Three great stories we found on the internet this week. Greening up In 2020‚ a wildfire tore through Big Basin Redwoods State Park in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains‚ charring the bark of the park’s namesake trees to an ominous black. But today‚ almost all of those towering old-growth redwoods are showing substantial new growth. Not all species in the park are faring equally well: Researchers note that some birds and fish‚ including coho salmon and steelhead trout‚ are still many years from recovery. But the difference in the redwoods themselves is dramatic and encouraging. Steam rises from burned trees in the park in November 2020. Credit: Dale Elliott / Flickr In photos from April 2021‚ “All these trees are brown‚ they have no green foliage‚” said biologist Drew Peltier‚ an assistant professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. “I pulled the image from today and I almost didn’t recognize it. The trees are so bushy now.” Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel Hair and care Ever open up to your hairdresser about what’s stressing you out? Lots of people do. “We hear everything‚” as Adama Adaku put it. Adaku is among the 150 hairdressers in West and Central African cities who have recently earned the honorary title of “mental health ambassador” after undergoing mental health training. This training is an effort to fill in a massive gap: According to the World Health Organization‚ for every 100‚000 people in this region‚ there are an average of 1.6 mental health workers (compared to the global median of 13).  Organized by the nonprofit Bluemind Foundation‚ the three-day training equips hairdressers with skills such as asking open-ended questions and picking up on nonverbal signs of distress. “People need attention in this world‚” said Tele da Silveira‚ another hairdresser who completed the training. “They need to talk.” Read more at the New York Times Health is wealth Cash assistance programs have been shown to improve children’s health and well-being by alleviating early childhood poverty and food insecurity — issues that disproportionately affect Indigenous communities. That’s why a Seattle-based nonprofit has created the first-ever guaranteed basic income program exclusively for Indigenous families.  Crushed by negative news? Sign up for the Reasons to be Cheerful newsletter. [contact-form-7] Called the Nest‚ the program will provide monthly cash assistance to 150 families for the first three years of their child’s life. It will also offer other support‚ including doula services and a financial sovereignty class. The program also seeks to combat the high maternal mortality rates among Indigenous people in the US. “There are high disparities that are rooted in historical trauma and collective violence from colonization‚ genocide‚ forced relocation and boarding schools combined with lack of access to basic health care‚” the Nest’s director‚ Patanjali de la Rocha‚ told High Country News. “Guaranteed income helps not only on an individual level‚ but it also helps people heal intergenerationally.” Read more at High Country News The post California Redwoods Are Swiftly Recovering From Wildfire appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.

Baroness Caroline Cox has a long history of service in public office‚ but her passion for justice has led her not only to Great Britain’s House of Lords but to war-torn‚ poverty-stricken nations around the world.  “The mission is to work for people who are suffering oppression and persecution in areas which are largely unreached by the major aid organizations like the [United Nations]‚” Cox says of the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust‚ which she leads. Cox‚ who joins this episode of “The Daily Signal Podcast‚” says her organization intentionally goes where others can’t because the U.N.‚ for example‚ “can only go places with permission of a sovereign government.”  The work is “risky” but also a “privilege‚” says Cox‚ who is an independent member of the House of Lords who served as deputy speaker there from 1985 to 2005. “The majority we work with happen to be Christians because Christians are suffering a lot of persecution around the world today‚” Cox says. The Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust also works with Muslims who are suffering in Sudan’s Blue Nile State‚ as well as with Buddhists in Myanmar (formerly Burma)‚ she notes.  On the podcast‚ Cox also talks about her fight for the rights of Muslim women who are forced to live under Sharia law in the United Kingdom‚ as well as her advocacy work for persecuted religious groups across the globe. She also describes the response in the U.K. to the Israel-Hamas war.  Listen to the podcast below: Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.  The post Going Where Government Can’t: One Woman’s Mission to Help the Persecuted appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Baroness Caroline Cox has a long history of service in public office‚ but her passion for justice has led her not only to Great Britain’s House of Lords but to war-torn‚ poverty-stricken nations around the world.  “The mission is to work for people who are suffering oppression and persecution in areas which are largely unreached by the major aid organizations like the [United Nations]‚” Cox says of the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust‚ which she leads. Cox‚ who joins this episode of “The Daily Signal Podcast‚” says her organization intentionally goes where others can’t because the U.N.‚ for example‚ “can only go places with permission of a sovereign government.”  The work is “risky” but also a “privilege‚” says Cox‚ who is an independent member of the House of Lords who served as deputy speaker there from 1985 to 2005. “The majority we work with happen to be Christians because Christians are suffering a lot of persecution around the world today‚” Cox says. The Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust also works with Muslims who are suffering in Sudan’s Blue Nile State‚ as well as with Buddhists in Myanmar (formerly Burma)‚ she notes.  On the podcast‚ Cox also talks about her fight for the rights of Muslim women who are forced to live under Sharia law in the United Kingdom‚ as well as her advocacy work for persecuted religious groups across the globe. She also describes the response in the U.K. to the Israel-Hamas war.  Listen to the podcast below: Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.  The post Going Where Government Can’t: One Woman’s Mission to Help the Persecuted appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Baroness Caroline Cox has a long history of service in public office‚ but her passion for justice has led her not only to Great Britain’s House of Lords but to war-torn‚ poverty-stricken nations around the world.  “The mission is to work for people who are suffering oppression and persecution in areas which are largely unreached by the major aid organizations like the [United Nations]‚” Cox says of the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust‚ which she leads. Cox‚ who joins this episode of “The Daily Signal Podcast‚” says her organization intentionally goes where others can’t because the U.N.‚ for example‚ “can only go places with permission of a sovereign government.”  The work is “risky” but also a “privilege‚” says Cox‚ who is an independent member of the House of Lords who served as deputy speaker there from 1985 to 2005. “The majority we work with happen to be Christians because Christians are suffering a lot of persecution around the world today‚” Cox says. The Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust also works with Muslims who are suffering in Sudan’s Blue Nile State‚ as well as with Buddhists in Myanmar (formerly Burma)‚ she notes.  On the podcast‚ Cox also talks about her fight for the rights of Muslim women who are forced to live under Sharia law in the United Kingdom‚ as well as her advocacy work for persecuted religious groups across the globe. She also describes the response in the U.K. to the Israel-Hamas war.  Listen to the podcast below: Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.  The post Going Where Government Can’t: One Woman’s Mission to Help the Persecuted appeared first on The Daily Signal.

November 29‚ 2023

November 29‚ 2023