Optimist Daily

Starting Every Day with Optimism

The Optimist Daily delivers over 50 positive, solution-based news stories each week to an avid audience of over 100,000 people with the mission “to accelerate the shift in human consciousness by catalyzing 100 million people to start each day with a positive solutions mindset.”

Every morning, The Optimist Daily publishes original stories that subscribers can experience and share in just a few moments. This allows them to elevate, motivate, and reignite their intelligent optimism as a way of catalyzing the evoFrom left to right: Kristy Jansen, CCO; Amelia Buckley, Staff Writer; Rinaldo Brutoco, Impact Investor; Summers McKay, CEO (photo courtesy of The Optimist Daily)

lution of human consciousness. The team is made up of award-winning editors, journalists, and graphic designers.

As independent, reader-funded journalism, The Optimist Daily is supported by Emissaries who pay only five dollars per month, equivalent to (or perhaps cheaper than) one iced vanilla latte. While the stories on The Optimist Daily are available to everyone, Emissaries participate in a special, active, and vibrant community of optimists on a mission to make The Optimist Daily’s work in the world possible.

To learn more, visit www.optimistdaily.com.

These Solar-powered Barges can Scoop up 50 Tons of Plastic from Rivers Each Day

The Optimist Daily would first like to share a wildly popular story published earlier this month about solar-powered plastic removal from rivers. While removing the plastic waste that currently contaminates the ocean today will be crucial for protecting marine ecosystems, it is arguably more important that we stop any more plastic trash from entering the ocean. Fortunately for humanity, The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit taking on plastic waste in the ocean today, also has a novel solution for stopping plastic from entering it via rivers.

The solution comes in the form of a solar-powered barge named the “Interceptor.” The 78-foot-long vessel resembles a large houseboat and uses a curved barrier to catch waste floating downstream. The trash, much of it plastic, is directed to the “mouth” of the barge – which operates autonomously and silently – from where it rolls up a conveyor belt and is dropped into dumpsters. The Interceptor is capable of collecting up to 50 tons of waste per day.

Currently, the Klang River in Malaysia is home to one of these Interceptors where it can be seen quietly scooping up trash. The Klang River alone sends more than 15,000 tons annually into the sea, making it one of the 50 most-polluting rivers across the globe. As well as the barge in Malaysia, one has been stationed in Jakarta, the overcrowded capital of neighboring Indonesia, while two others will be sent to Vietnam and the Dominican Republic.

The Ocean Cleanup is well aware that 80 percent of plastic waste that ends up in the sea floats down just 1,000 rivers worldwide. That’s why the nonprofit has an ambitious target of stationing one trash-collecting barge in all these waterways. •MJ

Attention Parents and Grandparents! Please Join Us on Friday, March 6 A Teen Health Roundtable Navigating today’s teen health challenges!

DATE Friday, March 6, 2020 TIME 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm PLACE Ridley-Tree Cancer Center at Sansum Clinic Lovelace Conference Hall 540 W. Pueblo Street CO-CHAIRS Julie Nadel & Bobbie Rosenblatt, Women’s Council EMCEE Dr. Marjorie Newman, Medical Director PARKING Complimentary Valet Parking RSVP By February 27 to (805)681-1756 or RSVP@sansumclinic.org

Tom R. Anderson, MD Urgent Care

Laura Polito, MD UCSB Student Health Services Ryan Arnold, MD Urgent Care

Daniel Brennan, MD Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine

Sean Johnson, MHA, BSN, RN VP, Applications and Analytics

David Raphael, MD Obstetrics & Gynecology

Hear the latest on: vaping, sexually-transmitted diseases, skin cancer prevention, addiction to substances and alcohol, digital distractions, sports-related injuries. The adolescent years have a long-lasting impact on a young person’s current and future health. Today, teenagers must manage many 21st century challenges. A panel of expert physicians from multiple specialties will discuss what the picture of health is like among teens in Santa Barbara County, the greatest health risks they face and what parents can do to encourage healthy decisions that have a positive impact on their teens. Guests are welcome to join a reception with refreshments in the beautiful Healing Garden immediately following the panel discussion to meet the doctors and other health professionals.

Bret Davis, MD, FACP Dermatology

Heather Terbell, MD Obstetrics & Gynecology