We Can Sip Wine Because the Dinosaurs Died – CNN 5 Good Things

“Hello, I’m Krista Baugh and I have some heartwarming news to share with you this week about a teenage track and field star who will be competing in the Olympics in Paris this month.”

You know, it’s every kid’s dream to be in the position that I’m in now.

Plus, how the extinction of the dinosaurs may have led to the creation of wine. Five good things from CNN.

“Don’t you think both dogs and people deserve a second chance? That’s the goal of Unchained, a nonprofit that pairs at-risk California youth with homeless dogs in an eight-week training program. While helping to find homes for the dogs, the organization also aims to teach responsibility, compassion and empathy to the kids who train them.”

You can see the changes in children when they are thanked for their work and their help in giving a dog a second chance at life.

Melissa Wolf is the founder of Unchained, a CNN Hero this year, which works with juvenile detention centers and school teachers, professional dog trainers and licensed mental health professionals to deliver training courses to kids.

We don’t know their backgrounds, their criminal history, they may have very similar histories with their own dogs of neglect, abandonment, or abuse, we’re coming in with a clean slate.

Children teach dogs to behave, and dogs teach children to do the same.

I learned a lot of social skills, how to control my emotions, how to be more focused and more mindful.

Life is good. I just got off probation and everything is good.

“Unchained has worked with over 450 youth and helped over 220 dogs find their forever homes with their dog training skills. Although she plans to spend the rest of her life as a self-described dog-crazy woman, she is committed to helping kids who struggle to stay out of the juvenile justice system.”

So if we can catch them early and help them become the best people, the best versions of themselves, then maybe we can stop that cycle.

For more information about Unchained and what they’re doing, check out CNNHeroes.com, and we’ll also have a link in the show notes.

“Quincy Wilson is definitely a rising star in track and field. This year he broke the 400m world record not once but twice at the Olympic Trials, and now, at 16 years old, he is the youngest Olympian in the history of U.S. men’s track and field. Quincy ended up not competing in the 400m, but a few days later he got the exciting call that he’d been selected for the U.S. team’s 4x400m relay roster.”

You know, it’s every kid’s dream to be in the position that I am in right now. I’ve been trying my hardest and running as hard as I can while I’m on the track ever since I got this call and standing on the track.

“Quincy is a senior at Potomac High School. Coach Joe Lee says Quincy puts his all into everything he does. He is a straight-A student and has a passion for athletics.”

“He’s still a little unreal because he’s not a big, intimidating guy. But he makes up for it with a big heart and a big effort. And, you know, he gives it all to us. It’s been a joy to coach him.”

Quincy said when he runs he thinks about his “why.”

I run for my brothers, and if I can show my talent, I want to give them the best chance possible to win a gold medal and bring it home to the United States.

While some clothing stores have a quirky approach to returns, this Maine children’s clothing store allows customers to return purchased clothes for reuse. Kate and Nick Bergman founded Peace House Studio in 2020.

We wanted to make really bright, beautifully designed, comfortable and durable playwear for kids, but we also wanted to find a way to make it sustainable so that people didn’t end up throwing it in landfill when they were done with it.

So they are encouraging customers to return clothing purchased from the store.

When kids outgrow their clothes, they buy them back, in whatever condition they are in, for a small amount of in-store credit and patch them prominently, turning them into brand new clothes that they then resell as second-hand.

Peace House Studio sells organic cotton joggers, sweatshirts, tank tops and shorts for babies from newborn to age 8, and can be purchased at PeaceHouseStudio.com, with plans to soon offer clothes for older children and adults. Nick says the real reason he started the business was because he wanted to do something good, especially for his three young daughters.

I grew up with the feeling that my parents were trying to make the world a better place for us, and what I want for my children is to create a better world where they don’t have to see images of mountains of clothing being shipped around the world to be thrown away.

As a kid, my family and I loved watching “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel. I’m personally scared of sharks, but I always thought, well, it’s their water, and we just swim in it. Marine biologist Diego Cardeñosa has loved sharks since he was a kid.

And when I realized they were facing a conservation crisis, I wanted to help the thing I love most.

“Even though some can be a bit scary, sharks play several important roles in the ocean, and according to one conservation group, more than a third of shark species are threatened with extinction.”

The demand for their products, and therefore for their fillets and meat, is their ultimate threat.

That’s why Diego developed a portable DNA testing kit to help catch shark fin smugglers in ports across Spain, Asia and Latin America where the shark trade is most prevalent. Marine pollution is also a threat to sharks, and the Dive Against Debris project is trying to change that.

Dive Against Debris is a citizen science monitoring program that allows scuba divers around the world to remove marine debris, ranging from plastic to metal and many other types of debris.

Jack Fishman works with divers at the non-profit PADI Aware Foundation, which certifies scuba divers but also works in marine conservation.

As scuba divers, we are ocean optimists, and one step at a time, every small action you take can lead to big waves of change.

Jack said the divers’ work not only keeps marine life safe in the ocean, but also provides governments with data on trash collection, helping them develop new policies to prevent the spread of trash. Divers have been able to remove more than 2.3 million pieces of marine debris around the world, Jack said.

The next time you sip a glass of wine or eat a grape, thank the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. More on that next time.

We all know what happened 66 million years ago: an asteroid hit Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs. But apparently, new research suggests that if that hadn’t happened, happy hours and snack times would be a lot different than they are today.

Without that event, we would not have been able to enjoy delicious wine.

Monica Carvalho, co-author of a study published in the journal Nature Plants, suggests that the absence of dinosaurs is what gives us the grapes we eat and drink today. They found fossilized grape seeds in Colombia, Panama, and Peru that date back 19 to 60 million years, and they hypothesize that forests and new plant species, including grapes, were able to thrive because they were spared by T-Rex and its kin.

Another is that after the dinosaurs went extinct, birds and mammals, which are excellent dispersers of fleshy fruits such as grapes, diversified rapidly.

The study highlights the resilience of plants and their ability to adapt to changing environments, as well as the need to look after the animals that help things keep going.

Well, that’s all for today. Join us tomorrow for the next episode of One Thing, where our hosts, David Rind and CNN’s Alayna Treene, will discuss what happened at the Republican National Convention this week and the policies proposed by former President Donald Trump and his party.

5 Good Things is a CNN Audio production. This episode was produced by Emily Williams and myself, Krista Bo. Senior Producer is Faiz Jamil, Supervising Producer is Greg Peppers, Production Manager is Matt Dempsey, Technical Director is Dan Dzula, and Executive Producer for CNN Audio is Steve Lickteig. Support was provided by Joey Salvia, Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Jon Dianora, Leni Steinhardt, Jamus Andrest, Nichole Pesaru, and Lisa Namerow. Special thanks to the CNN Heroes team and Katie Hinman. Thanks for watching! If you like the show, please follow us and leave a like and review. This helps others find us and spreads the good vibes. Until next time.