Feelgood Friday: Entry Closed .. Feel Free To Upvote

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.

alt Source

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)Readers can upvote at any point until the following Thursday morning. Due to the time differences, I will make it clear in the title of the post when it's closed.

4)Anyone submitting an entry will need to add at least a paragraph explaining their choice.

5)Anyone that enters will be required to give this post a 100% upvote and to resteem it.

alt

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.

alt Source

My Submission

So in this day and age (and rightly so) we often hear about the scourge of plastic pollution and the dangers that it poses to wildlife and the general environment. According to a report commisioned by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, at our current rate, by 2050 there will be more waste than fish in the sea. To clear such pollution can seem like an insurmountable task and so many resign themselves to accept it as a fact of life .. well not if Andrew Cooper and Alex Schulze have anything to do with it!

The story begins when Alex and Andrew take a surf trip...

to Bali Indonesia that would inevitably change their lives and the fate of the ocean. Devastated by the amount of plastic in the ocean, they set out to find out why no one was doing anything about it. One afternoon they came across an old fishing village where fishermen were literally pushing their boat through piles of plastic that had washed up on shore. The two surfers realized that the proliferation of plastic threatened both the ocean environment and the fishermen's livelihood. Could the fishermen use their nets, they wondered, to pull the plastic from the ocean? This idea stuck with the 2 surfers and they knew it was time to hit the drawing board. After realizing that the demand for seafood was driving the fishermen to focus on fish instead of plastic, they knew they had to create something that could fund the desired cleanup efforts. This is how the 4Ocean Bracelet was born.Source

the 4Ocean bracelet is made from recycled materials and their sale is being used to fund the clean up of our seas and coastlines. Each bracelet purchased enables 4Ocean to clean a pound of plastic waste, if you wish to help with the cleanup you can both buy a braclet and find out further information Here.