This year is an election year, which means that there is plenty of misinformation,
arguments, and overall frustration with other individuals who happen to believe different things than we do. But that really isn’t the point of elections if you think about it. The original idea behind democracy is that we as people get to choose, out of ourselves, our next leader. It’s a beautiful idea, it’s just unfortunate that we have to fight about it every 4 years. With that being said, instead of focusing on this year’s election and all the drama it brings with it, why don’t we look towards the good things in life? Keep reading to hear some of the wonderful stories from across Kansas.
First of all let’s look at agriculture, as many of you already know, this year’s wheat
harvest was nothing compared to last year’s. In that, it was significantly better for many farmers around the area. Farmers in the Wellington area said that test weights average 62 to 63 lb per bushel with reports of some fields yielding more than 70 bushels per acre. The yield came as quite a surprise to many farmers after the incredible range of wacky weather at the beginning of the year. Over the last couple of years of unfortunate news, this year’s harvest hopefully came as a well-deserved breakthrough for our “tougher-than-dirt” Kansas farmers.
There’s more good news on the agricultural front as researchers attempt to cultivate and
utilize different kinds of fertilizers for more sustainable farming. The common theme is the use of nitrogen fertilizer in the modern-day to fertilize fields and produce better yields. The
unfortunate side of it is that nitrogen fertilizer is a large source of greenhouse gas emissions. These researchers believe that they have found a different answer hidden away in the bacteria of processed manure, cloacibacterium sp. CB-01 is a bacteria commonly found in anaerobic digesters which are already being used to transform organic waste into biofuel. Utilizing this bacteria would not only cut down on greenhouse gas emissions but also potentially be more cost-effective in the future, as it utilizes the waste from one industry for the benefit of another.
In other news, get off the track ’cause there’s a big ol’ train a-comin’. Big Boy the 1.2
million pound locomotive departed on a “Heartland of America Tour” on August 28th from
Wyoming and will pass through many states, including ours in a couple of months. 25 of these trains were built exclusively for their travels on the Union Pacific Railroad. These locomotives live up to their name in their incredible size and power. For those of you who live in the Newton area, think of that historic train outside of the Newton Public Library, and then think bigger.
Needless to say, it’ll be a cool sight to see. The Big Boy locomotive will be in Coffeyville on
Tuesday, October 15th for a 9:00 a.m. departure to Kansas City where it will arrive at Union Station on Wednesday, October 16th. Personally, it sounds like a fun day trip idea to me!
Overall, we focused on a lot of localized good news, but there is so much more to hear.
From cleaning up Lake Michigan in the North to transitions to clean energy sources in parts of western US, wind and solar energy has actually surpassed coal in a lot of areas in the world now, which means not only a brighter future but hopefully cooler summers, am I right? That being said, take some time this week to look for good news in your lives, it may make you ever so much more hopeful about the future.
