Warley Woods Community (社区) Trust

    Welcome to our third news letter of the year!

    Our main activity for March is our Walk for the Woods fundraising events on Saturday, 17th March, starting any time between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. We will be walking the distance between Warley Woods and Tipperary. It is indeed a long way — 80 miles. The more people that you can get sponsor you, the more money we can raise to helplook after our beautiful woodland. More information is available at ourwebsite.

    The Sunday volunteers planted two beeches and an oak last week. This was thanks to the money from the Big Tree Plant and to Lisa and Gordon Whitiker, whose friends gave money forthe big trees instead of for their wedding presents. Thanks to everyone who took part.

    There were 15 volunteersat the Oral History Training Day which was led very ably by Julia Letts. The group will be meeting again and will start to interview the local people whohave offered to tell their stories. We are happy to hear from others who would like to be interviewed about their memories of the Woods for the project. If you or anyone you know is interested, please call Viv Cole at the office. This project is financed by Heritage Lottery Fund.

    There was a huge response to the Forest Schools activities held at half term. These will be held again during the Easter holidays on the following dates: 4th April from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for over 8s. On 12th April form 10 a.m. to 12 noon, there will be a Teddy Bears' Picnic for the under 8s. All these must be booked in advance.

    Finally, don't forget the Easter Egg Roll on Bank Holiday, 9th April, staring at 11 a.m. Bring your ownhard-boiled and decorated egg to roll down the hill in the woods. The firstpast the finishing line will win a large chocolate egg! This year, due to popular demand, there will also be an Adults' Easter Egg Roll following the children's competition.

    We look forward to seeing you all soon, at one of our many events.

Empathy

    Last year, researchers from the University of Michigan reported that empathy, the ability to understand other people, among college students had dropped a lot over the past 10 years. That could be because so many people have replaced face time with screen time, the researchers said. Today, people spend more time alone and seldom join groups and clubs.

    Jennifer Freed, a director of a teen program, has another explanation. on the TV, and you're showered with news and reality shows full of people fighting, competing, and generally treating one another with no respect(尊重).  Humans learn by example—and most of the examples on it are anything but empathetic.

    There are good reasons not to follow those bad examples. Humans are socially connected with nature. Having relationships with other people is an important part of being human—and having empathy is important to those relationships. Researchers have also found that empathetic teenagers always have high self-respect. Besides, empathy can be helpful for loneliness, sadness, anxiety, and fear.

    Empathy is also necessary for a good leader. In fact, Freed says, many top companies report that empathy is one the most important things they look for in new managers. Social skills—including empathy—are a kind of “emotional(情感的) intelligence" that will help you succeed in many areas of life. “Tests results are important. But if you don't have emotional intelligence, you won't be as successful in work or in your love life,” she says.

    What's the best way to up your EQ(情商)? For starters, let down your guard and really listen to others. “One doesn't develop empathy by having a lot of opinions and doing a lot of talking,” Freed says. To really develop empathy, you'd better volunteer at a nursing home or a hospital, join a club or a team that has a diverse membership, have a “sharing circle” with your family, or spend time caring for pets at an animal shelter.

    For Zack, the shave was more than just a way to fund lifesaving research. It was a way to honor his late brother, Taylor Frink.

    Taylor, a volunteer firefighter in North Carolina, was killed in a car accident last September. Before his passing, Taylor was an eager supporter of St. Baldrick's. He went bald（秃头）for the cause in 2015, supporting kids with cancer and raising money to find cures.

    As a local hero, Taylor was beloved by the community. When he died, more than 1, 000 people attended his funeral to pay their respects. Zack looked up to his brother and this was the reason why he decided to become a junior firefighter himself. They did everything together. Zack remembers.

    Zack knew his brother had planned to shave again in 2016, so without hesitation he decided to fill his shoes and registered to shave at the local St. Baldrick's event in Kinston, N. C.

    “He was always goodhearted, and I want to make my brother proud,” shares Zack.

    As part of Zack's kindnesses, he raised more than $ 1,000 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation primarily by selling T-shirts he designed. Leading up to the event, Zack also visited his city council, commissioner's office and challenged the local official department to get involved.

    “We are not going to let Taylor's name be forgotten. That is what I love about St Baldrick's,” says Jean Culbreth, volunteer event organizer. “Zack gets it. He gets that what he is doing is keeping his brother's name alive.”

    The day finally came and Zack took his seat under the clippers (剪具), not only to honor his brother but to help kids with cancer. It was a special moment for all, and by the end of the day the event had raised more than $ 22,000!

    Good health is the most valuable thing in the world. When you've got it, you never think about it. When you haven't got it, you think about it all the time. Our biggest enemies are not terrible diseases and so on. We are our own biggest enemies because we sometimes destroy our own good health. Some of us eat too much, drink too much and smoke too much. And though our reason tells us we should control ourselves, we find it difficult. The fact is that most human beings need stimulation (刺激). Who doesn't enjoy a drink after a busy day? Only a smoker knows the pleasure of a cigarette with a cup of coffee.

    The danger is when these innocent pleasures run our lives and so destroy our health. When you find yourself eating between meals or eating too much rich food, when you can only keep yourself going by taking frequent drinks or by smoking one cigarette after another, then it's time to stop and think what you might be doing to yourself. The funny thing is that when we don't control ourselves, simple pleasures are no longer simple pleasures.

    All right, I know what you're thinking. You're probably saying, “It's easy to say, but I can't help myself. I need that extra bit of food, that extra drink, that extra cigarette. Life has so many pleasures that I can't do without them.” But I'm saying you can help yourself. Not only that, you must help yourself. Because if you don't help yourself, no one else can. So be your own best friend.

    In 1988, after being diagnosed with kidney cancer, Fenn, a high-end gallery owner, came up with a crazy plan: He would bury some of his favorite artifacts somewhere in the Rocky Mountains and then die next to them. "My desire was to hide the treasure and let my body stay there and go back to the soil," he explains.

    The contents are worth somewhere between $I million and $5 million. Then he took his treasure chest out into the Rockies and hid it.He wanted it to be found. But he wasn't going to just give it away.

    In 2010, Fenn self-published a book, The Thrill of the Chase, which includes a 24-line poem that Fenn claims contains nine clues that "will lead to my treasure."

    At first, nobody really noticed. But word spread, and the chase was on.(The book is now out of print, and copies show up on Amazon for as much as $3,200.) Fenn estimates that 350,000 people from across the globe have searched or are currently searching for his treasure. Yet nobody has found it.

    The problem with Fenn's poem is that the "clues" can be interpreted a million different ways. The "home of Brown," for instance, could be Browns Canyon National Monument in Colorado, or Brown Hill in New Mexico. Or a cabin or a bear.(Don't laugh; several people have already looked.)

    "It's all in the poem," some have recently started sharing more details," and the treasure isn't in a mine, I mean, they have snakes in' em. It's between 5,000 feet and 10,200 feet above sea level. It's not in Canada or Idaho or Utah or a grave-yard."

    Why are Fenn's treasure hunters so into what seems like a ridiculous thing to do with their time? Many are quick to say that their lives have been enriched by their experiences. "It's changed us," Neitzel says. "made us more confident, and even saved our marriages. Nothing scares us anymore." They thank Fenn for giving them a reason to take a risk, for giving their lives meaning. Many claim that even if they found Fenn's chest, they wouldn't necessarily spend the money—and might even rehide the chest. Another hunter had this tantalizing insight: "I hope that I never find the treasure. The journey will be treasure enough."

    And so the hunt continues.

    The world's first hydrogen-powered trains have begun running in Germany. They began carrying passengers Monday in Germany's northern Lower Saxony state. The new train will run 100-kilometer trips and can travel up to 140 kilometers an hour.

    A French railroad company called Alstom built the two trains. Team in Germany and France cooperated on the project, which was supported by the German government. The new train model ,called the Coradia ilint, signals the beginning of efforts in Germany and other nations to move away from pollution-producing diesel(柴油) trains.

    The Coradia iLint is designed to run on non-electrified train lines with low levels of noise.

    It uses a process that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electrical power. If the system produces more energy than the train needs at that time, it can store the extra energy in batteries. The only emissions (排放物) are water and steam.

    A single tank of hydrogen can run a Coradia iLint train for about 1,000 kilometers. This is very similar to the distance a diesel-powered train can run on with a single tank.

    Hydrogen-powered trains cost more than diesel trains to build. But Alstom officials say the operating costs are much lower. The company plans to provide another 14 Coradia iLint trains to Lower Saxony by 2021.

    The head of railroad operations in the area, Carmen Schwab, praised replacing diesel trains with hydrogen. She said the move was an important first step in using clean-burning technologies to reach climate protection goals.

    Officials say the area's many wind turbines (涡轮机)will produce part of the energy to create the hydrogen to power the trains.

    Alstom says several other European countries have also expressed interest in developing hydrogen train systems. France has already said it wants its first hydrogen train to be operating by 2022.