Happy Earth Day to all you earthlings out there! All weekend the US national parks are offering free admission so I hope everyone gets a chance to go visit some outdoor beauty Saturday or Sunday! This week has seen a lot of ups and downs for different groups of people. From money changes to the loss of a great icon, here are this week’s prominent post-its:
Long Live The Prince
Yesterday, music-lovers around the world were shocked and saddened by the sudden death of legendary singer Prince. A few days prior, it was reported that the Purple Rain star was having some health complications, even making an emergency landing to check into a hospital, but what was thought to be the flu must have been something more serious because, unfortunately, he was found dead in an elevator within his home. We won’t know the exact cause of his death until the autopsy today, but around the world people are posting videos, pictures, and loving memories about how he touched their lives. Many monuments across the world, including the Zakim bridge in Boston, were lit up in purple to commemorate the passing of the legend.
A Woman's Worth
There’s been an ongoing debate about switching the face of the $20 bill to represent a woman in history. Currently, that spot is held by Andrew Jackson who, you may remember, was responsible for the horrific ‘trail of tears’. Some say changing the picture is political pandering, while others believe it’s a great step towards representation for women. Who knows, maybe somewhere down the line they’ll change ‘history’ to ‘hisandherstory’. But until then, we’ll have to settle for a portrait on a bill. Currently, it’s predicted that Andrew Jackson is going to be moved to the back of the bill, but it’s been confirmed that Harriet Tubman will be the women represented on the front. She's well known for being an amazing abolitionist who constantly put her life at risk to help slaves escape to the North through the underground railroad, but she was also a spy for the Union and an impactful women’s rights activist. The US treasury says their goal at the moment is to get the new prints out as soon as possible to avoid counterfeit issues.
Earth Day!
It’s Earth Day! And to commemorate such an amazing holiday, 171 countries around the world will be signing the Paris Climate Deal today! The ceremony will take place at the UN in NYC after 4 months of negotiations. The bill contains a lot of great goals to minimize the effects of climate change, but little to no consequences for countries that don’t reach those goals. That may be why so many are willing to sign it. Another interesting piece to it, which China fought to be included, is that developing countries have to live up to lower standards and then, if over time they develop more, their standards will rise. In other, but related Earth Day news, Bill Nye The Science Guy has bet $20,000 that 2016 will be in the top 10 hottest years on record to prove that he knows what he’s talking about and that climate change is real. Millennials, who grew up watching his show throughout the 1990’s, are cheering him on but also secretly in despair about the fact that he’ll be right. Fingers crossed it’ll be #10 and not top 5!
An Apple A Day Keeps China Away
Normally Apple and China are pretty chummy, but the country may have picked their last fruit. Just 6 months after Apple made available their iBooks and iTunes Movies to the Chinese people, the Chinese government took control and shut it down. Right now the tech company is worried that this might be the start of a strained relationship with their second-largest market. So, the big question right now is, why did they do this? Let it be known that China isn’t the most open to freedom of speech. They have very strict regulations on what the population has access to. I mean, they banned Green Eggs And Ham! So it could be that the book and movies being offered were not in compliance with their information standards. This is a little strange since Apple got the okay from the government to sell these products, but who knows maybe they accidentally let a Brad Pitt movie slide into the mix.
New York, New York!
This Tuesday was a huge primary for the Presidential candidates. New York state voted and saw major results for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But controversy surrounded the election as reports came in that voters who were registered Independent were not allowed to vote. New York has a law that states closed primaries only accept voters associated with either the Republican or Democratic party. Sanders claims that this is a crime and a big reason for his loss. So right now, he’s bracing for the future as he heads into a plethora of states with closed primaries. After Tuesday, it’s going to be a much harder fight for the other candidates to beat Trump and Hillary to the White House race. But maybe an underdog will pull through and claim the race as their own!
Thanks for joining us this Friday for our weekly prominent post-its! We hope you have an amazing Earth Day and remember to get out and visit your free national parks!
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