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1. ) 99 Good Things That Happened in 2016
*. British Columbia protected 85% of one of the world’s largest temperate rainforests, home to the wonderfully named ‘Spirit Bear.’ Reuters
*. In February, Peru and Bolivia signed a $500 million deal to preserve Lake Titicaca. HNGN
*. In March, the US government abandoned its plan for oil and gas drilling in Atlantic waters, reversing its decision from a year ago. Guardian
*. The World Health Organisation released a report showing that, since the year 2000, global malaria deaths have declined by 60%. WHO
*. In 2016, some of the world’s biggest diseases, like colon cancer, dementia, and heart disease, started declining in wealthy countries. New York Times
*. A new study from the world’s leading health journal reported that the number of women dying from pregnancy and childbirth has almost halved since 1990. Guardian
*. In 2016, for the first time ever, the amount of money it would take to end poverty dropped below the amount of money spent on foreign aid. Vox
*. World hunger reached its lowest point in 25 years. New York Times
*. In February, Ontario announced a $100 million initiative to curb violence against indigenous women. The Star
*. Myanmar swore in its first elected civilian leader in more than 50 years. BBC
*. Homelessness in the United States declined by 35% since 2007, and Los Angeles committed to $1.2 billion to help get more people off the street. CS Monitor
*. Taiwan is on the verge of becoming the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. New York Times
* The Gambia and Tanzania banned child marriage, following sustained lobbying by civil society groups. Independent
*. Global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels did not grow at all in 2016. It’s the third year in a row emissions have flatlined. Scientific American
*. Thanks to rapid technological innovation and political support from around the world, renewables now account for more installed capacity than any other form of electricity in the world, including coal. Gizmodo
*. The Chinese government placed a ban on new coal mines, created new rules for grid access, and doubled its renewables targets for 2020. WRI
*. In the same month, 25% of European countries announced that they had quit coal. EcoWatch
*. In July, more than 800,000 volunteers in India planted 50 million trees in one day. The country is planning on reforesting 12% of its land. National Geographic
*. Later that month, Israel revealed that it now makes 55% of its freshwater. That means that one of the driest countries on Earth now has more water than it needs. Ensia
*. McDonalds announced it would be removing corn syrup from its hamburger buns and removed antibiotics from its chicken months ahead of schedule. CNBC
*. By August, every major grocery and fast-food chain in the US had pledged to use only cage-free eggs by 2025. Washington Post
*. The average number of large oil spills around the world has been drastically reduced, from an average of 24.5 per year in the 1970s to just 1.8 a year in 2015. ITOPF
*. The citizens of Mumbai conducted the largest beach clean-up in human history, removing more than 4,000 tonnes of rubbish. Washington Post
*. Plastic bag use plummeted in England thanks to the introduction of a 5p charge in 2015. BBC
2. 13 Undeniably Good Things That Happened in 2016
* Physicists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) did a favor for Albert Einstein by confirming the existence of gravitational waves. Einstein predicted these distortions in the fabric of spacetime in 1916 with his general theory of relativity. But direct evidence had eluded scientists until the $1 billion LIGO experiment caught hints of gravity waves made by the collision of two massive black holes 1.3 billion years ago.
* For the first time in nearly 1,000 years, Pope Francis met with Patriarch Kirill of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It marks the first encounter between the leaders of Christianity’s two largest churches since 1054, when the Eastern Orthodoxy split with Rome.
“Finally! We are brothers,” the pope said as he embraced Kirill after their two-hour meeting in Cuba’s Havana airport in February.
* Global tiger numbers are up for the first time in a century, and conservation experts credit this improvement with better coordinated efforts among nations that serve as natural habitats for tigers. An estimated 3,890 tigers are alive today, up from 2010 when the count was about 3,200 worldwide.
* Harriet Tubman, a former slave and African-American abolitionist who helped hundreds of enslaved people escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad, will replace President Andrew Jackson on the front of $20 bills, the U.S. Treasury Department announced in April. A century ago, first lady Martha Washington’s portrait was the last image of an American woman to appear on U.S. currency.
3. Good Things That Happened in 2016
*The FARC peace deal
FARC leader Timochenko (pictured) signs a long-awaited peace deal. His pen: a bullet. The symbol carries great weight after 50 years of guerrilla warfare against the Colombian government, which claimed over 260,000 lives and displaced millions. The public still wants harsher punishments for the leftist rebels. Nevertheless, Colombia's peace efforts were a high point this year.
* South Korea led by example in peaceful protests. A bizarre corruption scandal involving a mysterious confidante of President Park Geun-hye unleashed mass protests and plunged her approval ratings to 4 percent. Before her impeachment, millions marched on Seoul for weeks with almost no violence. Police also exercised restraint at the demonstrations, which some described as "festive."
*A huge first for the United States
Love her or hate her, Hillary Clinton did what no other woman in the history of the United States has ever done: She clinched the presidential nomination on a major party ticket. Roughly a dozen women have attempted and failed to become president since the late 1800s, but none of them made it as far as she did. Bitter as her defeat is for her supporters, the milestone still deserves a mention.
*Race of a lifetime
It was the year of the underdog. Syrian Yusra Mardini swam on the refugee team at Rio2016. Even more remarkable was her journey to the Olympics. In 2015, the swimmer helped save the lives of fellow refugees as their dinghy gave out in the Mediterranean. She along with several others swam the boat to shore, a grueling journey that took over three hours in the choppy open sea.
*. British Columbia protected 85% of one of the world’s largest temperate rainforests, home to the wonderfully named ‘Spirit Bear.’ Reuters
*. In February, Peru and Bolivia signed a $500 million deal to preserve Lake Titicaca. HNGN
*. In March, the US government abandoned its plan for oil and gas drilling in Atlantic waters, reversing its decision from a year ago. Guardian
*. The World Health Organisation released a report showing that, since the year 2000, global malaria deaths have declined by 60%. WHO
*. In 2016, some of the world’s biggest diseases, like colon cancer, dementia, and heart disease, started declining in wealthy countries. New York Times
*. A new study from the world’s leading health journal reported that the number of women dying from pregnancy and childbirth has almost halved since 1990. Guardian
*. In 2016, for the first time ever, the amount of money it would take to end poverty dropped below the amount of money spent on foreign aid. Vox
*. World hunger reached its lowest point in 25 years. New York Times
*. In February, Ontario announced a $100 million initiative to curb violence against indigenous women. The Star
*. Myanmar swore in its first elected civilian leader in more than 50 years. BBC
*. Homelessness in the United States declined by 35% since 2007, and Los Angeles committed to $1.2 billion to help get more people off the street. CS Monitor
*. Taiwan is on the verge of becoming the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. New York Times
* The Gambia and Tanzania banned child marriage, following sustained lobbying by civil society groups. Independent
*. Global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels did not grow at all in 2016. It’s the third year in a row emissions have flatlined. Scientific American
*. Thanks to rapid technological innovation and political support from around the world, renewables now account for more installed capacity than any other form of electricity in the world, including coal. Gizmodo
*. The Chinese government placed a ban on new coal mines, created new rules for grid access, and doubled its renewables targets for 2020. WRI
*. In the same month, 25% of European countries announced that they had quit coal. EcoWatch
*. In July, more than 800,000 volunteers in India planted 50 million trees in one day. The country is planning on reforesting 12% of its land. National Geographic
*. Later that month, Israel revealed that it now makes 55% of its freshwater. That means that one of the driest countries on Earth now has more water than it needs. Ensia
*. McDonalds announced it would be removing corn syrup from its hamburger buns and removed antibiotics from its chicken months ahead of schedule. CNBC
*. By August, every major grocery and fast-food chain in the US had pledged to use only cage-free eggs by 2025. Washington Post
*. The average number of large oil spills around the world has been drastically reduced, from an average of 24.5 per year in the 1970s to just 1.8 a year in 2015. ITOPF
*. The citizens of Mumbai conducted the largest beach clean-up in human history, removing more than 4,000 tonnes of rubbish. Washington Post
*. Plastic bag use plummeted in England thanks to the introduction of a 5p charge in 2015. BBC
2. 13 Undeniably Good Things That Happened in 2016
* Physicists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) did a favor for Albert Einstein by confirming the existence of gravitational waves. Einstein predicted these distortions in the fabric of spacetime in 1916 with his general theory of relativity. But direct evidence had eluded scientists until the $1 billion LIGO experiment caught hints of gravity waves made by the collision of two massive black holes 1.3 billion years ago.
* For the first time in nearly 1,000 years, Pope Francis met with Patriarch Kirill of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It marks the first encounter between the leaders of Christianity’s two largest churches since 1054, when the Eastern Orthodoxy split with Rome.
“Finally! We are brothers,” the pope said as he embraced Kirill after their two-hour meeting in Cuba’s Havana airport in February.
* Global tiger numbers are up for the first time in a century, and conservation experts credit this improvement with better coordinated efforts among nations that serve as natural habitats for tigers. An estimated 3,890 tigers are alive today, up from 2010 when the count was about 3,200 worldwide.
* Harriet Tubman, a former slave and African-American abolitionist who helped hundreds of enslaved people escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad, will replace President Andrew Jackson on the front of $20 bills, the U.S. Treasury Department announced in April. A century ago, first lady Martha Washington’s portrait was the last image of an American woman to appear on U.S. currency.
3. Good Things That Happened in 2016
*The FARC peace deal
FARC leader Timochenko (pictured) signs a long-awaited peace deal. His pen: a bullet. The symbol carries great weight after 50 years of guerrilla warfare against the Colombian government, which claimed over 260,000 lives and displaced millions. The public still wants harsher punishments for the leftist rebels. Nevertheless, Colombia's peace efforts were a high point this year.
* South Korea led by example in peaceful protests. A bizarre corruption scandal involving a mysterious confidante of President Park Geun-hye unleashed mass protests and plunged her approval ratings to 4 percent. Before her impeachment, millions marched on Seoul for weeks with almost no violence. Police also exercised restraint at the demonstrations, which some described as "festive."
*A huge first for the United States
Love her or hate her, Hillary Clinton did what no other woman in the history of the United States has ever done: She clinched the presidential nomination on a major party ticket. Roughly a dozen women have attempted and failed to become president since the late 1800s, but none of them made it as far as she did. Bitter as her defeat is for her supporters, the milestone still deserves a mention.
*Race of a lifetime
It was the year of the underdog. Syrian Yusra Mardini swam on the refugee team at Rio2016. Even more remarkable was her journey to the Olympics. In 2015, the swimmer helped save the lives of fellow refugees as their dinghy gave out in the Mediterranean. She along with several others swam the boat to shore, a grueling journey that took over three hours in the choppy open sea.