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 —
So big it can be seen from space, scientists just discovered the world’s largest coral colony
During an expedition in the Solomon Islands archipelago, scientists thought they were looking at a shipwreck below the surface — but once they swam closer — they discovered it was a huge, sprawling coral.
Longer than a blue whale, Earth’s largest animal, the coral colony was 112 by 105 feet — the largest ever recorded in the world. Scientists estimate it’s around 300 years old and made up of nearly a billion coral polyps working together as if they are one organism.
From above, the colony could have easily been mistaken for a boulder or shipwreck, which is why they describe it as “hidden in plain sight.”
→ Read more
More good news for coral reefs:
- Scientists discovered heat-tolerant coral in the Great Barrier Reef, offering hope for the reef’s future.
- Researchers in Florida are working to restore coral and protect coastal communities with artificial reefs.
- Scientists discovered a new, rare coral species off the coast of the Arabian peninsula.
For the first time since the 1970s, U.S. manufacturing jobs have made a full recession recovery
While still a far cry from the all-time high of 19.4 million manufacturing jobs in 1979, there was an “unusually strong” increase in manufacturing jobs between 2019 and 2023 — marking the first time manufacturing employment has recovered fully from a recession since the 1970s.
In 2023, there were about 12.9 million manufacturing jobs — slightly more than the last peak in 2019.
Manufacturing overall has been on a growth track since 2010, and while the pandemic interrupted that progress, both the CHIPS and Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act helped it quickly recover — increasing both pay and new jobs.
Notably, the recovery was driven by manufacturing jobs in small urban areas in states like Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Florida.
Raising the minimum age to 18, Colombia just voted to outlaw child marriage
Though it must still be signed into law by its president, Colombia just voted to change a law that allowed minors as young as 14 to get married with parental consent.
The new law would raise the minimum age to marry to 18 years old — outlawing child marriage in the country. Colombia follows Sierra Leone, which also banned child marriage earlier this year.
The law was initially proposed in 2023 using the slogan, “They’re girls, not wives” and aims to help prevent young girls from missing out on educational and development opportunities, and from being subject to violence.
Why is this good news? Though the number of child marriages has dropped globally over the past few years, child marriage is still a relatively widespread practice worldwide, impacting around 12 million girls per year. This new law could help those numbers decline even further.
→ Read more
After her dad was diagnosed with cancer, a teen started a nonprofit to give books to children battling cancer
When Emily Bhatnagar discovered her dad had stage 4 thyroid cancer, she found comfort in her favorite thing: reading.
To honor her dad, she decided to make a difference for others who were going through a dark, challenging time. She launched a neighborhood book drive to collect books to give to children battling cancer — hoping to give them the same comfort reading gave her.
In the years since, Bhatnagar’s efforts have grown into a nonprofit, For Love and Buttercup. It’s provided more than 15,000 books to DC-area hospitals for children undergoing all kinds of medical treatments.
Thanks to a new partnership, the USPS’s Operation Santa is making toy donations more seamless than ever
For 112 years, Operation Santa — a program run by the USPS — has encouraged members of the public to “adopt” a wishlist and donate toys to children in need.
Letters are now officially up for adoption, and with them, the Postal Service announced a new partnership with Toys R Us, debuting an online e-commerce catalog that makes the fulfillment of gifts even easier for donors.
The new site has streamlined the letter-to-gift process, allowing participants to shop for the ideal gift and ship it from the comfort of their homes with just a few clicks.
Why is this good news? While the USPS’s program already did so much good to help families in need around the holidays, this new partnership expands the potential for doing good and bringing joy to children during the holidays even further.
→ Read more (including some sample letters!)
After 60 years, Staten Island’s St. Patrick’s Day parade will include LGBTQ+ groups
After a long-fought battle, the Richmond County St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee just announced that it will allow LGBTQ+ groups to march in the annual celebration for the first time.
The borough represented potentially the last St. Patrick’s parade in the world to have continued this exclusionary ban. In March, The Pride Center of Staten Island will finally get to march under its own banner alongside other community organizations.
The community had long been frustrated by the exclusion of LGBTQ+ groups, it even organized its own separate, inclusive parade.
The change was reportedly thanks to new leadership on the committee, along with public pressure, and represents an important point of progress for representation of the LGBTQ+ community, both in this community and around the world.
Los Angeles unanimously passed a “sanctuary city” ordinance to protect its immigrant community
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to approve a “sanctuary city” ordinance that prevents city resources from being used for immigration enforcement and city departments from voluntarily sharing information on people without legal status with federal immigration authorities.
The city joins dozens of others who have moved to legally protect immigrant communities, and in this case, it’s in anticipation of “mass deportations” promised by the incoming presidential administration.
While the city already has protections for immigrants in place, this move would codify it into city law — an important step for a city with a large immigrant population.
Why is this good news? Among other things, “sanctuary cities” help immigrants feel safe and able to report crime, like domestic violence, without fear of deportation. That threat causes many immigrants to live in constant fear of being separated from loved ones, only to be “sent back to a place we had fought so hard to escape.”
And while some argue that immigrants pull resources away from citizens in need, studies show that they actually contribute significantly to the country and make our communities better.
Brazil was just re-verified as a measles-free country
Helping the Americas recover its status as a region free of endemic measles — which was first achieved in 2016 — Brazil has now been re-verified as free of measles, rubella, and congenital rubella syndrome.
Brazil saw a measles outbreak beginning in 2018, and endemic transmission of the virus resumed in 2019 with more than 21,700 cases reported.
National, state, and local efforts to strengthen routine vaccinations, testing, and more resulted in the last case of endemic measles by June 2022. And with no transmission for at least one year — it officially achieved measles-free status.
This re-verification milestone shows the country’s “strong commitment to public health and protecting its population from vaccine-preventable diseases.”
Denmark announced plans to plant 1 billion trees and convert 10% of its farmland into forest
In what it’s calling “the biggest change to the Danish landscape in over 100 years,” lawmakers in Denmark just approved a plan to plant 1 billion trees and convert 10% of farmland into forest and natural habitats.
The plan is part of a larger, national effort to reduce fertilizer usage and the negative environmental impacts of agriculture.
The government will spend $6.1 billion over the next two decades to acquire land from farmers. A large portion of the forests will be planted on low-lying soils, which are especially damaging to the climate.
Even better: Denmark, which is also leading the way in creating fully recyclable wind turbine blades, is implementing these initiatives under its new Green Tripartite Ministry, created after a green deal was reached earlier this year between farmers, industry, labor unions, and environmental groups — a true collaborative effort to take significant climate action.
→ Read more
A teen invented a solar-powered water purifier — made entirely of electronic waste — to help people impacted by floods
In Bangladesh, a shocking 49% of the country’s drinking well water has unsafe limits of carcinogenic arsenic. Climate change has worsened the water contamination crisis, with an uptick in disasters causing devastating flooding.
Earlier this year, floodwaters displaced 1.24 million Bangladeshi families from their homes, which became breeding grounds for bacteria and parasites, spreading waterborne illnesses.
To tackle this pressing issue, 17-year-old Zabeer Zarif Akhter invented a first-of-its-kind, solar-powered water purification system to remove pathogens from the water.
Remarkably, the water purifier is also made entirely from electronic waste, which is notoriously hard to recycle, and it is one of the fastest-growing solid waste streams in the world.
More good news of the week —
Volunteers are bagging 50,000 pounds of food for Thanksgiving dinner for Hurricane Helene victims. Communities throughout South Carolina are still reeling from the impacts of Hurricane Helene, which destroyed tens of thousands of households and businesses.
After nearly being wiped out by disease, an endangered frog is now thriving across Yosemite National Park. Yellow-legged frogs were one of an estimated 500 frog species impacted by the disease, but are thriving again thanks to a conservation and reintroduction program.
Protesting a law that would have eroded Indigenous land rights, Māori lawmakers in New Zealand interrupted the vote with a Haka. About half of the lawmakers present, as well as members of the public, joined in the Haka, a ceremonial Māori dance that demonstrates pride, strength, and unity.
Mattel just unveiled its newest Barbie representing America’s first prima ballerina and member of Osage Nation. With the release of the doll, unveiled for Native American Heritage Month, Mattel will also make a donation to the Center for Native American Youth.
Connecticut just invested $11.5 million to bring a 12-year-old’s affordable air filter design to schools in the state. The middle schooler’s design was inspired by living through the reality of COVID-19 — and her dream is for it to be installed in schools around the country to improve air quality for students as they learn.
A nonprofit that helps women run for office reported a 743% increase in U.S. women looking to get involved post-election. Addressing the low representation of women in government in the U.S., She Should Run helps women run for office to bring their unique perspectives to important decision-making.
In a “fundamental shift” to protect children, eight countries just pledged to ban corporal punishment. Corporal punishment includes physical force used to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light, as well as non-physical forms of punishment that are cruel and degrading.
A Minnesota city is clearing the medical debt of 32,000 of its residents. Prioritizing those with the highest need, St. Paul is using federal funds to wipe out $40 million in medical debt obligations through the nonprofit Undue Medical Debt.
Inspired by desert plants and animals, a “smart crystal” harvests water from thin air and could help combat water scarcity. Nearly four billion people, two-thirds of the global population, do not have access to clean water, and while poverty, injustice, and environmental impacts are at the heart of this issue, innovation can help, too.
The discovery of a long-extinct saber-toothed tiger cub is now helping inform big cat conservation efforts today. Russian scientists discovered the 35,000-year-old remains of the cub preserved in permafrost, and after freeing it for study in 2020, they just released their findings.
Missouri’s medical marijuana program just contributed another $6.5 million to veteran services in the state. That amount brings the cumulative total to more than $46.4 million since October 2020, generated from fees and taxes on medical marijuana which are designated to support health and care services for veterans.
The first submarine designed with women sailors in mind just joined the U.S. Navy fleet. With about 40 women on board, the USS New Jersey’s crew is historic and marks a significant milestone for the success of its sailors since the Navy lifted the ban on women on submarines in 2010.
Mattel just debuted its first-ever gender-fluid doll modeled after fashion icon Harris Reed. Reed said growing up, he couldn’t “find a doll that I could see myself in,” until he came across “the Monster High dolls and their playfulness and over-the-top clothes.”
A study found that patches of wildflowers in urban areas are just as good for insects as “natural” meadows. Typically a hostile environment for wildlife, these small areas were found to have just as high a concentration of pollinators — proving the effectiveness of prioritizing green space in city centers.
Following a gender equity lawsuit, hundreds of women faculty members at the University of Colorado Boulder will receive back pay. As part of the $4.5 million settlement, the university will also conduct equity reviews every three years, and make wage information available to the public.
