2020 - Good News Stories
2020 was quite the year. As such, when I received an email over the holidays from a friend of the family filled with good news, I decided it needed to be shared.
I promptly fact checked as best as possible (removed a few points) and here it is. Footnotes at the end with references.
I hope you enjoy these and wish you all the best in 2021!
Bri
Good news from 2020:
- Solar power became the cheapest form of energy (1)
- Access to electricity expanded to record levels (2)
- Oil became a weak investment as the divestment movement gained steam (3)
- Construction started on the world's first (likely) energy-positive fusion reactor thanks to a massive collaborative public research project between 35 countries spanning the global north, second world, and global south (4)
- Carbon neutral rocket fuel developed (5)
- Carbon emissions dropped (6)
- The ozone continued to rapidly self-repair, which will result in a drop in skin cancer levels worldwide. (7)
- LGBTQ+ rights expanded globally with gay marriage legalized in multiple countries and homosexuality legalized in several others. 29 countries have now legalized gay marriage. (8)
- The US got rid of Trump (9)
- Human rights supporters swept down ballot US elections, making them a genuine electoral force for the first time in 40 years (10)
- BLM entered the public eye again, with renewed police reform efforts cropping up on the local level in many cities (including a few major successes, especially in Northern cities) (11)
- China eliminated absolute poverty (12)
- China started a rampage going after tech billionaires, shifting their wealth back to universal services (13)
- China expanded access to health services (14)
- Kerala in India continued to see drops in poverty level (15)
- Kazakhstan abolished the death penalty (annual executions reached their lowest rate in recorded history) (16)
- Child marriage banned in more countries (Saudi Arabia and Palestine) (17)
- Spain and Ireland nationalized their healthcare systems, making them free from top-to-bottom and expanding access (18)
- The UK nationalized its rail lines, making them a public service again. (19)
- Scotland introduced free and universal period products, the first country to do so. (20)
- Finland eradicated homelessness, a worldwide first (arguably 2019, but it depends how you measure it). (21)
- Polio eliminated in Africa (22)
- A universal influenza vaccine entered clinical trials. (23)
- Smoking levels dropped (24)
- Diabetes cured in mice for the first time (25)
Footnotes:
(1)
https://www.altenergymag.com/article/2020/04/what-is-the-cheapest-form-of-energy/33009#:~:text=The%20IRENA%20report%20found%20that,fallen%20to%20%240.10%20per%20kWh.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/solar-is-now-cheapest-electricity-in-history-confirms-iea
(2)
https://www.iea.org/articles/defining-energy-access-2020-methodology
https://www.who.int/news/item/21-05-2019-more-people-have-access-to-electricity-than-ever-before-but-world-is-falling-short-of-sustainable-energy-goals
https://ourworldindata.org/energy-access
(3)
https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-investment-2020/fuel-supply
(4)
https://singularityhub.com/2020/10/05/new-reactor-design-could-produce-first-ever-energy-positive-fusion-reaction/
(5)
https://www.fastcompany.com/90568421/the-newest-product-made-from-captured-co2-is-explosive
(6)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18922-7
(7)
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020nasa-data-aids-ozone-hole-s-journey-to-recovery
(8)
https://www.businessinsider.com/where-is-same-sex-marriage-legal-world-2017-11#1-in-2001-the-netherlands-became-the-first-country-to-legalize-same-sex-marriages-1
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/us/politics/supreme-court-lgbtq-rights.html
(9)
https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/electoral-college-votes-joe-biden-with-clear-majority-as-next-us-president-120121500088_1.html
(10)
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/11/voter-fraud-used-to-be-rampant-now-an-anomaly/#close
(11)
https://www.wired.com/2015/10/how-black-lives-matter-uses-social-media-to-fight-the-power/
(12) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_China#:~:text=On%20November%2023rd%202020,however%2C%20income%20disparities%20have%20increased
(13)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-turns-heat-internet-giants-051755139.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADVLL4CAa6PLKisUQcjtU_brpjqzlTsLvSApsNYcac-M_JRCTGBB5ZPH1sQkZemlSwt2LfymLGkF6U-Ocu52ZvLjrQdJ-nZzL2MpyW68FZbAuhBn6WlkWoXUSMhKNbyOCWQl0t9ar8ymcG34ebfwiQnt_-Z3j5y1VyZ7G30IxnmC
(14)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_reform_in_China
(15)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_India
(16)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Kazakhstan
(17)
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1613691
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20Saudi%20Arabia%20officially,under%20the%20age%20of%2018.&text=However%2C%20by%202019%20the%20Saudi,approval%20for%20those%20under%2018.
(18)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/26/ireland-nationalizes-hospitals-duration-coronavirus
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-spain-nationalises-private-hospitals-emergency-covid-19-lockdown-2020-3
(19)
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jul/31/ons-says-uk-rail-has-effectively-been-renationalised-during-pandemic
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/02/good-riddance-britains-franchised-railway-system-pandemic
(20)
https://www.npr.org/2020/11/25/938893768/scotland-becomes-first-country-to-make-period-products-free
(21)
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/the-sunday-edition-for-january-26-2020-1.5429251/housing-is-a-human-right-how-finland-is-eradicating-homelessness-1.5437402
(22)
https://www.cdc.gov/polio/why-it-matters/africa-kicks-out-wild-polio.htm
https://www.who.int/news/item/25-08-2020-global-polio-eradication-initiative-applauds-who-african-region-for-wild-polio-free-certification
(23)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_flu_vaccine
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/innovative-universal-flu-vaccine-shows-promises-it-first-clinical-test
(24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53403610
(25)
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/type-1-diabetes-cured-in-mice-using-stem-cells
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-04-diabetes-reversed-mice-genetically-stem.html
https://nypost.com/2020/02/27/scientists-cured-diabetes-in-mice-but-are-humans-next/