The designers understood the risk. The city waited with baited breath. Would one of the largest living roofs flourish or flop? Well, the answer is somewhere in-between:

It’s been three years since the green roof was planted on Vancouver’s new convention centre.
Is it a success? Is it as good as they promised it would be?
The answer is that some parts are terrific — attractive, quality planting; a beautiful habitat for songbirds and insect life.
But other areas are untidy, scrubby, a bit of a mess; you might even say, an eyesore, and a fair ways from what they could or should be.

Overall, the roof is more a success than a flop, but there’s definitely room for improvement, so the designers should not spend too much time patting themselves on the back. There’s still some refining work to do.
Covering 2.4 hectares (just over six acres), it is still the largest living roof in Canada and the largest non-industrial green roof in North America.
But being 10 storeys above ground, you can’t see much of it from street level, say from outside the Fairmont Pacific Rim at Canada Place.
The roof is mostly visible to people working in adjacent highrise office blocks, such as the Shaw Tower, or living in luxury condos opposite.

Read more at the Vancouver Sun.

Young adults gain knowledge and compassion when part of charitable projects. Their self-confidence increases as well as their sense of community, which has staying power for a lifetime. This story shows how students and communities work together to help needy families, and interestingly, help themselves:

Normally, the day before Thanksgiving on the campus of Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C is found to be silent. All the students are at home with their families and enjoying the holiday break. However, that is not the case in the basement of the next door church. Faculty, staff and parents have gathered to volunteer their time to feed the needy.

Inside the basement, folks worked diligently all day long making Thanksgiving dinners with all the trimmings to feed about 50 people that are older and live nearby in the lower income dwellings. The meals are a welcome sight and are a blessing to those that receive them from the volunteers from the school. The holidays are not the only time that this charitable work occurs. Volunteers help feed the needy twice a week all year long in a project founded in 2001.

The project, started by Robert Egger is called the Campus Kitchens Project (CKP) and it uses resources that are both available and left over. They use the campus kitchens, the leftover food and volunteer students to help prepare and feed the hungry. The program has taken hold and spread to 28 colleges and 3 high schools.

Read more at Amazing News.

Stress, depression, anxiety, addiction, OCD - they all share a certain addictive thought pattern. So what are some techniques (note how I didn’t say “easy” - nothing simple about breaking well-worn, ingrained mental patterns) to help you breathe easier and get back to your life?

1. Breathe. Oh sure, you’ve heard it before. Too overly simplistic for you, you say? Well, try it. Now. For one minute. Do nothing but focus on taking deep, diaphragmatic breaths. By doing this exercise, you remind your body and mind that you can live in the moment. Plus, deep breathing is naturally relaxing and helps you detense.

2. Freak out. We live in very contained times. The idea of screaming or crying or thrashing about in the middle of your living room floor is, well, frowned upon. But why do you think children do it? It’s a natural way to release pent-up emotions and bring you back in the moment. Whether its a good cry or a scream into a pillow, tap into all that negativity and release.

3. Just say no. Negative cylical thinking feeds off of itself. Your mind wants nothing more than to fixate. Can you catch yourself, even if for a moment, and request a “rethought”? A rethought is simple a replacement thought. So if you’re obsessing about your partner who hurt your feelings, can you catch yourself and think “What do I need to get at the store this?” It derails that addictive thought and reminds you that YOU ultimately have control over your emotional state.

None of this is easy. But doing nothing or self-medicating or denying doesn’t help much either. Underneath all of that obsessive thought is usually some old grief and anger. When you realize the pain that really lies underneath, you suddenly begin to feel more in control and less at the whim of negative thinking patterns.

This article kind of blew me away today with its simplicity and relevance. We often see children act out and react accordingly. But did we ever think of teaching them about emotions and how to recognize how they’re feeling before they act out? Smart idea!

An educational approach known as social and emotional learning (SEL), being implemented in individual schools—and now, for the first time, whole districts—has proven effective at simultaneously improving students’ academic performance, behavior, and well-being.

SEL prescribes approaching students as complex human beings whose learning and behavior are just as impacted by their emotions—and their control over those emotions—as they are by the quality of instruction and discipline. Recognizing that intellectual and emotional faculties develop symbiotically, the approach involves teaching students how to recognize and talk about their feelings, empathize with others, and resolve conflicts peacefully as a way to strengthen both academic achievement and emotional stability.

SEL students exhibited markedly improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, and behavior, compared to similar peers who were not enrolled in SEL programs.

For example, the PATHs (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies) program teaches self-regulation to early elementary students with the “Turtle Technique,” which involves using self-talk to inwardly analyze emotions and come up with ways to express oneself other than acting out. Young students learn this technique through trainings on identifying and labeling emotions and using specific strategies to manage them.

Read more here.

Imagine what could happen if instead of focusing on worst-case scenarios and fears, we put our attention on what we deeply desire and are working toward?

Let’s take a moment of thanks and appreciation for the Occupy Wall Street protesters. You don’t have to agree with them. But they are exercising their rights as US citizens and taking a stand and attempting to make a positive change.

What can you do today to take a stand, no matter how small? Make a difference in your own life first and the ripple effect will occur. How can you instill in others around you the importance of standing up for your rights?

Often when bad things happen in our lives, its hard to see any potential of good coming out of it. Most of the time, years later, we can see it. In this next story, amidst something as invasive as a burglary, some good remained.

Just last week a small church in the town of Greenwood Indiana was broken into; in the process the thieves stole dozens of musical instruments including one that had special sentimental value to many members of the church. That particular instrument belong to the pastor’s son who died in a car crash 4 months ago so it is not surprising that they felt so bad after the guitar was stolen.

Fortunately today the thieves apparently heard to story and felt bad about what had been done. Upon arriving at the church Pastor Schmidt found the guitar abandoned in the alley way right next to the church. Pastor Schmidt says it is nothing other than a miracle from good hearted people who have apparently made some poor decisions in their lives.

Obviously the thieves were not captured in the process but Schmidt says he is grateful that they decided to return the guitar with so much sentimental value to them. The search for the thieves is still on going but for the time being Pastor Schmidt and the entire congregation are happy that his son’s guitar has been returned.

It isn’t every day that groups of thieves hear heartwarming stories like the one from Pastor Schmidt but he claims that his prayers must have been a major influence. Whatever the reason, he was simply glad to finally have back a piece of his son’s memory as it is one of the last things he has to remind him of his late son’s life.

Trent Schmidt

Source: Amazing News

Let me tell you a little about Only Positive News: we get a big response from our readers. When I first started writing here, I thought, “Who is going to read about good stuff?” Apparently, quite a few! We rank on Google in the top three for “positive news”, which isn’t shabby.

We also get a good amount of outreach from our fans. The Yay Life Tribe just reached out to us and told us about their new website, chockful of positive advice for your every day.

Here’s an excerpt:

Do you love where you live?

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Tucker Gumber

Do you love where you live? It seems like a simple question but it really can be a tough one. We live where we live based on a few things like- it’s where I grew up, it’s where my job is, it’s what I can afford. Lots of times we even live somewhere because it’s close to where we want to be. Whatever the situation is be thankful that you have a place to live all.

What about all of the great things about where you live that often get forgotten. Maybe it’s a small town and there is an actual sense of community. Maybe it is a large town and there is a variety of restaurants. Maybe it is cheaper than all of the surrounding areas. When you really start to think about all of the awesome little things in your area you might start to like it.

Another thing that helps you learn to love where you live is to become an expert of the area. Go out and learn the best hiking trails, coffee shops, happy hours, and anything else that makes for a fun time.

If you have tapped all of the resources and still can’t seem to love the place you live then you should move. One thing I am realizing more and more is that we only get one life to live so we better make it count. Life is simply too short to spend your days waiting for someone to make you happy. Take control and try and figure out what exactly it is you want out of life and go for it.

So there you have it. We should all love the place we live because we live there. If you can’t seem to find happiness in your area you should move. Whatever the situation is just remember that you can control it. You can change or improve things if you really want to.

Yay like you don’t know how to stop,
Tucker

Contributing to a cleaner environment can seem like a daunting task at times - that’s until you realize it’s just a step away. Here are some quick and easy changes you can make today and contribute to a cleaner world. For the future, people!

1. CHANGE YOUR LIGHT
If every household in the United State replaced one regular lightbulb with one of those new compact fluorescent bulbs, the pollution reduction would be equivalent to removing one million cars from the road.

Don’t like the color of light? Use these bulbs for closets, laundry rooms and other places where it won’t irk you as much.

2. TURN OFF COMPUTERS AT NIGHT
By turning off your computer instead of leaving it in sleep mode, you can save 40 watt-hours per day. That adds up to 4 cents a day, or $14 per year. If you don’t want to wait for your computer to start up, set it to turn on automatically a few minutes before you get to work, or boot up while you’re pouring your morning cup ‘o joe.

3. DON’T RINSE
Skip rinsing dishes before using your dishwasher and save up to 20 gallons of water each load. Plus, you’re saving time and the energy used to heat the additional water.

4. DO NOT PRE-HEAT THE OVEN
Unless you are making bread or pastries of some sort, don’t pre-heat the oven. Just turn it on when you put the dish in. Also, when checking on your food, look through the oven window instead of opening the door.

5. RECYCLE GLASS
Recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and related water pollution by 50 percent. If it isn’t recycled it can take a million years to decompose.

6. DIAPER WITH A CONSCIENCE
By the time a child is toilet trained, a parent will change between 5,000 and 8,000 diapers, adding up to approximately 3.5 million tons of waste in U.S. landfills each year. Whether you choose cloth or a more environmentally-friendly disposable, you’re making a choice that has a much gentler impact on our planet.

7. HANG DRY
Get a clothesline or rack to dry your clothes by the air. Your wardrobe will maintain color and fit, and you’ll save money.

Your favorite t-shirt will last longer too.

8. GO VEGETARIAN ONCE A WEEK
One less meat-based meal a week helps the planet and your diet. For example: It requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. You will also also save some trees. For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately 55 square feet of forest have been destroyed.

9. WASH IN COLD OR WARM
If all the households in the U.S. switched from hot-hot cycle to warm-cold, we could save the energy comparable to 100,000 barrels of oil a day.

Only launder when you have a full load.

10. USE ONE LESS PAPER NAPKIN
During an average year, an American uses approximately 2,200 napkins—around six each day. If everyone in the U.S. used one less napkin a day, more than a billion pounds of napkins could be saved from landfills each year.

11. USE BOTH SIDES OF PAPER
American businesses throw away 21 million tons of paper every year, equal to 175 pounds per office worker. For a quick and easy way to halve this, set your printer’s default option to print double-sided (duplex printing). And when you’re finished with your documents, don’t forget to take them to the recycling bin.

12. RECYCLE NEWSPAPER
There are 63 million newspapers printed each day in the U.S. Of these, 44 million, or about 69%, of them will be thrown away. Recycling just the Sunday papers would save more than half a million trees every week.

13. WRAP CREATIVELY
You can reuse gift bags, bows and event paper, but you can also make something unique by using old maps, cloth or even newspaper. Flip a paper grocery bag inside out and give your child stamps or markers to create their own wrapping paper that’s environmentally friendly and extra special for the recipient.

Read more! 50 Ways to Help the Planet

John Bramblitt knows what its like in the darkness. He resides there. He finds his art there. An amazing story about an artist who doesn’t let his lack of vision mean a lack of vision.

(CBS News)

DALLAS - Henry David Thoreau once said “the world is but canvas to our imaginations.” In tonight’s “American Spirit,” CBS News correspondent Don Teague shows us an artist who chose to speak through canvas when his world went dark.

If you ask John Bramblitt to describe the world, chances are he’ll tell you it’s colorful.

Bramblitt is an artist whose work is defined by bold and expressive use of color which has emotion all its own.

“Fear, it’s a red with a lot of black mixed in,” Bramblitt said. “It’s almost like the color of blood and dirt or soil -it’s really deep.”

To submit an idea for The American Spirit send us an email.

He knows a lot about fear and anger and depression. Emotions that almost overwhelmed him nine years ago when at just age 30, complications from epilepsy left him irreversibly blind.

What color was the depression?

“Oh my word, it was the worst black. It was like being in a hole,” Bramblitt said.

He eventually climbed out of that hole by learning to paint. He figured out how to mix the colors by feeling the different textures in the oils. He also learned how to apply paint by outlining an image and using his fingers to guide the brush strokes. He sees his subjects with only his fingertips.

Read more.

Help can come from anyone. Anytime.

Curtis Jackson has lived on the streets of Chicago since 2004, panhandling for spare change. Most people don’t give him a cent—but one woman, a single mother who worked at a local bank, was always kind to him. She’d give him a few dollars, and stop to ask him about his day.

But last year, things began to fall apart for Jackson’s Good Samaritan. She lost her job, and was no longer able to make payments on her mortgage. She lost her home, and a social worker gave her enough money for her and her son to spend a few nights in a hotel. She wasn’t sure what she’d do next—until Jackson showed up to help.

Because the woman had been so kind to him when he needed her help, Jackson is repaying her kindness with his own: Every night, he shows up to pay her hotel bill out of the money he’s collected from panhandling that day.

“All I can do is get out there and put a sign in my hand, or put a cup in my hand and ask people to help me out, and everything I get, except maybe bus fare and something to eat, I give it to her,” he told My Fox Chicago. Since December, he’s given her $9,000 to support herself and her son.

The down-on-her-luck single mom is amazed that Jackson has come through for her.
“I’ve donated to charities, I’ve helped other homeless families—never realizing that one day we’d be in this situation,” she said. “So thank God that we did have an angel waiting for us.”

Source: Gimundo.com