📰 20 Good News Stories 🗞️
😕 You Didn’t Hear About 👂
Steve Hulford
We see so many “year in review” articles
and social media posts towards the end of every year, but there’s
something off about them...
For example:
- The Biggest Natural Disasters of the Year
- Celebrities We Lost Last Year
- Top 9 political scandals, gaffes and controversies of the year
Do you notice it, too? They’re just depressing. We think there’s more
to the world than that, and we were inspired by Col. Chris Hadfield’s
example of celebrating the amazing things that happened recently.
1. Say Goodbye to 40% of ocean plastics
Five trillion pieces of plastic are in the ocean right now,
gravitating toward one of five major garbage patches. The Ocean Cleanup
Project hopes to remove 40% of that plastic over ten years by emulating a
coastline. It has operated autonomously since launching, and runs on
power generated from ocean currents. Thirty years from now, ocean
plastics may become a footnote in history.
Source: The Ocean Cleanup
2. The giant panda is no longer an endangered species
The International Union for Conservation announced that giant pandas
are no longer endangered (officially) in September. This comes from a
census of 1,864 pandas in the wild, not including cubs, and marks a rise
from 1,596 in 2004. There are now 67 reserves in China covering 5,400
square miles for pandas.
Source: NBC News
3. China announced plans to end the ivory trade
China plans to end the ivory trade by
the end of 2017, it announced. Often viewed as a status symbol, ivory
goes for $1,100/kg in US dollars. Restricting the ivory market in China
will save an estimated 20,000 elephants per year—and only 415,000
elephants remain, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Source: Good News Network
4. The US veteran homeless rate declined by 47% in the last 7 years
The Obama administration announced a
50% decline in veteran homelessness since 2010. The homelessness rate
dropped by 16% alone from the previous January under a strategic
partnership between various government agencies. The results were
astounding, and we can expect to see more programs like this in the
future.
Source: Good News Network
5. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge funded a medical breakthrough
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge wasn’t just for kicks—it funded a real
study that identified the genetic cause of ALS. This is a major
breakthrough that will allow experts to tackle the question of treating,
curing, or even preventing ALS in the future. The movement didn’t
receive praise from everyone, but this is proof that “slacktivism” can
go a long way.
Source: New York Times
6. China put a ban on certain coal mines
China announced that it would shut down 1,000 small coal mines, and
then refrain from approving any new coal mines for three years. While
this is a small step for a country so vast, it’s a good symbolic step
toward renewable energy—which Greenpeace notes has covered China’s base
energy needs since 2011. This also followed a natural decline in fossil
fuel energy consumption for the last few years, indicating a lasting
change in the energy sector is imminent.
Source: Bloomberg
7. The manatee is longer on the endangered species list
The US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to reclassify the manatee
from “endangered” to “threatened.” Neither sound great, but this is
indeed fantastic news—the species has flourished in recent years,
gaining traction again since it went on the endangered list in 1972.
Florida alone has seen a 500% increase in the manatee population,
totalling 6,300 as of January.
Source: Scientific American
8. The Colombian Government and FARC rebels signed a peace agreement
The culmination of four years of negotiations and a failed
referendum, the Colombian Government and FARC rebels reached an accord.
The conflict has lasted for 52 years, killed 220,000 people, and removed
8 million from their homes. The new agreement limits the rebels to
particular areas, and they will hand over their weapons to UN monitors.
Source: BBC News
9. NASA Drone Juno flew 800 million miles
NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew
800,000,000 miles (1,287,475,200 kilometres) to reach Jupiter this year.
It will explore the planet’s radiation belts, hopefully gleaning
secrets of how the planet formed and changed—and perhaps learn a bit
about how the solar system formed in the process. This could have
far-reaching implications for the future.
Source: The Telegraph UK
10. Canada protected 85% of the world’s largest coastal temperate rainforest
Canada won a 20-year battle to protect the planet’s largest coastal
temperate rainforest, known as the Great Bear Rainforest. Environmental
activists, forestry companies, and First Nations representatives agreed
to protect 85% of the forest, cautiously allowing logging activities
continuing in the remaining 15% under strict guidelines—the most
rigorous standards in North America. This is a win for the environmental
movement.
Source: Reuters
11. Measles has been eradicated from the Americas
The Pan American Health Organization and the World Health
Organization announced that measles has been completely wiped from the
Americas, both North and South. It is the fifth disease to be removed
from the Americas with preventative vaccines, and will stem the tide of
2.6 million deaths caused by the disease before vaccination efforts
began in 1980. Keep an ear out for the next disease to be eradicated!
Source: The Atlantic
12. Malawi saw its HIV rate drop by 67%
Malawi’s first case of HIV was diagnosed in 1985, and the country
came to sustain a 25% infection rate by the early 2000s. But its
treatment program, initiated in 2004, has cut that number down to a 10%
rate in just 12 years—and prevented 260,000 HIV-related deaths along the
way. That’s over a quarter-million changed lives.
Source: Al Jazeera
13. 20 countries created protected marine parks
20 countries made a commitment to protect marine environments, some
of the largest belonging to the US and the UK. The announcement came at
the Our Oceans Conference at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.,
with an address by President Barack Obama. The US created the largest
marine area of all, just off the coast of Hawaii. It spans 1,140,000
square kilometers (440,000 square miles).
Source: Reuters
14. Israel produces 55% of fresh water from the sea
Israel developed a pump that turns seawater into fresh water—and this
is no high school experiment. It provides enough drinking water for 1.5
million people! Just ten miles south of Tel Aviv, this technology
provides the answer to the worst drought Israel has seen in 900 years.
Running out of drinking water was a real, tangible threat. This
technology could become instrumental in solving water access problems in
the future.
Source: Ensia
15. Scientists developed an Ebola vaccine with a 100 percent success rate
The Ebola outbreak was one of the worst epidemics in recent history,
and trials in Guinea have confirmed that a new vaccine boasts a 100%
protection rate. This will put an end to the 11,000 deaths in Guinea and
the surrounding area, curbing the number of infected at 28,000. The
trials were funded and supported by Merck and the WHO, plus the
governments of Canada, Norway and Guinea.
Source: Newsweek
16. World hunger hit a 25-year low
Where once there were 821 million malnourished people in the world in
2010, there are now 795 million. That number is still too high, but
think about the difference: 26 million people are no longer starving.
That’s the population of a modest country being fed regularly in just
six years.
Source: New York Times
17. Tiger populations are coming back again after 100 years
Tigers were endangered 100 years ago, and they are finally on the
(slight) rise once again. A global survey from the WWF reports that the
wild tiger population has risen back to 3,890—another 690 tigers
building the population from the 2010 figure. This is one of many good
news stories about wildlife, and perhaps one of our favorites.
Source: National Geographic
18. Einstein’s theory of gravitational waves has been proven correct
100 years ago, Einstein theorized that space and time are
intertwined—but the idea of black holes were foreboding, to say the
least. A team of scientists has recently recorded the sound of “two
distant black holes colliding a billion light-years away,” which
indicates that Einstein was correct in his calculations.
Source: NASA
19. Costa Rica’s electrical grid can run on renewable energy
Costa Rica ran on 100% renewable energy for 76 days straight, the
second time in a row (totaling 150 days). Costa Rica’s small size (half
the state of Kentucky, geographically) and relying on industries that
aren’t energy-intensive contributed heavily to this success. But it is
solid proof that drawing on multiple energy sources at a regional and
local level can heavily cut down on fossil fuels. How long until the
rest of the world follows suit?
Source: The Costa Rica News
20. India planted 50 million trees in 24 hours
Anyone who has planted trees can tell you it’s back-breaking work.
Imagine planting 50,000,000 trees in a single day! India accomplished
this on July 11 with 800,000 volunteers over a 24-hour period. Pakistan
formed the previous record of planting 847,275 trees in a single day in
2013, but India blew it out of the water. Can we set a global record in
2017?
Source: National Geographic
Steve Hulford
I
am insatiably curious about our world, and the people in it. I grew up
getting lost in the pages of National Geographic, the World Almanac,
Ripley's Believe It Or Not and various World Atlases. This thirst for
knowledge has led me on various adventures around the world. I have been
fortunate to travel to over sixty countries, and met countless
interesting characters. Nepal is one of my favorite places in the world.
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