These days, bad news dominates headlines, social media feeds, TV segments, and more. It makes sense: humans biologically have an internal negativity bias that makes it easier for our brains to process and retain bad news.
This bias means we must work extra hard to find, pay attention to, and celebrate good news.
And there’s a lot of it: good news happens all over the world every single day, too. Scientists are making life-saving medical breakthroughs, animals are coming back from extinction, trees are getting planted, governments are protecting human rights, the world is transitioning to renewable energy at a faster clip, and more.
Good Good Good exists to give those stories the platform they deserve — we do it every day in our newsletter, in our print newspaper, and on our news website.
But we’re only human, and even a team of scrappy hopefuls fully immersed in good news is not immune to doomscrolling and the mental health implications of being online.
We’re bombarded every day with negative comments and hateful messages, and feel overwhelmed by massive large- and small-scale issues like climate change, inequality, war and conflict, and racism.
So, we launched 100 Days of Good News in the fall of 2024 as a bit of a reset button, a palate cleanser, to give our brains a break from the heaviness.
This exercise doesn’t negate or ignore the truly awful things happening in the world right now — but rather, reminds us that hope is real and progress is possible. Knowing that change is possible is an essential precursor to making a difference for the world’s biggest problems.
So, in an effort to help you feel more hopeful, we’re sharing a good news story every day, for 100 days. We’ll update this article daily with a new good news story — plus a few more related stories for an extra dose of hope.
100 Days of Good News
Day 14
A physicist has written over 1,600 Wikipedia bios for “unknown” and ignored women in science
Passionate about getting more women and girls in STEM fields, Jessica Wade isn’t setting up “whiz-bang” science experiments in schools — she’s starting with visibility.
Wade has written more than 1,600 Wikipedia articles about ignored women scientists who have long gone unrecognized by their colleagues, employers, and the public.
According to Wade, this is a critical first step in getting girls and students of color, especially, who are “already interested” in science to be aware of the different careers available to them — and they need mentorship.
Why is this good news? Women make up just 28% of the U.S. workforce in STEM, and earn significantly less than their male colleagues. The critical areas of research and development that STEM fields touch need better representation.
More Good News
Groundbreaking new AI technology is helping reduce wildlife collisions on roadways — and it was invented by teen girls. A project created by four teen girls in Colorado uses AI and infrared technology to alert drivers of oncoming wildlife.
A woman-owned startup just launched a line of sustainable PPE products designed specifically for women in STEM. ArmorSui’s products include gender-inclusive lab coats, reusable isolation gowns, and fire-resistant hijabs.
Black women are launching digital startups aimed at reducing health disparities. With only 3% of active physicians are Black women, a wave of new digital platforms is trying to make it easier to find them.
Day 13
In a milestone for the critically endangered species, a baby California condor has just hatched in San Diego
The California condor — the largest bird in North America — went extinct in the wild in 1987. But a new bundle of joy has now hatched at the San Diego Zoo.
It’s the 250th egg to be hatched at the zoo. It was born to mom Mexwe, and dad Xol-Xol, the first California condor brought into human care under the California Condor Recovery Program in 1982.
There are now approximately 275 free-flying condors in California, Utah, Arizona, and Baja California — thanks largely to the conservation work of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
More Good News
The size of a stack of sticky notes, a critically endangered bird species is making a huge comeback. The Florida grasshopper sparrow is native to Florida, found nowhere else on the planet, and named for its buzz-like birdsong.
Experts are releasing “Keurig pods” filled with mosquitos in a national park to help save Maui’s native birds. Colorful native forest birds called honeycreepers are found in Hawaii’s Haleakalā National Park — and exist nowhere else on Earth.
Thanks to successful rewilding efforts, Brazil’s most trafficked, endangered bird is making a comeback. A conservation project is working to conserve the species through research and education while collaborating with bird keepers and breeders to bring the species back to the wild.
Day 12
A new report found that renewables will officially surpass coal in energy production in 2025
Due to an increase in heatwaves around the world, the International Energy Agency’s new report predicts electricity demand will see record-high growth rates.
Not only are renewables tasked with replacing fossil fuels — they’re also needed to meet that rise in electricity demand. And they’re up to the task: the IEA predicts the amount generated by renewable energy sources will increase from 30% in 2023 to 35% in 2025.
While solar will meet around half of the growth in demand on its own in the coming years, combined with wind, it will meet three-quarters of the growth. Thanks to explosive growth in renewable electricity generation — the IEA predicts it will officially surpass coal next year.
More Good News
“Imaginative” nonviolent action from activists helped bring about “the end of coal” in New England. Following lawsuits and pressure from climate activists, Granite Shore Power announced it would “voluntarily” stop burning coal at two power stations in New Hampshire.
New EPA regulations close loopholes that have allowed coal-fired power plants to pollute the air and water for decades. While clean energy alternatives are rapidly growing, fossil fuel plants still generate 60% of the U.S. electricity supply — the new rules will help address the pollutants they produce.
A job training and placement program for former coal workers in Kentucky just got $40 million in funding. The Shaping Our Appalachian Region plan will advance local industries, small business support, and job placement for people in recovery, former coal workers, and more.
Day 11
The first statewide program of its kind, Colorado will offer in-person voting for eligible voters who are incarcerated
After finding that eligible voters who were incarcerated weren’t commonly voting due to obstacles, Colorado passed a first-of-its-kind bill mandating election officials bring voting services to detention centers and jails.
In Colorado, while people serving felony convictions aren’t eligible to vote, those awaiting trial or serving time for misdemeanors are.
Now, around 61 jails and detention centers across Colorado will make it easier to vote by offering in-person voting for the 2024 general election in November.
More Good News
Two formerly incarcerated firefighters are helping others become professional firefighters, too. The Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program helps people use the skills they gained fighting fires in prison to build full-time — and fully paid — wildland firefighting careers.
A small, social justice-focused apparel company specifically hires formerly incarcerated people and their families. Formerly incarcerated people face continuous harm and struggle to access essentials like employment, health care, nutritious food, and housing.
Working to improve the system that couldn’t help him, a formerly incarcerated man is helping reduce recidivism rates. Jason Wang experienced the brunt of the injustices embedded in the criminal justice system and the systematic disproportionalities people of color face.
Day 10
Worldwide tree cover grew by 2.24 million square kilometers over the course of three decades
According to a study published in “Nature,” worldwide tree cover actually grew by 2.24 million square kilometers — the size of Texas and Alaska combined — over the course of 35 years.
Researchers found that tree cover loss in the tropics was dominated by tree cover gain in other regions, driven by agricultural abandonment in parts of Europe, Asia, and North America, rising temperatures allowing forests to grow closer to the north and south poles, and a massive tree-planting program in China.
While this is great news and good progress to celebrate — it’s also important to note that they also confirmed large-scale loss of the planet’s most biodiverse ecosystems, particularly in the tropical rainforests, so it’s important we continue to fight deforestation.
More Good News
The National Forest Foundation planted over 8 million trees in a year, reforesting over 21,000 acres of land. Pest infestations, drought, and wildfires make it difficult for forests to regenerate on their own, so tree planting and reforestation efforts are essential.
Achieving a major reforestation milestone, the Democratic Republic of Congo planted 90% of its 1 billion trees goal. To strengthen climate resilience, alleviate poverty, and protect biodiversity, a Congolese government program aspired to plant 1 billion trees between 2019 and 2023.
Tucson, Arizona is planting a million trees to combat climate change and improve the health of residents, wildlife, and the watershed. Helping the country’s third fastest-warming city adapt to a rapidly changing climate, the city’s commitment is part of a global effort to plant 1 billion trees.
Day 9
A family-owned restaurant in the Bronx is distributing over 500 free meals a day to recently arrived immigrants
In 2009, after immigrating from Oaxaca, Mexico in 1992, Natalia Méndez and her husband, Antonio Saavedra rented a space in the Bronx borough of New York City to open a restaurant — La Morada.
At first, it operated like a standard restaurant, until Natalia realized that New Yorkers were going to need to eat during the pandemic. So, they started making “the root soup” and on just the first day, the free soup meals were gone in an hour. Eventually, they were making upwards of 800 meals a day — distributing 5,000 in a week.
And the concept stuck. In addition to its standard menu items, including enchiladas, tacos, stuffed chiles, nachos, and more — La Morada gives out more than 500 meals for free every day to newly arrived immigrants in the city. Natalia calls herself the “mother to all those who are hungry.”
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More Good News
Instead of wasting it, an app lets people buy surplus food from restaurants and stores. Too Good To Go addresses both access and affordability of healthful foods plus the environmental impact of sending food to landfills.
Helping make affordable meals more accessible, a home chef is teaching people to stretch $100 of groceries over 30 days. While it started as a creative challenge, Rebecca Chobat realized just how vital her recipes were for families struggling to afford groceries across the country.
Earlier this year, World Central Kitchen reached the milestone of serving 22 million meals in Gaza. Despite the challenges posed by intense fighting and the complexities of aid distribution in the region, WCK has proven resilient in its commitment to providing essential food assistance.
Day 8
A report found that more people are surviving cancer than ever before in the U.S.
Over the course of three years, the number of cancer survivors in the U.S. increased by more than a million people. In total, as of January 2022, there were 18 million total cancer survivors — and that figure is expected to increase to 26 million by 2040.
That’s a remarkable jump from just a handful of decades prior — in 1971, there were just 3 million cancer survivors in the U.S. For all cancers combined, the five-year survival rate increased from 49% in the mid-1970s — to nearly 70% from 2011 to 2017.
The factors most driving the improvement in outcomes: the decline in smoking and improvements in early detection and treatment of various cancers.
More Good News
A groundbreaking at-home cervical cancer screening test received ‘breakthrough’ approval from the FDA. Self-collect screening methods like the Teal Wand have put Australia on track to completely eliminate cervical cancer as a public health concern by 2035.
Scientists developed an mRNA vaccine that can deliver treatments more effectively in children with brain cancer. Because many chemotherapies are unable to penetrate the protective barrier around the brain, brain cancers remain among the most challenging tumors to treat — especially in children.
Trials for the world’s first-ever lung cancer vaccine have now launched across eight countries. Experts say the vaccine has “groundbreaking” potential to save thousands of lives from the world’s leading cause of cancer death, with about 1.8 million deaths every year.
Extra credit: Read about 11 medical breakthroughs that could forever change cancer treatment.
Day 7
In another milestone, the 7th person in the world has now likely been cured of HIV
Joining just six other people in the world, a man in Germany has likely been cured of HIV. Treated for leukemia with a stem cell transplant in 2015, he’s now the seventh person in the world to be in remission.
Since he stopped taking antiretroviral drugs in 2018, there has been no HIV detected in his body, leading experts and scientists to believe he has officially been cured.
To catch this HIV was initially a death sentence, but today, thanks to antiretroviral and pre-exposure prophylaxis drugs it can be kept in check. While scientists keep inching closer to one — like in this case — there is still no cure.
More Good News
In a breakthrough for HIV treatment, a new drug trial showed a twice-annual injection is 100% effective against infection. Alongside greater advocacy, funding, and access to treatment, it could help continue the declining rates of HIV/AIDS cases and deaths globally.
Namibia is on track to hit targets to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic before its 2030 deadline. Namibia has one of the world’s highest HIV prevalence rates and it’s still the leading cause of death in the country, with women most impacted.
Grassroots AIDS activists fought for affordable HIV treatments around the world — and they won. Today, PEPFAR is working in over 50 countries and since 2003, the program has invested over $100 billion into the global fight against AIDS.
Day 6
Human rights are better protected in every part of the world than a century ago
According to recently released data, human rights are better protected in all regions of the world in 2023 than they were 100 years ago.
While progress hasn’t been linear, and each region has experienced setbacks, the overall trend is more human rights protected when compared to a century ago.
The positive progress also holds true when weighted for countries with larger populations. At the same time, there’s still room for progress in regions like Africa and Asia, which haven’t made as significant of progress.
But this data makes it clear: progress is possible.
More Good News
Thailand became the first South-East Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. The new law gives same-sex couples the ability to have children through IVF and make emergency medical decisions for their spouse.
France became the only country in the world to constitutionally guarantee the right to an abortion. A critical, life-saving piece of reproductive health care, the world-first measure was overwhelmingly approved in a 780-72 vote.
Young people in Hawaii just forced the state to commit to a transportation decarbonization plan. The agreement comes two years after 13 Hawaiian youth sued the state for failing to protect their “constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.”
Day 5
Despite a rise in fires, deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is at its lowest level since March 2018
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon continued to plummet in May, reaching the lowest level since March 2018. Deforestation that month was around 501 square kilometers — or about 147 times the size of Central Park in New York City.
That may sound like a lot (it is!), but it represents a 54% decline from the same time last year. Year to date, 1,182 square kilometers of the rainforest have been cleared — down 40% from this point in 2023.
This good progress is despite the simultaneous rise in forest fires due to extreme drought.
More Good News
A group of Indigenous women in Ecuador is preserving their culture and protecting the Amazon from illegal mining. Their unique approach includes not only physically guarding their territory, but also defending their culture, ancestrality, language, education, and health.
Indigenous communities in northern Peru are using tech tools to track and report illegal deforestation in the Amazon. Members of nearly 40 Indigenous communities were given training to use smartphone mapping apps that receive early deforestation alerts.
Indigenous groups in Colombia are training the next generation to defend and preserve the Amazon. It’s part of an effort to keep young people in the forest so knowledge is passed on to future generations and a new era of leaders emerges.
Day 4
A new study found that cooperation among strangers has increased since the 1950s
Most people tend to think that people are growing further apart, isolated, and individualistic — but that’s actually not what an analysis of 61 years of data shows.
Newly published research from the American Psychological Association shows that cooperation among strangers has gradually increased in the U.S. since the 1950s.
The researchers analyzed 511 studies conducted in the United States between 1956 and 2017 with a total of more than 63,000 participants. It found a small, gradual increase in cooperation, which could be linked to increases in urbanization, societal wealth, income inequality and the number of people living alone.
Why is this good news? As the lead researcher put it: “Greater cooperation within and between societies may help us tackle global challenges, such as responses to pandemics, climate change and immigrant crises.”
More Good News
After a weatherman had an on-air panic attack, his coworkers stepped in to help while he recovered. The now-viral clip illustrates beautifully the difference a supportive work environment can make for those with anxiety — or any kind of mental health struggle.
To help extend the life of everyday and beloved objects alike, a Toronto man is offering free 3D-printed repairs. Morley Kert takes his beloved 3D printer on field trips to public spaces to help community members fix everything from sunglasses to water bottles.
After passing away from ovarian cancer, a New York woman raised over $1 million to forgive the medical debt of strangers. When Casey McIntyre passed away in 2023, she wanted to help others, starting a now-viral memorial and fundraising campaign with Undue Medical Debt.
Day 3
With over 500 nests, sea turtles broke a 42-year record in Florida thanks to years of conservation efforts
With its sandy beaches and subtropical waters, Florida is home to one of the largest loggerhead sea turtle nesting populations in the world.
Despite living up to 70 years, loggerheads have been on the decline due to ocean pollution, human interference, and the gradual destruction of their nesting habitats. They’re protected as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
But on the Gulf coast of Florida, Anna Maria Island just celebrated a huge milestone for sea turtle conservation when volunteers counted 546 nests on the island, breaking a 42-year record for the island.
And it’s thanks to conservation efforts that happened 25 years ago.
More Good News
Georgia also made history with the state’s largest-ever endangered sea turtle release. The 34 turtles had spent months at aquariums undergoing care for hypothermia-related conditions, like pneumonia, dehydration, and trauma.
Thanks to extensive conservation efforts, Bangladesh has seen the highest number of olive ridley turtle eggs this year. Those efforts included building awareness among local people and local conservation groups vigilantly ensuring favorable conditions for the species.
Researchers and locals are combining technology and tradition to study and protect sea turtles in critical nesting grounds. Uninhabited Poilão Island in Guinea-Bissau is Africa’s most important nesting ground for green sea turtles, and locals have long limited access to it.
Day 2
Achieving a major reforestation milestone, the Democratic Republic of Congo has planted 90% of its 1 billion trees goal
The Democratic Republic of Congo loses 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of forest cover every year due to shifting cultivation, mining, and illegal and informal logging.
To address this widespread deforestation, a Congolese government program aspired to plant 1 billion trees between 2019 and 2023, aiming to strengthen climate resilience, alleviate poverty, and protect biodiversity.
While they didn’t meet their goal, they reached a remarkable 90% of their target — and the organization behind the reforestation effort plans to continue planting more trees even after the government program comes to an end.
More Good News
“Reforestation hubs” are making sure trees that are cut down go on to serve another useful purpose. With an estimated 38 million trees cut down in the U.S. annually, organizations have stepped up with creative solutions to save the wood, reduce carbon emissions, and create jobs.
The U.S. National Forest Foundation planted over 8 million trees — of 25 different species — and reforested over 21,000 acres of land. Pest infestations, drought, and wildfires make it difficult for forests to regenerate on their own, and their efforts have led to cleaner air, cleaner water, and healthier ecosystems.
To fight climate change and improve the health of residents, wildlife, and the watershed, Tuscon, Arizona is planting 1 million trees. The city is prioritizing tree planting in low-income communities, which are disproportionately burdened by the city’s urban heat island effect.
Day 1
The World Health Organization approved a malaria vaccine for use in children for the first time — it will save millions of lives
In 2019 alone, 386,000 Africans died from malaria — 274,000 of them were children under five, according to the World Health Organization.
For the first time in history, the WHO has approved a malaria vaccine for children after a successful pilot scheme in three African countries: Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi. It's now being administered in even more countries.
While the world has made tremendous progress in eradicating malaria, it still impacts millions of people — this breakthrough vaccine is poised to save so many lives, primarily young children.
More Good News
Achieving a major milestone in the country, 10,000 women have been certified to help fight malaria in Rwanda. Malaria is the seventh leading cause of death in Rwanda, leading to a widespread community effort to protect families and communities from the disease.
With 30 years of work behind him, the scientist behind the anti-malaria vaccine is hopeful we can control malaria. Adrian Hill thinks that low-cost, effective vaccines can bring deaths down to 200,000 by the end of the decade — and full eradication in the 2030s.
The latest in the global rollout of the malaria vaccine, Mozambique just introduced it into routine immunization. It's a major step in the fight against malaria worldwide, with 11 countries in Africa now offering the life-saving vaccine.
