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.
Following shut offs and hurricanes, Puerto Ricans want a solar future
Puerto Ricans pay nearly twice as much for electricity as mainland Americans, yet random shut-offs and natural disasters like Hurricane Maria often leave many without power. In the wake of the hurricane, a social movement called Queremos Sol was born. Meaning “we want sun,” the movement Read More...
These are the inaugural winners of the Earthshot Prize
We have previously wrote about Earthshot Prize nominee Vinisha Umashankar, a clever 14-year-old student from Tamil Nadu who created a mobile ironing cart that runs off solar power. Although Umashankar didn’t win an Earthshot Prize, the five other recipients were recently announced. Here are the Read More...
California says goodbye to gas-powered gardening equipment
We recently wrote an article about why you should invest in all-electric gardening equipment. Recognizing the environmental and public health benefits of this transition, California has signed a bill into law that will ban the sale of new gas-powered leaf-blowers, lawnmowers, power washers, and Read More...
Ethnic studies to become high school graduation requirement in California
California high school students graduating in 2030 or later will be required to take at least one semester of an ethnic studies course. Legislation mandating the new graduation requirement was signed into law last week, following similar policies in Los Angeles Unified and Fresno Unified school Read More...
Nobel prize awarded for work demonstrating benefits of raising minimum wage
US-based economist David Card is one of this year’s recipients of the Nobel prize for economics, awarded for his work which helps answer one of the field’s most contested ideas surrounding minimum wage. Card is Canadian born but based at the University of California, Berkeley. So what Read More...
Cal State Los Angeles prison education program celebrates first graduates
Pitzer was the first college in the US to establish a bachelor’s degree program for incarcerated individuals, but while Pitzer allows students to participate in classes virtually from prison, Cal State Los Angeles' Prison B.A. Graduation Initiative is California’s first in-person bachelor’s Read More...
Belgium considers implementing a 4-day work week
We recently shared the results of the largest ever trial of a four-day working week in Iceland, which researchers hailed as an “overwhelming success." Now, inspired by those findings, Belgium is considering implementing the idea as part of a broader set of labor market reforms. According to Read More...
White House announces restoration of protections for three national monuments
The US federal government has announced plans to restore protections for three national monuments: Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts. "Restoring the Monument's boundaries and conditions restores its integrity, upholds efforts to honor the federal trust Read More...
All cars sold in Norway could be electric by next April
Last year, Norway made huge progress in its transition away from fossil fuels, as more than 54 percent of all car sales in Norway were electric. That number skyrocketed in September, when 9 in 10 cars sold in the Scandinavian country were either electric or rechargeable hybrids, according to the Read More...
UN votes to make a clean and healthy environment a human right
The U.N. Human Rights Council has finally recognized access to a clean and healthy environment as a fundamental human right, adding it to others─like food, shelter, and freedom from slavery─laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The resolution was first discussed in the Read More...