By Ankita Menon
So, I am sure the beginnings of term have been a long haul – fun but extraordinarily long. I thought that while you are suffering from fresher’s flu/mono/sore throat from introducing yourselves to so many new people, you would want some good news about the world this past week to stave off the seasonal depression! As a fifth year currently going through path week, I need this as much as you do, especially as the days get darker.
More than five hundred different environmental activists and indigenous leaders are petitioning the UN to ban the practice of trophy hunting – hunting for sport for the purposes of keeping part of the animal like the horns as a trophy. This means that animals like lions, elephants and rhinos will no longer be hunted. This declaration is co-written by the late Jane Goodall (leading primatologist and conservationist).
The Nobel Peace Prize was recently awarded to Navi Pillay, a South African human rights advocate – she has defended Nelson Mandela, served as president of international tribunal on Rwanda’s genocide and held states and national leaders accountable to the law. Even better, Trump is very triggered by this (he believes he deserved it more).
Just like you folks studying here, Afghan girls are attending the first and only boarding school of its kind in Rwanda – the first permanent campus for the School of Leadership. It will be teaching important skills empowering young women to create a better future for themselves in Afghanistan.
Bringing it more locally, Tesco’s is now the first supermarket to have paid leave that will be guaranteed safe for victims of domestic abuse – an important safeguard for vulnerable people, that few people consider. Something else to look forward to around here is half a million trees being planted in England over the next three years. This is part of a plan that the government has invested £79 million into, so that areas in danger of flooding, heatwaves and droughts can be protected, improving the future safety and health of communities nationally. Another advance that can support the health of vulnerable communities is the experimental immunotherapy used in Houston, Texas that completely eradicated a toddler’s metastatic liver cancer.
Up north in Norway, they have made a protected area surrounding their coast equivalent to almost 260,000 football pitches to safeguard kelp forest, coral reefs, and the native whale population. Carrying on with this theme, the High Seas Treaty which protects ocean life across more than half the planet, has been ratified by more than one hundred countries.
So maybe the world’s a bit rough sometimes but don’t ever lose hope that there is good. Even being extremely hungover or sleep-deprived, you can find the time to be optimistic about things, and even when you’re not, that is okay too. Stay safe, healthy, and sane!
Yours lovingly,
Ankita
