Every day the Good Good Good team collects the best good news in the world and shares it with our community. Here are the highlights for this week!
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The Best Positive News We’re Celebrating This Week —
Saguaro National Park is expanding by nearly 50 acres due to a land acquisition
The Trust for Public Land acquired two properties in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains, which will lead to the expansion of Saguaro National Park by 47 acres.
Beyond adding to the national park’s protected area, the expansion also improves connectivity between the park and nearby Sweetwater Preserve, boosts the local outdoor industry, and helps make the outdoors even more accessible while preserving the “national treasures” of these public lands for generations to come.
While Saguaro National Park already boasts tens of thousands of acres, this new addition only helps solidify its significance and conservation years into the future.
Why is this good news? Just this past week, the Trump administration was reportedly considering rolling back protections for six national monuments representing over 5 million acres of national public lands. While 50 acres of additional acreage seems like a drop in the bucket compared to that — these additions that prioritize conserving more, not less, land are so important.
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SuperAdobe homes have popped up all around the world to provide sustainable, safe, cheap housing for people in need — one just survived the L.A. wildfires
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Three Indian teenagers built a salt-powered fridge to help bring vaccines and medical supplies to rural areas
After hearing how challenging it was to bring COVID-19 vaccines to rural areas that did not have electricity, three teenagers in India came up with a solution: a mini refrigerator that cools itself with salt and does not require an outlet.
Dhruv Chaudhary, Mithran Ladhania, and Mridul Jain’s invention, the Thermavault, just won the 2025 Earth Prize — and they’re using the $12,500 prize winnings to build 200 refrigerators for 120 hospitals.
The trio is hopeful that their invention will help transport critical vaccines, medicines and supplies, and even transplant organs.
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Nepal is a global leader in electric vehicle imports — and the shift is cleaning up toxic air pollution
Part of a larger, ambitious goal for electric vehicle sales, last year more than 70% of four-wheeled passenger vehicles imported into Nepal were electric — one of the highest rates in the world.
And there’s a new hope emerging as a result of the increasing popularity of EVs, both two- and four-wheeled: reducing chronic air pollution. The city is ranked among the world’s most polluted cities, with fine particulate matter regularly 10 to 20 times higher than WHO guidelines.
Air pollution accounted for nearly 19% of deaths in Nepal in 2021. The increasing use of electric vehicles could help clean up that air, bring it within safe, recommended pollution levels — and help people living in the city live for 2.6 more years.
Even better: Almost all of Nepal’s electricity is clean, generated by hydropower, and readily available — making the shift to electric vehicles even more impactful.
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Tiny cottages modeled after a children’s storybook are bringing neighbors together in a small New York town
Wind and solar capacity have surpassed coal-powered thermal energy in China for the first time
While China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases that drive climate change — it’s also installing almost twice as much wind and solar energy capacity as every other country in the world combined.
Currently, around 60% of China’s energy comes from coal — but that won’t be the story for long. Not only is it working to achieve peak carbon emissions by 2030, it just reached a major clean energy milestone.
China brought its total installed capacity of wind and solar power to 1.482 billion kilowatts, officially surpassing the installed capacity of thermal power, which is mainly coal, at 1.451 billion kilowatts.
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A reassuring report shows that rates of advanced cancer diagnoses have returned to pre-pandemic levels
The COVID-19 pandemic forced patients to postpone their usual cancer screenings due to overwhelmed doctors and hospitals. This resulted in an increase in the number of cancers being diagnosed at later stages, when it’s harder to treat.
That trend quickly reversed, though, already reverting to pre-pandemic levels by 2021, according to the broadest-yet analysis of the pandemic’s impact on U.S. cancer data.
The report also found that cancer death rates continue to decline, and the delay in screening isn’t making a huge impact on cancer statistics — making it unlikely that there will be higher cancer death rates tied to the pandemic.
Why is this good news? A valid concern, as certain types of health care were delayed at the start of the pandemic when hospital systems were overloaded, was the impact of those delays on diseases like cancer. It’s encouraging to see that these concerns didn’t become another heartbreaking outcome on top of the pandemic.
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‘Fungi tiles’ inspired by elephant skin keep buildings cool without electricity: ‘Promising eco-friendly alternative’
In the last 50 years, over 90 million lives have been saved by measles vaccinations
Prior to the measles vaccine, nearly every child was infected with measles. Without the availability of vaccines, an estimated 2 to 3 million people globally would die from measles every year.
And in the last 50 years, an estimated 90 million lives total have been saved by the measles vaccine.
Amidst a fatal measles outbreak in the U.S., powerful health officials are casting doubt on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine — but these claims aren’t supported by evidence. Even when more serious reactions to the vaccine do occur, they are rare and less likely than if a child actually gets measles.
Not only does a single dose of the vaccine reduce a person’s chance of getting measles by around 95% — it also is proven to prevent measles from spreading within families and communities.
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Despite fears a ‘millionaire’s tax’ would drive people out of the state, Massachusetts now has more wealthy residents
In 2022, Massachusetts voters approved a 4% surtax on incomes over $1 million or more, which was projected to bring in $1 billion in income for the state — but critics feared it would make wealthy people leave the state.
In fact, the opposite happened: Researchers found the number of people making $1 million or more annually has increased by nearly 40% since it the tax went into effect.
Additionally, the number of ultra-wealthy residents — making at least $50 million or more annually — has also grown, from 1,954 in 2022 to 2,642 in 2024. And the added revenue surpassed projections, generating $2.46 billion in 2023 alone.
Why is this good news? In addition to proving that a tax on extraordinarily wealthy individuals doesn’t inevitably lead to “wealth exodus,” the additional revenue from the tax is going to “fund essential programs that expand economic opportunity for all,” like free school lunches and free community college for state residents.
From the director of ‘My Octopus Teacher,’ critics are raving about ‘Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey’ on Netflix
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A new study found that critically endangered axolotls bred in captivity can survive in the wild
A new study is providing some hope for the conservation of the widely beloved, and critically endangered, axolotls. Researchers released 18 of the amphibians who had been bred in captivity into the wild — and found the animals could survive.
Famous for their permanent smiles, axolotls were once found across several lakes in Mexico City, but their habitat has diminished as humans diverted and drained lakes to prevent flooding. Now, they are only found in canals in a single lake
This groundbreaking research will likely pave the way for more reintroduction projects.
What’s the nuance? The researchers acknowledged that the first priority for axolotl conservation is is to improve its natural habitat, which is also threatened by years of pollution and degradation, leaving only an estimated 50 to 1,000 still existing in the wild.
TikTok’s ‘squirrel whisperer’ spends weekend guarding wildlife from tree removal: ‘Protect what brings you peace’
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India massively reduced extreme poverty to just 2.3% of the population — down from 16% a decade earlier
Lifting 171 million people above the poverty line, India reduced extreme poverty from 16% in 2011-2012 to just 2.3% in 2022-2023. Extreme poverty is measured at $2.15 per day in purchasing power parity.
And the results were widespread, with rural extreme poverty falling from 18.4% to 2.8 percent, and urban extreme poverty from 10.7 percent to 1.1 percent over the same time period.
Even applying a $3.65-per-day poverty line, poverty in the country fell from 61.8% to 28.1% — equating to lifting 378 million people out of poverty.
More good news of the week —
In honor of her late husband, a philanthropist has donated over $100 million to 350 local charities in Rhode Island. Barbara Papitto founded the Papitto Opportunity Connection to support nonprofits in Rhode Island that serve communities most in need of help, with grants focusing on three main areas of impact: education, skills training, and entrepreneurship.
An autistic artist teamed up with city council to create and install “happy to talk” benches to combat loneliness. While Oliver Chan’s experience with autism might amplify feelings of loneliness, he knows it’s something everyone experiences. — and that became abundantly clear in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After a months-long recovery, 31 critically endangered, “cold-stunned” sea turtles returned to the Atlantic Ocean. The Kemp’s ridley sea turtle — the most endangered sea turtle species in the world — is ending up “cold-stunned” in Cape Cod Bay with increasing frequency due to changing ocean temperatures and extreme wind patterns that force sea turtles up north.
Dutch engineers built a 3D-printed bridge using a decommissioned wind turbine blade. Another potential way to recycle would-be waste from wind turbines, people have also turned the decommissioned blades into surfboards, tiny homes, and more.
A homeless shelter run by students is providing housing where a college priced students out of dorms and campus housing. Colleges often don’t have enough room to accommodate all of their graduates, forcing students to look for housing off-campus — where affordable housing is increasingly difficult to find.
Engineers designed a self-repairing, “living” concrete out of fungi and bacteria to address the environmental impact of construction. Cement alone is responsible for nearly 8% of global CO₂ emissions, and the team of scientists believes their innovation could help pave the way for more sustainable and adaptive building systems.
In “a sign of hope,” four months after the Los Angeles wildfires, wildlife is returning to the burn area. A group of volunteers is monitoring the area with trail cameras in an area behind Altadena — previously slated for development into a sports complex — to showcase the biodiversity of the area and take “inventory of everything that was valuable.”
A simple tweak to tax law is helping bring solar power to the communities that need it most. The Inflation Reduction Act made it easier for project developers without major tax liabilities, like the Boston Community Solar Cooperative, to sell their clean energy credits at a discount before breaking ground on a solar or wind project.
A Korean boy band member just became the first active K-pop star to come out as gay. Bain of Just B came out from the stage during a concert in Los Angeles, saying he was “a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community,” in a rare public announcement from an active K-pop star, whose behaviors are traditionally tightly controlled by music labels.
A new tribal national park in North Dakota is opening to visitors as part of an effort to preserve the land. Three Affiliated Tribes National Park will open a little-seen area of a dramatic landscape to outdoor enthusiasts after three Native tribes purchased 2,100 acres of a former ranch.
An endangered lemur was just born at the Maryland Zoo for the first time since it was introduced in 2023. The Coquerel’s sifaka is native only to Madagascar, where it’s become endangered primarily due to habitat loss caused by deforestation, and the Maryland Zoo’s program aims to grow the species and preserve genetic diversity.
Publisher Penguin Random House dropped a “book ban” clothing line and 100% of the profits will benefit libraries. The “Reading Is A Right” line of socks, sweats, T-shirts, and hats will benefit the American Library Association, which supports libraries and librarians, compiles data on book challenges throughout the U.S., and acts as a watchdog for censorship efforts in public institutions.
Using breakthrough technology that could save countless lives, scientists are trialing fridge-free vaccines in the UK. Currently, most vaccines must be kept cold or frozen, and this “cold chain” poses a major obstacle to vaccinating people in developing nations where electricity is scarce or unreliable, resulting in around half of all vaccines being discarded each year.
The world’s first giant 15 megawatt turbine is up and running at Germany’s largest offshore wind farm. A single spin of one of the turbine’s rotors can generate enough electricity to power four households for an entire day, and when the entire wind farm project is finished, it will have 64 of them.
Previously the world’s largest landfill, a Staten Island park is getting 50k flowers to lure bees and butterflies. Over the next two years, the project will study the impacts of large-scale native violet planting and reintroduce native pollinators to assess the success of the planting project and the challenges posed by global warming and the reduction of air safety regulations.
Celebrating “10 years of impact,” Taco Bell has provided over $64 million in scholarships for college students. This May marks the 10-year anniversary of the Taco Bell Foundation’s Live Más scholarship program, and to honor the milestone, the foundation is giving its largest scholarship distribution yet. Time to go get that Crunchwrap Supreme you’ve been craving.
Thanks to a new monitoring camera, eight seals entangled in nets were rescued in Rhode Island. The state’s Department of Environmental Management installed the camera to “support conservation efforts in real time,” and the eight seals will be released back into the ocean after being rehabilitated.
Doctors just performed a pioneering surgery to reconstruct a protective cage around a “one-of-a-kind” girl’s heart. Now seven years old, Vanellope Hope Wilkins first made medical history when she was born with her heart outside of her body in 2017, and subsequently had three operations to place her heart back in her chest.
A test case for addressing homelessness, a city’s first tiny home village situated on private land is already half full. With the capacity to house up to 150 people, each of the 135 individual rooms is equipped with a bed and nightstand, eight of them are ADA compliant, and there is more land available for expansion if the project is successful.
