Danielle Levy

 Finding new species seems wondrous! Several scientific organizations working around the globe searching all continents and oceans have done just that. The California Science Academy reports finding 72 new species of wildlife, plants and even bugs, including a translucent one, as well as a new species of sunflower, which doesn’t look like a sunflower but which DNA shows it is.  Other worldwide groups report over 1300 mammal species over the last 20 years.  Some of the species seem offshoots of others, but in the main they are new, show mammal diversity and how the species interact with their environments. The scientists say it matters because conservation efforts cannot occur unless there is first identification and documentation of the species which need attention.  So far, the good news is that discoveries outpace extinctions. Of course it does advance human knowledge.

I wanted to share this for another reason. We so often forget how much we do not know, and can be so complacent about our own ignorance, that just the simple fact so many new species have been discovered makes us pause and ponder and marvel and be both more aware and more humble.

*reposted from GGID page

Imagine being alone and feeling isolated? Would a kind message make you feel better? It usually does and that is why Wildly Kind is beginning to place booths at festivals and fairs and other such gatherings. Anyone can go into the booth leave a kind message for someone who will need it.  Kayla Lamoureux the founder of Wildly Kind started it as a sort of free mental health resource. She began it in 2022 during the pandemic, and attracted a group of ambassadors who engage in doing kind things, for example give flowers to a stranger. The booths which first appeared in Portland where Lamoureux lives are an expansion of the organization’s work. With the first booths people could leave notes or even videos. They are now equipped with a land line where people can record a message to a stranger who may be struggling. They have appeared in several cities in other states and more are planned.

 I’d suggest you’d cheer the idea but I suspect that’s redundant, you already do. What I hope you will add to your cheering is how many people care about each other, strangers included, how many people want to help and how much good that represents.

*reposted from GGID page

Chocolate as we already know has become expensive, that is because cacao trees mainly from Ghana and Ivory Coast have not been producing as much, and that is due to climate change issues. So companies that depend on chocolate for their business are looking for alternatives, not alternatives to chocolate but alternative ways to produce it. And there are now many. They involve the fermentation and roasting of legumes, grain and seeds in various combinations. Favorites are rice and sunflower. Once fermented they may be roasted, then fats added, and maybe carob and what other products they deem will reproduce the texture, taste and even melting quality of chocolate. Some producers, such as Aldi are already using this new form of chocolate in their products. Caillebaut, the Swiss chocolatier is going another route, they are using chemistry to reproduce the enzymes of cacao cells, and are having success.

he new formulae for chocolate are being touted as better for the environment. Cacao trees require lots of water, for example, and also to be noted their use involve child labor. The new ways which are basically centered on plant products obviously do not. But here is the trade off, the new chocolate while making a difference to the environment does not have the health benefits of the real thing. Gone are the properties that help the immune system, that are rich in antioxidants, help with heart and brain function, provide essential minerals, help with gut health by promoting good bacteria and even help skin by protecting against sun damage.

So soon buying chocolate, which is so beloved by so many of us, will involve serious choices for our health, our concern for the environment, our tacit endorsement of substitutes for the real thing and no doubt for our pocketbook as well.