My friend, Judy Gilbert, the hockey legends wife & Humanitarian is  Buzz Aldrin friend…she wrote on  Facebook

Buzz Aldrin. Made it

To the moon…and back. He told me it took so much more than education, discipline and physical strength. It took years of determination and believing that any goal is possible “but it was still hard to believe when l took my first step onto the moon’s surface.”

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A reef in waters off Tahiti, French Polynesia. Countries and territories including Chile, Colombia and others pledged 20 new marine protected areas on Friday.  Credit…Daniel Cole/Associated Press

More than 20 new marine protected areas in coastal waters were announced at the third U.N. ocean conference this week. Experts say thousands more are needed.

Remote coral atolls in the Caribbean. Habitat for threatened sharks and rays around a Tanzanian island in the Indian Ocean. And 900,000 square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean around French Polynesia.

These are some of the millions of acres of water now set aside as part of an international goal to protect 30 percent of the ocean by 2030. More than 20 new marine protected areas were announced at the third United Nations Ocean Conference, which ended on Friday in France.

Countries and territories pledging new areas included Chile; Colombia; French Polynesia; Portugal; Samoa; Sao Tome and Principe; the Solomon Islands; Tanzania; and Vanuatu.

“Protecting the ocean is beginning to become fashionable,” said Sylvia Earle, a marine biologist and oceanographer who served as chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the 1990s, at an event celebrating a network of protected areas around the Azores.

The new designations come at a time when the United States, which sent only two observers to the conference, has moved to reopen the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing. The country is also seeking to unilaterally authorize mining of the seafloor in international waters.

France, which hosted the conference with Costa Rica, pushed for a moratorium on deep sea mining, with four new countries pledging their support this week, bringing the total to 37 countries.

Less than 3 percent of the ocean is currently fully protected from “extractive” activities like commercial fishing and mining, according to the Marine Protection Atlas.

Peter Thomson, the United Nations secretary general’s special envoy for the ocean, acknowledged at the Azores event that reaching 30 percent by the 2030 deadline may not happen. But, he said, “It’s not a mythical thing that will never happen.”

In order to reach the goal, the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, also known as the High Seas Treaty, needs to be enforced with at least 60 countries ratifying it. At the conference, 19 new countries ratified the treaty, bringing the total to 50 individual countries plus the European Union. Once active, the treaty would provide a pathway toward protecting stretches of the ocean beyond individual countries’ borders.

And in coastal waters within those borders, much remains to be done. A study published in May found that the average marine protected area today is about 10 square kilometers, meaning about 188,000 more areas of that size are needed — or 85 new marine protected areas a day.

These numbers are “super daunting,” said the report’s lead author Kristin Rechberger, who is chief executive of the conservation organization Dynamic Planet. She wants countries to break through the challenge by decentralizing marine protection and allowing coastal communities to create their own small protected areas at a faster pace.

A separate report published last week found that countries need to raise $15.8 billion a year in order to protect 30 percent of the ocean. Currently about $1.2 billion a year goes toward ocean protection globally.

Questions also remain about how meaningful existing protections are.

Activists have been pushing the French government to announce a ban on bottom trawling in its marine protected areas. President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would place 4 percent of its mainland waters under “strong protection,” limiting bottom trawling, a fishing process that drags nets along the seafloor. This falls short of an existing European Union goal of placing 10 percent of its waters under “strict protection,” without commercial fishing of any kind.

“Allowing destructive bottom trawling in most of France’s so-called ‘protected’ areas makes a mockery of ocean protection,” said Alexandra Cousteau, senior adviser to Oceana and granddaughter of the ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, in a written statement. “It’s like building a fence around a forest and then bulldozing it anyway.”

Even where protections from commercial fishing exist around the world, enforcement is often lacking.

Zafer Kizilkaya, president of the Mediterranean Conservation Society, has worked with local fishing communities to create and patrol a marine protected area at Gokova Bay in Turkey, allowing endangered monk seals to return. Community members — including former fishers — serve as marine rangers, reporting illegal commercial fishing to the Turkish Coast Guard, which follows up with fines.

Mr. Kizilkaya is not seeking greater percentages of protected marine areas at this point, but rather “serious enforcement and management,” he said. “That will make a huge difference.”

The United States did not send an official delegation to the conference. Two representatives from the the administration’s Environmental Advisory Task Force, including Ed Russo, the chairman, attended as what the State Department called “government observers.”

The day before the conference began, Mr. Russo wrote an opinion piece in Time magazine with Marc Benioff, chief executive of Salesforce and owner of Time, outlining ideas for a “focused, global effort to restore coral reefs.”

“We believe that addressing coral-reef health is a smart place to focus — not because it is the only crisis,” they wrote, “but because it offers a clear, actionable, achievable goal that can unite governments and ocean advocates.”

Mr. Russo and Mr. Benioff did not respond to requests for comment. Mr. Russo is chief executive of RussKap Water, president of the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition and a board member of Reef Relief.

Mr. Benioff, who during the first Trump administration raised Republican support for an initiative to plant a trillion trees, has funded a center for marine conservation called the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Salesforce was a major sponsor of the U.N. ocean conference’s publicly accessible exhibits.

John Kerry, the former special presidential envoy for climate under President Biden, said he didn’t know what role the United States would play in ocean protection now.

“We have an amazing conglomeration of countries that have come together to improve the marine protected areas,” Mr. Kerry said. The announcements this week, however, are “just building blocks,” he said. “We are not moving fast enough or at scale.”

Note: Along with heads of state, delegates, NGOs, and journalists, Fellows with the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network attended the conference.

Daphné Anglès contributed reporting.

Delger Erdenesanaa (Author)

As a nonprofit journalism organization, we depend on your support to fund more than 170 reporting projects every year on critical global and local issues. Donate any amount today to become a Pulitzer Center Champion and receive exclusive benefits!

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On Thursday, November 21st at 11am, the NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice in collaboration with NYC Parks and other stakeholders, will hold a press event in Mott Haven in the Bronx to kickoff of the planning phase of the city’s first Urban Forest Plan, as required by Local Law 148 of 2023. The Urban Forest Plan advances a key goal in PlaNYC, Mayor Adams’s long-term strategic climate plan, to achieve a 30 percent tree canopy cover. 

We would love to have you join us! The event will be held at the Gil Scott-Heron Amphitheater in St. Mary’s Park in Mott Haven. 

Your collaboration will be especially valuable as we work to develop and implement The Urban Forest Plan. This critical document will outline strategies to equitably expand the city’s tree canopy to ease extreme heat and advance environmental justice; objectives that are incredibly important to city government and New Yorkers alike. 

As we noted in previous communications, our coalition was instrumental in the passage of Local Law 148 of 2023 which mandated this Plan – that was a massive win! We would love to continue to sustain our presence and momentum as champions of the urban forest, so please consider joining us at this event.

Thank you and we hope to see you there!

Victoria and Sergio

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AY Young announced a new commitment to advancing clean energy at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2024 Annual Meeting.

A singer, songwriter, United Nations Youth Leader, and entrepreneur, AY Young is powering a movement with his upcoming album Project17, a Battery Tour initiative. With partners including the United Nations, Samsung USA, and General Motors, each song on Project17 is dedicated to one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with all profits to be awarded to organizations pushing the SDGs forward.

AY’s commitment centers on SDG 7, affordable and clean energy. Around the world, as international public financing for clean energy for developing countries continues to decline, 675 million people still live in the dark. AY is directing crucial capital for an equitable global energy transition.

On stage at the CGI annual meeting, AY will announce his world record-breaking commitment to power 1,000 concerts entirely with clean energy, with aspirations to play his 1,000th show at Amazon’s Climate Pledge Arena on Earth Day 2025. He shut down Times Square for his 958th battery powered show on the #roadto1000 at Climate Week NYC.

“I was raised by a family of changemakers who used their platform to drive forward a better future,” says AY Young. “I’m blessed to continue that legacy and partner with the Clinton Global Initiative to use music to power global impact.”

About the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)
Founded by President Bill Clinton in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative is a community of doers representing a broad cross section of society and dedicated to the idea that we can accomplish more together than we can apart. Through CGI’s unique model, more than 10,000 organizations have launched more than 4,000 Commitments to Action — new, specific, and measurable projects and programs – that are making a difference in the lives of more than 500 million people in 180 countries.

About The Battery Tour
Founded by artist AY Young, The Battery Tour is a revolutionary concert series powered entirely by renewable energy. This grassroots initiative harnesses the universal language of music to drive social and environmental change, illuminating stages across the globe with energy sourced from solar panels and batteries.

Media Contact:
Daria Richman
383645@email4pr.com
646-527-2263

SOURCE AY Young

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Derren Luo, a young piano virtuoso performing at Carnegie Hall

Toys for Tots, in Chinatown, our friend Joe Cinque of the American Academy of Hospitality and Sciences the Five Star Diamond Award gathered 10,000 toys to give to the community.

The new VIRGIN HOTEL will open in the beginning of the year Times Square, area.  This is a partnership with the Lam Group and Richard Branson’s company, so you know it will be phenomenal addition to Times Square Hotels, It is so innovative that you can stay in it for a whole week and never come out, as it has so many amenities and a big ballroom.

On December 26^th on CW Network the Family Film Awards will broadcast.  Our Chinese friends, Ms. Ma, has created an important show to strengthen the message of Good in the Media. 

Once again, we wish you to have peace & love & health in your life. We believe in you that 2023 will be your best year ever.

Lastly, HAPPY AND HEALTHY HOLIDAY SEASON…. WE ARE BLESSED

“All we are is what we are with each other.” Zeal 

With Respect. Love and May Peace Prevail on Earth,  For Information

Contact: 

Reverend Paul Sladkus, All Faiths and Spiritual

Founder, Good News Corporation 501 C 3 212 647 1212 

paul.sladkus@goodnewsbroadcast.com

and our Good News and Peace Worldwide Team who make our Peace

Day 9/21 and Good News happen.

www.pausetheworldforpeace.org, www.goodnewsplanet.com,  

www.peacedayparty.org,  www.goodnewsbroadcast.com, 

www.9-21.org, www.momentofsilenceforpeace.org, www.we.net 

(We the World, Rick Ulfic), www.unify.org

LET’S GROW TOGETHER. GOOD NEWS MOTTO: ALL WE ARE IS WHAT WE ARE WITH EACH OTHER. ZEAL

For more information contact: 

Reverend Paul Sladkus, All Faiths and Spiritual 212 647 1212

New York, NY, Montauk, NY

PS – SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR FRIENDS AND MEMBERS: Looking for a vacation rental, SHORT TERM, in Montauk, NY. Call Paul Sladkus.   https://goodnewsplanet.com/montauk-manor-rental-suite-403-paul-sladkus/

call me. Paul 917 687 1790

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ALBERT EINSTEIN

#thoughtfortheday #alberteinstein #happy #goal #people #things

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LG Electronics shares the vision, as a good corporate citizen. Please go to their website and you will be happy to know that happiness abounds all around us… have a happy day on March 20th and every day… enjoy every moment. Paul Sladkus https://www.lg.com/us/experiencehappiness

Also please listen to our Facebook Live interview at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. with John Taylor, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications a great company doing important work for the world.

Science of Happiness
Over 70 years of research has revealed that Happiness is achievable, and according to the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, happiness skills can be learned, taught, and practiced. Working together with the Greater Good Science Center, we identified six skills to form the foundation of LG’s Experience Happiness program: mindfulness, human connection, positive outlook, purpose, generosity, and gratitude. Although each person may take a different path, the practice and pursuit of these six skills can help set you on the path toward sustainable happiness.

#un #united #nations #day #happiness #lg #electronics #shares #vision #share #international #march #pursuit #fundamental #human #rights #right #goal #universal #aspiration #lives #being #beings #citizen #website #happy #paul #sladkus #show #john #taylor #affairs #work #world #science #berkeley #skills #taught #learned #practiced #good #center #mindfulness #connection #positive #outlook #purpose #generosity #gratitude #sustainable

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Mission
The three main goals of Les Couleurs Charity are to inspire, educate and
empower children who come from underprivileged socio-economic backgrounds
and have very few educational opportunities to thrive. With our CREATE
Program, we give them the tools to unleash their wonderful creative energy,
make them feel empowered and appreciated, and teach them skills that will
create artistic opportunities or careers for them. Children thus inspired
feel and express so much joy and it tremendously helps their overall
cognitive development as well. Our group arts projects make children create
stronger bonds with each other and yet it also enhances their individual
talents and skills. As a result, we strongly believe that our CREATE program
makes a big difference in the lives of those children. Looking at the happy
faces, seeing their art and hearing their stories, makes us feel inspired
every day to continue developing and expanding our mission.

Philosophy
We believe that to achieve a long lasting change and to break a cycle of
poverty we should in children’s education, because they are the future. We
believe in strong local partnerships and understanding the needs of the
communities we serve. We collaborate with local schools, orphanages and
share the best and most efficient practices.

We invest into the training of our local teachers so the can provide better
quality education to the children they work with. Our teachers are trained
by local professionals and become role models and mentors to the most
disadvantaged children. That way we create a cycle of continuous learning
that trickles down from local educated professionals all the way to the most
vulnerable children.

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You are enthusiastically invited to join Team InTandem in the 2018 TD Five Boro Bike Tour as we raise $100,000 to help New Yorkers with disabilities enjoy tandem cycling.

As you know, riding a bike is one of the great joys in life — feeling the terrain, smelling the air, hearing the world — and InTandem is proud to offer tandem cycling programs to people with vision loss and other disabilities since 2013.

By joining Team InTandem, you can be a part of the most dynamic effort to make the joy of cycling possible for thousands of New Yorkers who otherwise would be on the sidelines.

What do you get as Charity Entry Rider

§ Guaranteed entry into the 2018 TD Five Boro Bike Tour

§ Priority start in the first wave

§ Breakfast and lunch on the day-of

§ Crowdrise page to support fundraising efforts

§ Fundraising tips and support to help you reach your goal

§ Team photos to share with your friends and family

§ Invitations to team training and team-building activities

§ Weekly updates on the Team’s fundraising progress

§ Our beautiful InTandem team jersey

And to top it all off the great joy in knowing you are making cycling possible for thousands of New Yorkers.

http://www.intandembike.org/

The post Team InTandem helping those challenged have fun on a InTandem Bike, in Central Park, NY. Join them on Saturdays, change your life! With LOVE, Click Here for Videos & Podcasts… appeared first on Good News!.