Good, Hopeful, & Hopefully Inspiring Issue#37 (Resent with NEW copy!)

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King

Dear Friends,

I’m smiling as I write this, having just watched a series of video clips and words from June 14th protest demonstrations around the U.S. This is from writing of Simon Rosenberg (veteran political analyst and strategist) which he has titled HOPIUM Chronicles [simonqdc@substack.com]because its foundation is hope. Many of the people who wrote in to Rosenberg said they come from very small rural towns in mostly Red states, like Idaho and Montana and Arizona. They talk about the huge crowds and the fact that their demonstration was totally peaceful and joyful. I’m sure most of you will want to read their words and watch the video footage. Go to Hopium’s June 15th edition: “Celebrating No Kings Day Across America" And you can forward it to others.

Here’s a couple of excerpts from people who attended:
“At 81,in Ellenton,Florida 12-1500 people lined the sidewalks. One of the best signs said: “So much wrong. So little cardboard!”

“All we are saying, is give impeachment a chance.”

“There are 18 protests scheduled across this super Red sate of Utah.”

“Over 450 people peacefully demonstrated in McCall, Idaho, a small town of 3,500. The largest political demonstration in modern history in our town.”

“So many issues, so little cardboard”

The total number of people who demonstrated across the U.S. June 14th has now been estimated by various reliable sources to be at more than 10 million! I attended the Boulder. Colorado demonstration. It was uplifting and affirming to be there, to read all the wonderful signs with their imaginative slogans, and to note divergent ages of attendees. Especially how many young people were there.

*****

Let’s have a resounding shout out for Zohran Mamdani, the Uganda-born, Indian Muslim who beat the pants of Andrew Cuomo in the NY City Mayoral primary, despite C’s support of the Democratic establishment and many billionaires! And, he’s a socialist democrat to boot, as am I and Bernie.

I had written the following a few days before the June 14th NO KINGS protests across the U.S.

I am feeling jazzed! Hope-filled, for once. I’ve just spent most of the afternoon on YouTube watching interviews and legislative hearings in which black Americans stood powerfully, forcefully, eloquently, and spoke truth to power. Denzel Washington, whose voice is getting louder and louder and clearer and clearer with every appearance, on Jimmy Kimmel, on Steven Colbert, in front of Congressional hearings, speaking to reporter…Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, whose brilliance is matched by her ability to speak the truth powerfully. Watch her facing  down our country’s new FBI director, Kash Patel…

Did you watch some of Cory Booker, first giving a 25-hour speech in front of congress, televised around the world, and more recently, shredding Senator Ted Cruz.

I can feel it. What’s called “a sea change”. Even as we stand on the eve of the disgusting show of ego and power that will be Trump’s parade to himself, on his birthday, June 14. Even as Netanyahu’s military seized the boat humanitarian aid boat Madeleen that was carrying necessary supplies to the beleaguered, starving people of Gaza, and whose international crew included climate activist Greta Thunberg.

I have for some time felt that there are unseen forces for good in our world and have been feeling conscious (i.e. “woeness”)rising like a wave beneath the ocean. I feel the energy in this country and around the world is shifting.Once people become “conscious” it’s virtually impossible to become unconscious. And that’s hopeful.

In the U.S. this shift is led by black women and black men, LatinXers, and Native Americans. And I am so overjoyed. I’d encourage you to spend some time on YouTube, watching incredible individuals eloquently raising their voices, express the truth of the pain their people have suffered in this country.

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I’ll begin this issue by referring you to my partner Bob Hartman’s new Substack page, where he is now posting thought-provoking essays on a variety of topics. It’s name:
thincrescentmoonn.substack.com
Bob’s 2nd essay is titled “Of course, I’m a feminist”. And the one he has just posted is titled: From the Ashtray into the Fire. Since most of us are affected by addiction, our own or those we love or work with, I think you’ll find this, his opening piece on what will be a series on addiction and healing, very inspiring.

As any writer will tell you, we need to hear from readers. Otherwise we have no idea whether our writing is falling on deaf ears or even being read. So, please will you read one or more of Bob’s posts and send some comment to Bob. Thank you.

*****

Dear Friends,
I am feeling jazzed! Hope-filled, for once. I’ve just spent most of the afternoon on YouTube watching interviews and legislative hearings in which black Americans stood powerfully, forcefully, eloquently, and spoke truth to power. Denzel Washington, whose voice is getting louder and louder and clearer and clearer with every appearance, on Jimmy Kimmel, on Steven Colbert, in front of Congressional hearings, speaking to reporter…Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, whose brilliance is matched by her ability to speak the truth powerfully. Watch her facing down our country’s new FBI director, Kash Patel…

Did you watch some of Cory Booker, first giving a 25-hour speech in front of congress, televised around the world, and more recently, shredding Senator Ted Cruz.

I can feel it. “A sea change”. Even as we stand on the eve of the disgusting show of ego and power that will be Trump’s parade to himself, on his birthday, June 14. Even as Netanyahu’s military seized the boat humanitarian aid boat Madeleen carrying necessary supplies to the beleaguered, starving people of Gaza, and whose international crew included climate activist Greta Thunberg.

I have for a long time felt that there are unseen forces for good and felt conscious rising like a wave beneath the ocean. I feel the energy in this country and around the world shifting. And in the U.S. this shift is led by black women and black men, LatinXers, and Native Americans. And I am so overjoyed. I’d encourage you to spend some time on YouTube, watching incredible individuals eloquently raising their voices, express the truth of the pain their people have suffered in this country.

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This, from PEERS online news source, A new product launched by an Austin, TX-based startup sells disposable diapers that are paired with fungi that will break down the plastic once in landfill!After a week or two, the fungi are activated by moisture from feces, urine and the environment, beginning the processor biodegradation. Note: an estimated 4 million tons of diapers were disposed of in the U.S. in 2018!

Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr said he plans to tell American medical schools that they must offer nutrition courses or lose federal funding. Yay!

This, from an organization called The Giraffe Heroes Project [amedlock@giraffe.org], the work of one dedicated woman who seeks out and broadcasts the work of individuals doing exemplary things somewhere in the world.
April 23, 2025

In Idaho teacher Sarah Inama’s sixth-grade classroom there’s a sign that reads, “In this room, everyone is welcome, important, accepted, respected, encouraged, valued.” The school’s principal told her to take the sign down because it’s “not something everybody believes.” Furthermore, she was told that it violated a state law and school policy about creating “a positive learning environment”.


Astonished, Sarah’s immediate reaction was to comply. But thinking it over that night, she resolved that public schools had to welcome everyone. She went back to the room over the weekend and put the sign up again. The result was hundreds of parents and kids chalking the sign’s words on sidewalks, a walk-out at a nearby high school, and thousands of people wearing “Everyone is Welcome Here” T-shirts. Inama has been told again to take the sign down or lose her job. She’s not taking it down.

From People magazine’s Oct 21,2024 issue
Girls Changing The World

Naya Ellis is 15. When she saw the awful effects a stroke had on her grandmother she went into action and created a smartwatch design that would monitor heart rate, oxygen levels in the blood and changed in speech, and alert medical professionals and family members. Naya’s watch doesn’t have unnecessary do-dads, only what older folks and those with limited income could use.

Another person the magazine spotlighted:
Arya Gurmukhi is 16. She created a prototype for a more efficient form of Bionic Leaf, which is a solar-powered device that mimics photosynthesis to create fuel from water, sunlight and bacteria. She then reached out to nonprofits and found some which would distribute her device free of charge to 15 rural Uganda communities. The result: all 15 are now using Arya’s invention to power lamps and motors.

Good news highlighted on U.S. National Public Radio [NPR]
Feb 2, 2025

“WBUR (radio station) in Boston has been exploring trash and what various organizations and individuals are doing to keep some of it out of landfills. The series is called “Reverse Course”.
Landfills are on the the biggest sources of methane omissions in the US, after oil and gas production and agriculture.  A few of these forward thinking actions are:

• Robot dogs helping landfill operators find methane leaks and measure them

• Efforts to keep “ultra-fast” fashion from being thrown into landfills, from chemical recycling to boutique designers giving old clothes new life

• Because the construction industry creates about 600 MILLION tons of trash each year, cities are changing how building are demolished”

From the online news source 1440 Daily Digest [1440.com]
April 30, 2025

The European Space Agency yesterday successfully launched a first-of-a-kind satellite to "weigh" the world's forests, measure how much carbon they store, and monitor changes. Scientists hope the data will help refine climate models and track deforestation to support global targets to end forest loss by 2030. 

Why didn’t this make front page news a year ago or in 1996 when the invention first went into use…?

My invention brought clean water to millions

Published in the online magazine Salon

December 24, 2024
For 4.4 billion people, the only water available is unsafe to drink. In the early 1990s, I was working as a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ("Berkeley Lab") when I heard about a devastating cholera outbreak in my home country. I started to study waterborne pathogens with the aim to develop a new way to make water drinkable that would be affordable and effective in rural areas of low income countries. In a short few years, and later on with funding support from the Energy Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, I came up with an invention — the UV Waterworks — that met all my goals. It was inexpensive, efficient, portable and effective.

Roughly the size of a microwave, the device sanitizes water using UV light to kill harmful bacteria, viruses and molds. It can purify approximately four gallons of water per minute and provide a year's worth of potable drinking water for just seven cents per person. The University of California, which runs the lab, filed the initial patent. I helped found WaterHealth International, which exclusively licensed the UV Waterworks technology from the university in 1996. In the time since, the invention has benefited tens of million people across India and Africa. Roughly 80% of our customers live below the poverty line in their home countries.

This, from the online news source, The Lever [levernews.com]
Let’s hear it for workers who dare to unionize!
Feb. 1, 2025

Workers at Whole Foods markets are standing up to Jeff Bezos’s poor working conditions, which started declining soon after Bezos, one of the world’s riches men, bought up the Whole Foods Market chain. At the WH Market in Philadelphia, employees voted to become the 1st union store in this Amazon-owned chain (which was bought in 2017.

Among other things, WH workers have accused the Bezos of engaging in an intimidation campaign involving monitoring employees and ramping up anti-union messages in the store. Sound familiar? There are more than 500 WH Markets across the U.S. So this is a major wedge into Bezos’ empire.

Consider signing up for LIVE SCIENCE weekly news. It’s full of amazing new discoveries and information from the world of science, astronomy, nature, health and technology. It’s sure to take your mind off the bad news of the world and open your eyes and mind to the bigger picture.
livescience@smartbrief.com

Recent excerpts from Live Science:

“Unlike anything we have seen before”: Astronomers discover mysterious object firing strange signals at Earth every 44 minutes.

“Nuclear fusion record smashed as German scientists take 'a significant step forward' to near-limitless clean energy”

Great news from 2 years ago that you probably didn’t heart about:
Dead’ Electric Car Batteries Find a Second Life Powering Cities
 Reasons to be Cheerful

March 13, 2023
Last month, a small warehouse in the English city of Nottingham received the crucial final components for a project that leverages the power of used EV batteries to create a new kind of circular economy. Inside, city authorities have installed 40 two-way electric vehicle chargers that are connected to solar panels and a pioneering battery energy storage system, which will together power a number of on-site facilities and a fleet of 200 municipal vehicles. Each day Nottingham will send a combination of solar-generated energy — and whatever is left in the vehicles after the day’s use — from its storage devices into the national grid.

What makes the project truly circular is the battery technology itself. Funded by the European Union’s Interreg North-West Europe Programme, the energy storage system, E-STOR, is made out of used EV batteries by the British company Connected Energy. After around a decade, an EV battery no longer provides sufficient performance for car journeys. However, they still can retain up to 80 percent of their original capacity, and with this great remaining power comes great reusability. “As the batteries degrade, they lose their usefulness for vehicles,” says Matthew Lumsden, chairman of Connected Energy. “But batteries can be used for so many other things, and to not do so results in waste and more mining of natural resources.” One study ... calculated that a second life battery system saved 450 tons of CO2 per MWh over its lifetime.

Let’s hope this becomes a trend…
States setting goals for preserving/protecting public land.
From The Progress Network progressnetwork.org
May 8, 2025

The state of Maryland has reached its conservation goal to protect 30% of its land by 2030. That’s 6 years ahead of its target. It’s now looking to protect 40% of its land by 2040. Nine other states are also working to achieve “30 by 30”, a target set by the United Nations.

Good news: non-toxic Food Dyes
From 1440 Daily Digest
Published 5/10/2025

The Food and Drug Administration approved three new natural food color additives: galdieria extract blue (a blue color derived from algae), calcium phosphate (a white color from minerals), and butterfly pea flower extract (a blue color from dried petals).
 
The new dyes will be available for use in products like yogurt, beverages, pretzels, candies, and even ready-to-eat chicken, offering manufacturers more plant- and mineral-based choices. The change, effective next month, reflects the FDA's broader shift away from petroleum-based synthetic dyes, which have drawn scrutiny over potential behavioral effects in children. While the FDA maintains most artificial dyes are safe, consumer advocacy groups and public health experts have long pushed for more natural alternatives in the nation's food supply.
 
The announcement follows the FDA's plans to phase out eight artificial dyes by the end of 2026, including Red No. 40 and Yellow No. 5, from food and medications. The FDA also plans to phase out Red No. 3 from food by January 2027.

Local Futures: Economics of Happiness [LocalFutures.org]is an inspiring and hope-filled new online newsletter. It spotlights news from around the world, explodes myths and much more…So informative. Things you can talk about with friends and colleagues whom you have big disagreements with…

Recent Topic:
We hear that how local food is produced is what matters most, not how far it’s travels…but in fact…

Please share these next two pieces with anyone you know who is pregnant, planning to be or has recently given birth. After you read them yourself!

Everyone ought to care about whether women breastfeed or bottle feed artificial formula. Why? Because what, and how, a baby is fed has lifelong implications for that child’s health and wellbeing - including whether they, as an adult, struggle with obesity and/or chronic digestive issues, jaw or teeth issues, and more!

So, here’s an important piece of news on breastfeeding from researcher and activist Henci Goer that was reported in Birth Works International’s newsletter
February 2025

First, let me offer a little history:
When I co-authored and did the photos for the book Bestfeeding, getting breastfeeding off to a successful start was believed to be all about position: the position of the mother and the position of her baby in relation to her breast and nipple. It was referred to as “the latch”. And if the mother didn’t get it “right” (i.e. correct), the result would likely be very sore, even bleeding, nipples, breast infections, and a baby crying unconsolably because it wasn’t getting the fat-rich milk the comes toward the end of a feeding session. Millions of women quit attempting to breastfeed or weaned their baby after just a few weeks. Of course, formula manufacturers loved this, because they could sell more product.

Now, as then, 99% of women in the U.S. go to a hospital to give birth, where they are commonly or routinely given drugs (narcotics, anesthesia…) and other interventions (vacuum extraction or Cesarean), each of which often makes breastfeeding more difficult. It wasn’t until researchers - notably Swedish pediatrician Nils Bergman - began to look carefully at what Mother Nature had in mind for making infant feeding easy, that he discovered just how competent newborn babies are in finding their mother’s breasts and “latching on” just right.

The new phrase “breast crawl” refers to what every newly born baby is instinctively able to do after birth. Placed on its mother’s lower abdomen, that baby will initiate a natural crawl process where - over a few minutes of time - the baby will move its body up to one of mom’s breasts (usually the one closest to her heart).

With skin-to-skin contact with its mother right after birth, almost every baby is able to find its way up to mom’s breast and to start to nurse (suckle) without any help. All on its own! The time it takes for the baby to do this depends on whether the mother (and therefore the baby, since whatever drugs are given to the mother go to the baby as well) has been given drugs in labor. The time for skin-to-skin should be immediately after birth, and babies should be given the time they need to find the breast.

Newborns use all their senses to feel/touch, taste, smell, hear and even see their mother. You will see varied pushing of feet and legs, as well as arm movements, as a newborn scoots toward mom’s breasts. The baby salivates and often protrudes its tongue and sucks on its own hand in the process. Babies may rest along the way, but will keep maneuvering toward mom’s nipples.

NOTE: If the mother has undergone a Cesarean surgery, her baby may be confused and even unable to find its way to her breast. However, this same baby may be able to do the breast crawl days, or even weeks, after its birth, if given the opportunity. That’s how resilient nature is.

Breastfeeding doesn’t only provide the right nutrition for the baby’s gut biome (environment) and development. It places the baby up against its mother’s fragrant skin which, in itself provides various benefits both to her and to her baby. Fostering a release of calming and pleasure hormones for both of them, and “wiring” both of their brain’s connections to create strong feelings of attachment.

So, next time you are with a pregnant woman or a man at work or at a social gathering, who tells you she/he/they are trying for a baby, please tell them you’ve just heard about something called the “breast crawl”. And do say that you’ve discovered that breastfeeding is a critically important part of birth.

Did you know that attempting to artificially start or speed up labor is an almost routine practice in the U.S., despite the lack of “evidence” for its being either helpful or safe. U.S. obstetricians attempt to artificially induce labor in about 60% of women, usually with a drug and, often making the excuse that the baby might be “too big”. A frightening thought for most women.
Does the Research Support Inducting labor for a Suspected Big Baby? As Henci Goer reports, in order for artificially inducing a woman’s labor to protect her and the baby, the following would have to be true:

1. The doctor would need to be able to accurately identify which babies are going to be big. In fact, they can’t. Ultrasound scans predicting that a baby will weigh more than 4,000 g will be right only 56 % of the time. That means a woman will have roughly a 50:50 chance of being induced for a problem she doesn’t even have, and one that all too often leads directly to more and more risky medical interventions.

2. Inducing labor would need to reduce cesareans. But it doesn’t. For one thing, every study that has looked at outcomes when a baby is predicted to be big has found that when doctors think the baby is going to be big, the odds of cesarean go up markedly, regardless of whether the baby is actually on the large side.Say, weighing more than 8 pounds.

3. Inducing labor would need to reduce birth injuries that having a truly large baby might cause. It doesn’t do that either.

So, in answer to the question of whether you or any woman you know should agree to induction for suspected big baby, the research definitively says “NO.”

Have you ever considered finding out what your mother’s birth with you was like and, for that matter, what her conception and pregnancy were like? The experiences she had directly affected you then and are likely to be still affecting you today.

At last, science is turning its attention to the impact of high levels of stress in childhood on the sperm of adult males. Research has already proven that high stress negatively affects a woman’s eggs.
Live Science [LiveScience.com]
January 28, 2025

A new study, published 01/03/2025 in the professional peer-reviewed journal, Molecular Psychiatry, has found that fathers may carry traces of their childhood trauma in their sperm cells. Researchers looked at the "epigenetics" of the sperm cells of fathers who had been exposed to high stress in childhood. “Epigenetics” refers to changes in how genes “express” themselves when there are environmental factors that are stressful.

Epigenetic factors won’t change the underlying DNA code of a person. But the can and often do alter which genes can be “switched on”.

Transparent Wood? Scientists Invent Biodegradable Material That Could Replace Plastics
 from The Debrief

March 28, 2025

A team of researchers searching for safe, sustainable, and biodegradable alternatives to plastics presented a new type of transparent material at the American Chemical Society (ACS) spring meeting. Unlike previous transparent “wood” designs that sacrifice some biodegradability for strength by including certain types of plastics, the team said its eco-friendly see-through material is made with all natural components. Potential applications for the plastic alternative include electronic device screens, wearable sensors, coatings on solar cells, and transparent wood windows.

Bharat Baruah, a professor of chemistry ... said his woodworking hobby led him to research efforts to create transparent wood. He quickly discovered that successfully created transparent wood materials were enhanced with epoxy, a type of plastic, to increase its strength, sacrificing some biodegradability. The professor decided he should see if there were better alternatives.

After enlisting an undergraduate student to help, the duo used a vacuum chamber, sodium sulfite, sodium hydroxide, and bleach to remove lignin and hemicellulose, two of wood’s three components, from a sample of balsa wood. What remained was a paper-like layer of cellulose filled with tiny pores. Instead of refilling the pores with epoxy, the team soaked the cellulose layer in a mixture of egg whites and rice extract. They were “left with semi-transparent slices of wood that were durable and flexible.”

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In closing, the following is an extraordinary true story of Conflict Resolution and its impact in two families.

Ora and Ihab Balha, a Jewish and Muslim couple living in Israel who exemplify love, despite the extreme conflicts in which they are living. Together they co-founded “The Orchard of Abraham’s Children'' nonprofit organization, a holistic educational and communal organization dedicated to transforming Jewish-Arab relations for a shared future, as well as the “Human First Community Center” in Jaffa, Israel.

Ihab Balha, as a Muslim man, was challenged to a fight by a Jewish man who came running into a restaurant screaming hateful words toward Arabs. He and Ihab got into a physical fight. This man often ran into this restaurant shouting the same words and fighting with men there. Eventually Ihab decided to wait for him and attack him outside. The Jewish man was surprised, and he suggested they should schedule the next fight, at his home.

When Ihab arrived at the man’s house, the man broke down and told him about his wife leaving him. This led to a conversation about the importance of love and human connection. Together the two men talked about relationships. They continued to meet, to talk, and to express their fears as well as their anger. Slowly, more Jewish people and Muslim people began to gather with them, just to talk. They decided to have a meeting in the Holy Land between the Israeli and Palestinian people. More than 300 people showed up. The two men then invited people from various religions, including priests, Sufis, and rabbis. One man talked about his daughter being killed by an Israeli soldier. Another person talked about how a Palestinian man killed his son. Together, they cried and shared their pain. And afterwards they hugged each other.
 
At the second meeting, more than 1000 people came and for the third meeting, more than 5,000 people of various religions attended. This was essentially the biggest peace project in Israel. The people who spoke did not talk about politics. That was in 2006.

Ihab was one of four children of a loving Palestinian Arab Muslim family. But his father hated Jews, with an uncommon passion, and he taught his children to hate Jews as well. When Ihab was 16, he attempted to fire-bomb a synagogue. At age 20, Ihab and his Palestinian friends met with some Israelis for the first time. In that encounter they each released pent-up rage toward one another. But it didn’t end there. The men create more opportunities to listened to each other. They began to discover that their hatred and bigotry was irrational and had been programmed into their minds.
 
When Ihab told his parents his attitude about Israeli’s was changing, it led to a serious fall-out with his father and they did not speak or see one another for the next five years. Ihab turned to Islam and the Quran and became a Sufi mystic.

At the age of 35, Ihab was walking in the Sinai desert in Egypt and saw Ora, an Israeli Jewish woman. Ora was a Feldenkrais Method practitioner who used movement, dance, and awareness to enhance quality of life and performance of individuals. The two fell in love. Ora moved in with Ihab in Jaffa. Because of the difficulties, they couldn’t share this with anyone, including their families. When Ora first met Ihab’s father, it was especially challenging. Finally, after a struggle of several years, their families accepted one another.

When they had a son and they taught him both Hebrew and Arabic at home and celebrated all of each other’s holidays. When it came time to send him to kindergarten, they couldn’t find a school that was teaching what they were at home, so they decided to start a kindergarten, and they started a very small school in Ihab’s father’s yard. Two children joined. They brought in both a Jewish teacher and a Muslim teacher.  The community started to hear about them. In the beginning, it was hard, but slowly more children joined. By the end of the first year, 16 children were involved. Ihab and Ora opened a second group the following year and a third group by the third year. They now have nine kindergartens, an elementary school, and a community center, which focuses on adults and offers music and other activities. They have more than 100 staff members. The schools are mainly in Jaffa and Galilee, but they have other teacher training programs.

There are still many challenges, because there is so much fear and anger, resulting in separation. It’s not easy for people to change. There’s is a dynamic movement, inviting people to remember that we are human first.

Ihab and Ora founded “The Orchard of Abraham’s Children’', nonprofit holistic educational and communal organization dedicated to transforming Jewish-Arab relations for a shared future, as well as the “Human First Community Center” in Jaffa, Israel.
For more information: www.orchardofabrahamschildren.org

Thank you for taking the time to read this edition of my newsletter. I hope it has indeed been inspiring.
With all the horrors that are going on in the world, I believe it’s important - no, essential - to not only stay abreast of issues and events but to view them in your peripheral vision rather than straight on. A little like not looking directly at a solar eclipse, because it can cause damage to your eyes.

We need to stay hopeful and to find things that support and nurture that hope. We must envision the world as we wish it to be. That is a key component of effective social change. So spend some time each day using your imagination! Think of it as kneading a fragrant loaf of bread. It takes time and effort.But the results are worth it!

With Love,
Suzanne Arms