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 —
For the first time ever, zero-carbon sources made up over 40% of the global electricity generated in 2023
The global clean energy transition is making record-breaking progress — and is projected to contindue doing so. New reports showed that zero-carbon sources made up over 40% of electricity generated globally last year.
In 2023, hydroelectric power made up 14.7%, wind and solar made up a new record high of 13.9%, and nuclear made up 9.4%. The reports also found that wind and solar made up 91% of net new power capacity additions in 2023 — a significant increase over 83% in 2022.
Importantly, new fossil fuel projects made up just 6% of new capacity — the lowest amount ever.
More good climate news:
- The first carbon-positive hotel in the U.S. is opening later this month in downtown Denver — and poetically, it sits on the same land where the state’s first gas station was permitted.
- More efficient than current methods, offshore wind farms connected by an underwater power grid could revolutionize how the East Coast gets its electricity.
- A technique called “wood vaulting” could both help prevent greenhouse-warming gases from entering the atmosphere — and eliminate fuel for wildfires.
Helping restore the surrounding ecosystem, the largest dam removal project in U.S. history is now complete
Completing the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, crews just finished demolishing the last of four dams on the Klamath River on the Oregon-California border.
It was an especially “celebratory moment” for tribal nations in the region who have been fighting for decades to restore the river and its surrounding ecosystem — specifically to allow its iconic salmon population to swim freely for the first time in over a century.
While decades of buildup may temporarily impact water quality, experts say the long-term benefits of removing the dams far outweigh these short-term impacts.
Why is this good news? Dam removal is an effective climate solution, offering both climate mitigation and adaption benefits far beyond habitat and ecosystem restoration — it reduces greenhouse gas emissions, restores biodiversity, transports sediment for coastal restoration, and more.
Helping reduce delays for survivors, new tech is helping speed up DNA collection in sexual assault cases
While nearly half a million sexual assault cases are reported every year in both the U.S. and Canada, countless more go unreported. The most common reason is a lack of trust in the justice system, partly because of how long the process takes.
And that distrust is not misplaced: the “rape kit backlog” has long been an issue for survivors and anti-violence advocates. While law enforcement systems must change to address the problem — DNA collection is also vital.
Newly published research outlines a technique for analyzing DNA evidence that could radically streamline the forensics pipeline — helping reduce delays and bring justice to survivors faster.
Why is this good news? As it stands now, processing evidence in sexual assault cases is highly technical and there are lots of hurdles — which can take days or weeks. Much of this time is spent transporting evidence to the lab, but delays are also due to a large queue of cases requiring analysis. This new forensic tech helps speed things along.
The world’s biggest battery is coming to Maine, and it uses a novel lithium-alternative system
An energy company just released plans to open the largest battery in the world in Maine, with capacity to store 8,500 megawatt-hours of energy once it is completed. That’s about 130 million times as much energy as a laptop computer can store.
The company estimates that a single megawatt-hour could provide enough power for an electric car to travel 3,600 miles. That means, if you could theoretically hook this battery up to an electric car, it could travel around 31 million miles on a single charge — or circle the Earth 1,228 times.
It will be built on the site of a former paper and pulp mill and notably uses novel iron-air batteries, which are cheaper to operate and have a lower environmental impact because they use no heavy metals like lithium.
Why is this good news? In addition to providing a lithium-alternative battery solution, once completed, this battery will bring some much-needed relief to a part of the country with an increasingly strained energy grid.
→ Read more
Paralympics Good News
The Paralympics are in the final days of competition, and there have been so many incredible inspiring moments from this year’s Games. Here are a few more highlights to celebrate:
- Both the Olympic and Paralympic medals have part of the Eiffel Tower in them, but the Paralympics’ medal also contains a tribute to the French inventor of the writing system for the blind.
- All the details on the Paralympic medals are so thoughtful and beautiful.
- All of the intentional, inclusive details — from the Phryge plushie to the medal podiums — are fantastic to see.
- Everyone watches the Paralympics: Ticket sales to watch the Paralympics have officially surpassed 2 million.
- We told you about the first-ever deaf person to host live sports coverage making her debut at the Paralympics — we found a clip so you can see her in action!
- A British archer became the first athlete to win a Paralympic medal while pregnant.
- The Paralympic spirit is alive and well.
- May we all have a support system like Paralympic swimmer Maisie Summers-Newton.
The Paralympics wrap up on Sunday, September 8 with the Closing Ceremony starting at 2:30 ET — but there’s still lots of action left! Catch the final gold medal moments in wheelchair basketball, para table tennis, blind football, and more.
A group of firefighters have raised nearly $1 million for shelter dogs by modeling in charity calendars
The respected first responders of Colorado’s fire departments are skilled at saving lives and combating wildfires, but once a year, they turn up the heat to make a difference for shelter animals.
The annual Fire Rescue Dogs Calendar features 18 male firefighters who have stepped out of their protective gear to model alongside adoptable puppies.
In the past 10 years of making the calendar, it’s raised over $950,000 — and they’re aiming to top $1 million this year.
All money raised benefits Lifeline Puppy Rescue, a no-kill shelter based in the Rocky Mountain region, to help pay for essential procedures like spaying and neutering, microchipping, and more.
Doing good even beyond the calendar, the firefighters also use the images to share social media reminders for pet safety tips, especially during the hottest months of the summer.
→ Read more
More good news of the week —
A coalition of publishers, writers, and advocates joined a lawsuit to fight the state of Florida’s book bans. Authors like John Green, Jodi Picoult, and Angie Thomas — whose books have all been banned in states across the U.S. — joined the fight to protect free speech.
The U.S. is sending $138.8 million to 18 states to provide better housing options for disabled people. The funding will help people access affordable homes, and help states develop strategies to identify and refer people to housing options, as well as provide rental assistance.
The first recorded births so far this year, three endangered Florida panther kittens were spotted in a state forest. So far in 2024, 18 Florida panthers have been killed, 14 of them by vehicles as habitat loss threatens the survival of the species.
After the first case of polio in 25 years was reported in Gaza, health workers have officially started an emergency vaccination drive (and so far, it’s “going well”).
Despite humanitarian aid struggling to reach Gaza, UNICEF was able to deliver 1.2 million doses of the polio vaccine to help boost the drive.
More than 100 U.S. cities have banned gas-powered leaf blowers. Gas-powered leaf blowers create extreme noise pollution (the antithesis of green noise), with the most powerful ones can produce sounds of up to 100 decibels of low-frequency noise.
A study found that a simple blood test could predict a person’s heart disease risk 30 years early. In addition to looking at cholesterol levels, doctors found that two other markers are important predictors of a person’s risk of heart attack, stroke, and coronary heart disease.
People in England experiencing a mental health crisis can now dial 111 for 24-hour support. While some worried support systems would be overwhelmed, mental health experts celebrated the addition of a dedicated mental health support hotline.
The U.S. FDA just approved the first automated insulin delivery system for people with Type 2 diabetes. Now approved for adults with Type 2 diabetes, the system had already been approved for people 2 years and older with Type 1 diabetes.
A new study found that the risk of death for people who donated a kidney has dropped by more than half in the last decade. While the risks for a kidney donor have always been low, advances in surgery and medical care, along with more careful donor selection, have made it safer than ever before.
LEGO is on track to replace the fossil fuels used in making its bricks with renewable and recycled plastic. The company has tested more than 600 different materials to completely phase out oil-based plastic as it aims to make all of its products from renewable and recycled materials by 2032.
[More good: LEGO also recently changed up its physical store design to better support autistic shoppers.]
Quadrupling in the last decade, a new study found that 1 in 9 U.S. schools now use solar energy. With over 800 schools adding solar arrays in the 2022-2023 school year alone, over 6.2 million K-12 students now attend a school that utilizes solar power.
[Related: To clean up the air even further for students, moms are driving the push to get more electric buses on roads.]
Thanks to a new Illinois law, homeowners associations in the state can’t ban native plants. Native plants have enormous ecosystem benefits, but HOAs in the state have taken to banning them for being too tall, weedy, attractive to rodents, and more.
The Biden-Harris administration is investing $11 million to support multilingualism in schools to preserve Indigenous languages. The funding will support the recruitment and retention of bilingual and multilingual educators and provide high-quality programming to Native students.
