Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg is named ‘Time’ Person of the Year
Swedish climate activist Great Thunberg, 16, is the youngest person to be named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. Thunberg is leading a new generation in the fight against climate change, organizing school strikes and climate marches around the world. Time says they selected Thunberg for raising the alarm on climate change and “showing us all what it might look like when a new generation leads.”
Thunberg is reportedly “a bit surprised” by the honor and is dedicating the recognition to other young activists. Speaking at the U.N. Climate Conference this week, Thunberg told the audience, “There is hope. I have seen it. But it does not come from the governments or the corporations. It comes from the people.”
UNCA professor receives grant from National Geographic to study the world’s most endangered boa
A biology professor at the University of North Carolina Asheville, Graham Reynolds, has received a grant from National Geographic to help save the Silver Boa, the most endangered species of boa in the world. In 2015, Reynolds discovered the Silver Boa while in the Bahamas. Now, his $32,822 grant will make him a National Geographic Explorer through 2022 and give him a chance to help save the species he discovered.
“Our goal is to use this grant to immediately intervene to prevent the extinction of the Silver Boa,” Reynolds said. “By the end of the grant term we will have a complete conservation plan in place and in action to ensure that the species has a path to survival.”
Blowing Rock, NC native and Olympic qualifier to compete in Atlanta’s Visa Big Air
Freestyle snowboarder and US Snowboard Team member Luke Winkelmann, 18, of Blowing Rock, NC will compete in the Visa Big Air event at Atlanta’s SunTrust Park December 20-21. The event is part of a multi-year commitment by U.S. Ski and Snowboarding to bring big air events to the public leading up to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
During the big air competition, Winkelmann and his competitors will launch themselves off of a 15-story steel scaffold structure covered in snow and travel up to 70 feet in the air to perform their biggest tricks. The Visa Big Air event is the first of its kind to come to Atlanta and is expected to draw up to 20,000 fans.
