The nurse who climbs a 1000-foot ladder to save lives [175]
Plus a double-headed wind turbine, 100 million migrating crabs, and more...
Why is this underrated hero climbing a dangerous 1000-foot ladder with supplies on her back?
In the mountains of eastern Uganda, some villages are only accessible by these rickety-looking ladders that link communities together. You can see how it’s a challenge for anybody to climb, but too treacherous for young children, mothers with babies, and the sick.
So that’s where Agnes Nambozo comes in.
As a child, her mom convinced her to avoid dangerous police work and she fell in love with nursing instead. But these mountain villages are hard to reach, and her job became even more difficult with the recent USAID funding cuts that forced many of her colleagues to lose their jobs.
Yet rain or shine, Agnes loads medical supplies into her insulated backpack, risking her life as she climbs up into the sky to vaccinate dozens of young children that need her help to fight against deadly diseases like polio, measles, tetanus, and pneumonia.
Join me in thanking this true hero, and enjoy the rest of this week’s stories of progress.
And remember: we build a better future together 🤝.
5. A monstrous double-headed wind turbine
The world’s largest wind turbine is headed to China. A huge double-headed turbine will be nearly twice as big as the current record holder, standing taller than the Golden Gate Bridge and floating on the ocean to withstand typhoons. This big guy will singlehandedly (or I guess double-handedly) power tens of thousands of homes, and require less shipping and materials than the power equivalent from single turbines. (You Xiaoying|Scientific American)
4. 2.2 million acres of LandBack in Australia
2.2 million acres of land have been returned to traditional native owners in one of Australia’s biggest Indigenous land back deals, giving some long overdue justice to the local communities in the form of land titles. For reference, the size of this land is about the same as Yellowstone National Park in the US. This is the beginning of fixing many wrongs after generations of fighting for their rights. (Conor Byrne, Rosanne Maloney, Holly Richardson|ABC)
3. Rescuing prescriptions destined for the trash
A nonprofit called Sirum is rescuing unopened prescription medicines and distributing them to those in need across the country, addressing the billions of dollars of wasted prescriptions that get trashed before they expire while keeping costs down. Over half a million patients to date have benefitting from their services which to me sounds like a no-brainer! (Meghan Cook|GoodGoodGood)
2. 100 million migrating crabs
100 million crabs have been crawling across the Christmas Islands over the past month in their annual migration to keep their species alive.
On the first rainfall of the wet season, the Christmas Island red crabs leave their rainforest homes and march to the ocean to mate and spawn offspring. Incredibly, they always know when to leave their burrows to make sure they arrive at the exact same lunar date: before dawn on a receding high tide during the last quarter of the moon.
After mating, female crabs shed 100,000 eggs into the water, where larvae hatch and develop in the swirling tides for a month into tiny crabs measuring just 5 millimeters across. Those that aren’t eaten by fish, rays, and sharks emerge, but the journey is dangerous as they navigate humans and super-colonies of invasive yellow ants, yet park rangers have made progress suppressing these pests while blocking roads and steering crabs clear of harm’s way.
So stay tuned, because these little creatures should emerge in a few weeks, capping off one of the most beautiful migrations on Earth. (I’ll be sure to update you if and when I see anything!)
1. Our community took action
🦃 fai.topia accidentally started a food bank drive at their office to collect and donate food ahead of Thanksgiving.
🎭 I went to see the play Kyoto, an intense and emotional true story about climate negotiations, fossil fuel lobbying, and the Kyoto protocol from 1997. It was a fascinating watch!
How about you?
+ Other stories worth reading
🦽 This futuristic robotic wheelchair alternative could help folks with reduced mobility still climb up and down stairs.
🌞 Over 1 million solar panels have been installed onto balconies in Germany, creating mini solar plants at homes all over the country.
📖 This international volunteer group is instilling a love of reading into preschool children.
This newsletter was written by Jacob Simon. Over 1 million people are in our community across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can say hi on LinkedIn, or by hitting reply. Brand illustration by Andrea Miralles. Thanks for helping spread some positivity, and see you next week for more!
Another Friday of uplifting stories!! Please keep going - we need to know all is not lost ;)