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 —
Texas broke its solar, wind, and battery records all within a single week
In the first week of March alone, Texas’ ERCOT power grid, which supplies nearly the entire state, set three records: most wind production, most solar production, and greatest battery discharge.
Just two years ago, batteries had only ever provided as much as 766 megawatts into the grid at once — that record-breaking week, it provided 4,833 megawatts. Batteries alone are now providing almost as much instantaneous power as nuclear power plants in the state.
Texas has been leading the way in renewable energy generation, producing almost twice as much wind and solar electricity as California last year. It’s also a leader in new capacity additions, averaging about 1 gigawatt per month.
Even more good: Even after offering billions of taxpayer dollars for a loan program specifically for private gas power plant developers, the state has struggled to add new gas power capacity. Renewables are just too good.
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A homeless mom gave away $2 to help a parent in need — then the internet surprised her with $84K
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The gender pay gap has narrowed in the U.S. over the last two decades, most significantly among younger workers
In 2024, women earned an average of 85% of what men earned, a slight narrowing over the 81% women earned compared to men two decades ago in 2003.
While that gap is still devastatingly high, the news is even better for younger workers between the ages of 25 to 34. In 2024 women in that age group earned an average of 95% of what men earned — a 5% gap compared to the 15% gap for workers of all ages.
It’s also a more noticeable difference over the long term: Compared to the 15-cent gender pay gap for all workers in 2024, in 1982 it was a 35-cent pay gap. This is important progress to celebrate (especially during Women’s History Month) as we continue work to get that gap to zero.
A groundbreaking study found that solar panels do much more than generate clean electricity — they make entire ecosystems better
While solar panels have long been touted for their cheap, clean energy production — we now know they have an even larger positive impact on the environment.
In a groundbreaking study at a massive solar installation in China’s Talatan Desert, researchers discovered that solar panels also improve soil conditions, encourage plant growth, and transform the local climate.
The researchers looked at 57 environmental indicators like soil composition, humidity, and biodiversity and found that the solar panels were revitalizing the fragile desert ecosystem — rather than harming it, as expected.
Why is this good news? While there are other environmental impacts to consider with solar panels — like the manufacturing process and end-of-life recycling — it’s incredibly encouraging to know that not only do solar panels prevent environmental damage in the form of reducing carbon emissions, but they may even be a benefit to surrounding ecosystems.
Last year, emissions in the U.K. fell to the lowest level since 1872
A new analysis of government energy data found that in 2024, the U.K.’s emissions fell by 3.6% to 371 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent — the lowest since 1872 and about the same as 1926.
The decrease was driven largely by falling coal use, which reached its lowest level since 1666, following the closure of the country’s last coal-fired power plant.
There was also a drop in demand for oil and gas, an almost 40% rise in electric vehicles on the road, and record levels of clean energy. The country’s emissions have now fallen in 26 of the past 35 years.
Canada is building the world’s first full-sized, zero-carbon cement plant
With the signing of a $275 million deal between the Canadian government and materials supplier, the world’s first full-scale, carbon-neutral cement plant is a go: and it could be operational within three years.
The new cement manufacturing facility will be fitted with a carbon capture, utilization, and storage system that will absorb 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year — the equivalent of taking 300,000 cars off the road.
It will boast a 95% capture rate, and all that captured carbon will be injected several kilometers underground.
Why is this good news? Cement is an incredibly carbon-intensive component of concrete, which is responsible for an estimated 7% of emissions globally. This landmark facility could lay the groundwork for future projects: reducing emissions critical to meeting net-zero commitments in Canada and potentially around the world.
Support for women’s college basketball has been on the rise, surpassing the men’s championship game viewership for the first time last year
As the 2025 NCAA women’s college basketball tournament gets underway this Friday, we’re celebrating how support for Women’s March Madness has grown in recent years.
Last year, the women’s final had more viewers than the men’s for the first time since its inception in 1982 — with 18.9 million viewers compared to 14.8. That viewership total was almost double the 2023 women’s championship game, which had almost 10 million viewers.
While stars (and rivalries) like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese helped drive those stats in both 2023 and 2024, even with their graduation to the WNBA, women’s college basketball viewership is still up 3% over last season.
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New no-fishing zones around six major breeding grounds will protect critically endangered African penguins
Conservationists and fishing industry groups in South Africa just agreed to implement no-fishing zones around six major breeding colonies of critically endangered African penguins.
Around two of the colonies, there will be no sardine or anchovy fishing allowed for 12 miles, and more limited closures around four other colonies.
If African penguin populations continue to fall at the current rate of 7.9% annually, they will be threatened with extinction by 2035. While a century ago, there were 1 million breeding pairs — there are now fewer than 10,000.
What’s the nuance? Conservationists and the fishing industry have debated how much commercial fishing contributed to the penguin population decline, and whether restricting it would help save the species from extinction. Conservationists celebrated the step forward in protecting the penguins and acknowledged the complex factors contributing to their declining numbers.
For 90 days, a man became ‘homeless on purpose’ to see how his unhoused neighbors lived — then he raised $20K to help them
There was a 43% drop in Native American suicide rates in New Mexico
New data from New Mexico shows there was a 43% decrease in deaths by suicide from 2022 to 2023 among the state’s Native American population.
Potentially a reflection of successful tribal and state-level initiatives, which included culturally appropriate mental health care programs and decreasing stigma around mental health, the dramatic decline outpaced the overall 9% decline in suicide rates statewide.
American Indians and Alaska Natives experience 91% higher suicide rates than the general population, stemming from systemic abuses Native communities face. In New Mexico, which is home to 23 federally recognized tribes, suicide rates grew almost 56% from 2009-2018 — making this new decline especially encouraging.
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The first satellite designed to detect wildfires early and precisely is now in orbit
With the potential to change how we respond to wildfires, the first satellite in a constellation of satellites that is specifically designed to locate wildfires early and precisely anywhere in the world is now in orbit around the Earth.
Launched by the nonprofit Earth Fire Alliance, the FireSat constellation will be made up of 50 satellites and is the first of its kind to be built specifically to detect and track fires.
Current satellite systems use low-resolution imagery, cover a smaller area once every 12 hours, and can only detect large wildfires that span a couple of acres. FireSat will be able to detect fires as small as 270 square feet — about the size of a classroom — and provide high-resolution images every 20 minutes.
Why is this good news? The FireSat project has been in the works for less than 18 months and will be essential in responding to disastrous wildfires — like the ones that hit Los Angeles earlier this year — which are predicted to continue to intensify as the world continues to experience the impacts of the climate crisis.
The owner of the last video shop in an Idaho town is keeping a small section open for a customer with Down syndrome
For Christina Cavanaugh, who has Down syndrome and is mostly nonverbal, going to the video rental store every day has been a vital part of her routine for the last fifteen years.
At Video Stop, the last video rental store in Pocatello, Idaho, new employees were even trained so that Christina could provide her account information and rent movies independently.
When the video store was set to close, Christina’s mom wasn’t sure what they’d do. But she didn’t have to worry very long: the owner of Video Stop moved a collection of movies to “Christina’s corner” in his K & B Kwik Stop location next door — so Christina could continue feeling supported in her routine.
More good news of the week —
To help confront rising rates of homelessness, a Michigan city developed “temporary legal encampment sites.” While it’s not designed to be a permanent solution, the plan does allow those experiencing homelessness at least a little more dignity and support, especially considering simply removing these encampments does nothing to improve public safety.
Relaying signals from his brain to a computer, researchers helped a paralyzed man move a robotic arm with his thoughts. Using a brain-computer interface, which worked for a record seven months without needing to be adjusted, the man was able to grasp, move and drop objects just by imagining himself performing the actions.
A new genetic study revealed that the Asian elephant population in Cambodia is larger than previously thought. Researchers collected DNA samples to identify individual animals, estimate population size, as well as overall genetic diversity — which is a “critical factor for long-term viability.”
Ireland announced it was donating over $16 million to Brazil’s Amazon Fund. Eight countries have now contributed to the fund, which aims to stop deforestation and preserve the world's largest tropical rainforest, with Ireland’s being made over the next three years.
Endangered cougar cubs were spotted in the wild in Michigan for the first time in more than 100 years. In the early 1900s, cougars were hunted to the point of extinction and became protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1973 since they’re a keystone species — meaning their absence can have negative cascading effects on the local ecosystem.
Alabama is the only state in the U.S. where fourth-grade math scores are now higher than pre-pandemic. Counties across the state have reimagined elementary school math instruction, and it’s led to a dramatic improvement in students between 2019 and 2024.
Harvard announced it will make tuition free for families making $200,000 or less annually. The expansion will enable approximately 86% of U.S. families to qualify for Harvard College’s financial aid, expanding the college’s commitment to providing all undergraduate students the resources they need to enroll and graduate.
AI robots are recovering recyclables from Chicago’s waste, saving them from the landfill. The robots use an “optical scanner” trained to spot aluminum within 10-15 milliseconds, and in just a year the aluminum-hungry robot has already snagged more than a million cans from the “last chance” line.
An innovative machine is recycling rubble into bricks to build homes for displaced Ukrainians. A single machine can make up to 8,000 bricks in a day, producing enough to construct the exterior structure of 10 homes every three days that are earthquake-, fire-, and cyclone-resistant.
One dad’s quest to address hard-to-recycle items grew into a community movement that spans seven U.S. states. Ryan Metzger started a recycling carpool in his Seattle neighborhood, collecting items in his community that would otherwise be on their way to a landfill — as demand grew, it turned into a startup that “makes it simple to get rid of your stuff responsibly.”
Japan created the world’s first toilet paper made from used disposable diapers. Spearheaded by two municipalities that share a waste management system, they collected 98 tons of diapers and other used hygiene products to be transformed into rolls of toilet paper, which traditionally have a high environmental impact.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a lawsuit intended to block climate change suits against the oil and gas industry. In a partisan effort, 19 Republican attorneys general sought to block Democratic-led states from suing fossil fuel companies for deceiving the public about the risks of their products contributing to climate change.
A post-apocalyptic board game became the first ever to win a leadership award from forestry charity FSC. Honored for its “strong sustainability themes” and for using only FSC-certified paper and wood, “Life in Reterra” is a tile-laying game about rebuilding a community in a post-collapse Earth.
Thousands of NHS patients with multiple sclerosis will have access to a life-changing “take at home” tablet. The first system in Europe to roll it out widely for patients, the tablet requires just 20 days of treatment spread over four years — a convenient alternative to existing therapies that involve regular hospital infusions, frequent self-injections, and extensive monitoring.
Hundreds of Olympic athletes are calling on the incoming IOC president to prioritize climate change. In the wake of devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, host of the 2028 Summer Olympics, 400 athletes are calling on the president to address climate change as a “current and growing harm to the sports we love.”
Researchers found just two factors could help close the hiring gap for autistic job seekers. The research found that both employer neurodiversity training paired with a candidate’s disclosure of an autism diagnosis helps level the playing field for autistic people, who can have an especially challenging time in interviews.
Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a draft treaty that would end nearly four decades of conflict. While the timeline for signing the deal is uncertain, it’s a significant breakthrough in the region that has seen slow, tense progress towards peace thus far as well as tens of thousands of refugees.
A major chipmaking company is launching an AI-powered platform to make it easier to learn sign language. Partnering with the American Society for Deaf Children, Nvidia’s “Signs” platform launched with 100 distinct signs, with plans to grow that to 1,000.
A Minnesota church surrendered part of its property to build “sacred settlements” for its unhoused neighbors. The model of the Sacred Settlement neighborhoods has been a proven success at other congregations in the Twin Cities, which have seen “deep, wholistic healing” and “zero crime, zero police involvement, and zero neighbor complaints.”
Kirsty Coventry just made history as the first woman to be elected president of the International Olympic Committee. Coventry is also the first IOC president from Africa and celebrated the power of sport to “unite, inspire, and create opportunities for all” and committed to “making sure we harness that power to its fullest.”
In a win for animal rights activists, Mexico City is introducing “bloodless bullfighting” in place of the traditional events. While the activists had been pushing for a complete ban, the compromise means matadors can only use their capes to draw the animals to charge, and the animals’ horns will be protected to prevent harm to matadors and other animals.
People with Down syndrome are living longer than ever — and programs are growing to support their care. While predispositions to certain conditions impact the length and quality of one’s life, the lower life expectancy of people with Down syndrome is linked to the historical inhumane practice of institutionalization.
The viral “Assume That I Can” PSA pushes back against outdated stereotypes and harmful misconceptions about Down syndrome. The ad lays out all of the limitations placed on people with Down syndrome that occur when parents, teachers, and peers operate on outdated assumptions — and what happens when those limits stop.
As part of its “Fashionista” line, Barbie introduced its first-ever Black Barbie doll with Down syndrome. Like the first Barbie with Down syndrome introduced by Mattel in 2023, this new doll was created in partnership with the National Down Syndrome Society, as well as a group of Black individuals from the Down syndrome community.
