Hi there. I have some great news to share from around the world, including dogs with backpacks who are on a mission to help a nature reserve in the UK. Plus
You know, I think design can impact communities in many different ways, and that is the way people live, and we’re using it in this case to help, hopefully assist, heal and educate.
You’ll learn how architects are using cutting-edge technology to print, yes, print, a brand new village in Tanzania. I’m Krista Bo from CNN and this is Five Good Things.
An orchestra is like a community. Different people, different voices, different melodies. Everyone has their own role and everyone is connected.
This is Ron Davis Alvarez, an accomplished violinist and orchestra conductor who is changing the lives of immigrants and refugees through music.
Imagine if the world functioned more like an orchestra. Then the world would certainly be a better place.
“The 38-year-old grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, surrounded by drugs and violence. As a child, he found solace and an escape in music. At 14, Ron taught other children and teenagers to play stringed instruments like the violin and cello, hoping to give them the same solace he had found in music. While visiting Sweden as a student in 2015, he stood on a train platform in Stockholm and was stunned by what he saw: crowds of exhausted refugees disembarking trains from war-torn countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Imagine for a moment in your life that you had to go to a place you don’t know, you don’t speak the language and you don’t know where you are going, but you just want to go because you have to go. That’s how I felt when I saw all these young people. They were completely lost.
Ron believed that music could give them hope and a sense of belonging. When he later moved to Sweden, he founded the Dream Orchestra. It is a free program where anyone, regardless of age, background or language, can learn an instrument and perform together. Since its inception in 2016, more than 300 participants from 25 countries have taken part. And this year, Ron was named a CNN Hero.
Dream Orchestra is more than just sheet music. It offers something for the soul. It is a dream, but a dream come true.
For more information on Ron and the members of the Dream Orchestra, visit cnn.com/heroes. The link is also in our show notes.
“Okay, picture this. You’re out for a walk in nature and a cute dog with a backpack walks past you. You’d probably think: How cute. If you see them in the Lewis Railway Land Nature Reserve on the southeast coast of England, you’ll know they’re on an official mission.
Dogs love to run. They like to jump over trees and branches. And they can get to places that we humans can’t go.
Steve Lewis and his adorable Labradoodle Crumble, along with 11 other dogs, are part of the Urban Nature Reserves restoration program run by the Railway Land Wildlife Trust.
Little by little the seeds fall out of the backpack and we hope that they will form a new layer of seeds and vegetation.
“The project is called ‘Tracking the Wolves’ and dogs are doing what wolves used to do in the area – spreading seeds. Wolves aren’t really around in the UK anymore. Neither are bison and grizzly bears and without them ecosystems can suffer.
You know, the value of these top animals extends way up the food chain. The wolves affect the deer. When there are fewer deer, the grass grows better and the wildflowers grow better and so on.
Dylan Walker started the program at the preserve this spring and says they’ll know next year if it worked. He says it’s a great way to educate and engage with local people.
It was a time when they were able to build a little bit of a deeper connection with the reserve, a deeper understanding of how ecosystems work. So, from my perspective, that ticks a lot of boxes.
There’s a new theory about how the ancient Egyptians may have built the pyramids over 4,000 years ago. A team of engineers and geologists from France believe that the ancient Egyptians may have used a sophisticated hydraulic lifting device to lift heavy stones to the center of a pyramid. They focused their study on the Step Pyramid in particular.
It is the oldest of the seven monumental pyramids of Egypt and its architecture is revolutionary and features many innovations.
Xavier Landreau was the lead author of the study. They believe that water from ancient streams flowed into a system of deep moats and tunnels that surrounded the Step Pyramid and helped power this ancient elevator.
There is a big mystery regarding the weight of the blocks.
This has led some Egyptologists to believe that ramps and ancient transport devices were used to move these really heavy stones. However, Xavier said it’s hard to accept this theory as plausible for all pyramids, especially the larger ones. Experts who have commented on the theory say more research is needed to determine whether their theory is plausible, but that’s the nature of pyramid research, Xavier said. Each possible answer raises several new questions.
Pyramids are as fascinating as they are contradictory.
“A 12-year-old boy in Massachusetts learned a beautiful lesson in overcoming adversity this summer. Dan Doherty was looking for a way to stay busy during the summer vacation, so he and his mother, Nancy, decided to start a small business.
Our family makes homemade ice cream, which everyone seems to love, so I suggested, “Hey, why don’t we make some ice cream and sell it?”
Nancy says Dan loved the idea. She only had one rule about how the profits would be spent.
He had to donate half of it to a charity of his choice and chose his brother’s handicapped hockey team, the Boston Bear Cubs.
“Dan eventually raised about $62 for the special needs team, but someone complained to the health department about it, so the family had to stop the effort, which confused the 12-year-old.
I don’t understand because there are so many lemonade stands out there and they won’t close.
Nancy shared what happened on social media and received a reaction she never expected.
Companies are getting in touch and there are events where money is donated to the Bear Cubs.
Nancy says they’ve now earned about $1,000 for the team, and Dan has learned more than just marketing skills.
Realize that sometimes adversity isn’t the worst thing. For every grumpy person, there are tons of other people there to cheer you up.
Architects are working to 3D print an entire village in Tanzania in a new, sustainable way. This is the next step.
Hundreds of children will find a safe haven in East Africa at a place called Hope Village. A team of architects, in collaboration with the charity One Heart, are using 3D printing technology and locally sourced soil to build a community hall in this new village to help young people in need and give them a home. It’s a novel and sustainable method they call “Earth Printing.”
You know, I think design can impact communities in many different ways, and that is the way people live. We’re using it in this case to help, hopefully help, heal and educate. And we’re also using it to innovate at the same time.
Mark Loughnan is director and head of design at Hassall architectural firm, the architects behind Hope Village in Kibaha, Tanzania.
The master plan includes housing, a school, childcare and vocational training for at-risk girls in the region.
He and his colleagues say 3D printing buildings is nothing new. Of course, building with materials from the earth, like dirt or clay, is nothing new, but combining the two methods is. They layer compacted earth in curved columns so the design allows for natural ventilation and light while minimizing environmental impact. The hope is that there will be more earth-printed villages like this one around the world, in places that need it most.
“Okay, that’s all for now. Join us tomorrow for the next edition of One Thing with host David Rind – all about Ukraine’s surprise invasion of Russian territory.
Five Good Things is a CNN Audio production. This episode was produced by Eryn Mathewson, Emily Williams and me, Krista Bo. Our executive producers are Felicia Patinkin and Faiz Jamil. Matt Dempsey is our production manager. Dan Dzula is our technical director. And Steve Lickteig is the CNN Audio executive producer. We get support from Joey Salvia, Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Jon Dianora, Leni Steinhardt, Jamus Andrest, Nichole Pesaru and Lisa Namerow. Special thanks to the CNN Heroes team Tom Paige and Katie Hinman. Thanks for listening. See you next time.
