--:-- Asma Khalid: This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. America is changing and so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.
--:-- Tristan Redman: I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, DC. I'm Tristan Redman in London. And this is The Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Maurizio Pirri: Hello, I'm Maurizio Pirri, and when I wish to hear positive news, I'm listening to the Epipod from the BBC World Service.
--:-- Alex Ritson: I'm Alex Ritson, and in this edition...
--:-- Alex Ritson: I feel brave, crazy, and I feel excited inside. It's hell. The Ukrainian refugee using cold water swimming to tackle depression.
--:-- [Cut to Svitlana Sackno]
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: It's not solve my problems, you know. It's not finish war or come back my friends or come back my home. But it's help me keep moving.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: I'm Svitlana, and I flew from war from Ukraine to Ireland to more safety place. I was in the city Odessa when it started. You know, it was a shock.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: Loud explosions have been now heard in Ukraine in lots of different cities as the Russian assault has begun. And we decided to go, to go abroad.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: I'm a small child and I'm breastfeeding her all the time. We find some job for my husband in Ireland. I stay alone in this hotel room. In TV, always war in Ukraine.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: I keep going because my child, my doctor in Ireland, she prescribed me antidepressants. And she recommended me swimming in cold water sea.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: And I saw people do it. They always go out from water like heroes. And it's like really powerful, very brave to go to cold water.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: And we was one day on the beach and I just have swimming suit with me. I don't know why. And I just wear and go.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: Oh my God, it was like shock. I cannot believe I do it. And my husband, my daughter looking at me and shocked.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: I start September and then I decided to do every week. So like routine.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: The coldest water I ever swim, it was three degrees Celsius. It was really freezing and inside my body was like pain.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: And then it's warm, warm, warm, warm, warm. And I feel powerful and it's even give me energy.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: I have some Instagram page to do some video. I just try to show people how I fight with depression. Try to keep moving.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: My parents, they didn't know. They see this video and they cannot believe it's me, you know.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: I feel brave, crazy. I do it for my body. And I feel, you know, excited inside. It's help.
--:-- Svitlana Sackno: I don't know how it's working, but it's working, you know.
--:-- Anja Dorodejko: Svitlana Sakno talking to Anja Dorodejko.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Now to a project that's turned an eyesore into an asset.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Huge swathes of the invasive seaweed Sargassum wash up on beaches across the Caribbean every year, posing a risk to people and animals like hawkshead turtles and damaging tourism.
--:-- Alex Ritson: In Barbados, it's even been declared a national emergency. But now, a group of environmentalists and scientists on the island have found a way to turn it into fuel for cars and generating electricity.
--:-- Alex Ritson: I spoke to biologist Shamika Spencer and Dr. Lajina Henry, who founded the project.
--:-- Shamika Spencer: On a bad day in Barbados, more than 800 dump trucks of sargassum can wash up on shorelines. And this affects the coastal ecosystems.
--:-- Shamika Spencer: We've had events of turtles dying. So it washes up, it spoils the beaches, and as I understand it, it stinks.
--:-- Shamika Spencer: Not only does it stink, but it releases hydrogen sulfide and ammonia gases as it decomposes. And this has been linked to preeclampsia in mothers.
--:-- Shamika Spencer: It causes their blood pressure to be elevated during pregnancy. And it has also caused persons to be rushed to the emergency room because it has been linked to neurological and even respiratory issues.
--:-- Shamika Spencer: Because you've been doing all sorts of experiments in the laboratory on this stuff. You're not impressed with it to begin with, but you've now found it might have its uses.
--:-- Shamika Spencer: So it was very heartwarming to see that the research I did in the lab could feel a vehicle in real time.
--:-- Shamika Spencer: So I conducted on the first go about 400 experiments where I did varying ratios of sargassum on seaweed and rum distillery, wastewater, measured the volumes of biogas that reproduce.
--:-- Lajina Henry: What do you think could be done with this? So it could be used to fuel vehicles.
--:-- Lajina Henry: The digester could be used as fertilizer and even generate electricity. And the electricity could be used in houses and so on.
--:-- Lajina Henry: The gas could be used to cook on as well. So there's a lot of different uses.
--:-- Lajina Henry: On a bad day in Barbados, enough sargassum washes up on the beach to power all the energy needs of the country for one month.
--:-- Lajina Henry: So there definitely enough sargassum to generate significant amounts of the energy needs on this island
--:-- Lajina Henry: And there's no downsides to this? I mean, we're sort of trying to move away from burning fuel. Are there climate change worries about this or is it completely green?
--:-- Lajina Henry: So we looked at it from a sustainability standpoint, and I think we've kept that at the nexus of the solution.
--:-- Lajina Henry: And so we don't believe you have to harvest all the sargassum in the ocean. Sargassum is like a floating rainforest.
--:-- Lajina Henry: There's a whole biological ecosystem around it, but also it does extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. So it's great to suddenly have this offshore floating rainforest in the Caribbean Sea.
--:-- Lajina Henry: Wonderful. But the problem is when some mats arrive on the coastline and that's harmful.
--:-- Lajina Henry: So what we want is divert the mats that are heading to the coastline and put those in a biodigester.
--:-- Lajina Henry: You both must be delighted with what you've done here.
--:-- Lajina Henry: I was wondering how could we actually solve this problem? I was wondering when the mats would stop arriving, but I realised maybe they would not stop coming.
--:-- Lajina Henry: And also they were coming because of climate change and global warming events.
--:-- Lajina Henry: So I was delighted to actually start working on this project and figuring out ways to even stop the mats from going to landfills where they're still releasing the gases.
--:-- Lajina Henry: And where it could be used in a sustainable solution.
--:-- Lajina Henry: And I also love seeing my results being used in a practical way. So that's also very heartwarming for me.
--:-- Lajina Henry: The exciting thing is when you think of all the problems that the solution is solving, it's like a win, win, win, win, win.
--:-- Lajina Henry: As a scientist, it's great to see the work that you do result in outcomes that are positive in so many ways.
--:-- Alex Ritson: In New Zealand, some Maori tribes see whales as the descendants of the ocean god Tangaroa.
--:-- Alex Ritson: But dozens of these beautiful creatures get stranded every single year, especially off the North Island coastline.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Last week, a community from Fongare banded together for a rescue mission off Ruakaka Beach, guiding more than 30 pilot whales back to the sea.
--:-- Lul Hassan: They came out in their hundreds, conservation workers using sheets to transport the whales back into the water in a rescue mission spearheaded by Patuharakiki, the area's local Maori group.
--:-- Lul Hassan: Members of the indigenous group remained on the beach through the night to make sure none of the whales were restranded.
--:-- Dave Milner: We've had a really awesome response from the community. Thousands of people have come down to help and, you know, it was great to see that unity, you know, for the same purpose.
--:-- Dave Milner: Whales getting stranded in New Zealand is nothing new. There were more than 80 incidents reported last year alone.
--:-- Joel Lauterbach: So these four are stranded yesterday afternoon between sort of 4.30 and 5.30, 6 o'clock.
--:-- Joel Lauterbach: And there was an amazing response from the community here and led by Patuhara Keke.
--:-- Joel Lauterbach: And that response led to, well, you know, obviously the sad outcome of these four passing away on the beach.
--:-- Joel Lauterbach: However, the rest of the pod actually was able to get back out to sea.
--:-- Alex Ritson: The indigenous Maori New Zealanders consider whales a taonga, a sacred treasure of cultural significance to their community.
--:-- Alex Ritson: The group held a ceremony for the three adult whales and one calf that also died.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Rescue teams remained vigilant and continued to monitor waters for any more whales that might be at risk.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Not only are they mourning a tragic loss but they are celebrating a beautiful creature that is as much a New Zealander as they are.
--:-- Lul Hassan: The Zambian player Barbara Banda has won a public vote to be named as the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year 2024.
--:-- Maz Faruqi: The 24-year-old scored four goals for her country at the Paris Olympics, becoming the leading African goalscorer in Olympic history with 10.
--:-- Maz Faruqi: She's also won the US National Women's Soccer League's Most Valuable Player of the Year award after joining Orlando Pride in March.
--:-- Barbara Banda: Good morning, everyone. Hello, Barbara. Sorry to interrupt your team meeting, everyone, but Barbara, we just wanted to deliver a special award for you.
--:-- Barbara Banda: You are the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year 2024. Yeah! Congratulations!
--:-- Barbara Banda: Guys, I think I'm just dedicating this award to everyone of you guys. who has been there for me.
--:-- Barbara Banda: I have nothing much to say, Justin. Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate your support. Thank you.
--:-- Barbara Banda: There she comes again. Banda swerves, shoots, tallies! A star is born in Orlando!
--:-- Barbara Banda: I'm still surprised and shocked to have this award right by my side, but I think at some other point I deserve it because I've been consistent, I've been working so hard and people have been pushing me, like more especially, like I said here, the club has been pushing, the teammates, they've been pushing so hard for me to be where I am right now and to have this trophy.
--:-- Barbara Banda: So in the 10 years since we launched the award, there's only ever been one other African winner. That was Asisat Ashwala back in 2015.
--:-- Barbara Banda: Now you are the winner in 2024. How does it feel to sort of be alongside someone someone who has been such an icon for African football.
--:-- Barbara Banda: Well, I think it's great. I think Oshawa has won a couple of awards. I give much respect to her because she has done a lot that I haven't done.
--:-- Barbara Banda: So for me winning this award at this moment, I think there's always a time for everything. So I guess it's my time and I appreciate it.
--:-- Barbara Banda: Tell us a little bit more about Paris. What is it about Olympics at Barbara Banda that is such a good fit?
--:-- Barbara Banda: It was so important for me that I had to score another at-trick in Paris. My aim always is to score because I love scoring.
--:-- Barbara Banda: I love Zambia and definitely I'm typical Zambian. And so it's very important to represent my country at large.
--:-- Barbara Banda: And just wearing on that T means a lot to me to Mother Zambia and everyone all those youngsters that are coming up a lot of young girls and boys looking up to me
--:-- Barbara Banda: So it very important for me even to show good character to them
--:-- Barbara Banda: Growing up in Zambia has never been easy, you know. More especially as a girl child, it's so difficult for us to get into sport like football.
--:-- Barbara Banda: I was playing with young boys and my mom was not in support of it, but she came at the time to understand, to say, when women's football started being recognised in Zambia, that's when she came to understand and just to let me do what I love doing most.
--:-- Barbara Banda: Your father was a huge positive influence on you. I really loved you playing football. I know he passed away years ago, but you said recently, I still remember him in everything I do.
--:-- Barbara Banda: And I wonder what he would think about this moment with us sitting here with you with that, Trace. Everything that I do, I did get everything to him because I'm sure if he was here, he was going to be a proud father for me because he really supported me in all ways.
--:-- Barbara Banda: Even like when my mom wants to put up a fight over me because of football, he will stand for me. So whatever I'm getting, it's all up to him.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Orlando trying to get ahead here in the late moments. Banda! The Banda wagon comes out to strike late.
--:-- Alex Ritson: My message to the fans is to say thank you so much for the support that you've given to me. Thank you so much and thank you for joining Banda Wagon.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Zambian football star Barbara Banda, still to come.
--:-- Alex Ritson: When I retire now, then I think it's good to keep clean and tidy. When it's nice and clean, they make me happy. How one woman is making her neighbourhood better for everyone.
--:-- Alex Ritson: America is changing. And so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.
--:-- Alex Ritson: I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, DC. I'm Tristan Redman in London. And this is The Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Many of us have animals that we like to teach tricks to. Often it's something like sit, stay, fetch. But scientists at the University of Richmond in Virginia have taken it a step further.
--:-- Alex Ritson: They've taught rats how to drive and their research suggests that the animals actually enjoy it.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: You need a treat, an incentive, something for the animals to work for and they love Froot Loops cereal pieces.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: They also have a nutritious diet in their cages. So they're very motivated, they're very food motivated and then you start to shape their behaviour, require them to approach the car and give them a reward and then get in the car and give them a reward and then approach the steering mechanism dashboard, give them a reward and then activate the steering.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: So you get and just require more of them as we're shaping. And then eventually they'll jump in the car and drive down the arena to the fruit load tree, as we call it.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: Is it possible to be able to tell whether they enjoy driving?
--:-- Kelly Lambert: So before the rats could only drive to this fruit load tree. They were put in the car. They couldn't jump out and run to it. But we trained the animals so that they could walk on paw, on foot, to the fruit loop tree, and they could get their rewards then.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: So then the test, preliminary test with our driving animals, was to put the animal in the middle of the arena where they could easily walk and get all the rewards they wanted. Or they could backtrack and jump in the car and drive.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: And so we had three of these trained animals and two turned around saw the car walked very quickly kind of like a little rat run a little leap and jumped in the car to drive so they went out of their way to drive which suggested that they preferred that method that mode of transportation
--:-- Kelly Lambert: I have to say I've had a little mouse who's taken up residence in my house in the last week just picturing him speeding around a little vehicle makes me feel a little bit fonder of him
--:-- Kelly Lambert: I know, people are a little mixed about how they feel about the complex abilities of these animals. So what was it that you actually set out to achieve from this experiment?
--:-- Kelly Lambert: My lab, we look at experience-based neuroplasticity. And this is just simply how our brains change, as I tell my students, from the womb to the tomb.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: Makes us all accountable for how we treat our brains. So the physical environment, the social environment, how we interact, our experiences with the environment. and each other, all of that changes our brain and sculpts our brain so that we're ready for the next challenge.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: So this was a very complex challenge we thought would be fun, interesting, and engaging to teach the rats.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: It was during the pandemic when I think most of us had kind of a low mood. We're socially isolated and the students had all gone home.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: So we were taking turns, a few of us going in to check the animals because when you have animals in your lab, they need to be checked every day.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: So when I went in, these were the animals that had been trained to drive, but they weren't driving a lot because it was a pandemic.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: No one was doing what they wanted to do, but they approached the side of the cage. When I walked in, they were climbing up and down like my dog jumps up and down when I ask him if he wants to go for a walk.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: They were reaching out. They seemed excited to see me. And I was excited to see them during the pandemic.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: And it made me think, goodness, this seems to certainly be the embodiment of a positive emotion.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: And I'd spent most of my career, as is the case for many of my colleagues in this field, we focus a lot on the negative emotions, stress, trauma, fear, anxiety, and that's incredibly important to understand.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: But a lot less attention has been focused on these positive emotions. And I don't think we've, we think that there is an important, they're kind of fluff or icing on the cake. But this is at that point, I wanted to shift and look more at positive emotions.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: Do you think you could teach other animals to drive as well? Or is it just rats for you?
--:-- Kelly Lambert: If an animal is food motivated, and you can create a vehicle that their bodies can respond to? Absolutely. Absolutely.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: I think that we would be surprised that probably the mouse in your house could learn to drive a car. I don't know. I don't know of a frog. But, you know, if they're hungry enough, they could probably do this.
--:-- Kelly Lambert: I think we need to respect these other animal brains a little bit more.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Music festivals may once have been dominated by younger people but Rod Stewart is hoping to prove that you Never too old to be the headline act.
--:-- Alex Ritson: The star will perform at one of the world biggest festivals Glastonbury in England next summer taking the coveted legend slot at the age of 80.
--:-- Mark Savage: The last time Rod Stewart played at Glastonbury, it was 2002, and the star won over the crowd with a set of ageless classics that included hits like Maggie Mae, Stay With Me and The First Cut Is The Deepest, as well as A Spot Of Football.
--:-- Mark Savage: It's Rod Stewart and Maggie Mae. Do you remember it?
--:-- Mark Savage: By that stage, Rod had already been performing for 40 years. To date, he's sold more than 250 million albums and singles.
--:-- Mark Savage: Wake up, Maggie, I think I've got something to say to you.
--:-- Mark Savage: In recent years, he's become something of an activist, filling in potholes near his home in Essex and paying for MRI scans to help cut NHS waiting lists.
--:-- Mark Savage: I'm in a privileged position. I've, you know, I've earned my money and I want to help people.
--:-- Mark Savage: When he returns to Glastonbury next June, he will be 80 years old. The star recently announced plans to step back from large-scale touring but in a statement he said he was ready and able to play the pyramid stage next summer.
--:-- Mark Savage: Friends, thank you very, very much.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Time for some news in brief.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Paris' famous Notre Dame Cathedral has been revealed to the public for the first time since the devastating fire five and a half years ago.
--:-- Alex Ritson: It's been completely repaired and renovated, and years of soot were cleaned up, giving the space a brand new look.
--:-- Alex Ritson: The French president Emmanuel Macron toured the Gothic cathedral live on TV.
--:-- Alex Ritson: He praised workers for achieving the impossible.
--:-- Alex Ritson: The planet was turned upside down on that famous day in April. The shock of the reopening will be, I believe, as strong as the shock of the fire, but it will be a shock of hope and that's because of all the work that you've done.
--:-- Alex Ritson: You did your alchemy here on this site to turn charred coals into art.
--:-- Alex Ritson: The fire of Notre Dame was a national wound and you were its remedy.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Last month brought good news for the critically endangered bird, the great Indian bustard.
--:-- Alex Ritson: For the first time, a chick bred through artificial insemination was hatched successfully.
--:-- Alex Ritson: It was done by wildlife officials in the western state of Rajasthan who say it opens up the possibility of creating a sperm bank for the species.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Habitat loss, poaching and collisions with overhead power lines have reduced the number of great Indian bustards to around 150.
--:-- Alex Ritson: In common with many cities around the world, London has a big problem with litter.
--:-- Alex Ritson: At this time of the year, assorted rubbish swirls around in the wind with the fallen leaves of autumn making otherwise pleasant neighbourhoods look unkempt and dishevelled.
--:-- Alex Ritson: But Shakespeare Road in the south of the city is a notable exception, thanks to the tireless, unpaid work of Maria Rokita and her trusty broom.
--:-- Maria Rokita: Because nobody's sweeping. I like it when it's clean.
--:-- Maria Rokita: Early morning, broken bottle, can, dog poo, people step, melted. It's horrible. It's not nice.
--:-- Maria Rokita: How different look that street? People don't like sweep. Sometimes the nasty lady, she comes past my gate, she puts hands on the pocket. Tiny paper she prepares and she spreads like this.
--:-- Maria Rokita: What can you do? On purpose? On my front gate because it's too clean.
--:-- Maria Rokita: I like it when it's clean. I live here 40 years.
--:-- Maria Rokita: When I'm working before, I be executive chef in a restaurant in Harrods.
--:-- Maria Rokita: When I finish in Harrods, I go to Dakis, South Kensington Polish restaurant. I'm a chef restaurant.
--:-- Maria Rokita: When I finish midnight, come back home. When I retire now, then I think it's good to keep clean and tidy.
--:-- Maria Rokita: It's good exercise for my hands because I've got rheumatoid arthritis over 20 years. I can't walk, can't do nothing like this.
--:-- Maria Rokita: And that is the not heavy job and it makes me happy when it's clean.
--:-- Maria Rokita: And I think it's good for the people when they're walking, not step for the dog poo and the broken bottle, because it's very dangerous.
--:-- Maria Rokita: And there's a school on this street? Yes.
--:-- Maria Rokita: Do the kids see you doing this? Do they talk to you? Yes.
--:-- Maria Rokita: Sometimes the nice bunch of flowers, the one girl, she brings me one rose, this bunch is nice, and she says, Maria, that is for you, because always when I walk, it's nice and clean.
--:-- Maria Rokita: Do you think the council should be paying you for this?
--:-- Maria Rokita: What's your happiest day doing this? When it's nice and clean. I'm happy. Every time? Yes, when I just open my eyes, go outside to my front street, I see it's dirty, I feel it's horrible. then I start sweeping.
--:-- Maria Rokita: Sometimes I'm sweeping a little bit too far when my daughter not see me because she tell, Mommy, you're crazy. You're sweeping just your side and left the rest.
--:-- Maria Rokita: I tell, when I left my rest, the wind can blow again to me. Then always meter by meter, leaves by leaves.
--:-- Maria Rokita: I sometimes go a little bit too far. When I feel tired, go take rest and start again. When the wind does not blow, it's OK. When it is the wind, you can't swoop in.
--:-- Maria Rokita: When it's nice and clean, they make me happy.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Maria Rokita, and if you know any unsung heroes that made things better for people where you live, we'd love to hear from you.
--:-- Alex Ritson: As ever, the address for emails or voice notes is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.
--:-- Alex Ritson: And that's all from the Happy Pod for now.
--:-- Alex Ritson: This edition was mixed by Craig Kingham and the producers were Holly Gibbs, Rachel Barkley and Lul Hassan.
--:-- Alex Ritson: The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time, goodbye.
--:-- Alex Ritson: America is changing and so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.
--:-- Alex Ritson: I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, DC. I'm Tristan Redman in London, and this is The Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
