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Aardvark Daily

New Zealand's longest-running online daily news and commentary publication, now in its 25th year. The opinion pieces presented here are not purported to be fact but reasonable effort is made to ensure accuracy.

Content copyright © 1995 - 2019 to Bruce Simpson (aka Aardvark), the logo was kindly created for Aardvark Daily by the folks at aardvark.co.uk



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Good News Wednesday

23 November 2016

All too often it's the bad news which makes headlines, while the good news goes largely unreported.

For that reason, I'm going to try and focus on the good news today and chances are that you won't read it anywhere else but here.

Firstly, on the subject of climate change...

The production of cement and concrete structures is one of the most carbon-intensive activities we have. I don't know exactly how many baby seals die each time a cubic metre of concrete is poured but apparently it's a lot.

For a long time, climate scientists have been pressuring us to use a more environmentally friendly building material than concrete -- but now it seems that we don't have to worry quite so much.

This Science Daily story suggests that the negative effects of cement production is mitigated by the tendency of the final product (concrete) to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.

Woohoo, now you don't have to feel quite so guilty about that large slab of concrete you've got out front or back of the house (as if you did anyway).

Also on the climate-change front, it seems that the pace of global warming slowed somewhat around 1998 through 2013. Although a number of theories have been proposed to explain the hiatus, it would appear that the exact cause is not truly known.

And if this wasn't a "good news" day, I'd remind folk that not only was 2015/16 was the hottest year on record but that Arctic and Antarctic ice levels are now at an all-time low. Fortunately however, this has been described as a coincidence of "weather events" rather than one of climate.

Of course if you're planning to travel a little further afield than the polar regions, you'll also be pleased to hear that although ice is in short supply here on Earth, scientists appear to have found an abundance of it on Mars

Yes, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected signs of a huge underground ice sheet that could contain as much frozen water as Lake Superior in the USA. This is indeed good news for the first humans who make it to Mars at it means their Gin & Tonic will be far more enjoyable with a cube or two in the glass.

If you prefer a nice glass of Champagne to a nip or two of spirits then head on down to Kaikura where you'll be able to have a free impromptu wine and bikkies" at a lovely rail-side location.

So there you have it -- even on the most depressing news days there's always something to be grateful for. What a shame the good news tends to get buried so deeply amidst the sea of clickbait disaster stories and tragedies that are so much more lucrative for the media to cover.

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