Politics
Having a difficult time finding positive news about national and global politics? Search no further! From public policy to positive leadership to democracy efforts, find the latest good news stories in the world of politics at The Optimist Daily.
Tobacco manufacturers to be held accountable for cigarette butt pollution
While it's all fine and dandy that plastic straws are being eliminated from popular use, the cigarette butt has largely evaded such regulation despite being the biggest ocean contaminant. Americans alone toss 360 billion cigarette butts each year – enough to fill almost four baseball Read More...
Island-nation Vanuatu to ban disposable diapers in fight against pollution
It is but a tiny speck in the Pacific Ocean, but the island state of Vanuatu is leading the global fight against plastic waste. Being one of several Pacific nations severely affected by climate change, Vanuatu introduced one of the toughest single-use plastic bans in the world earlier this year. Read More...
New York is close to enacting one of America’s most aggressive climate bills
In recent months, we’ve written about New York’s grand climate plans, which aim to achieve a net-zero economy in New York by 2050. At the time of writing, those ambitious plans still had to jump over several hurdles before they became official policy. Flash forward to today, and those plans are Read More...
Teaching and medical staff in Bhutan will become the highest paid civil servants
In many low-income countries, teachers and doctors are often underpaid. That's no longer the case in the country of Bhutan. In a move earning that's been earning high praise, the small Himalayan kingdom has announced that the salaries of teachers, nurses, doctors, and all medical staff will be Read More...
Canada officially bans shark fin trade in a major win for our oceans
The growing trade in shark fins – often used to make an expensive Asian soup — has become a serious threat to many shark species. The latest research suggests that around 100 million sharks may be killed annually, often targeted for their fins. In a landmark move, Canada – the largest Read More...
Vermont just passed the most comprehensive ban on single-use plastics in the US
If $7,500 isn’t enough to motivate you to move to Vermont (see yesterday’s main story), then maybe this will: Vermont just joined the growing list of states swearing off single-use plastics by adopting the nation’s broadest restrictions yet on shopping bags, straws, drink stirrers, and foam Read More...
Congress bill pushes for renewables to have same tax incentives as fossil fuels
In a move that is set to smooth out America’s transition towards greener sources of energy, US lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan, bicameral bill that would give clean energy projects access to a tax advantage currently available only to fossil fuel projects. The bill, called Financing Our Read More...
How activists in this Californian city stopped a gas plant from being built
When NRG Energy, one of the largest electric power producers in the country, won a contract to build a new gas plant on the beach in Oxnard, California, in 2014, nearly everyone assumed it was a done deal. The region’s electric utility, Southern California Edison, needed a new source of power to Read More...
Britain just committed to net zero emissions by 2050
The United Kingdom has just become the first major economy in the world to commit to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Although the UK already had a 2050 target to reduce emissions by 80%, which was agreed upon by MPs under the Climate Change Act in 2008, that target is now amended to the Read More...
Judges have finally legalized same-sex relation in this African nation
Just weeks after Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage, the LGBT community has won another major victory. In Botswana, a country in southern Africa, high court judges ruled that laws criminalizing same-sex relations are unconstitutional and should be struck down. Jubilant activists in the packed Read More...