It wasn’t all bad
■■ The pandemic, with its absence of tourists, has been surprisingly good to Mount Everest. Back in 2019, long lines of climbers and garbage strewn across the Himalayas were routine. Now that there are no visitors, local Sherpas can focus on preserving the environment. As part of the Bally Peak Outlook initiative to protect the mountains, 12 Nepalese climbers scaled two mountains and crossed four alpine glaciated passes to remove 2.2 tons of garbage. “It felt like a pilgrimage,” said mountaineer Dawa Steven Sherpa. “It was nature in its purest state.”
■■ Eight-year-old Lilly Bumpus is used to defying the odds— first by beating cancer and now by breaking the sales record by selling 32,484 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in three months. Bumpus was born with a rare form of bone cancer and underwent 14 rounds of treatment before she turned 1. When Bumpus joined the Girl Scouts at age 5, she learned that if she sold 5,000 boxes of cookies, she would be able to go to Greece and Rome. Within one week, she met her goal. A Girl Scout cookie–selling record of 18,000 boxes in one year was set in 1985; it was finally broken in 2014, and has since been passed several times.
■■ A 20-year-old autistic man has a brighter future ahead, thanks to a handwritten letter he uploaded onto LinkedIn. “Dear Future Employer,” Ryan Lowry penned. “I have autism, I also have a unique sense of humor, am gifted at math, really good with technology, and a really quick learner.” His letter urging employers to “take a chance” on him was viewed 7 million times and led to thousands of invitations to connect. The Virginia native hopes to get a job in animation or IT, and in the meantime is being mentored by a local animator. “He is a beautiful young adult who wants to be independent someday,” said Lowry’s mother.