Every day the Good Good Good team collects the best good news in the world and shares it with our community. Here are the highlights for this week!
If you want to get good news in your inbox every day, join the Goodnewsletter — the free daily newsletter designed to leave you feeling hopeful.
The Best Positive News We’re Celebrating This Week —
In a major milestone for citizen science, over 1 million observations have been recorded in Australia’s ‘Bug Hunt’
Since October 2025, Australians across the country have been participating in the Bug Hunt, documenting invertebrates in their gardens, parks, and households.
The citizen-science initiative has now surpassed 1 million observations of insects, spiders, snails, and more.
Those observations have already helped detect invasive species, like fire ants. Just last week, citizen scientists and biosecurity experts caught an incursion of the invasive Asian honey bee around Brisbane.
Why is this good news? One bug hunt coordinator said invasive species have been a key contributor to 66% of species extinctions in Australia since colonization. The Bug Hunt helps quickly spot invasive invertebrates that threaten to do the same, so authorities can swiftly be alerted. It also empowers locals to get involved in an effort that makes a real difference.
→ Read more
Good Samaritans peeked into a dumpster behind a pet store. They ended up saving an animal's life
Southern states lead the way in adding electric vehicle charging stations
Electric vehicle sales and charging stations are booming in states you might not expect, like Florida and Texas. Last month in Georgia, there were 29% more charging ports than a year earlier.
Of Mercedes-Benz’s 900 high-powered chargers across the country, two-thirds are located in Southern states. A major driver of the growth is massive travel centers like Bojangles and Buc-ee’s, the latter of which originated in Texas.
South Carolina had the third-highest growth percentage, with an 11.4% increase over the first quarter of 2026, just behind Illinois and Kentucky.
→ Read more (Gifted link)
Scientists in Japan discovered a simple way to recover 90% of lithium from used electric vehicle batteries
Electric vehicle sales are reaching record numbers in places all over the world — but one key driver of waste is associated with the lithium batteries required to power them.
Engineers at a Japanese recycling facility think they have found a way to recover around 90% of the lithium in used EV batteries, which could completely transform how the batteries are built and reused long into the future.
By making a simple swap in the recycling process, they turned sludgy battery waste into high-purity lithium that could immediately go into a new battery cell. The process could also cut carbon emissions by around 40%.
Why is this good news? Current recycling methods recover less than half of the lithium in an end-of-life battery — this simple substitution nearly doubles that, addressing one of the main sources of waste in the electric vehicle industry.
→ Read more
Whale watchers spotted a humpback entangled in a crab trap. The photos they took saved her life
→ Read more
More people than ever believe their communities are a good place for minorities to live
Today, more people believe that their community is “a good place” for minorities than it was 20 years ago. A new Gallup poll surveyed people from 120 countries in 2025, and found that a median of 74% reported that their community is accepting of racial and ethnic minorities — 66% for immigrants from other countries, and 40% for gay or lesbian people.
Additionally, people who believed that their community was a good place for minorities reported higher personal satisfaction. The study did emphasize that this relationship does not prove causation, as people who are happier and more engaged with those around them may naturally have a more positive view of their communities.
Even so, this pattern held across all regions of the world, in high-income and low-income countries alike.
New Zealand just added five new marine reserves, its biggest expansion in over a decade
After ten years of careful planning, New Zealand has officially added five new marine reserves along the southeastern coast of the Otago Peninsula. The “no-take” zones add up to 308 square kilometers (roughly 76,000 acres), increasing mainland New Zealand’s total marine reserve coverage by nearly 50 percent.
In addition to hosting vulnerable kelp forests, offshore canyons, and deepwater coral communities, the reserves have also proven to be vital breeding grounds for imperiled species.
Local conservationists said that the expansion “can’t come soon enough,” as native animals like the albatross, Aotearoa New Zealand sea lion, and yellow-eyed penguin teeter on the brink of local extinction on the New Zealand mainland.
Even better: When it came to creating the new marine reserves, New Zealand’s Department of Conservation worked hand-in-hand with the local Kāi Tahu tribe every step of the way. Going forward, a dedicated team of nine specialised rangers, from both groups, will jointly handle daily water monitoring, and the marine protections extend Māori guardianship from the mainland into the “moana,” or ocean.
→ Read more
This rare ‘bearcat’ looks like he wants to ask you three riddles. Conservationists are racing to save his species
Road deaths have fallen by 21% globally since 2011, despite more vehicles on the roads
New data from the World Health Organization shows the global rate of road traffic deaths fell by 21% between 2011 and 2025. That decrease happened even with the addition of more than one billion motor vehicles to roadways globally.
Heartbreakingly, traffic crashes still killed 1.16 million people in 2025 alone, and were the leading cause of death among people between 5 and 29 years old.
Still, the progress seen since 2011 shows “change is possible when countries invest in safe road systems” — even when adding more vehicles and dramatic changes in the ways people move around.
A marine biologist broke a Guinness World Record while raising awareness for shark conservation
Emily Morrison was just 8 years old when she first saw “Jaws” and became convinced that sharks would eat her. But instead of feeding her fear, her father took her to the library so that she could learn more about them.
With every fact she uncovered — for example, that sharks are older than trees — she fell in love with the ocean predators. Later, her passion for sharks inspired her to pursue a career as a marine biologist, which brought her face-to-face with her favorite animal a hundred times over.
Today, Morrison has 108 tattoos, one for every shark she’s encountered. It’s a pursuit that’s earned her the Guinness World Records title for the woman with the most shark tattoos, and an appearance in the upcoming “Shark Week” segment on the Discovery Channel’s “My Strange Shark Addiction.”
Why is this good news? Famous biologist Eugenie Clark once said: “No creature on earth has a worse, and perhaps less deserved, reputation than the shark.” Morrison has long used her social media platform to restore that reputation, sharing footage of dives and debunking harmful myths. Her newfound fame amplifies her voice in shark conservation, helping her educate others on their important role in ocean health.
→ Read more
See researchers rejoice as they capture trail camera footage of a bird that hasn’t been documented in 140 years
A group of ‘old ladies’ has removed 6,000 pounds of trash from Cape Cod in just 8 years
Retired psychologist Susan Baur, now 86, had been salvaging trash from Cape Cod’s ponds while she swam for years, before she formally started Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage in 2018.
The group has only a few requirements to join their efforts: You must be at least 64 years old, able to swim a half mile in under 30 minutes, and free dive to eight feet.
Recognized by The Drew Barrymore Show — which donated $10,000 to their cause in 2024 — the old ladies clean about 20 ponds a year. To date, they estimate they’ve cleaned 6,000 pounds of trash out of Cape Cod’s ponds.
→ Read more (Gifted link)
Solar energy is having its best summer yet across Europe, generating a record 25% of electricity
In both May and June, solar was the top source of electricity in the European Union, providing a record-high 25% of its power in June alone. Spain and Germany received more than one-third from solar that month, and in Hungary, it was almost half.
Europe has rapidly adopted solar power capacity, and just five years ago, it only delivered around 10% of the EU’s electricity in the sunniest months. Before Russia’s war in Ukraine, the region was largely dependent on gas.
With solar displacing coal and natural gas, planet-warming pollution has dropped dramatically, with carbon emissions from electricity declining by one-fifth between 2020 and 2025.
Why is this good news? Europe has already had multiple, back-to-back heatwaves this summer, extreme weather events that experts attribute to the worsening climate crisis. The clean energy transition is key to reducing the carbon emissions that exacerbate the crisis, and Europe is on the right track.
Funding for scientific research is at an all-time low. So conservationists turned to OnlyFans to save their marmot study
→ Read more
Julia Fox is leading the first-ever women’s book club at Rikers Island
The Rosebuds Reading Collective is a monthly book club for women incarcerated at Rikers Island, New York City’s island jail. Founded by comedian Norma Reid, the club is led by actress Julia Fox — who has a family member at the jail — and lawyer Afrika Owes, who was once incarcerated there herself.
Every month, the book club sits down to discuss works written by highly acclaimed women authors, including “Wild,” by Cheryl Strayed, “Educated” by Tara Westover, and Fox’s own memoir, “Down the Drain.”
Today, thanks to author visits and writing workshops, the Rosebuds Reading Collective has become one of the most popular programs at Rikers.
→ Read more
More good news of the week —
Jimothy the viral Seattle raccoon has now raised more than $58,000 for a local food bank. The raccoon has inspired Amazon, Alaska Airlines, Starbucks, and more to donate to a Seattle food bank.
Faith communities are becoming “sanctuary people” for Haitian immigrants facing uncertainty. The broader understanding of sanctuary is rooted in Catholic social teaching, especially the idea of accompaniment, which prioritizes closeness to people who are suffering.
A new AI-enabled “bear-dar” system is alerting locals to nearby polar bears in the Arctic. The goal of the new technology is to reduce human-polar bear encounters in the Arctic, where warming temperatures lead to more brazen bears.
A new vaccine could prevent the recurrence of the most aggressive form of breast cancer. The vaccine just completed phase one of clinical trials, with 74% of patients with triple-negative breast cancer showing positive immune responses.
A Good Samaritan in the Florida Keys is helping local hermit crabs swap out trash litter and PVC pipes for shells. (TikTok) The creator, Morgie P., has jokingly called her series “Shelling Sunset.”
John Mayer has spent 15 years and millions of dollars backing research on PTSD and veterans’ health. Mayer formally launched the nonprofit Heart and Armor in 2019 to fund research, and personally donated $5 million to research health issues impacting veterans.
The H3 Project, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing homelessness in D.C., welcomed a new team member: Synergy the pig. The 5-pound pig is “eager to please as a service dog” and has been helping people in substance abuse recovery.
Italy’s first center for digital addiction just opened in Florence. “Discover” is the country’s first attempt to tackle the phenomenon of addiction to the digital world, which mainly affects young people and has social and cultural repercussions.
Ospreys returned to Western Estonia thanks to healthier rivers and successful habitat restoration efforts. For one, the country had recently removed the Sindi Dam, reopening the Pärnu River to migrating fish and vast feeding areas now suitable for ospreys.
A California neighborhood opened a library where residents can borrow sports equipment. Oakland’s new Park Play Lending Library aims to address the accessibility epidemic in youth sports, driven by soaring costs for equipment and leagues.
Dutch students unveiled what’s believed to be the world’s first solar-powered ambulance. The students wanted to create something that could bring essential medical care to remote parts of the world.
England is rolling out a “life-changing” drug that improves the mobility of people with multiple sclerosis. In clinical trials, the drug was shown to improve walking speed in 43% of patients and help them walk for longer.
A new subsidized apartment complex in Berlin was designed exclusively for LGBTQ+ women. The 72-unit apartment complex was designed to provide accessible, affordable housing to aging lesbian and bisexual women.
Millions of healthy West Australian bees are traveling in “humming trucks” to South Australia to help pollinate almond trees. The apiary recovery plan comes after an invasive mite devastated wild and managed bee colonies in the region.
Virginia became the latest state to require employers to disclose salaries in job postings. There are now at least 14 states across the country with pay transparency laws, which help contribute to closing pay gaps.
A summer camp in the middle of the “Bible Belt” supports transgender youth at risk of depression and suicide. The camp, Transcending Adolescence, offers a “no questions asked” subsidized rate for families who can’t afford it.
Texas surpassed its annual Kemp’s ridley sea turtle nesting record. Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are the world’s most endangered sea turtle species, and 692 nests have been found along the Texas Gulf Coast so far this year, surpassing the previous annual record of 449 nests set last year.
MIT engineers designed a fully recyclable elastic yarn that can be melted and respun many times. The team of engineers was looking to cut down on the world’s growing mountain of textile waste, and their design is as flexible as spandex, but recyclable.
Eight rope canopy bridges in the Amazon have led to 15,000 safe wildlife crossings and zero roadkill in just over a year. Beyond protecting animals and drivers, safe road passages enable seed dispersal and gene diversity, reversing the “domino effect” of biodiversity loss that begins when highways split habitats.
A 16-year-old lifeguard in California rescued a child from dangerous waves at a Santa Cruz beach. Witnesses called the lifeguard, identified by local news outlets as Ryder, a hero for bravely rescuing the around 10-year-old child from drowning.
The owner of a major boat manufacturer turned down $400 million to give the company to charity. (Gifted link) After his sole heir died, Grady-White owner Eddie Smith was inspired by Patagonia and handed control of Grady-White to a “purpose trust.”
A nationwide effort is underway to restore the oystercatcher population along American coastlines. The birds were largely wiped out in New England by the turn of the 20th century due to hunting and egg collecting, but their numbers are finally rising.
More than 500 endangered and threatened species of spiders and insects were found on the border between East and West Germany. Now a biodiversity oasis, around 7,500 species of spiders and insects have been registered in the “Green Belt,” and 88% of the border zone is now under protection to ensure these species survive.
Willie Nelson voiced his concerns about building data centers across the U.S. “that only destroy the environment around them.” The musician released a statement on social media condemning the “loud, water thieving, light polluting” hubs that are “invading our land.”
Best-selling author and internet-famous nurse Jen Hamilton has raised over $100,000 for women in crisis. Amid her own divorce, Hamilton’s Sisterhood of Solidarity fundraising campaign has provided financial support to other women rebuilding their lives.
Rome is offering free movie screenings to help residents find refuge from high temperatures. The program will run through August 4, expanding an existing network of climate shelters in the Italian capital, including public libraries and museums.
Wildlife experts are protecting key squirrel habitats in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myanmar. The near-threatened black giant squirrel is one of the largest squirrels in the world, second only to the “rainbow” squirrel of India.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new law to give an instant rebate of up to $3,500 for first-time EV buyers. The bill passed almost a year after the Trump administration’s Big Beautiful Bill terminated the federal EV tax credit.
An 11-year-old in Florida was recognized for reading over 100 hours to animals in shelters. The Jacksonville Humane Society said Nehemiah is one of over 2,000 children who participate in the nonprofit's “Pawsitive Reading” program.
A Spanish company built a bladeless wind turbine that sways instead of spins. The technology weighs a fraction of a conventional turbine, and though it generates less energy, it could offer a solution for smaller-scale renewable energy in places where traditional turbines aren’t practical.
