A Look Into Some of the Happiest Events in the World!
By: Allyssa Lessinger
Empire State Building Now Powered by Wind
The Empire State Building is now solely powered by wind power, making it the nation’s largest user of 100% green energy in real estate. The owner of the Empire State Building, Empire State Realty Trust, announced on February 3rd that they would be purchasing wind power from Green Mountain Energy to power the entirety of their portfolio. This means that they will be reducing the production of carbon dioxide by 450 million pounds, which is a fantastic step in the direction toward sustainable energy.
President Biden Signs a Series of Executive Climate Orders
About a month ago, on January 27th, President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders focused on tackling the issue of climate change. The orders centered around freezing new gas and oil leases on public lands and doubling offshore wind-produced energy by 2030. This is a major change from the previous administration of Donald Trump. These newly signed executive orders show that this new administration will work to have a strong domestic climate change policy and consider climate change a central issue, and officials say that President Biden will consider climate change both a “national security” and “foreign policy” priority.
Equality Act Passed in House of Representatives
On Thursday, February 25th, the House of Representatives passed the Equality Act, a measure created to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. This act was almost passed in 2019, however, the Republican-controlled Senate blocked it. This time, Democrats control both houses of Congress. Biden has shown strong support for the passing of the Equality Act, but it will still be a highly contested issue in the Senate, where it needs 60 votes to effectively pass. This piece of legislation would guarantee protections for LGBTQ Americans in many areas, including but not limited to employment, education, housing, credit, and jury service, and President Biden recently said that the bill was “a critical step toward ensuring that America lives up to our foundational values of equality and freedom for all.”
Kenyan Woman Recycles Plastic Into Bricks Stronger Than Concrete
Nzambi Matee, a woman from Kenya, discovered a way to mix plastic waste with sand and heat it up to create a brick stronger than normal concrete. She created a factory in 2017 in Nairobi called Gjenge Makers, which takes waste that other facilities cannot accept or recycle anymore to create bricks that are reported to be five to seven times stronger than concrete. Everyday, the factory accepts plastics that made up items anywhere from buckets to toiletry bottles to create about 1,500 bricks each day. Since then, Matee and her factory have recycled about 20 tons of plastic.
Ghana: First Nation to Receive Free UN-Backed COVAX Vaccines
On Wednesday, February 24th, the World Health Organization declared that Ghana was the first country to receive free United Nations backed COVAX vaccines. Accra, the capital of Ghana, was given over 600,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine by UNICEF. It will be given to seniors over 60 years of age, health care workers, and citizens of Ghana with pre-existing health conditions. COVAX’s goal is to dispense over two billion doses by the end of 2021, and this is a step in the right direction. This is also a step forward for less developed and developing countries to receive coronavirus vaccines and begin to catch up to other wealthier countries in the issuing of COVID-19 vaccines.
Baby Panda Xiao Qi Ji Tries His First Bite of Applesauce
This past Friday, February 26th, baby panda Xiao Qi Ji was given his first bite of applesauce ever, after he turned six months old during the week. Because of this momentous occasion, he was given the treat to celebrate. Earlier this year, Xiao Qi Ji also tried his first bite of sweet potato, making him have quite the well-rounded palate!
Check out the video of Xiao Qi Ji tasting the applesauce here: https://youtu.be/btsx9CuinxQ
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2021/02/03/climate-empire-state-wind/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55829189
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/congress-sexual-orientation-civil-rights-gender/2021/02/25/1351bea4-7779-11eb-8115-9ad5e9c02117_story.html
https://news.yahoo.com/kenyan-woman-finds-way-recycle-053411779.html
https://nowthisnews.com/news/ghana-becomes-first-nation-to-receive-un-backed-covax-vaccine-doses