The world’s largest database of good news and social change milestones from throughout human history
We are building the world’s largest database of social change milestones, from the first fire to today’s good news. Change is not only possible, it has happened consistently throughout human history. Filter by era, country, topic, actor, source, and more.
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Era
- Tomorrow (2025 C.E. - ???)
- Today (2017 C.E. - 2024 C.E.)
- Post-modernity (1945 - 2016 C.E.)
- Modernity (1500 - 1945 C.E.)
- Post-classical (500 - 1500 C.E.)
- Civilization (3000 B.C.E. - 500 C.E.)
- Agriculture (10000 - 3000 B.C.E.)
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2020 C.E. August 12
Placebos prove effective even when people know they’re taking one, according to new study
A team of researchers from Michigan State University, University of Michigan and Dartmouth College is the first to demonstrate that placebos reduce brain markers of emotional distress even when people know they are taking one.
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2020 C.E. August 12
Dirty diesel vehicles banned from Seoul’s public fleets in 2025
Seoul, South Korea, is taking a step toward vehicle electrification with a new plan to phase out diesel vehicles from its public fleets by 2025, including mass transit fleets.
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2020 C.E. August 12
Thousands protest in Poland demanding release of LGBT activist
Several thousand people waving rainbow flags protested on Saturday in the center of Warsaw to demand the release of an LGBT activist accused of hanging rainbow banners over statues and damaging an anti-abortion campaigner’s van.
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2020 C.E. August 11
Giant tortoise breeding program in the Galapagos Islands saves species from brink of extinction
In the 1960s, 15 tortoises were all that remained of the entire species. After 55 years of an ambitious breeding program, there are now more than 1,900 tortoises and they will be brought back to their home in the Galapagos Islands.
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2020 C.E. August 11
Croatia’s 1,000 Solar Roofs initiative is creating thousands of jobs
The solar panels will provide reliable green energy across the sunny Mediterranean country. In addition to environmental benefits, it will also generate between 3,000 and 8,000 new jobs per year. In Croatia, 19,310 people claimed unemployment between January and April of this year.
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2020 C.E. August 11
Disney makes history with first LGBTQ+ lead character in The Owl House
The Disney Channel show follows Luz Noceda, a 14-year-old Dominican-American girl who stumbles into an alternate world where she battles witches and demons and other forces of evil.
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2020 C.E. August 10
3D-printed terracotta coral tiles deployed around Hong Kong
Coral has declined up to 80% in some areas around Hong Kong such are Double Island and Sai Kung, over the past decade. The new coral tiles will be used in these area to help restore coral population, create new substrate and attract tourism.
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2020 C.E. August 10
Argonne National Lab breakthrough catalyst turns carbon dioxide into ethanol
The new electrochemical process converts carbon dioxide emitted from industrial processes, such as fossil fuel power plants or alcohol fermentation plants, into valuable commodities at reasonable cost.
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2020 C.E. August 10
Oaxaca bans sale of junk food to children
Oaxaca is the first state to take the measure in Mexico, which has one of the world's highest rates of childhood obesity. About 73% of the Mexican population is overweight, compared to one-fifth of the population in 1996, according to a study by OCED.
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2020 C.E. August 7
BP to cut oil production 40% by 2030 and invest billions into green energy
BP wants to create a 10-fold increase in annual low carbon investments in the coming decade, to $5 billion a year by 2030, and it says it is working on its promise of net zero-emissions by 2050.
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2020 C.E. September 17
LEGO ditching single-use plastic bags in kits, eyes paper replacements
The Lego Group will move away from single-use plastic bags in its kits, the group announced on Tuesday. "From 2021, Forest Stewardship Council-certified recyclable paper bags will be trialed in boxes," the company said.
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2020 C.E. September 17
26 organizations pledge to conserve, restore, and grow more than 855 million trees
Organizations across the U.S. have joined together in support of nature-based solutions. The World Economic Forum and American Forests have launched the U.S. chapter of 1t.org, an initiative to “conserve, restore, and grow” one trillion trees around the globe.
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2020 C.E. September 17
California governor signs law to equalize punishments for gay & straight sex offenders
Introduced by gay State Sen. Scott Wiener (D), the law gives judges the ability to keep LGBTQ teenagers off the state’s public sex offender registry if the teens are of similar ages, the same leeway the state already gives straight teens.
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2020 C.E. September 16
UC Berkeley launches new center for psychedelic science and education
With $1.25 million in seed funding from an anonymous donor, the new UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics will conduct research using psychedelics to investigate cognition, perception and emotion and their biological bases in the human brain.
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2020 C.E. September 16
First-ever floating solar power plant in Belgium begins operation
Floating PV NV installed a floating solar power plant on 5 hectares of lake at a cost of €2 million project. It includes 17,250 solar panels that are expected to produce 7 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity per year, which is approximately how much 2,000 homes in the region use.
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2020 C.E. September 16
Google promises to operate using only carbon-free energy by 2030
Google plans to bridge the renewables gap at all its facilities with technological improvements such as overnight solar storage, improved logistics to transport the energy, and new renewable sources like geothermal reservoirs.
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2020 C.E. September 15
Up to 48 species saved from extinction by conservation efforts, study finds
The Iberian lynx, California condor and pygmy hog are among animals that would have disappeared without reintroduction programmes, zoo-based conservation and formal legal protections since 1993, research led by scientists at Newcastle University and BirdLife International found.
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2020 C.E. September 15
Connecticut targets lower income buyers with new clean vehicle subsidies
Connecticut’s CHEAPR pilot program is currently transitioning to a new version established under Public Act 19-117 which will offer rebates for both new and used electric vehicles.
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2020 C.E. September 15
Air pollution falls in China after extensive efforts to reduce emissions
New research published by The Lancet and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the China National Key Research and Development Program has found that annual deaths from air pollution in China are now below 1990 levels, having peaked in 2013.
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2020 C.E. September 14
South Australia becomes first Australian state to ban single-use plastics
The law, which is expected to come into force in 2021, means that selling, supplying or distributing a “prohibited plastic product” will be illegal. The list of banned items includes plastic straws, cutlery, and drink stirrers, as well as polystyrene cups, bowls, plates, and clamshell containers.