Positive viral videos, African solar, early sugar

Happy Friday my friend,

Happy Halloween to all who celebrate! Here’s 8 great ways to dispose of your decorative pumpkins in an earth-friendly way including composting tips, DIY face masks, burying, and more. 🎃

ECL TRIVIA: What is the smallest mammal on the planet? (Answer below)

🌎 Planet Health

☀️ SOLAR GOALS: A U.K. based charity installed solar power in all 9k off-grid households in a remote and low-income village in the African country of Malawi. Click here to learn more about plans for less-toxic battery recycling and how this project “offers a beacon” for sustainable and affordable electricity in rural areas.

🚰 CREATING FRESH WATER: New desalination technology is on the rise, as this scientist at UC Santa Cruz has made a compelling breakthrough. “By the end of this project, our goal is to create a scalable, 3D-printed laboratory prototype that desalinates brackish water collected directly from the field,” he says.

🌳 CARBON PROTECTION: What is “irrecoverable carbon?” Learn how protected and ancient lands store carbon most effectively, and why small wins for nature conservation in places like British Columbia’s inland temperate rainforest and Bolivia’s remote lowland forests are protecting irrecoverable carbon and biodiversity for decades to come.

🧑‍⚕️ Human Health

🎥 MENTAL HEALTH HOPE: In a time when social media can be stressful and negative, scientists are researching the effects of positive viral videos. Just five days of watching a daily 3-5 minute inspiring video, especially of someone overcoming adversity, predicted hopefulness and less mental stress 10 days later. Learn more here. 

🌾 SUPERFOOD SORGHUM: Have you heard of sorghum? This naturally non-gluten non-GMO ancient grain has sustainability and human health benefits and may be the next household “superfood.” It freezes well which is great for meal-prepping, high in 12 essential nutrients, and can help regulate blood sugar. (Here’s a Middle Eastern inspired sorghum salad recipe I want to try!)

🤰 SUGAR & EARLY LIFE: While reducing refined sugar intake is always a healthy choice, an experiment from post-war conditions found that people whose sugar intake was limited from conception through age two had markedly lower risks of heart attack, heart failure, stroke and cardiovascular death later in life — and delayed onset of those conditions.

Photo of the week

Trivia Answer:

The Etruscan shrew. This tiny creature weighs less than 2 grams, making it the smallest known mammal by mass.

🎥 Sound Healing with La Mer

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...and a healthier planet:

• • Improve health awareness: Deep Dive articles & recipe videos
• • Protect ecosystems: expert video tutorials with leaders around the world
• • Prioritize mental health: custom meditations for relieved stress
• • Camaraderie: likeminded community (app coming soon!)
• • Inspiration: members-only ebooks, personal picks, and DIY ideas
• • Portion goes to support independent films, local food projects, and planting trees