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!
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The Best Positive News We’re Celebrating This Week —
Florida banned Pride crosswalks — so St. Pete installed rainbow bike racks instead
Earlier this year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ordered the removal of about 400 “non-standard” pieces of street art — most of them rainbow, Pride-themed crosswalks and murals.
Expressing its disapproval at the removal of the artwork, the city of St. Petersburg ultimately complied, promising that it was not a reflection of the city’s commitment to inclusion.
Now, it’s demonstrating that commitment in a new, creative, and clever way: The city debuted a series of rainbow-colored bike racks in place of a former Pride crosswalk “to honor the Pride street murals that were removed earlier this year due to state requirements.”
Even better: Earlier this year, St. Petersburg was given a perfect score on the 2025 Human Rights Campaign’s annual Municipal Equality Index. This is the only nationwide assessment of LGBTQ+ inclusion in municipal law, policy, and services.
Here’s what happened to the border wall between the US and Mexico — and the art that stretched miles across it
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A Kentucky teacher 3D printed a functional, prosthetic hand for a 4th grader right in the school’s lab
Jackson Farmer was born without a right hand and would sometimes wear a rubber hand to school. While it didn’t give him any functionality, it did provide the appearance of having a hand.
He formed a bond with Scott Johnson, a science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics educator at the school, who decided to research how to 3D print a prosthetic hand for Farmer.
For about a year, he went through trial-and-error to create the right thing, even consulting with an engineer from Denmark to perfect the design files. The final product moves by the power of Jackson’s wrist.
Thousands of GoFundMe donors raised $1.5 million for the hero who disarmed a Bondi Beach attacker
Over the weekend, attackers opened fire at a Jewish celebration at Sydney, Australia’s Bondi Beach, killing 15 people. Police say they may have caused much more devastation had Ahmed el Ahmed not intervened.
El Ahmed is an Australian citizen, a fruit vendor, and a father who immigrated from Syria in 2006. He had been drinking coffee with a friend near the beach when he heard gunshots and leapt into action, running toward the gunman and disarming him, sustaining gunshot wounds himself in the process.
He’s being praised as a hero for helping bring an end to the country’s worst terrorist attack in decades, and over $1.5 million has been raised by more than 27,000 donors to honor his bravery and support his recovery.
Why is this good news? At great personal risk, el Ahmed prevented countless more people from being killed or injured at Bondi Beach. He’s also notably a Muslim man, who “wasn’t thinking about the background of the people he’s saving … He doesn’t discriminate between one nationality and another.”
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Giant animal puppets journey from the Congo Basin to a melting glacier in the Arctic with an important message
In a major milestone, Los Angeles has officially stopped receiving coal-powered electricity
The entire city of Los Angeles is now completely coal-free, as the city officially stopped receiving coal-powered electricity from its last remaining coal source. It’s a major milestone as the city aims to reach 100% clean energy by 2035.
More than 60% of the city’s energy supply is now coming from renewable sources, including from one of the largest solar-plus-battery power plants in the nation.
It’s a significant transformation from just two decades ago, when renewables provided about 3% of the city’s energy, and more than 50% came from coal.
A new statue honoring a Black teen who fought segregation was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol
In 1951, when she was 16 years old, Barbara Rose Johns led hundreds of students in a walkout from her Virginia high school to protest overcrowded conditions and inferior facilities compared to the town’s white high school.
Johns and her classmates’ fight became one of the five cases reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Brown v. Board of Education ruling that declared school segregation unconstitutional.
Now, a statue has been unveiled in her honor at the U.S. Capitol in Emancipation Hall representing Virginia, notably replacing one of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that was removed in 2020.
Why is this good news? For over a century, Virginia had been represented in the hall by George Washington and Lee. The same month that Lee’s statue was ordered to be removed, a commission voted unanimously to put a statue of Johns in its place — honoring a true hero in the fight for freedom and equality.
Strangers seeking life advice find it at the Grandma Stand, a rotating pop-up staffed by 15 NYC grandmas
COVID-19 vaccines reduced the risk of emergency room or urgent care visits by 76% in children
A new study found that the COVID-19 vaccines reduced the risk of emergency room or urgent care visits by 76% in children between the ages of nine months and four years, and by 56% in ages five through 17 compared to children who didn’t receive a vaccine.
The new data show that the vaccines were safe and incredibly effective at preventing severe illness in children.
The findings also offer a stark contrast to recent statements made by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, who has called the COVID vaccine, without evidence, “the deadliest vaccine ever made.”
A massive solar farm committed to recycle and reuse its nearly 1 million panels at their end-of-life
Nearly one million solar panels comprise the 400-megawatt Stubbo solar farm in New South Wales, Australia. The project hasn’t reached full commercial operations — but the panels are already set to be recycled when they reach the end of their life.
The company behind the project says that embedding “circularity” from the start is about both setting a “new standard” for large-scale solar and helping build a supply and demand chain for solar recycling.
It also makes Stubbo Solar the first large-scale project to meet independent standards that make circularity commercially viable in the industry, going beyond “baseline” requirements to set materials up to be reused, not become more waste.
Why is this good news? What happens to things like solar panels and wind turbines when they reach their end-of-life is a valid concern surrounding the clean energy transition. Recycling technology is improving, and it’s important that commitments to recycling are built into a clean energy project’s plan from the start.
You may also like: Global efforts to repurpose wind turbine blades lead to innovative designs
The viral ‘drunk raccoon’ now has a merch line. So far, it’s raised over $250K for a local animal shelter
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Colorado just completed construction on North America’s ‘largest wildlife overpass’
Every day, more than 100,000 vehicles travel up and down a six-lane stretch of Interstate 25 in Colorado. It’s also a crucial migration zone for elk, mule deer, mountain lions, black bears, and more.
Now, everyone will travel more safely. Colorado has completed construction on the Greenland wildlife overpass, the largest in North America and one of the largest in the world.
It’s expected to reduce wildlife-vehicle crashes by 90%.
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Billionaire buys $95M apartments to slash rents and ease housing shortage for Colorado mountain town workers
In Colorado’s mountain towns, between demand for high-income homebuyers, limited supply, and stagnant wages, local workers — who keep the town running — face a severe housing shortage.
To alleviate the burden in Steamboat Springs, resident and billionaire venture capitalist Mark Stevens has purchased a vacant apartment complex that he is now offering to renters at below-market rates.
The only requirement to rent at Riverview Apartments: The tenant must work at least 30 hours per week in Steamboat.
Why is this good news? Because housing costs are so inaccessible for workers, there’s been an increase in commutes, homelessness, and even people camping in the parking lots of their workplaces to get by. As the apartment complex’s builder said, “The people who power this community deserve to live where they work and continue to make Steamboat thrive.”
This woman conquered 100 fears in 100 days. Now she’s helping others do the same
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A record-low 54% of Americans say they drink alcohol as health concerns reach new high
The percentage of adults in the U.S. who say they consume alcohol fell to a record-low 54%, the lowest in nearly 90 years.
Prior to this most recent poll, the rate dipped below 60% less than 10 times, including 58% in the initial 1939 poll and the previous record-low of 55% in 1958.
The drop coincides with a growing belief among 53% of Americans that even moderate alcohol consumption is bad for your health — now the majority view for the first time ever.
More good news of the week —
FedEx has delivered 325K free Christmas trees to military families as part of an annual “Trees for Troops” program. The program started in 2005 by a nonprofit called Christmas Spirit Foundation, and it’s been growing with the support of Christmas tree farmers across the country.
To curb plastic pollution, a startup is making clothes from kelp, one of the most regenerative materials on the planet. Approximately 60% of all materials used by the fashion industry are made from plastic, and can take up to 200 years to naturally decompose, the same as a plastic straw.
The Philippines is testing a new type of carbon credit to encourage companies to cut their emissions. Called transition credits, they are meant to help pay for phasing out coal use by creating value out of the emissions that would be prevented. The funds would then be used to replace fossil fuel equipment with clean energy gear.
North Dakota is on track to be the first U.S. state to provide high-speed internet access to the entire state. The state will receive $6 million from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, included in the infrastructure bill passed under the Biden administration.
Michigan is raising its minimum wage by 10% starting January 1, including a raise for tipped workers. The increases stem from Michigan’s Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, which was enacted earlier this year and will see the minimum wage reach $15 an hour in 2027 and then increase each year after based on inflation.
Norway has stopped issuing controversial deep-sea mining licenses through at least 2029. The country had originally become the first in the world to greenlight deep-sea mining practices to aid the clean energy transition, but new research shows the practice, which could cause irreversible environmental damage, isn’t necessary.
Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang launched an institute with U.S. Soccer to advance women’s sports research. Kang said her time with the Spirit opened her eyes to the existing limitations on women’s professional soccer teams in the United States, inspiring her to kickstart a journey that has seen her invest roughly $55 million into the betterment of the women’s game over the last two years.
Around 30,000 animals were rescued from illegal captivity in the largest wildlife trafficking raid in history. Operation Thunder took place over one month and included law enforcement agencies like national police, customs, border security, and forestry and wildlife authorities. Encouragingly, just 7 rhino horns were recovered, signaling successful poaching control.
A Michigan city is putting new cameras on all its school buses to improve student safety. The first citywide school bus stop-arm safety program of its kind in Michigan, the stop-arm enforcement cameras are designed to deter drivers from illegally passing stopped school buses.
A site in Georgia with 12,000 years of Indigenous history may become the newest national park. Called the Ocmulgee Mounds, the 3,000-acre park protects land and features important to the Mississippian culture, which built the mounds there starting roughly 3,000 years ago.
When you “pet” dogs in this mobile game, you provide food and vet care to real-life shelter animals this holiday season. From December 15 through December 24, “Hay Day” players can build farms and barns, fish, and raise crops — while also finding and petting virtual huskies and Alaskan Malamutes to support real-world rescue animals.
An “amazing” gene therapy gives hope to a three-year-old with a devastating childhood disease. Oliver Chu has made astonishing progress after becoming the first person in the world to receive pioneering gene therapy for Hunter syndrome, a rare inherited disorder that gradually robs children of their physical and cognitive abilities.
For the first time in several years, every Salvation Army “Angel Tree” child was adopted in North Texas. Thanks to the generosity of community members, more than 35,000 children, older adults, and adults with disabilities will receive gifts this holiday season.
A grassroots group of women mapped air pollution in their Indian village, and their findings forced coal companies to act. Within three to four months of publishing their findings, the researchers said coal companies immediately took action to reduce air pollution.
The family of an enslaved potter reclaimed two stoneware jars he created in South Carolina before the Civil War. They’re two of hundreds of surviving works by “Dave the Potter,” who signed many of his jars, some with couplets, a powerful assertion of identity and authorship during a time when literacy for enslaved people was criminalized.
Thanks to effective conservation measures or reduced threats, 30 animal species are on the road to recovery. Twelve of the species downlisted on the IUCN Red List are birds, and notably, the green sea turtle was reclassified from endangered to least concern.
Strippers are now the No. 1 donor of toys to a Portland children’s hospital — this year, they broke their own record. Over the past 14 years, Portland, Oregon-area strippers have donated $183,000 worth of toys to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital during their annual holiday fundraiser: Tatas for Toys.
Colorado is the first U.S. state to offer additional paid neonatal care leave for families. Families in the state already receive 12 weeks of paid bonding leave, and starting Jan. 1, Colorado parents with a child in the NICU can get an additional 12 weeks of paid time off.
Researchers created a plant-based plastic that’s fully saltwater degradable and leaves behind zero microplastics. Made from plant cellulose, the new plastic is strong, flexible, and capable of rapid decomposition in natural environments, setting it apart from other plastics marketed as biodegradable.
A Pennsylvania college student is giving away thousands of books to childhood cancer patients for the holidays. With the help of everyday donors, Emily Bhatnagar’s nonprofit has gifted more than 25,000 books to kids across the country.
