Each day the Good Good Good staff collects one of the best excellent news on the planet and shares it with our group. Listed here are the highlights for this week!
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The Greatest Optimistic Information We’re Celebrating This Week —
The world’s first hydrogen ferry is formally in service in San Francisco
In a milestone for sustainable transportation, the Sea Change ferry is now formally operating within the San Francisco Bay Space.
Offering a wholly completely different expertise from a conventional diesel ferry, the Sea Change is quiet and emits solely warmth and water vapor — as a result of it’s fueled by hydrogen.
The Sea Change can journey as much as 300 nautical miles at speeds of as much as 15 knots. It will probably maintain 75 passengers and is not any costlier to experience than its counterparts. It’s additionally the one vessel the place you possibly can actually drink the exhaust — the water vapor provides a consuming fountain onboard.
What’s the nuance? Most hydrogen continues to be constituted of fossil fuels, so it’s not totally “clear” — but. The Sea Change ferry will use hydrogen gas that’s out there domestically, however ultimately, designers hope it might use inexperienced hydrogen, which is constituted of water and renewable electrical energy.
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Deforestation in Colombia fell to a 23-year low in 2023
Thanks largely to a decline in environmental destruction within the Amazon, deforestation in Colombia fell 36% in 2023 — to only over 792 sq. kilometers. Down from round 1,235 sq. kilometers in 2022, that determine represents a 23-year low.
One of the vital biodiverse international locations on the planet, Colombia is house to hundreds of plant and animal species — however continues to lose habitat to deforestation yearly.
However 2023 was an encouraging 12 months, particularly within the nation’s Amazon area, which generally drives its deforestation price. Deforestation there declined 38% to round 443 sq. kilometers — down from 712 in 2022.
Whereas the nation acknowledged the “actually excellent news,” it famous that the battle in opposition to deforestation continues: it’s on monitor to rise in 2024 as a result of dry situations exacerbated by El Niño.
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In a breakthrough for HIV therapy, a brand new drug trial confirmed a twice-annual injection is 100% efficient in opposition to an infection
A big scientific trial in South Africa and Uganda has proven {that a} twice-yearly injection of a brand new pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drug offers younger girls whole safety from HIV an infection.
This breakthrough offers nice hope that we’ve a confirmed, extremely efficient prevention device to guard folks from HIV. Alongside larger advocacy, funding, and entry to therapy, it might assist proceed the declining charges of HIV/AIDS instances and deaths globally.
There have been 1.3 million new HIV infections globally prior to now 12 months. Whereas that’s fewer than the two million infections seen in 2010, it’s nonetheless above the HIV new an infection goal that UNAIDS set for 2025 (which is fewer than 500,000 globally).
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Extra good HIV/AIDS information:
A mom fought tirelessly to get free cellphone calls and emails in Connecticut’s prisons
Diane Lewis’ group has been hit onerous by mass incarceration. Knowledge from 2020 confirmed Higher Albany had one of many highest incarceration charges in Hartford — 1,917 per 100,000 folks, or greater than 4 instances the speed statewide.
On the similar time, the neighborhood’s median family earnings is about $24,000, and greater than 30 % of households dwell in poverty. A $5 jail cellphone name chipped away on the little cash folks have for necessities like meals, hire, medication, and garments.
Lewis’ advocacy for jail cellphone justice started after her 17-year-old son went to jail in 2004. Realizing the significance of staying related, she normally known as 4 instances a day, and with every 15-minute name costing her between $3 and $5 — she was spending about $100 per week.
Two years in the past, Lewis lastly received her years-long combat to make cellphone calls and electronic mail free in Connecticut’s prisons and juvenile amenities. In that point, the free cellphone calls and emails from prisons have been “life-changing” for households — and incarcerated folks.
With over 500 nests, sea turtles simply made a comeback and broke a 42-year file in Florida
With its sandy seashores and subtropical waters, Florida is house to one of many largest loggerhead sea turtle nesting populations on the planet.
Regardless of residing as much as 70 years, loggerheads have been on the decline as a result of ocean air pollution, human interference, and the gradual destruction of their nesting habitats. They’re protected as a threatened species below the Endangered Species Act.
However on the Gulf coast of Florida, Anna Maria Island simply celebrated an enormous milestone for sea turtle conservation when volunteers counted 546 nests on the island, breaking a 42-year file for the island.
And it’s because of conservation efforts that occurred 25 years in the past.
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Extra good sea turtle information:
Persevering with to steadily enhance, wind energy surpassed coal in electrical energy technology in each March and April
In March and April of this 12 months, wind energy generated extra electrical energy than coal within the U.S. The Vitality Info Administration expects wind energy technology to fluctuate within the coming months, however preserve its regular enhance general.
The U.S. now has greater than 74,500 wind generators, with about 3,000 new generators constructed yearly since 2005.
And whereas wind energy solely represents about 10.2% of whole U.S. vitality manufacturing, it accounts for nearly half of all renewable vitality manufacturing.
This good progress comes at the same time as offshore wind improvement confronted setbacks final 12 months. It additionally comes as new air air pollution laws sign the top of the notoriously “soiled” coal business within the U.S.
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A courtroom simply dominated that air pollution violates the rights of a river in Ecuador
A part of a rising motion to legally acknowledge the “rights of nature,” Ecuador is one of some international locations whose structure enshrines the rights of locations just like the Machángara River.
Now, a courtroom simply issued a “historic” ruling that air pollution has violated the rights of that river, which runs via the nation’s capital, Quito. The federal government should now develop a plan to scrub up the river.
Town of two.6 million dumps various contaminants into the river, and with an absence of wastewater therapy, has a devastating influence on folks, wildlife, and the encircling surroundings.
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Extra excellent news for safeguarding nature:
Regarded as extinct in 1992, 60 new child Siamese crocodiles have hatched in Cambodia
In 1992, Siamese crocodiles have been listed as ‘just about extinct,’ as wild populations dwindled from a long time of poaching. Along with habitat degradation, the crocs have been hunted for his or her smooth, reptilian hides used within the trend business.
However now, in “an actual signal of hope,” the biggest inhabitants of the endangered species has hatched this century, with 60 infants born in Cambodia’s Cardamom Nationwide Park.
Most not too long ago, locals found three nests in an space the place captive-bred crocodiles had by no means been launched earlier than. And miraculously, only a few days later, two different nests have been found within the nationwide park.
Search for the helpers: The crocodiles’ comeback has been a long time within the making. After their declared extinction, a tiny group was rediscovered within the distant Cardamom Mountains in 2000 — the place the Indigenous inhabitants of the Chorng folks had been defending them for years.
Because of 13 younger folks, Hawaii agreed to take “groundbreaking” motion to decarbonize its transportation system
A gaggle of 13 younger folks in Hawaii argued the state was violating their constitutional rights by constructing infrastructure that exacerbates greenhouse gasoline emissions and local weather change.
Whereas the newest in a rising motion of younger folks taking their local weather instances to courtroom, it’s reportedly the first-ever youth-led local weather case calling for zero emissions in transportation. And so they not too long ago received their case, with the state agreeing to take motion to decarbonize its transportation by 2045.
The youths accused the state of prioritizing freeway building and comparable tasks that assure the usage of fossil fuels, relatively than those who cut back emissions.
Had it gone to trial, it might have been simply the second trial within the U.S. from younger folks arguing {that a} state’s actions violated their proper to a protected, wholesome future.
Extra excellent news of the week —
There was a big lower within the variety of international locations that also have the demise penalty in 2023. Regardless of an increase in executions, near three-quarters of the international locations on the planet have now abolished the demise penalty in legislation or observe.
A second critically endangered pangolin was simply born on the Prague Zoo in lower than two years. Along with being essentially the most trafficked animal on the planet, as a result of habitat loss and deforestation, all eight species of pangolins have been struggling for survival throughout Asia and Africa.
Scientists are utilizing AI and machine studying fashions to forecast water high quality points attributable to poisonous algae blooms. Now reported in all 50 states, blue-green algae blooms have grown in depth and frequency as a result of local weather change and rising water temperatures.
Researchers simply discovered the reason for the life-threatening illness lupus, which might result in a treatment. Impacting tens of millions of individuals worldwide, lupus is an autoimmune situation that happens when the immune system assaults the physique’s unusual cells.
A newly accredited pneumonia vaccine presents considerably extra safety than different vaccines. Pneumococcal infections are accountable for over 150,000 hospitalizations for pneumonia and a pair of,000 instances of meningitis in the USA yearly.
A breakthrough new drug might assist reverse much more opioid overdoses. Naxolone is without doubt one of the most widespread and efficient opioid overdose therapies, but it surely’s solely efficient for about 2 hours, and fentanyl can final within the bloodstream for as much as 8 hours.
The primary-ever elephant herpesvirus vaccine was simply injected in a 40-year-old elephant on the Houston Zoo. Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus has been the main explanation for demise in Asian elephants born in North America since 1980.
A coal plant that operated for 100 years in Michigan is now being changed into a large battery. As soon as it’s constructed, the brand new battery storage system would be the largest stand-alone vitality storage website within the Nice Lakes area.
AI-powered trash cans are serving to eating places, buffets, and caterers lower down on meals waste. The world wasted 1.05 billion tons of meals in 2022, resulting in nearly 5 instances the emissions of the aviation sector — almost a 3rd of that waste got here from the meals service business.
A company has arrange 10 “interval pantry” areas stocked with free provides throughout Tampa, Florida. Whereas Florida doesn’t have a “tampon tax,” many individuals within the state nonetheless expertise interval poverty and stigma round menstruation.
A UK brewery helps lower reoffending charges by instructing previously incarcerated folks to brew beer. Faucet Social Motion’s confirmed success is being hailed as a attainable template for tactics to ease the unprecedented overcrowding in UK jails.
Researchers have discovered a solution to recycle previous photo voltaic panels into lithium-ion batteries. The “game-changing” discovery makes use of silicon, which is extra considerable and able to making a extra energy-dense battery than present industrial strategies.
America simply named its 430th nationwide park, and it honors a posh time in U.S. historical past. It joins different historic websites that reckon with the extra sophisticated and shameful elements of U.S. historical past, just like the Amache Nationwide Historic Web site and the Emmett Until and Mamie Until-Mobley Nationwide Monuments.
New AI-powered software program is remodeling being pregnant scans and boosting maternal well being care in Africa. Eliminating the necessity for a specialist to manage an ultrasound, pregnant girls are incentivized to obtain care earlier, serving to enhance maternal well being care within the nation.
Within the first sport on the planet to award rivals for sustainability, Workforce Nice Britain simply took first place. The high-octane sport SailGP is the one grand prix with 2 winner podiums — one for the quickest of the season and the opposite for essentially the most environmental influence.
A part of a nationwide initiative to plant 100 million mangrove timber drones are distributing seeds within the United Arab Emirates. The drones distributed over six million seeds final 12 months as a part of the trouble to revive the nation’s coastal mangrove forests.
Each nation on the planet has now banned the usage of leaded gasoline in vehicles. The world began including result in gasoline within the Nineteen Twenties to enhance effectivity and engine efficiency, earlier than lead was confirmed to be a poisonous pollutant, significantly for youngsters.
A examine discovered that because the coronavirus advanced, the chances of growing “lengthy COVID” dropped — particularly for the vaccinated. Amongst vaccinated folks, 53 out of 1,000 developed lengthy COVID as much as a 12 months after an infection in the course of the delta variant and solely 35 throughout omicron.
