Upbeat Bulletin - February 2023
It’s February. It’s cold. But look on the bright side - spring will be with us in just five weeks. In the meantime, we've pulled together 3 positive stories to put a smile on your face in our latest Upbeat Bulletin.
It’s February. It’s cold. But look on the bright side - the nights are slowly getting shorter and spring will be with us in just five weeks. Hurrah. You’ll be overwhelmed with daffodils before you know it. There’s plenty more good news doing the rounds, too. And we’ve picked out three of our favourite stories for this quarter’s Upbeat Bulletin…
Mersey paradise
Two hundred years ago, the river Mersey was teeming with sea life. You couldn’t swim without a pike trying to wolf you down for tea. But then the industrial revolution happened and, sadly, Liverpool’s famous docks began churning out more pollution than you can shake a fishing rod at. The river’s biodiversity hit the rocks as a result and the pike, plaice and perch were replaced by bricks, bikes and rusty tins. Nobody cared for their despair.
However, now that pollution is finally on the wane, the last three decades have witnessed a borderline miraculous regeneration. In fact, 37 different species were recently found in a study by Mersey Rivers Trust - more than two-and-a-half times as many as were found in a similar exercise 20 years ago. They’ve even found huge eels and five different species of shark.
This remarkable transformation has left ecologists stunned and euphoric - especially as all these species are actually breeding in the 3-mile-wide estuary, which means they’re here to stay. The river itself has also seen the return of otters, seals and porpoises. Meanwhile, humpback whales have been spotted in Liverpool Bay for the first time since the Second World War.
Mike Duddy of the Mersey Rivers Trust, described this extraordinary rebirth as “the best environment good news story in Europe without a doubt.” It’s easy to see why. And experts are predicting that the number of different species will increase from 37 to 50 by next year. It just goes to show that the last thing fish need is a (rusty) bicycle. They just need clean water.
Medical breakthroughs
Because the eyes of the world have been on Covid-19 in recent times, several positive medical stories have gone under-reported. Take the recent breakthrough in the treatment of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), for example. This incredibly painful condition, which has afflicted African people for thousands of years, is a painful genetic illness where red blood cells turn crescent-shaped, clog up blood vessels, and deprive the body of oxygen.
The only treatment for SCD used to be regular blood transfusions. However, scientists have recently discovered a virus that switches off the gene responsible for causing the disease; therefore patients can produce healthy round red blood cells once again. This development is transforming lives already: a study by Boston Children’s Hospital shows that treatment is already preventing severe symptoms over time.
There have been other medical miracles in Africa, too. Take the treatment of Guinea Worm Disease. This painful parasite has blighted humanity for centuries. But whereas there were a million cases per year at the end of the 1980s, there were just 15 cases reported worldwide in 2022. That’s a delightful decline of 99.998%.
Last year’s deadly Ebola outbreak in Uganda was successfully suppressed, too. It was the worst outbreak of the incurable Sudan strain in 20 years. Yet health authorities managed to limit contagion to just 142 cases. And now Oxford University are trialling a new, exciting Ebola vaccine as well.
Finally, there’s been good medical news for The West because US cancer deaths have declined by 33% since 1991. That amounts to nearly 4 million people saved. And it’s all thanks to earlier detection, better treatments, and the declining popularity of cigarettes. The lungs of our planet are thankful for that one, too.
The war against individual cancers is going great guns, too. For example, cervical cancer rates have dropped by 65% since 2019 thanks to the HPV vaccine. Now that’s what we call a shot in the arm for healthcare.
The Bubble that never bursts
Whenever politicians talk about sustainability, they often claim that technology will bail us out. However, sometimes low-tech solutions can be part of the solution, too. Take the fascinating emergence of simple ‘bubble barriers’, for example.
Bubble barriers stop pollution before it reaches the sea. They do this by pumping air upwards towards the surface, which creates a ‘curtain’ of bubbles. These bubbles lift plastics, including particles as small as 1mm, towards a tube laid diagonally across the waterway. The natural flow of the river then channels the plastic into a catchment system that collects and compresses the rubbish. Clever, eh?
These Great Bubble Barriers, as they’ve come to be known, operate 24/7 regardless of tides or water levels. And they intercept 86% of flotsam in inland waters. That means they’re an extremely effective way to combat ocean plastics. Did you know that 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans every year?
There are now bubble barriers in the mouth of the Oude Rijn river in the Netherlands, another in Amsterdam, and two further ones are planned for Germany and Portugal. There’s even talk of an international barrier network being planned. Let’s hope that the whole world is forever blowing bubbles soon.