“'The special thing about birdsongs is that even if people live in very urban environments and do not have a lot of contact with nature, they link the songs of birds to vital and intact natural environments,' said Emil Stobbe, an environmental neuroscience graduate student at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and author of one of the studies.

"Recent research also suggests that listening to recordings of their songs, even through headphones, can alleviate negative emotions." - Richard Sima

Article: Why Birds and Their Songs Are Good for Our Mental Health

"People are stepping away from the consumer rat-race, and restoring the connections to self, community and nature that are the cornerstones of real wellbeing. In ecovillages, transition towns, mutual aid networks, community gardens and more, people are experiencing the profound psychological benefits of coming together in their local communities, getting their hands in the soil, and engaging in meaningful, productive work. I call these initiatives ‘localization’, because they represent the systemic antidote to globalization. They undo the distancing and anonymity imposed by the global economy, and recover webs of relationships rooted in place." - Helena Norberg-Hodge 

Article: From ‘Progress’ to an Economics of Happiness

"In an advert for Swedish public transportation company Västtrafik, Forsman&Bodenfors tries to come up with a new solution to our increasing desensitisation to climate crisis statistics.

"The advert is based around one particular stat, from the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute. It says that if 50 people travelled by electric bus, they would emit 36 times less CO2 than if they travelled by fossil car, and 11 times less than travelling by electric car. Västtrafik’s goal is to make these statistics available to more people, 'because a prerequisite for reaching the climate goals is that we share the resources,' says CEO Lars Backman." - Liz Gorny

These rules for living are reposted from Manifesto, a regular feature of WePresent that invites inspiring people to share ten of their life learnings. Here are two of Susan's:

"7: Children are born with all the right instincts for compassion, empathy, wonder, imagination, curiosity, joy and play. The best thing we can do is not 'teach' or 'discipline' them away from these instincts.

"8. We are not born to accumulate material junk or to serve an economy, but to create an economy that works for us. Hard work can be a joy, but capitalism is a cancer."

Article: Ten Rules for Living by Susan Abulahwa

One-liners

The Image of the Week is by Theo Vickers entitled 'An island's wild seas'. It is an UPY Award Winner - Most Promising British Underwater Photographer of the Year 2023

"Sunlight beats down through a marine jungle of Himanthalia algae on the chalk reefs of the Needles Marine Conservation Zone. The purple-tipped tentacles of snakelocks anemones (Anemonia viridis) rising up from the forest floor. Striking rock formations, the Needles on the Isle of Wight attracts close to 500,000 visitors annually. Yet, like many of Britain’s marine habitats the beauty and biodiversity of the island’s chalk reefs that lie below, from nudibranchs and rays to cuttlefish and cuckoo wrasse, are largely unknown to most. Exploring the shallower reefs on a summer evening, my mission was to capture a wide angle image that documented this stunning local habitat, combining both the towering forests above and the anemones that rule the chalk seabed below. After several unsatisfying attempts I stumbled upon this gully packed with snakelocks, and sinking into the forest beneath, found the composition I had been seeking." - Theo Vickers

Article: Underwater Photographer of the Year 2023