• COVID-19 vaccines have saved over a million lives in the US alone. The Commonwealth Fund.
• 21 things that made the world a better place in 2021. Wired.
• China has eliminated malaria. The New York Times.
• Executions dropped to lowest level in three decades. The Wall Street Journal.
• 56 cities, counties, and states will raise minimum wage rates on January 1. NELP.
• White House unveils plan to replace every lead pipe in the U.S. NBC News.
• Is 70 the new 60? People are aging better. Scientific American.
• 13 animals that made a comeback in 2021. The Progress Network.

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• Bugs across globe are evolving to eat plastic, study finds. The Guardian.
• Millions of people a year are hospitalized by respiratory syncytial virus and tens of thousands die. After decades of failure, four vaccines are now in late-stage trials. Nature.
• New FDA-approved eye drops could replace reading glasses for millions. CBS News.
• Botswana lowers its mother-to-child HIV transmission rate to under 5%. VOA.
• The world has experienced a 59% decline in deaths of children under five since 1990. Good Good Good.
• As a Logic song topped the charts, helpline saw more calls and fewer suicides. STAT.
• Vehicle emission declines decreased deaths, study finds. AP News.

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• Between 2000 and 2020 the annual number of measles deaths fell by 94%, from 1,072,800 to 60,700, averting an estimated 31.7 million deaths. WHO (PDF).
• New Canadian Cancer Statistics report reveals 50% decline in prostate cancer death rate since peak in 1995. Newswire.
• After 35 years of conservation, the population of the endangered Burrowing Parrot in Chile has increased from 217 in 1986 to over 4000. Evolve to Ecology.
• Coastal marine species carried out to sea on debris are not only surviving, they’re colonizing the high seas and making new communities on the floating plastic detritus that make up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an accumulation of trash stuck in ocean currents that’s estimated to be about twice the size of Texas. NBC News.
• After more than 15 years of fear and intimidation, Mosuli musicians in Iraq can finally play music in public again. New Lines.
• There’s been a massive decrease in global deaths from disasters over the last hundred years. Our World in Data.
• Thousands of farmworkers will see pay raises in 2022. The Counter.
• Renewable energy has ‘another record year of growth’ says IEA. The Guardian.
• Hackney man first to receive 3D-printed prosthetic eye. BBC.
• Unique effort reopens girls’ schools in Afghan province. AP News.
• 200 years ago, everyone lacked democratic rights. Now, billions of people have them. Our World in Data.

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• Seven amazing trends the media ignores that’ll make you feel great about the future. Upworthy.
• The number of tobacco smokers worldwide is falling by about 5 million people a year. Euronews.
• mRNA vaccine against tick bites could help prevent Lyme disease. New Scientist.
• Green Jobs offer ex-offenders a career path after prison. Reasons to be Cheerful.
• As cities wrestle with how to reform policing to reduce the use of lethal force, Albuquerque has created a new kind of responder on the streets. It sends behavioral specialists to deal with calls that involve emergencies like mental health issues and homelessness. Christian Science Monitor.
• Virginia will expand Medicaid coverage up to a year after pregnancy. Virginia Mercury.
• New HIV jabs taken two months apart hailed as huge step forward. The Guardian.
• After record low, monarch butterflies return to California. NBC News.
• Nurse salaries rise as demand for their services soars during Covid-19 pandemic. The Wall Street Journal.
• New law in Kenya allows refugees to work. VOA.

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• This injectable gel reversed paralysis in mice. Humans could be next. Daily Beast.
• Water chlorination has cut mortality rates for children under five in certain Kenyan villages by 63%. Vox.
• Cancer deaths in U.S. fall overall by 27% over last 50 years. UPI.
• Presumed extinct, the tentacled butterfly ray comes back from the dead. Hakai.
• Airless puncture-proof tires may be on your car by 2024. Big Think.
• Beavers return to Nottinghamshire for first time in 400 years. BBC.

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• In 2021, 147 countries have improved their overall score on the Social Progress Index since previous indices. Social Progress Imperative.
• HPV vaccine saves thousands of women from cervical cancer, UK study shows. The Guardian.
• Tucson OK’s measure to gradually raise minimum wage to $15 AP.
• Hiring grows in U.S. as employers add 531,000 jobs, beating expectations. NBC News.
• Firefighting robots go autonomous. Scientific American.
• A father and son in remote Siberia are trying to engineer an ice age ecosystem. Peer-reviewed scientific papers show they are slowing global warming. Reuters.
• Japan start-up designs wind turbine that can harness typhoon energy. Reuters.
• 20 recent justice reform measures to celebrate. The Innocence Project.

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• Insecticide-spraying drones have reduced malaria incidence in Rwanda by 90.6%. Freethink.
• Solar pumps are helping Kenya’s farmers access water. Good Good Good.
• Egypt has ended their 2017 state of emergency which curtailed constitutional rights. Aljazeera.
• Stacey Abrams group donates $1.34M to wipe out medical debts. AP.
• Thanks to science, cancer deaths are rapidly decreasing. Good Good Good.
• This new concrete soaks up a greenhouse gas. Freethink.
• US wages jump by the most in records dating back 20 years. AP.
• COVID-19 pandemic drove flu to historic lows, and may have eliminated one virus type completely. ABC Science.
• In Senegal, rate of access to sanitation in urban areas has risen from 61.7% in 2013 to 74% in 2020, and in rural areas from 38.7% to 50.7% during the same period. Afrik21.
• Strokes are the second-leading cause of death worldwide, but between 1990 and 2019, the age-standardized incidence of strokes has decreased by 17%, and deaths by 36%. The Lancet.
• In Pakistan between 1990 and 2019, life expectancy at birth increased by 7.2 years, average schooling increased by 2.9 years, average income rose by 64%, and poverty declined from over 50% to just over 20%. UNDP.
• The Saharan gazelle saved from extinction in southern Spain. El Pais.
• For the first time in 60 years, cheetahs have returned to Mozambique. Daily Maverick.
• Sea turtle populations are thriving in Cape Verde, with the number of nests increasing from 10,000 to almost 200,000 in the past six years. The Guardian.

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• In the 17 advanced economies recently surveyed, wide majorities now describe where they live “as benefiting from people of different ethnic groups, religions, and races.” Pew Research Center.
• A half-mile installation just took 20,000 pounds of plastic out of the Pacific — proof that ocean garbage can be cleaned. Business Insider.
• Vast area of Atlantic to be protected in effort to protect 5 million seabirds. The Irish Times.
• Wooden knives that are three times sharper than steel ones could help cut energy use and plastic cutlery waste. New Scientist.
• California Writes Off $534M in Justice Debt for Low-Income Residents. The Crime Report.
• We could see planes fueled by captured CO2 in 2022. Free Think.
• A group in the Philippines is turning plastic waste into building materials. Reuters.
• Researchers are teaching cows to pee in designated places where the urine can be collected and neutralized, sharply reducing methane emissions. Reasons to be Cheerful.

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• Four years after the start of the #MeToo movement, about half of all Americans are more likely to speak up about sexual harrassment. AP.
• Pig heart valves are routinely transplanted into humans. Now, surgeons have successfully attached a pig kidney to a human. In the future, genetically-engineered pigs could be used to save the lives of those who need organ donations. The New York Times.
• Benton Harbor, Michigan is finally getting lead-free water lines. The Guardian.
• Vaccines may have prevented a quarter-million Covid-19 cases and 39,000 deaths among seniors. CNN.
• A group of “holistic engineers” want to regreen the arid Sinai peninsula in the same way the Loess Plateau was regreened. Reasons to be Cheerful.
• Kristine Tompkins has conserved more land than any other single individual. Reasons to be Cheerful.
• Alabama’s free pre-K stands out as a model for long-term, bipartisan success. The Hechinger Report.

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• The first malaria vaccine has been approved and it’s expected to save tens of thousands of young children’s lives each year. Washington Post.
• Natural bacteria could wipe out dengue-carrying mosquitoes, Australian research suggests. The Guardian.
• 43 fish stocks have been rebuilt since the year 2000. Now, 84 percent of stocks are no longer overfished. Reasons to be Cheerful.
• Wild Amur tigers rebound in China. Mongabay.
• Scientists have created a hydrogel tablet that can purify a liter of river water in an hour. UT News.
• A professor has developed smart microscope slides that help to detect cancer. Medical Xpress.
• The nonprofit Sungai Watch, based in Bali, Indonesia, has created a new system for collecting plastic waste out of rivers which also employs people who lost their tourism jobs due to Covid. Hakai.
• Haiti, which experienced the largest cholera epidemic ever recorded in a single country, hasn’t had a single case of cholera since January 2019. World Bank.
• 84% of countries experienced better air quality in 2020 compared to 2019, due to COVID lockdowns. CNN.
• More than 110,000 landmines were destroyed globally last year, a new annual record. ReliefWeb.
• Three years ago, Pakistan launched the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami, a plan to reforest vast swathes of one of the most deforested countries in the world. They’re on track to plant 1.5 billion trees by the end of 2021. Dunya.
• The population of the critically endangered Grauer’s gorilla has doubled, with current numbers of 6,800 up from 3,800 in 2016. Mongabay.
• The 2020 US Census shows a 13% drop in the total number of incarcerated people, or nearly 300,000 fewer people, compared with the 2010 Census. The Marshall Project.

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