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Friday Inspiration
So in this age of 24 hour news it's easy to become mired in a negative perspective of the world. The steady drip of negativity conditions people to subconsciously accept the unacceptable as normality, when in reality it is the polar opposite of normal. Equally, by focusing on the bad we often miss the good and there is so much of it! There are some amazing people out there, people that are putting their life and personal aspirations on the line in order to try and make the world a better place. From my own perspective and my own writing, as much as I recognise the validity of waking people up to the insanity of our current paradigm, I feel it has to be done in the right way and that there should also be a counterbalance.
The Competition
What I want to try and do is to run a weekly competition that highlights the multitude of positivity that is so often forgotten. Positivity can come in many be forms, be it the actions of individuals or projects or simply something that's fun/funny and highlights the sheer joy of being alive .. again a joy that is so often overlooked.
What I would like to do is inspire people to look for the good and to make other people aware of it. Each Friday this competition will run for approx 72 hrs and then I will put a close notice on it at some point on the Monday morning. During those 72 hrs I want people to collect positive news stories/videos and details about projects that are taking place around the world. Equally everyone enjoys a good laugh and so good natured funny or uplifting stories/videos are also very welcome. Although I'm obviously not eligible to win my own competition , I will still be adding my own weekly submission.
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The Rules
I'm not really a big fan of rules, but seeing as it's a competition I guess we need to get a few in place so here it goes.
1)You have approx 72hrs to enter your submissions, after that time all submissions will be void.
2)During that time each entrant is welcome to submit one story/video in the comments section below.
3)After the submissions have closed I will then invite readers to upvote their favourite submission but again readers are limited to one upvote.
4)Readers can upvote at any point until the following Thursday morning. Again due to the time differences I will make it clear in the title of the post when it's closed.
5)Anyone submitting an entry will need to add at least a paragraph explaining their choice.
6)Anyone that enters will be required to give this post a 100% upvote and to resteem it.
The Winners
Although we may start small over time I'm hoping we can grow the idea and begin to offer some really good incentives. There will be both a 1st and a runners up prize:
1st prize will be 70% of the SBD payout of this post.
2nd prize will be 30% of the SBD of this post.
As per everyone else I will be upvoting just one submission and commenting on my reason why. I will read and watch all submissions and will try to comment on as many as possible. Equally, anyone that enters is entitled to one upvote but they are not able to upvote their own submission.
Any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
My Submission
So today I want to highlight the success and pioneering work of trees for life. This charity is the brainchild of Alan Watson Featherstone who is working towards the restoration of Scotlands magnificent Caledonian pine forest. The native Scottish Caledonian forest is one of the rarest forest habits on the planet and trees for life are rescuing it from the very real possibilty of extintinction. Since 1989 they have planted over a million trees and are hastily working towards an objective that would create over 600 square miles of continuous self sustaining native forest. As you can see below Alan's vision isn't limited to the planting of trees, the longterm goal is the recreation of entire eco-system.
In 1986, at an international conference at Findhorn on the ecological crisis facing the world, which he spent a year planning and organising, Alan made a public commitment to the 240 attendees. He pledged to launch a project to restore the Caledonian Forest.
Within a few years he had gathered enough resources, skills, supporters and influence to start on this mission. To begin with, the work involved protecting individual trees from grazing but, with the help of a partnership with the Forestry Commission, he was soon able to scale up – building deer free exclosures and planting trees in Glen Affric. Trees for Life’s reputation grew, along with the trees being planted, and in 1991 it was declared the UK Conservation Project of the Year.
Trees for Life now owns Dundreggan Conservation Estate, a 4000ha estate in Glenmoriston. Bought in 2008 for £1.65 million with the help of many generous donations raised under Alan’s leadership, Dundreggan is being transformed from a deer hunting estate to a wild forest landscape. As well as being a hotspot for rare insect life, Dundreggan also hosts a tree nursery and specialises in growing rare Caledonian Forest species. Over 60,000 trees a year are grown there.
Alan’s vision also encompasses the wildlife dependent on the forest – the red squirrels, beaver, lynx, wolves, capercaillie, wood ants, twinflower and other species that together create an ecologically functioning wild forest habitat. Indeed, in 2001 Alan received the prestigious Schumacher Award in recognition of ‘his inspirational and practical work in conserving and restoring degraded ecosystems’ - one of many awards won by Alan personally and by Trees for Life as an organisation.
If you wish to find out some further information or to join/donate to this amazing charity you can find some more information here
Written by perceptualflaws
Banner Gifs courtesy of @justcallmemyth
I'm proud to be both a member and supporter of the Minnow Support Project - brought to you by the hard work of: @aggroed, @teamsteem, @canadian-coconut and @ausbitbank,
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Here is one I was just talking about with my friend @benadapt
There is a guy named Geza in my small town that everyone knows. He is an immigrant and has dedicated his sole existance since arriving in Canada to helping refugees find a place not only in Canada, but in our community. I have no idea how he does what he does and makes a living because it is all volunteer work.
That is a shot at an event he put on to bring the community together with some of the refugees he has helped land. They love the country but REALLY love getting to know the people in a friendly and safe social setting.
It is nice not only to know he dedicates his life to helping with the safety and happiness of others, but he goes that extra mile to have them become part of the community.
Here is a shot of some of the folks he has helped. It is uplifting as hell to see their smiling faces but even moreso when they organize themselves to visit the local parks and help clean up litter to give back.
The best part in my book is that these are driven, smart and successful people looking for a place to be safe and prosperous. Invariably, they don't come sit and be safe. They work like mad and become successful and never stop paying forward thew effort that brought hem here.
So awesome and inspiring. So close to home.
I suppose I should just create a post of my own but @perceptualflaws is just so awesome and the story will uplift more people being here with his legions of followers. Thanks for doing what you do here
As you said man: “Awesome and inspiring.”
Brilliant submission here my friend and sorry for the late reply but I've been back and forth helping a friend move house! There are some truly amazing people out there and this man is a testament to that fact .. equally, it shows that we're often surrounded by inspirational characters such as Geza that never obtain the recognition they so richly deserve .. thank you for bringing him to our attention.
Helping a friend move house is pretty noble as well unless you demand as much beer as I do!
Ha luckily for him I don't drink lol .. Just to say thank you for bringing this inspirational man to our attention, you got my vote and have won the competition. :D
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Since I don't have too much to contribute this week and World Cup fever is upon us, I thought I'd put a cool little gif in here that can hopefully put a smile on people faces:)
Haha Excellent! Funnily enough, I've been on the receiving end of a similar move .. luckily it wasn't caught on camera lol