Good Governance
What does good governance look like? In this good news section, we share international examples of good governance, from efforts directed at the protection of civil rights to initiatives aimed at the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment.
Canada outlines plan to ban single-use plastic
Canada has now become a world leader in environmental policy. On Monday, it laid out its final plans and regulations on how it intends to ban single-use plastics. Federal health minister Jean-Yves Duclos said the country recycles “only 8 percent of the plastic [Canada] throws away” and Read More...
New Zealand passes law that will lead to “a smoke-free future”
New Zealand’s parliament enacted legislation last week that prohibits anyone born after 2008 from purchasing cigarettes or tobacco products. It will mean that the number of people who can buy cigarettes will decrease year after year. For example, by 2050, 40-year-olds will be too young to Read More...
From pilot to policy: a closer look at guaranteed income initiatives in the US
Michael D. Tubbs, mayor of Stockton, California, initiated a daring experiment in February 2019. He randomly selected 125 residents at or below the city's median household income to receive $500 a month for 24 months. Two years later, the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, as the pilot Read More...
France mandates that all large parking lots be outfitted with solar panels
Last week, the French Senate passed legislation mandating the installation of solar panels on all new and current parking lots with room for at least 80 vehicles— an enormous boost for solar power. Doubling solar and wind energy The new provisions are part of French President Emmanuel Macron's Read More...
Climate justice is intrinsic to COP27’s success. Here’s how to address it
The Conference of the Parties (COP) in Egypt this year is crucial. In Glasgow last year, countries pledged increased climate financing and committed to raising their goals, but in the end, fell short of the 1.5 degree Celsius global warming limit. COP27 is an opportunity to fix that problem Read More...
Words matter: US finally drops racist slur from the names of federal sites
A racist and misogynist slur used to refer to Native American women will be removed from the names of hundreds of islands, lakes, rivers, mountains, and other geographic features throughout the United States. Words matter After a ten-month-long process, the United States Department of Interior Read More...
Slovenia legalizes same-sex marriage and adoption, a first in Eastern Europe
Slovenia made history on Tuesday, Oct 4, by becoming the first country in Eastern Europe to equalize its marriage and adoption rules for same-sex couples after the modification was approved by the country's parliament. The ruling is made as Slovenia's neighboring countries enact new Read More...
In India, all women have the right to safe and legal abortions
Women's rights advocates applauded the Supreme Court of India's judgment, which stated that a woman's lack of marital status could not restrict her ability to choose to terminate a pregnancy at any time up to 24 weeks. The historic Roe v. Wade ruling, which had legalized the operation in the Read More...
What is degrowth and how can it help tackle climate change in an inclusive way?
We are indeed finding ourselves in a geological epoch – aka the Anthropocene – when human activity has become so earth-shaking it is throwing entire ecosystems and the planet’s climate out of balance. As the science behind global warming is becoming ever harder to dismiss, humanity is facing Read More...
Solutions Thinking and Climate Change
Open Minds and Optimism: Keys to Solving the Climate Crisis In February 2022, the world’s leading climate scientists released the most urgent warning on climate change to date. The report, released by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), describes the implications of our Read More...