AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Good news for a change. While it may appear that there is nothing but doom and gloom in our planet’s environmental future, a new United Nation’s report titled “State of the Future” proclaims that “people around the world are becoming healthier, wealthier, better educated, more peaceful, more connected, and they are living longer." Among the feel-good stats in the report are these: world-wide illiteracy rates have fallen by half since 1970 and now stand at an all-time low of 18%; more people live in free countries than every before; the average person born in 2025 will live 50% longer than one born in 1955; and world poverty will be cut in half between 2000 and 2015. (Wall Street Journal)