These items were gleaned from a recent Sierra Club magazine. I offer them to you to help brighten your day and to show how real changes in policies, practices and priorities are often driven by business decisions more than politics.

• A bald eagle attacked and disabled a federal government survey drone on Lake Michigan. Drone sank, eagle flew. A modern-day equivalent of “Saw sub, sank same.”
• Global human fertility rates are crashing – Populations of 23 nations are expected to drop 50% by end of 21^st Still, human population will peak in 2064 at 9.73 billion.  The bulk of the increase will come from North African countries with little water or ability to feed the exploding population.
• Death Valley world record temperature 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Third hottest temperature recorded on the planet.  (Our nearest planet, Venus has surface temperatures of 880 degrees Fahrenheit. The planet is blanketed with greenhouse gases supporting droplets of sulfuric acid. Not a great place for a picnic.)
• Chevron (the oil and gas giant) is using solar power to pump oil in its oil fields less expensively. British Petroleum is investing heavily in renewable energy. Tesla is worth more now than Exxon Mobil which was recently removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
• Crows hold grudges against particular humans. They teach their families and flocks to dislike the same people. Now that’s something to crow about!
• Painting one turbine black of the three wind turbine blades reduces bird strikes by over 70%
• Three people in southern Mexico tried to smuggle howler monkeys across the border in a suitcase. They were apprehended when the monkeys inside the bag started to howl. Duhhh