Weekly News Recap: November 15, 2024

A giant cheque is held up at the Climate Champions Assembly Nov. 13, 2024. (Submitted)

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something. -- Henry David Thoreau

SOME GOOD NEWS

VIDEO: This elephant gives herself nice showers with a hose. But another elephant keeps ruining them (CBC) Mary is pretty cool. "When staff at the Berlin Zoo go around showering the elephants, they don't bother with Mary. They simply hand her the hose and let her have it. Not only does Mary prefer to shower herself, but she's really good at it. So good, in fact, that her dexterous bath-time ritual is the subject of a new study about animal tool use."
B.C. museum to honour Chinese Canadian troops who fought in war and for citizenship rights (CBC) BRITISH COLUMBIA STORY We thank them for their service. "The service of Chinese Canadian soldiers [...] in the First and Second World Wars will be honoured by a new exhibition at the Chinese Canadian Museum in Vancouver's Chinatown. The exhibition, titled 'A Soldier For All Seasons,' is scheduled to launch in spring 2025."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

Calgary gets nearly $61M to expand urban canopy (CBC) CALGARY STORY Yay! More trees. "Calgary is developing plans to add 930,000 new trees around the city, with nearly $61 million in funding through an agreement with the federal government. The agreement is part of the national 2 Billion Trees program, which is designed to support new tree planting projects across Canada. Calgary's new funding will go toward its urban forest canopy expansion project, which aims to plant the new trees during the next five seasons, with a targeted completion date in March 2029."
America has an epidemic of loneliness — old fashioned social clubs might be the answer (Jesse Owen) This is not only in America. "This is not new information for those of us who have been paying attention. Sociologist Robert Putnam hammered home the scope of the crisis a nearly quarter century ago with his groundbreaking book 'Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community' (2000). Putnam warned that our 'social capital' — a measure of our social connectedness and the strength of our ties to the communities around us — has starkly declined in recent decades. In addition to health issues, studies have demonstrated that loneliness contributes to political polarization, the growth of conspiracy theories, and mass shootings, among other problems."
UK’s first charity donation vending machines arrive in West Midlands (Charity Today) #CoolIdea "Shoppers in the West Midlands are the first in the country to be invited to make donations to charities – through vending machines. For the first time in the UK, ‘Light the World’ machines are being installed in Britain to help raise much-needed funds for charities through donation cards."
The typo make us humna (Fast Company) I recently missed putting in the phrase "hesitate to" in a thank you email so instead of it saying "don't hesitate to ask", it said "don't ask" -- very different tone :-( "In our ever-changing and seemingly chaotic world, the typo, that simple yet ubiquitous mistake that everyone everywhere makes occasionally, is still too often deemed as the ultimate death knell for too many potential hires, projects, and deals. [...] In a shocking (but obvious) sense of self-realization during a conversation about AI recently, the need for perfection—and the ever-blurring line between technology and humanity—I finally realized just how little these this actually matters in the grand scheme of things. And how these all too human mistakes show our quirks and personalities in ways that ever-evolving AI can and never will replicate. Let’s stop pretending otherwise."
NASA explores building the Prius of airliners (Fast Company) #MorePlease "If hybrid cars can cut CO2 emissions on the road, can hybrid-electric planes do the same in the air? NASA is exploring that possibility, announcing this week two contracts to aviation startup Electra."
VIDEO: More than $400 million pledged by nine foundations to help solve climate change in Canada (CBC) CANADIAN STORY This is fantastic. ViTreo is proud to have worked with the Trottier Family Foundation and the Ivey Foundation as they led this effort. "A group of families and foundations from across Canada have pledged $405 million over the next decade to help solve climate change. The pledge includes commitments from prominent families, including $150 million from the Trottier Family Foundation, $100 million from the Peter Gilgan Foundation, $18 million from the Ronald S. Roadburg Foundation, $15 million from the Chisholm Thomson Family Foundation, $10 million from David Keith and Kirsten Anderson, $6 million from the Sitka Foundation, $5 million from the Vohra Miller Foundation and $1 million from Allan Shiff – all in addition to the $100 million that the Ivey Foundation recommitted."
Jenny Belzberg: Mastering the Art of the Volunteer (Scena) CALGARY STORY We heart Jenny. "Supporting the arts is, for Jenny Belzberg, greatly about community. The Calgary philanthropist’s engagement with artists and arts organizations as a stalwart board member and generous donor has introduced her to people and experiences that, she says, enrich her life. She is still, at 96, keen to promote the creative spirit."
Shell wins appeal in Dutch court after three-year battle against green groups (engadget) "Climate activists won against Shell in 2021 when a Dutch court commanded the oil giant to reduce its carbon emissions by 45 percent by the end of 2030. Three years later, Shell managed to win its appeal against this ruling."
Can AI therapists save us from the global mental health crisis? (Fast Company) I am not sure if I am ready to go there...but I might be. "Part of the appeal with AI is its ability to harness data from various sources—like user interactions, vocal patterns, and emotional analytics. Take, for example, Liv, Sheba Medical Center’s LLM-based platform that helps with the diagnosis of mental health challenges for victims of the ongoing war (on both sides of the divide) and delivers personalized patient experiences, all while reducing the enormous burdens on psychiatrists."
Can You Really Save a Life? Study Reveals the Impact of Bystander CPR (Gizmodo) We should all know how to do CPR. "Getting yourself trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) could prove to be lifesaving for someone else. New research shows that bystander CPR can substantially improve a person’s odds of surviving a cardiac arrest [...] They found that bystanders could save people’s lives and protect their brain health with CPR even up to ten minutes after a cardiac arrest. The results highlight the importance of encouraging everyday people to perform CPR despite the known risks, the researchers say."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

3 top chef skills that can help any executive become a better leader (Fast Company) "Clean as you go" is a great concept for corporate communications.
NOTE: Language Warning Negative Space: The 2-Hour Rule That Changed My Life (Westenberg) This is hard to do but I have found it to be life-changing.
Do Your Little Bit of Good Where You Are (Personal Growth) John Weiss always inspires me. And, here, with his piece on kindness, he does it again.
How to be a great leader—even when you haven’t received any training (Fast Company) I did not receive any training and those first few years were #awful for my direct reports. But, I did get better.
How to Make a Mandala (MIA) So beautiful.
Tell Your Team To Be Lazy → Watch Productivity Soar (Management Matters) Work smarter. Not harder.
CEOs, stop communicating your strategy…and start winning! (Women In Technology) We do spend a lot of time talking about our strategy...

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

MacEwan University receives $1.5 million donation for new building (Edmonton Journal) EDMONTON STORY "MacEwan University received a $1.5 million donation for its new School of Business building project, which is the biggest single donation in the school’s MacEwan Means Business capital campaign [...] MacEwan said that Weidner Apartment Homes made the donation towards the school’s new building."
Dalhousie University awarded $1.8 million by River Philip Foundation (Philanthropy News Digest) HALIFAX STORY "Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has announced a C$2.5 million ($1.8 million) gift from the River Philip Foundation."
British Museum to receive hefty donation of world-renowned Chinese ceramics (Reuters) "The British Museum said [...] it would receive 1,700 pieces of world-renowned Chinese ceramics worth around 1 billion pounds ($1.27 billion), in the largest donation in its nearly 300-year history. The collection, which has been on loan to the British Museum since 2009, has been donated by the Percival David Foundation."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

Welcome to our recap of the week's news, articles, and information of note. ViTreo Group Inc. provides this information for the benefit of our clients, associates, staff, partners, and stakeholders. The content is collected and curated by ViTreo President & CEO Vincent Duckworth. If you would like to submit a link for consideration, please send an email to info@vitreogroup.ca.

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Vincent DuckworthNovember 15, 2024Comment