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.)
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2020 C.E. December 4
San Francisco, Oakland, and Seattle ban natural gas in new buildings
In November, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted to ban natural gas in new buildings. On December 2, Oakland’s city council did the same. Now Seattle Mayor Durkan announced a proposal to ban natural gas in new commercial and large multi-family construction for space and most water heating.
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2020 C.E. December 4
Denmark announces end to oil & gas exploration in North Sea
According to the Washington Post, the Danish Parliament voted on December 3 to end offshore gas and oil extraction, which had started in 1972 and made the country the largest producer in the European Union. The Danish government says it is “now putting an end to the fossil fuel era.”
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2020 C.E. December 3
Nasdaq to mandate diversity requirements for listed companies
The diversity requirements would mandate that each of the Nasdaq’s 3,249 companies have at least one female director and at least one director who identifies as an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ+.
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2020 C.E. December 3
First tribally-associated medical school in the United States launches in the Cherokee Nation
In rural Oklahoma, a brand new medical school sits in the Cherokee Nation, training Nation members to become physicians at Nation clinics. Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation is the first tribally associated medical school in the country.
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2020 C.E. December 3
First of-its-kind study suggests psilocybin can help treat migraines
A first-of-its-kind exploratory study, led by researchers from Yale School of Medicine, has found a single dose of the psychedelic psilocybin can reduce migraine frequency by 50 percent for a least two weeks.
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2020 C.E. December 2
Elephantiasis cases cut by 150 million worldwide since 2000
Over the last 20 years, however, the number of people infected has dropped by 74%, from 199 million to 51.4 million, and last year three countries—Malawi, Kiribati, and Yemen—eliminated it altogether.
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2020 C.E. December 2
50 Native American tribes are now implementing climate strategies
Dozens of Native nations and tribal institutions in the United States have designed climate change plans that include formal strategies and initiatives to increase the resiliency of their communities.
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2020 C.E. December 2
Homes in Scotland will be the world’s first to use 100% green hydrogen
Scotland’s gas SGN company will outfit some 300 homes in Fife with free hydrogen boilers, heaters, and cooking appliances. The effort is the largest attempt so far to test whether carbon-free hydrogen can help the U.K. meet its carbon goals.
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2020 C.E. December 2
New Zealand declares climate emergency
The government of New Zealand declared a climate emergency, a symbolic step recognizing IPCC predictions of substantial global warming if emissions do not fall. Alongside the declaration, New Zealand announced it would require its public sector to become carbon neutral by 2025.
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2020 C.E. December 2
Eat Just’s lab-grown chicken gets world’s first cultured meat approval
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has declared that the U.S.-based company Eat Just can sell its cultured "chicken bites" in the country, The Guardian reported Wednesday.
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2021 C.E. January 8
Psychedelic research center launched at New York’s Mount Sinai
Named the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research the institution is first focusing on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD.
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2021 C.E. January 8
Researchers have solved a water desalination problem that had baffled scientists for decades
The research team, in partnership with DuPont Water Solutions, solved an important aspect of this mystery, opening the door to reduce costs of clean water production.
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2021 C.E. January 7
Plastic straws and single-use bags vanish from China as ban kicks in
In China, 2020 was bid farewell with a flurry of fireworks and the scratching off of 200 million metric tonnes of plastic straws from the nation’s pollution inventory.
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2021 C.E. January 7
DPA is installing electric vehicle charging stations across Zimbabwe
60 kW DC fast chargers will be rolled out in major cities, and then scaled up to the country’s major highways.
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2021 C.E. January 7
Raphael Warnock wins election to become Georgia’s first Black senator
As the New York Times eloquently pointed out, the election in Georgia “was also a rare chance for one Senate barrier breaker to pass the torch to another.”
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2021 C.E. January 6
Subscriptions to satellite alerts linked to decreased deforestation in Africa
Deforestation dropped 18% in two years in African countries where organizations subscribed to receive warnings from a new satellite service.
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2021 C.E. January 6
No Newark police officers fired a weapon while on duty in 2020
Newark police and city officials say their de-escalation training program is working, with not one officer firing his or her weapon while on duty in 2020.
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2021 C.E. January 6
31 countries, states, and cities now have gas/diesel car bans in place
At the start of 2021, there are 31 national and local governments that have announced bans on the sale of some forms of transportation powered by internal combustion engines.
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2021 C.E. January 5
Researchers develop technology that instantly converts CO2 into jet fuel
The invention of an onboard system for carbon-neutral flight would represent a massive step towards addressing the climate crisis.
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2021 C.E. January 5
China will open its huge FAST telescope to scientists globally
The “Sky Eye” parabolic dish is the world’s largest Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) used for spotting pulsars and other energetic astronomical targets.