This week Awesome Stories brings you whale communication, better education, animal freedom, mental health and fuel from water.
Communicating with Whales
Scientists at The University of Queensland have been able to decipher and learn how to communicate with whales. Optus, an Australian telecommunications company, hired M&C Saatchi, Sydney to explore communication between humans and animals, specifically Humpback whales. Watch this awesome video, the result of their collaboration.
Education Ideas from Finland
Kelly from FillingMyMap wrote a great article on the differences in Finnish education. She is chronicling her adventures in education and life while teaching and researching in Finland. It seems that overall, they focus more on quality with less of many things we hold near and dear. Kelly wrote 11 Ways Finland Education Shows Less is More. The differences really struck a chord for me. Even though I did well in school, I did not enjoy the process and this is part of why I didn’t go back for an advanced degree. The differences are very telling, especially the shorter hours for students and teachers, the same teacher for 6 years, less testing, more depth in topics and more choice given to the students. Finland consistently performs at the top of developed countries for education, so let’s hope our education leaders are paying attention!
Return to the Wild
Costa Rica has just announced that it will close its zoos and free the animals to return to the wild. I admire Costa Rica for its progressive attitude and leadership in protecting and preserving nature. They have no army, more land devoted to conservation, banned hunting for sport, and continue to lead in environmental preservation. Kudos to Costa Rica for cherishing and protecting nature!
Coercion Leads to Mental Illness
I found this to be an enlightening view on mental illness by Bruce Levine, Ph. D. His conclusion is the coercion that permeates our culture is actually a contributor to mental illness. “Coercion—the use of physical, legal, chemical, psychological, financial, and other forces to gain compliance—is intrinsic to our society’s employment, schooling, and parenting.” Whereas, cultures who are often considered “less developed” that don’t rely on coercion have much lower instances of mental illness. As I’ve written about before, we don’t thrive under threat, punishment and coercion. Hopefully, we learn to parent, teach and work with more love and acceptance.
Fuel from Water and Air
Audi Motors is partnering with Sunfire to produce synthetic fuel from water, hydrogen and air. The best part is that the fuel would be carbon neutral because the process pulls CO2 from the air as part of the conversion of water and air into a bio-fuel. Right now, it’s more of a small scale test, but hopefully it can be streamlined to produce in large enough quantities to make an impact. There are many great ideas being tested around the globe. The best thing we can do is consume less and live simply.
Live simply that others may simply live. ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Maybe try simplifying some things in your life and have an awesome week! 🙂
writing to freedom 
Costa Rica is Closing its Zoos is amazing. Seems like there could be a better solution to its problems.
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It is a bold move which I admire and admit might not be the best for all zoos.
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Watching that whale video was a beautiful way to begin my Saturday. And the rest of the stories uplifted me, too. Thanks for bringing a smile to my heart.
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You are most welcome Nancy. Thanks for connecting here. I hope you have an inspired week. blessings, Brad
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Very interesting post and you have a nice blog here and got a new follower 🙂
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Thanks Irene and welcome. I hope you find joy and inspiration here. blessings, Brad
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Thank you very much Brad and I feel sure, that I will study your blog more, when I have a little more time free. I just came back after around 10 days without reading blogs, so I’m trying to catch all up 😀
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You’re most welcome Irene. It’s good to have digital breaks. I hope yours was lovely.
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Great stories once again, Brad. I’ll be interested to learn how the communication with whales evolves… Feels like we just saw the tip of the iceberg… Imagine what could come from a deeper dialogue with those guys!
I also thought the Finnish education was interesting. So much of our society’s solutions to problems are prescriptive and universal, rather than in the local and creative hands of the people doing the work. It promotes the sense that “something could go wrong” about this life right from the start. It suggests that who we are and feel ourselves to be is inadequate without a bit of polishing and sculpting. It takes many decades to recover…
Blessings
Michael
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Wonderful perspectives Michael. I’m sure we have much to learn and explore with whale (and other species) communication. And I resonate strongly with your comment about the core premise of something being wrong. I don’t know if it’s cultural or human, but the sense of being broken and needing to be fixed is very pervasive, including in my own journey.
May we know wholeness,
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As the parent of a home-schooled son, we are often looked upon oddly when we don’t conform to western society’s view of education. But, we have always wholeheartedly agreed with the view that less is more. The opportunities and possibilities open up so wide when you are not forced to remain in the metaphorical box. Thanks for sharing Brad!
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I admire your choice and dedication to your son’s education Dave.
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That whale song video gave me goosebumps! Love it!
I hope that those zoos will ensure that the animals they release back into the wild are adequately prepared to do so after being in captivity.
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How wonderful that are that tuned to the whale communication! And I wonder about the animals too. May we learn to live more in harmony with animals and all of nature.
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Another wonderful gathering of stories, Brad. Thank you! I smiled at the frog photo, and am grateful for yet another bit of evidence that a culture of coercion is not a healthy culture.
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Thanks Jamie. Maybe we’re ready as a culture to live more in harmony with nature. blessings to you and yours
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Loved the video.. I hope that when Costa Rica free their animals they have re-introduced them to surviving in the wild again.. Good news, as I do not like to see caged animals..
And clean fuel.. Can not wait for the day 🙂
Loved your awesomeness today 🙂
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You and Julie have the same wise question for the animals release to the wild. That is a key part of their release. It’s good to see progress on environmental and animal rights issues. 🙂
Thanks for your loving support Sue. 🙂
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