

Blue Whale

The return of the blue whale proved that wildlife protections work. A team led by the BAS or British Antarctic Survey reported the positive news after over 30 years of protections. During the research, the team had 36 sightings of 55 endangered blue Antarctic whales this year compared to 2018 where there was only one sighting.

 2. Satellite pictures from NASA and the European Space Agency show a tremendous reduction in the amount of toxic greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.

NASA

Millions of people have been in quarantine because of the unprecedented coronavirus that has also lead to a plunge in the usage of electricity, industrial production, and transportation leading to a massive decline in emissions worldwide.

 3. 12 years since the first person, the world now has a second person cured of AIDS. What’s his way forward? “To be an ambassador of hope”.

Quarantine

Researchers reported last year that Adam Castillejo, popularly known as the “London Patient” had experienced "long-term remission" from HIV after going under a special bone-marrow transplant where he had been free of the virus for a year and a half. Now a year later doctors are assured that his case is a positive one and that it indeed is a cured one. Way to go, ambassador of hope!

 4. With an aim to cut the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, India is now ensuring that all diesel and gas stations across the country will only be supplying the cleanest available fuel. From 1st April onwards, India will commence offering Euro-VI grade fuel, which only contains 10 parts/million (ppm) of sulphur in contrast to the 50 ppm in Euro-IV fuels.

BS-VI Fuel

"We are absolutely on track for supplying BS-VI fuel from April 1. Almost all refineries have begun supplying BS-VI fuel and the same has reached storage depots across the country," said Sanjiv Singh, chairman of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., the firm that almost covers 50% of the country’s fuel market. “We are 100% confident that fuel that will flow from nozzles at all the petrol pumps in the country on April 1 will be BS-VI emission compliant fuel," he added further.

 5. To save the endangered coral reefs, India has started the restoration of coral reefs in the Gulf of Kachchh. This is the first attempt from the Zoological Survey of India along with Gujarat’s forest department to restore coral reefs using mineral accretion technology.

Marine Biology

“The technology works by passing a small amount of electrical current through electrodes in the water,” said Ch. Satyanarayana, the lead coral scientist of the project at the Marine Biology Regional Centre of the ZSI. “When a positively charged anode and negatively charged cathode are placed on the seafloor, with an electric current flowing between them, calcium ions combine with carbonate ions and adhere to the structure (cathode). This results in calcium carbonate formation. Coral larvae adhere to the CaCO3 and grow quickly,” he further added.

Do you know of something good happening in the world right now? Let us know!