This is a nice little piece from the Economist, which suggests that if you want to make sound investments you should put your money into happy companies. Apparently, recent research by the Wharton business school indicates that Fortune Magazine's '100 best companies to work for' have routinely outperformed their less happy competitors on the stock exchange. It could be that strong and effective leadership is the key to both profitability and employee satisfaction, of course. Either way, it's good news!

Following up on yesterday's theme, trying to find some silver linings in current economic news, I stumbled across this piece on the Huffington Post website. It's an opinion piece, on the theme of America's "awakening". But it's not just America, of course. Many in the West, and beyond, are waking up - to what they've spent, what they owe and what they've lost in the process. The latter is an interesting theme - one that the author of the Huffington Post column says she's going to pursue in the weeks to come. The big question of course is whether and how we can recover what we've lost, find meaning beyond consumerism and achieve a more sustainable lifestyle. At the end of the day, we each have to answer that for ourselves...

Many thanks to RTBH reader Caroline, who sent this great story from The Charlotte Observer (by one of their columnists, who uses Blogger as a platform, which I thought was quite funny)... It's about an - as yet unidentified - individual who has taken it upon themselves to stimulate the local economy. Their unorthodox method entails putting $10 bills through people's letterboxes in plain white envelopes, with instructions to spend the money locally and wisely. As you can imagine, this act has stimulated a lot of chatter, as well as expenditure - witness the (sometimes hilarious) comments at the end of the story. Wonderful.

I've been out of action for a while - my laptop expired! But I got back online today, just in time to find this great story on NPR. It documents the progress made in cleaning up the Cuyahoga River in Ohio, USA, over the last 40 years. Amazingly, this river was so polluted in the 1960s and 70s it caught fire (more than once). Most fish couldn't survive in the water, and it would certainly have been foolish to swim in it. But media coverage led to environmental activism, which in turn spawned regulation and ultimately the birth of the Environmental Protection Agency - and the Cuyahoga got cleaned up. Now, people kayak up and down the river, which is filled with all kinds of fish. As the NPR article points out, the waters aren't pristine, but they are much healthier. It seems the public spotlight is quite an effective bleaching agent!

Every now and again you witness a feat by a fellow human being that is truly astounding. This story, from Canada's CBC News, documents just such a feat. Earlier today, 56-year-old Jennifer Figge arrived on a small island off the coast of Trinidad. It was the first time she'd set foot on dry land for 24 days, since she left Cape Verde to swim across the Atlantic. In doing so, she became the first woman to swim across the ocean. The first man did so about a decade ago. Apparently, Figge swam in a large cage to ensure she wasn't attacked by sharks! Marine life aside, I'm just amazed she managed to keep warm enough. Rather her than me... I'm seriously impressed! (Photo from AP/CBC News.)

Thanks very much to RTBH reader Emily for sending in this article from the Good News Network, which highlights seven positive steps taken in recent years that will benefit the environment. GNN surveyed a range of leaders from NGOs and public bodies to identify the list, which ranges from the emerging consensus on and response to climate change, and the growing competitiveness - and attractiveness - of renewable energy, through to the importance of the internet in mobilizing social change. All this does give some cause for optimism that we are at least moving in the right direction, even if we are not yet "at one" with our planet. Let's hope that we have even more than seven good stories to tell when we look back again in 10 years time.

I found this a bit late (it's from last weekend) but it's an extremely interesting piece - sad in some respects, but ultimately hopeful - from the UK's Guardian newspaper. It's about Alex Goodenough, a teenager from the UK with Asperger's syndrome, who has struggled to navigate his way through the UK educational system even with his mother battling on his behalf. Despite being let down along the way, Alex has emerged from school with a raft of A grades at GCSE, several more at AS and A level, and a place to study engineering at Cambridge later this year. It's an amazing story, of one woman's determination to get the best education for her son, and of a young man's eagerness to acquire knowledge - but to do that his own way. Alex seems happy in his own skin, whatever labels are applied to him by others. And so he should! His educational achievements thus far should make him, and his mother, proud, as well as offering hope to other children with Asperger's.

Some long-awaiting good news from Cambodia's Phnom Penh Post today, as the trial of Khmer Rouge leader Kaing Guek Eav - known as 'Duch' - finally got under way. Duch is the first of several Khmer Rouge officials expected to go before the UN-backed trial, but as he has actually confessed his crimes (which include running the notorious Tuol Sleng detention centre) it's thought his testimony will reveal much about the inner workings of Pol Pot's brutal regime. Substantive hearings should begin in about a month - but even for today's procedural hearing there was, apparently, a huge media presence. It seems likely that Duch's revelations will echo right around the world. (Photo from Phnom Penh Post.)

The BBC reported a fascinating story from the UK today. Gordon Moore suffered severe damage to his skull 50 years ago and has worn a metal plate ever since. However, when surgeons removed the plate recently to treat an infection Gordon had, they found his skull had grown back beneath the plate. This is, apparently, extremely rare in adults - though less so in children whose bones are still growing. Now Gordon has had the plate removed and is, he says, very pleased he won't trigger airport metal detectors any longer.

Thanks to RTBH reader Jacqueline for drawing my attention to this local newspaper article about a hopeful initiative in New Jersey, USA. The article from the Star-Ledger highlights an event, to be held tomorrow, entitled 'Visions of a Better World'. The conference-style event is the brainchild of one woman, Barbara Velazquez of Maplewood, whose objective is to foster a "modern renaissance". In other words, it's a chance to get people thinking and exploring how each of us can play our part in creating a more caring, compassionate world... And it's heartening to see modest, local efforts pushing for positive change, even against the backdrop of economic uncertainty and today's (ironic) hullaballoo over the Nobel Peace Prize!