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 —
The NWSL’s Los Angeles-based team, Angel City, distributed 10,000 shirts to fans that said “Immigrant City Football Club”
At its Saturday night home game, Angel City — the National Women’s Soccer League’s team based in Los Angeles — distributed t-shirts to fans that said “Immigrant City Football Club.”
The shirts were distributed in solidarity with immigrants in the city who have been the target of immigration raids by the Trump administration, which have also resulted in protests breaking out throughout the city.
Members of the team and coaching staff also wore the shirts before the game. The back of the shirts said “Los Angeles is for Everyone” in English and Spanish.
Why is this good news? Using its influence for good, Angel took a powerful, important stance to help their neighbors who feel fear and uncertainty know that they belong. The club said, “We know that our city is stronger because of its diversity and the people and families who shape it, love it and call it home.”
Netflix released a documentary about a prison’s quilting club. Now, they’re ‘overwhelmed’ with donations
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Deforestation is already down 33% so far this year in Colombia
In the first quarter of 2025, Colombia saw a 33% drop in deforestation compared to the same period last year. The drop was thanks to stronger community coordination and a crackdown on environmental crime.
Deforestation fell from 40,219 hectares in early 2024, to 27,000 hectares this year. In the country’s Amazon national parks specifically, deforestation dropped by 54%.
Despite this good progress, the Amazon is still the country’s most impacted region, making up 69% of the country’s deforestation.
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Seattle is preserving tree cover while meeting demand for more housing
Cities around the U.S. balance both the need for more housing with the need to preserve and grow trees to combat climate change — and Seattle is finding the sweet spot.
While a new state law requires more housing density but not more trees, developments are still aiming to do both. Architects at one project placed 86 housing units where there were once only four, while preserving more than 30 trees.
One tree is more than 100 feet tall, now standing at the center of a group of apartment buildings and cooling the nearby buildings with its shade — not to mention filtering cleaner air for residents.
Why is this good news? Trees provide cooling shade, absorb carbon pollution, reduce stormwater runoff, reduce flood risk, and so much more. Architects and developers are proving that even in urban areas, we can address the need for more housing and for accessible green space — no tradeoffs needed.
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Park rangers in a Senegalese national park celebrate as beloved ‘Ghost elephant’ makes rare appearance
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Drug deaths among young people in the U.S. are dropping rapidly
In 2021, fentanyl and other drugs killed more than 31,000 people under the age of 35 — in 2024, that number dropped to around 16,690 fatal overdoses.
While the exact cause of the decline is unknown, it’s likely a number of factors. One, for example, could be advocacy from the thousands of grieving families impacted by the overdose crisis, who worked to educate people about the unique dangers of fentanyl.
Researchers also point to factors like the wider distribution of Narcan, or naloxone, more accessible addiction healthcare, and less risky drug and alcohol use among young people — the number of teens abstaining from substances was at its highest level in 2024.
The Minnesota shooting also took the life of the lawmaker’s dog — now, donations are pouring in to a local service dog training program
Minnesota state lawmaker Melissa Hortman, her husband, and their family dog, Gilbert, were fatally shot Saturday morning in a “politically motivated” attack. Now, a nonprofit has become an outlet for people to share their grief.
Gilbert was a trainee of Helping Paws, Inc., a Minnesota-based nonprofit that trains assistance and service dogs to improve the lives of veterans, first responders, people with physical disabilities, and more. The Hortman family has about a 10-year history of supporting the organization.
And now, people looking for a way to process their grief have been flooding the organization with donations.
Why is this good news? When we’re heartbroken and things feel out of our control, giving back and doing something to help others … helps. While these acts of generosity can’t bring the Hortman family, or Gilbert, back — they can make sure their lives continue making an impact.
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As student loan payments resume, these schools try a new ‘pay-it-forward’ option instead: ‘No interest, no fees’
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The city of Denver broke national records in reducing unsheltered homelessness
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration says, based on the federal Point in Time count, the city “recorded the largest multi-year reduction in unsheltered homelessness in American history.”
Unsheltered homelessness refers to people living outside, including in tents, cars, and other spaces not meant for human habitation. This year’s count showed there were 785 people living without shelter in the city, compared to 1,423 in 2023 — a 45% reduction.
It’s important to note that the PIT count is a one-night tally of every person experiencing homelessness in the country. Experts urge caution when using the data, as it’s highly variable and doesn’t factor in things like weather.
While not a year-round picture, the PIT data is still important in helping cities make decisions about addressing homelessness — because there’s still a lot of work to do.
We can celebrate Juneteenth the ‘right’ way by learning more about its history — and its present
Confusion around how to celebrate Juneteenth — should observers attend cookouts? Or is it a day of learning? — likely emerged because many Americans didn’t even learn about the significance of June 19, 1865 until it became the newest federal holiday in 2021.
Some refer to Juneteenth as the nation’s second Independence Day, or “Emancipation Day,” “Freedom Day,” and “Jubilee Day.” Today, celebrants will look to the earliest Juneteenth celebrations, with events such as historical reenactments, parades, picnics, music and speeches.
At the same time, it’s important to acknowledge that the holiday met early and persistent opposition, particularly in the time following Reconstruction. And it still does today, with the Trump administration and state legislatures across the country cutting funds and attempting to ban the type of education that led to the national recognition of the holiday in the first place.
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One Black Texas family’s fight for freedom on Juneteenth offers lessons for lawmakers erasing history today
Samuel Walker Houston — son of a man who was freed on Juneteenth — founded one of the “leading schools” in East Texas with the belief that young Texans of all races needed to learn an account of history that differed from the white supremacist narrative that dominated Southern history.
He joined forces with two white professors to fight against racism and racist representation of Black people in the state’s schools.
They faced plenty of pushback — with the same justification provided by Texas lawmakers still today, as many try to restrict the teaching of systemic racism in public schools and ignore the lessons and realities represented by the Houstons’ lives.
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China is building the world’s largest national park system, with a network of wilderness bigger than Texas
China created its first national park ever just four years ago — almost 150 years after the U.S. established its first national park. In the years since, China has opened four more, totaling 57 million acres so far.
It’s part of a larger national plan to create 49 parks covering 272 million acres by 2035 — triple the size of the iconic U.S. National Park System.
The parks it’s already established comprise alpine peaks, tropical rainforests, glaciers, deserts, and wetlands, and protect rare animals like the Giant Panda, Siberian Tiger, and Asian Elephant. They’re also preserving cultural heritage, boosting local economies, and encouraging tourism.
Why is this good news? As more and more parts of the world face development, it’s a hopeful shift to see a large country like China also urgently prioritizing the preservation of natural spaces — protecting critical wildlife, ecosystems, and ultimately, human life.
More good news of the week —
The British government plans to extend a ban on bottom trawling to around 30,000 square kilometers across 41 marine protected areas. The announcement followed calls from acclaimed naturalist David Attenborough and Prince William for urgent measures to protect the world's oceans.
Oregon passed a bill to protect school libraries from book bans. The bill is expected to be signed into law and will ensure books can no longer be banned solely because they discuss sexuality, religion, or other topics, nor can they be removed because they are written by someone from a protected class.
In a conservation success story, an endangered flower is blooming in “astonishing numbers” in California. Scientists were stunned this spring to find 16,000 Camatta Canyon amoles in San Luis Obispo County, since the flower was previously thought to have a worldwide population of 10,000 plants.
In a historic first, a Southern Ute Tribe member was elected to chair the Colorado water policy board. Lorelai Cloud became the first Indigenous person to hold the position since the board was founded in 1937 to set water policy within the state, fund water projects statewide, and work on issues related to watershed protection, stream restoration, flood mitigation, and drought planning.
For the first time in a decade, new standards will improve animal safety, welfare, and conservation at British zoos. Under the changes, elephants must be given larger habitats, and practices like the long-term tethering of birds of prey and letting visitors touch fish and cephalopods such as rays and octopuses will be discontinued.
One of Germany’s largest asset managers divested from ExxonMobil, accusing it of “insufficient commitment” to climate targets. While Exxon says it is pursuing up to $30 billion in lower-emission investments from 2025 through 2030, those investment opportunities are conditioned on “the right policy and regulation as well as continued technology and market development.” (Paywall)
Six endangered wolf pups born in Missouri will be fostered into two wild packs in New Mexico. The pup foster is part of a conservation effort to restore genetic diversity and the overall population of the Mexican wolf, a keystone species whose numbers have dwindled to fewer than 300 in the wild.
In a “landmark shift” for disability rights, India’s Supreme Court ruled that digital access is an essential facet of the right to life. Legal experts hail the decision as a constitutional milestone that mandates inclusive digital ecosystems and reaffirms the dignity and autonomy of people with disabilities.
🏳️🌈 Bucharest Pride celebrated its 20th year by setting a new record turnout. Organizers said about 30,000 people took to the streets of Bucharest on Saturday in a march to celebrate the diversity and visibility of the LGBTQ community in Romania — it was the event’s largest turnout in history.
The U.S. is looking to give endangered species protections to the ‘world’s most trafficked mammal.’ Despite it already being illegal to trade them, tons of scales representing thousands of pangolins have been found around the world in recent years — these new protections would impact seven species in danger of extinction.
Fifteen years in the making, Whoopi Goldberg co-founded the first-ever global sports network exclusively dedicated to female sports. Goldberg said that everybody she approached with the idea “patted me on the head and said no one wants to watch women's sports — but they do, I do.”
Faith leaders in the U.S. are joining protests against ICE raids, sharing messages of nonviolence and leading by example. One reverend in Los Angeles positioned himself between law enforcement and his fellow protesters, saying he was upholding his moral duty to stand against injustice in a nonviolent manner because “silence in the face of injustice is complicity.
A new California bill would prohibit ICE officers from wearing masks in the state. If passed, the legislation would prevent police at all levels from covering their faces with masks or balaclavas while working, and would require them to be identifiable via uniform.
College students in Louisiana invented a “smart car seat” to prevent hot car deaths in infants. The project started as a graduation requirement for three LSU seniors and grew into something much more meaningful — a means to help bring the average number of children who die in hot cars every summer in the U.S. from 37 to zero.
🏳️🌈 Circumventing a law that allows police to ban LGBTQ marches, the mayor of Budapest is organizing Hungary’s Pride march anyway. Hungary’s parliament passed legislation in March that creates a legal basis to ban LGBTQ marches, and lets police use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend. (Paywall)
The U.K. parliament passed a law banning women from being prosecuted for terminating their own pregnancy. The new law makes it illegal to investigate, arrest, prosecute, or imprison any woman in England or Wales for terminating her own pregnancy — no matter what term or trimester she’s in.
