If you look for it, you'll find it. Depends on what you're looking for. It's so easy to get lost in the negative things, especially when they are important and affecting our lives right at this moment. But it's also important to remember that positive things are also happening at the same time.
One Reddit user wanted to learn what are some good things happening right now that many people aren't aware of. And readers were eager to share their good news; from personal achievements to global wins for us all, people shared things that made them feel better about our world.
Bored Panda collected the best answers in this thread that reminded us there's so much good out there. Scroll down and upvote your favorites. And if there's anything positive that you'd like to share, don't be shy and tell us in the comments below!
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for the first time in decades there have been Iberian Lynx sightings in the region of Madrid. Two sightings in the last week, huge news as this species is amongg the most endangered animals in the world.
OMG!!! I’ve been praying for this for two decades! Come on, Spain, keep the streak going! 😻
A groundbreaking new Alzheimer’s drug was just approved that significantly slows the disease’s progression.
I live in England and my dad has diagnosed 2 months ago. Afew weeks ago he started the medication that will hopefully slow it down. A cruel disease
I don't have the genetic cancer gene that killed half my family, including my dad. It's life changing for me:)
That’s incredible OP! I’m so sorry for your loss, but I hope you continue to live and thrive. You deserve it
Canada just passed a bill guaranteeing a Universal Basic Income for those with Disabilities which is going to pull so many people out of poverty. The bill just needs royal ascent(which is just a formality) for it to be come law. And then in 12 months it will be enacted
This makes my heart smile super big❣💖🍁 as a proud Canadian!
More people than ever before have access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation which is saving thousands of lives
Woo hoo! Now if we can get pads and tampons to people who can’t get them and also maybe idk, stop charging and taxing so much for a necessary product?
Grey whale population has grown 20% in California in the last year.
A malaria vaccine has been developed and is currently undergoing human trials. This could save hundreds of thousands of lives a year, many of them children.
This is outdated. There is already a malaria vaccine approved and being deployed. 18 million doses will be distributed between 2023 and 2025 in African countries. It is not available for tourists as they are not the priority public.
More young women and girls in less developed countries are in primary and secondary education than ever before
More people worldwide are vaccinated than ever before, and a number of malaria vaccines are currently showing pretty positive results
Since 1990, the number of people living in extreme poverty has more than halved - from 2 billion to around 700 million.
The rate of infant mortality is consistently declining year on year
Lots still wrong with the world, lots of things that have gotten worse. But these are significant improvements that shouldn’t be understated. Constant and unrelenting negativity breeds passiveness, knowing what we’ve done well helps us to understand what we’re capable of - and allows us to tackle the problems in a more pragmatic and effective manner.
I agree with the message about unrelenting negativity. At some point, if it's all you hear, your spirit really does just give up. But when I hear about small victories (like those about poverty, education, pandas, Iberian lynxes, grey whales, etc.) I think that "hey! Maybe the little that I can do really does make a difference!" And then I have the motivation to soldier on.
California's Lake Oroville is now back at being 100% full after being dangerously low from years of drought.
I am from Oroville. They had a great snow pack this year so it did fill and looks great but a few years ago it was in danger of overflowing due to too much rain for a prolonged time which would have sent 300,000 cubic feet a minute spilling over the mile long dam. I doubt they will risk keeping it full for long. (It is a dammed lake with a mile long earth-filled dam, which was a record holder for many years)
People are becoming more trauma informed, facing their wounds, and making sure the next generation’s burden will be at least a little lighter.
as long as we stop getting called “snowflakes” for it, i think we’re doing the most amount of trauma healing out of all!!
Appendectomies.
In 1931, my great grandfather died a horrible death due to septic shock from a ruptured appendix, leaving a widow and four kids under the age of 11.
I’m a nurse. Last week we did a laparoscopic appendectomy on a teenager that took all of 90 minutes. He will have a tiny scar and it will be a blip in his medical history.
Honestly medical advancements are some of the most mind-blowing on this list. There are plenty of surgeries and procedures and whatnot that are still dangerous, but there is sooooo much that is like 99% safer now than it was 100 years ago.
Crocodiles like pink flowers and I think we should talk abt that more
what????? i’m now obsessed with this fact, trying to find articles
Mental Health is actually being addressed and very much more openly talked about
Honey bees are at a all time high, and are now considered overpopulated! The whole “save the bees” was never made for honey bees, but instead other species such as the mining bees !
And yet the varroa mite is now poised to wipe out Australia's honeybees. This will largely kill off the amateur honey industry, dramatically increase the cost of bee-keeping and reduce the availability of bees for commercial users such as farmers. Food production will diminish and increase the cost of food.
For the first time ever the Ambulance Company I work for has a good amount of employees so everyone isn't severely overworked.
Ambulance company? The term itself just doesn't make sense to me as a Canadian. I imagine Europeans and people from lots of other places around the world probably feel the same. Where I live, there are paramedics. They work for the Paramedic Service, which is run by the municipal government, same as police and the fire department. There is no private ambulance service. You just call for an ambulance, and the city sends them like they would any other emergency service. There is still a nominal fee. The last time I needed an ambulance I was charged $40.
there is a company that has redesigned the prosses of nuclear fission to make a more stable, clean renewable energy source whos biproduct produces helium and no radioactive isotopes. basically made a nuclear reactor thatdoesnt produce radioactive waste and simultaneously has the ability to replenish the global helium supply that was otherwise impossible
SOURCE ??? Fission reactors produce radioactive isotopes. Fusion reactors do produce helium. They also produce tritium which is a radioactive isotope but has a much shorter half life. Except no one has made a commercial viable fusion reactor yet. Possibly you are talking about one of the newer thorium reactors? which also produce radioactive isotopes but they claim most of the byproduct is isotopes with shorter half lives. -- If there is any truth to the claim above I would appreciate a source link. I worked in pressurized water reactors that used enriched U-235 and am not as familiar with some of the newer designs.
A few global public health things:
We have made tremendous progress on ending the AIDS epidemic in the last 40 years.
The percentage of adults that smoke cigarettes is lower than it has been historically.
We went from like 800k cases of Guinea worm in the world in the late 80s to 12 in 2022.
A big thanks to Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter for contributions to help with the eradication
Teen pregnancy is way down
Some „garage-scientists“ in Germany have invented energy production plants that create green hydrogen from literally every kind of waste you can imagine. It will revolutionize local and state energy production to a never seen before level. The company is called Uniwastec and is based in Switzerland
Specifically in the USA, it seems like more ppl are learning that food corporations are slowly killing us with s****y seed oils, refined sugars, preservatives and dyes. I’ve noticed a lot more ppl interested in local bakeries, fresh food, healthy sourced, organic farm fresh foods since Covid
And a lot of people are growing some of their own food! Whether it's a backyard garden or a tomato plant in a container. It's beautiful. All of it.
It’s so easy to repopulate the earth of rare plants now through tissue culture. Two years ago Brazil was freaking out trying to keep their last remaining spiritus sancti plants to themselves and today, anyone can have them in their house and there is no market for poachers.
Ditto for the Wollemi pine in Australia. Back in 1995 there were only a dozen or so plants in existence. Now more than 1500 people in 31 countries are growing it from cuttings, and the price is under $120. Another success back from extinction is the Lord Howe Island stick insect. Formerly believed to be extinct. Now there are thousands and as a pet it can be bought for under $15.
I think ozone layer is slowly healing itself (as well as my depression)
Cancer is getting easier and easier to treat and less lethal.
Age reversing technology might be around the corner (likely only available for the ultra rich unless society does something)
Child mortality is way down. People are voluntarily limiting their fertility by using birth control, so there is no "population bomb" to speak of. Extreme poverty is much lower than it has been in previous decades.
Yes. In every country around the world for which there is even partly reliable data, the birth rate is declining. Not just in Europe, the Americas, China, Russia, India and Pakistan, but throughout Africa as well.
We have more knowledge and connectivity at our fingertips than ever before. Our ancestors may have only had a 5th grade education but we can Google lecture videos of nuclear physics.
I’m an environmental consultant. Human health based requirements for concentrations of chemicals in the environment have been decreasing over the years. This means that polluters are being held to higher standards and sites that are getting cleaned up are required to be cleaner. I was concerned under the Trump administration we’d see a serious backslide in these requirements, but we are making progress at the state and local levels.
This is happening on an international level too. China is eliminating residential coal-burning, which is greatly improving air quality in their cities, and India is replacing dung-burning with induction cook stoves and LPG stoves. This does wonders for air quality in Delhi as well as household air quality for the poorest Indians.
Yes. Carbon monoxide in the atmosphere is declining everywhere. Ditto oxides of nitrogen, photochemical smog, soot from diesel trucks, acid rain, volatile organic carbon. All of these are declining in the atmosphere. In the oceans and rivers, there's less chemical pollution of all kinds, and less discharge of hot water. Runoff of fertilizer from farms is down to 50% of the peak value. People can now fish and farm oysters in harbours that used to be heavily polluted. And, most impressive of all, cities are no longer full of the foul smells they used to produce 40 years ago. And the Great Barrier Reef is the healthiest it's ever been since records began.
My developmental disabled kid joined the cross country team. He missed the first meet because he had COVID, dropped out of the second meet due to dehydration but came in second in his third meet. More importantly than that, I've seen his team mates care and support him every step of the way.
After several years of decreasing mobility to the point of being housebound, I had a hip replacement 12 weeks ago, and last week, I did a 31 mile bicycle trip to Venice Beach for the first time in over five years!
After all the critical and nitpicking articles, this is a joy to read. I wish all the commentators were as excited as I am about the positive things instead of getting weighed down by the negatives they focus on.
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My developmental disabled kid joined the cross country team. He missed the first meet because he had COVID, dropped out of the second meet due to dehydration but came in second in his third meet. More importantly than that, I've seen his team mates care and support him every step of the way.
After several years of decreasing mobility to the point of being housebound, I had a hip replacement 12 weeks ago, and last week, I did a 31 mile bicycle trip to Venice Beach for the first time in over five years!
After all the critical and nitpicking articles, this is a joy to read. I wish all the commentators were as excited as I am about the positive things instead of getting weighed down by the negatives they focus on.
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