Good news for humankind!

From the week of October 2 – 8 2023 C.E.

E.U. strikes historic deal to eliminate super-potent greenhouse gases

The interinstitutional agreement to phase out fluorinated gases (or F-gases) paves the way for Europe to become the world’s first HFC-free continent by 2050, setting an unprecedented environmental and climate standard on a global scale.

Laphonza Butler of California becomes the first out LGBTQ+ senator of color in the U.S.

Butler has served as a senior strategist in VP Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign, has worked as the director for public policy and campaigns at Airbnb, served as president of the California chapter of the Service Employees International Union, and served on the University of California Board of Regents.

Mauritius decriminalizes gay sex in historic ruling

The Supreme Court of Mauritius has decriminalized gay sex in a landmark ruling overturning a colonial-era law that penalized the act with up to five years in prison. The court ruled that the law “was not introduced in Mauritius to reflect any indigenous Mauritian values but was inherited as part of our colonial history from Britain.”

EVs exceed 10% of monthly auto sales in Australia for first time ever

Out of the 110,000 vehicles sold in Australia in September 2023, 10.6% came with a plug. Approximately 8% of these were battery electric and 2% were plugin hybrid EVs.

Delaware bans LGBTQ+ panic defense with overwhelming bipartisan support

The panic defense is a legal defense strategy used to justify violent crimes against LGBTQ+ people due to a perpetrator “panicking” over discovering their victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The state Senate voted unanimously to ban this harmful legal strategy.

Remote Caribbean island of Redonda transformed into huge nature reserve

In 2016, Antigua and Barbuda, the archipelago nation that owns Redonda, launched an eradication campaign that cleared the island of rats. After that, they simply waited.

National Museum of Scotland returns stolen totem pole to Nisga’a people after 100 years

It was a historic “rematriation” for the Indigenous nation of around 600 people in what is now known to many as Canada’s British Columbia. The return of the Ni’isjoohl pole could also set a precedent in a broader repatriation movement gaining steam around the world.

World Health Organization approves second malaria vaccine for children

The R21/Matrix-M vaccine, developed at Oxford University, is expected to offer countries a cheaper and more readily available option than the world’s first shot against the parasitic disease.

Connecticut enacts its most sweeping gun control law since the Sandy Hook shooting

The new law bans the open carrying of firearms and prohibits the sale of more than three handguns within 30 days to any one person, with some exceptions for instructors and others.

AI model improves cancer tumor removal during breast surgery

Researchers at the University of North Carolina have developed an AI model that can predict in real-time whether or not cancerous tissue has been fully removed during breast cancer surgery. The model performed as well as, or better than, human doctors.

AI model improves cancer tumor removal during breast surgery

HFCs became common after ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) were phased out by the 1987 Montreal Protocol. Though the amount of HFCs released by humans into the atmosphere is small, HFCs are known as a “super greenhouse gas.” The chemical compound traps heat 1,000 times quicker than carbon dioxide.

AI model improves cancer tumor removal during breast surgery

Through the development of cost-effective, climate-friendly alternatives and rapidly growing political courage, the global community eliminates all fluorinated gases (or F-gases), including CFCs, HFCs, perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, and nitrogen trifluoride.

Who you really are

My coaching work often boils down to helping people uncover, inhabit, and express who they really are. By transcending whatever limiting illusion we might be living from and tapping into our “true” self, we can release ourselves from the burdens, shame, and confusion that cloud us.

Sometimes we over-identify with our actions and then can come to identify more closely with the values and intent underneath those actions. Sometimes we over-identify with our values (and ego generally) and then can come to identify more closely with the awareness underneath them.

And yet, even as we identify with this broader awareness within and around us, most spiritual traditions point to something beyond even still. We can come to see more clearly that this unique “self” we inhabit is just a drop in the ocean of all existence. We are one with the universe. We are creation itself.

Yes, we can get closer to our “true” self in practical ways. And this can be totally life-changing. This has been deeply profound and transformative for me.

But what I perhaps love even more about this work is that there seem to always be deeper, more expansive aspects of ourselves to uncover and operate from. There is always another horizon to explore.

Peter Schulte

Purpose & Leadership Coach

Founder & Executive Director, Spark of Genius

he/they

More of my story