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I’m Honestly Fed Up With All The Bad News, So I Illustrated 40 Of The Best Ones From 2021
We are often bombarded with fear-mongering and shocking headlines that make us feel that the world is falling apart.
While it’s important to report problems and issues, I believe there is so much good in this world that just needs to be found and promoted. This is especially true after the last few years we have had with COVID, political, and social unrest, and seemingly more negative headlines than we care to count.
That’s why I started The Happy Broadcast and, this year, it's why I am so proud to announce WHOLE, the free happiness app. WHOLE is a culmination of what we started 4 years ago with The Happy Broadcast, a positive place filled with activities aimed at improving your mental health and happiness. We partnered with science to identify activities that are known to boost happiness, and then built them into a daily tracker that suggests simple things you can do to boost your mood.
Consuming positive news is one known activity that can boost your outlook and mood. We need more positive news to acknowledge that the world is actually getting better little by little. So, with that said, here are some of the top performing positive news illustrations from 2021.
You can find my previous articles about The Happy Broadcast on Bored Panda here (2020), here (coronavirus), and here (2019). And if you'd like to read about the good news in more detail and see the sources that I used, you can go to my website, here.
This post may include affiliate links.
2020 and 2021 feel very much the same. The challenges facing the human family right now are big and scary and there’s no guarantee we will overcome ALL of them. But, as millions of people have demonstrated in the past 24 months though, action is possible, better solutions are available and a better future can be built. Science has really helped us overcome a pandemic but it is the people that have shown their kindness and love for one another.
One at a time, we can all make a positive impact. While I don’t want to be cynical and stop believing that the world can get better, I’m also not naive to think that the world can change if I don’t contribute. That’s why the future will be better if, instead of getting overwhelmed, we celebrate and get inspired by the millions of people that have shown us that we can all have a positive impact.
I’m always optimistic. Every year is better than the one before and even in the past couple of challenging years, there have been several silver linings. The new generations are becoming more and more aware that we need to advocate for a better future, and we need to do that fast. I see more and more kindness and more and more people acting selflessly to change what’s wrong and help whoever is in need.
Even small acts of kindness towards the environment will, in turn, benefit all and I see that happening. That’s why I’ve built The Happy Broadcast, to highlight the selfless actions of many amazing human beings.
2021 has been a great year filled with hard work, fun, kindness, pizza, and dogs. I always have to keep my mental health in check, but that’s why I love to use my art as a beacon of positivity for me and the people that are kind enough to follow my projects.
The biggest challenge (and reward) has been the launch of WHOLE. After three years of hard work on The Happy Broadcast, I met Keith, who is now my partner in this amazing company that wants to become the one-stop source for happiness. We created WHOLE, an umbrella brand that included The Happy Broadcast and other projects focused on mental health and happiness.
Ultimately people are not seeking to be “meditators,” “mood trackers,” or “journalers,” they want to be happier. WHOLE is a brand, community, and all-in-one mobile app focused on delivering all the “spokes” of mental health training within a single app that guides users towards the ultimate goal of increased happiness. The first big milestone was the launch of our WHOLE app, now available in the App Store and Google Play Store.
Our goal is very simple yet ambitious: To provide comprehensive solutions that increase the overall happiness of individuals while improving society as a WHOLE.
One of the best things I heard in 2021 involves an organization in Finland called Aktivistimummot, meaning “Activist grannies.” It’s a group pushing for environmental change that delivers a lot of information about climate change. Their aim is simple: to ensure their grandchildren have a safe and sustainable future.
It’s a great example of how we can all come together, despite our age difference, for the greater good of a sustainable and fulfilling life for everyone.
It's not just the number of the trees but the species as well. They should plant not just native trees but natives plants as well. A healthy forest should be diverse, both genetically and species.
Last year, I told Bored Panda about how rough it was in 2020, what helped me keep my sense of direction and not get lost during the pandemic, and what new artists should keep in mind. I think that 2020 was definitely a rough year, but I’ve never seen so many great stories of human kindness like then.
Despite all the challenges, it looks like humanity understood how deeply we depend on each other and how much our mental health is central to everyone's recovery and well-being. Sharing good news is a joyful experience for all and also an important part of daily conversations.
There is so much good in this world that just needs to be found and promoted. Never forget that the reason why we have positive news to share is that some amazing and brave individuals did something to solve an issue that worries us all. So, one at a time, we can all make a positive impact. It's our time to BE the positive news.
I hope they take it a step further and prohibit all goods by companies use shark fins in any product.
One of the things that helped me through the pandemic was working on The Happy Broadcast and interacting daily with my community. Sharing good news is a joyful experience for all and also an important part of daily conversations. Also, baking bread and pizza had a huge impact on my sanity during lockdown.
One of my favorite pizzas, besides the classic Italian Margherita, is pizza Bianca (which means no cheese and no sauce) topped, after being baked, with a cold mix of vegan feta, arugula, olive oil, salt, and fresh thyme. It’s very fresh and different from the usual pizza we eat at a restaurant, but I’m a creative person, so cooking is another avenue to express that.
Having a sense of purpose makes me feel less lost. I also try to not spend too much time on my phone scrolling through hundreds of posts and I turn my phone off before I go to bed. If I’m feeling blue, I put on some songs that make me want to play the air-guitar and the air-drums, like ‘Gloria’ by ‘The Lumineers.’
I've always loved doodling... especially things with cute faces because it's so relaxing, creative, and fun! I like the message more than the style, so I don’t spend a lot of time on an illustration. Most of my time is spent sketching all the ideas that float in my brain. My advice to young artists is not to focus on trends; focus on what you like to draw.
We really don't need to keep people in dangerous underground slavery conditions, and allowing a very small number of people to control the supply and get rich on the backs of the workers, just for a tiny gemstone that can be safely replicated in a lab.
Trouble is, lots of people still work in those conditions mining rare earth metals like lithium for batteries and cobalt for microprocessors.
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It's the Danish company Pandora. They're the world's largest jewelry manufacturer by volume. The officially announced the switch to man-made diamonds in May 2021.
I proudly wear my Pandora bracelet and ring every day!!!
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Diamonds are not as rare as they make us believe. Artificial strangulation on the supply by a few companies like De Beers ensures that it will always be a fraction of the demand.
That, and well thought-out marketing especially aimed at the engagement/wedding industry. "Your engagement ring diamond should be worth two months' income" my áss.
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My parents support lab gems. They've made a down payment to be cremated and have their ashes combined into a diamond after they pass. The gem will be cut into pieces so my siblings and I can each have them close even after they're gone.
sweet but creepy. my mom said she going to leave her ring to me wen she passes im her only daughter. my dad had 3 kids with his first wife but still said wen he passes his favorite watch is going to me. it was the very first bday gift my mom got him and engraved with his name and bday on it. if my parents do was urs plan on doing id have a hard time wearing a gem like that. i only wear my wedding ring thats it so anything else ppl would notice and id have to akwardly explain it.
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The only thing holding back lab grown diamonds (LGD) is that demand has exceeded supply. Consumers like getting much larger stones for way less money. The market isn’t huge yet (7 million carats of LGD vs. 52 million carats of mined diamonds last year) but it is expanding, even with de Beers trying to position LGD as “artificial” and “fake” jewelry for the “masses”, while their Lightbox-branded diamonds are the “real thing” for the upper “classes”. Interesting situation: https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2021/02/14/lab-grown-or-natural-diamonds-the-choice-is-getting-clearer-for-consumers-and-retailers/
Actually the diamond surplus is very extensive and the mining could have been stopped over thirty is years ago and not a single consumer would have ever known. It is the pure greed of companies that keep the prices artificially high that makes it lucrative for the blood diamond trade. People have been dying by the millions for absolutely nothing but supporting genocide.
As long as there is a valuable resource, there will be people willing to profit off of it and other people
You know, this is good, but again, we are also paying these companies so much more than diamonds are worth. It is really great news that the jewelry maker is converting, but like, they still are assholes. Diamond market is honestly so broken. :(
Diamonds were not always the gem of choice for engagement rings (See Princess Di). It wasn't until Zales got a hold of it that it became a diamond pi$$ing contest.
Hmmmmmmm. HOW much energy, acquired how, does it take to 'manufacture' diamonds??
De Beers sucks-a bloated greed monster that deserves to be stomped out.
I believe even 'lab-grown' diamonds still require a tiny piece of real diamond in order to seed the crystal.
I believe even 'lab-grown' diamonds still require a tiny diamond to seed the crystal.
We really didn't use that many diamonds until DeBeers started their "Diamonds are Forever" advertising campaign, and there are many colored stones that are just as beautiful, if not more so, that don't involve exploiting people.
A stone that sparkles and has so much appeal does not have to be cut from the earth now.
I'm pretty disappointed in the millions of people who've been duped by a De Beers ad. How many lives ruined for what is, essentially, a worthless rock?
Diamonds are often mined in incredibly dangerous situations by miners who are paid mere pennies a day. They are not at all rare but are, in fact, ridiculously over-priced. Back in the day the de Beers company controlled so much of the diamond production that they set up a way to completely control the number of diamonds making it to the global market, thus keeping diamond prices artificially high. In truth, de Beers and other companies associated with them have literally tons of diamonds in reserve.
Why not just give up on diamonds, especially the pressure of having big engagement rings.
It doesn't matter if they made their diamonds LITERALLY OUT OF CARROTS!!! They are STILL, gonna figure out a way to artificially inflate their prices, and get you, the dumb consumer to still spend an outrageous amount of money for it!
That’s great but uh, the damage has already been done. People’s way of life and their lands have been destroyed, over the decades, by the greed for diamonds. People who didn’t see one ounce of the benefit of the obscene profits made off their exploitation. It’s known that diamonds were stockpiled to drive up the cost; I hope they become worthless but rich people aren’t going to want lab-grown diamonds, they’re still going to demand ‘the real thing’.
They would still be dug up though and probably still in less than delightful conditions. Man-made seems a perfectly reasonable option.
Load More Replies... gimme one person around here who can distinguish diamonds from strass... diamonds are the biggest fraud in human history
I can, but I've studied gemology. I agree with your sentiment regarding the fraudulent practice of keeping the prices high on something that is far from rare.
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I love this. I made a decision a while back to buy only synthetic gems. I have a beautiful synthetic emerald and should I ever feel that I want any other gems they will be the same. I would love to see mined gems devalued to save the planet and stop the exploitation of miners in 3rd world countries.
It is true that the lab grown high end gems are fundamentally the same, they lack the natural imperfections I so love to see in crystals. But for mass jewelry consumption of rubies, sapphires, emeralds and aquamarine they are the only choice. It's been that way for a couple decades, due to scarcity. It's time for diamonds to change over too.
Lab grown jewels are indistinguishable from naturally mined gems. The same chemical composition, stratification, qualities. Utterly the same.
Yes, but the natural inclusions you get make real one's very distinguishable. Flawless gems are incredibly rare. Not that it is a reason not to have the lab grown, just that it means that jewellers will know. The average punter on the street won't though.
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Hahaha until the Kimberley diamond mine opens again with mined rare yellow diamonds !!!
There are lab grown yellow diamonds as well. The appetite is falling away for harmful practices.
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But how are we supposed to find cool firsts-in-science diamond within a diamond? That one bamboozled scientists.
This is stupid, diamonds "inside" is just a flawed diamond that has been pressurized at different times. Haven't you ever grown a crystal?
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Not to be a doozy, because it's admirable that we are capable of change if we set our minds to not using cfc's, but sadly CO2 emissions need to get down (which is a lot harder) to not undo that success in the long run. Bad news stinks of course so, see we can do it, go humans!
I believe that Iceland, Sweden, Costa Rica, and Uruguay are part of that group. Not sure about the rest.
Here is a photo from the campaign. It was actually efficient, several dogs were adopted. It also produced some sweet moments, as some dogs woulnd't leave their humans' arms or would run away on the field :))) 646x528-61...b422a5.jpg 
In short: Common sense! Nature has its pest control. Just make friends with it. (Yes, I am okay with snakes. One black ratsnake native to my area means you won't see rats, mice, or the venomous snakes!)
Tbh,if it isn't durable i won't buy it.I have a leather jacket that is 10 years old and it is the same as the first day.I would call that a sustainable piece of clothing.Fake leather will have cracks after a few years so you need to buy new furniture/clothing
I remember reading about this one. It always makes me happy to read about something that was imagined for practical purposes being turned into wholesome, because people can be capable of great good.
Back when I was newly vegan, I would often share information like this, but people did NOT want to hear about it. It made them uncomfortable and challenged the comfort they had with their diets. I learned two things: 1. Don't be a preachy in-your-face vegan and 2. People will change their habits when they are physically or emotionally ready to do so, and not before. But yeah, this type of "farming" practice really tears me up inside.
Also Portugal Establishes the Largest Fully Protected Marine Reserve in Europe & North Atlantic.
We need these everywhere. I think it should be made very difficult to make new plastic, forcing companies to use recycled plastic for everything.
Unfortunately in 2021 alone, forested areas around the world, enough to cover all of Europe went up in flames, contributing to the CO2 levels considerably and diminishing the ability to scrub CO2 from the atmosphere greatly. Fires in 2022 are expected to be as expansive if not bigger than those in 2021.
Only 2 things keeping me from electric is the cost and distance on a charge. I don't know about other countries but electric cars with an appreciable range in the US are much more expensive than an economy gas vehicle. The cars I could afford won't get me round trip from home to work and back and there is no place to charge near my work.
Wow, Atlanta is actually kind of close to me! (I live in Florida but it still takes 5+ hours to get there)
Are they going to put back the beautiful 19th century benches that they replaced with ugly blocks of cement?
I'm missing something- I thought fish farming was where fish were bred in captivity and either grown to maturity (thereby removing the need to draw fish from the ocean) or released into the wild (thereby at least replacing what is taken from the ocean)
Wait…but…new people moving in won’t have a way to access most of town or even their jobs.
Brilliant. Can they do the same with non-crop plants like flowers and trees?
🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏🦏Rhinos for the win!
hopefully this progresses much further to the point where it is more efficient and faster than cutting down actual trees
They’ve only reached half their goal with only 21 days left…I hope they can make it.
What does this even mean? The populations were reduced to 250k, but I worked in an adult school, where people that were only 1/16th 1st Nations people were able to take advantage of subsidies for education and so on, so 10m can mean lots of 1/16th, 1/8th, 1/4th people who are claiming benefits. Many of the people I served, who were receiving subsidies, didn't even consider themselves Native Americans, except that it helped them to receive federal help. It also doesn't address the fact that a great many indigenous people live in abject poverty. I know this is meant to be a positive thing, but I need more information.
This makes me wonder, will they sell some of the CO2 to the soda companies? Is the CO2 in soda chemically produced or "recovered CO2"? If produced only for soda, why do nobody talk about that?
I'm more worried about the cats being injured or killed by cars, stray dogs, ect... I hope it all works out!
I’m super picky and meat makes up a lot of my diet, there’s no way I could do this
YES!! I've been screenshotting news like this to send to my corona-negativity-saturated friends and they all like it so much to hear that actual good stuff is ALSO happening in the world.
Good news and cute drawings. But please ad the names too!! "A study....a city, vaccine, an activist" -which activist, which company, which vaccine, which medication, which tribe, which study, which scientists.... also to honour them or to google it and read further into it. This is mostly incomplete Information.
Generally I agree, but in this case it would make it unattractive to many people who are not scientificly educated. The power is it's simplicity and optimism. Trust the author has done his research and enjoy. If you really want sources you should be able to find it on your own.
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We need more of this. Far too often when you look for "good news" you get some sort of weak "feel good" story about a one-time event to a single person or a puppy or something... sure it feels nice, but the impact is small. THIS stuff on the other hand is good news that actually has an ongoing impact on the world.
Im so glad for this article. I almost upvoted every pic on it. Really needed in these hard times we are all going thru.
I don't like a few tho , But others are sooo good !! After seeing news like " the world will end soon , deforestation , coronavirus , etc." , Finally Im seeing something good.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES
Mauro Gatti, don't be "fed up with all the bad news" fight to eliminate the bad !!!!
It makes me sad though to not see much from the US on this list. We should be doing so much more
Thank you! I wish there was an app that filtered out all the negative articles. Some days I just need "light/lite-mode: On" for the news.
YES!! I've been screenshotting news like this to send to my corona-negativity-saturated friends and they all like it so much to hear that actual good stuff is ALSO happening in the world.
Good news and cute drawings. But please ad the names too!! "A study....a city, vaccine, an activist" -which activist, which company, which vaccine, which medication, which tribe, which study, which scientists.... also to honour them or to google it and read further into it. This is mostly incomplete Information.
Generally I agree, but in this case it would make it unattractive to many people who are not scientificly educated. The power is it's simplicity and optimism. Trust the author has done his research and enjoy. If you really want sources you should be able to find it on your own.
Load More Replies... We need more of this. Far too often when you look for "good news" you get some sort of weak "feel good" story about a one-time event to a single person or a puppy or something... sure it feels nice, but the impact is small. THIS stuff on the other hand is good news that actually has an ongoing impact on the world.
Im so glad for this article. I almost upvoted every pic on it. Really needed in these hard times we are all going thru.
I don't like a few tho , But others are sooo good !! After seeing news like " the world will end soon , deforestation , coronavirus , etc." , Finally Im seeing something good.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES
Mauro Gatti, don't be "fed up with all the bad news" fight to eliminate the bad !!!!
It makes me sad though to not see much from the US on this list. We should be doing so much more
Thank you! I wish there was an app that filtered out all the negative articles. Some days I just need "light/lite-mode: On" for the news.
