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 —
China’s emissions fell 3% in Q3 2026 — the largest drop since COVID
A result of both the Hormuz crisis and declining coal use, China’s carbon dioxide emissions fell by 3.1% in the third quarter of 2026, its largest quarterly reduction since COVID lockdowns in 2022.
It also means the country’s emissions have declined by an estimated 0.5% year to date. It also extends a “flat or falling” trend that began in March 2024 and has lasted more than two and a half years.
China’s energy demand has continued to increase in recent decades, but more and more of that demand is being met by renewable sources, as China is the leader in renewable energy deployment globally.
Why is this good news? Even in a country where demand for electricity and energy continues to rise, this decline demonstrates we don’t need fossil fuels to meet it.
An 80-cent plastic pouch is saving thousands of women from dying in childbirth
→ Read more (Gifted link)
The global death rate from malaria has nearly halved since 2000
The latest data from the World Health Organization shows the global death rate from malaria has been nearly halved since 2000 — and it’s declined by 96% since 1900.
If the death rate from malaria were the same as it was in 1900, around 16 million people would die annually — today, it’s around 610,000. In the first half of the 20th century, most malaria victims died in the Asian tropics.
That region’s progress made progress since then possible. Today, more than 9 in 10 malaria deaths occur in Africa — so the more recent progress largely occurred in Africa.
New study shows that ‘queer friendships’ are good for your health
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Just days after completing CPR training class, a New Jersey teen saved a newborn’s life
Ariana Leonardis had only finished her CPR training two days earlier when she heard parents in a nearby parking lot frantically trying to get help for their 3-week-old baby who wasn’t breathing.
She sprang into action, getting the parents’ permission to begin CPR, and the baby began responding, coughing and crying. The baby was conscious when ambulance crews arrived.
Leonardis’ cousin was there with her, and not only called 911, but also helped translate what the parents were saying, as they were crying for help in Spanish. A lesson he’d learned the week before helped him understand the baby wasn’t breathing.
An Indigenous-led group just received a 120-acre plot of land taken from Native Americans over 400 years ago
More than 400 years ago, the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower met the local Nauset Native American tribe on Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts. Now, a 120-acre plot of land overlooking that meeting spot was transferred to the Native Land Conservancy.
The milestone comes after years of work from Indigenous leaders, conservationists, and environmentalists to transfer the land from the Nature Conservancy to the Indigenous-led group as part of the nationwide #LandBack effort.
Historians say the land’s Indigenous roots trace back tens of thousands of years. The Nauset are part of the Wampanoag Nation, which helped the Pilgrims survive their first Thanksgiving.
Why is this good news? There is increasing pressure to develop the little space that’s left of Cape Cod’s open land. Now, it’s in the hands of the Native Land Conservancy, which, among other stewardship initiatives, plans to preserve the habitat on the property for sea turtles that nest in the marsh grasses.
→ Read more (Gifted link)
This farm spent $100K a year to keep 10,000 gophers at bay. Then they realized coyotes could do the work for them
Electric trucks made up 50% of China’s heavy truck sales in September
In September, a total of 33,100 electric big rigs were sold in China, representing just over half of all heavy trucks sold that month and a 37% increase from a year ago.
The increase coincided with declining demand for diesel, which is on track to fall by about 230,000 barrels per day in 2026.
In 2024, new-energy vehicles made up 13.6% of heavy trucks sold in China. In 2025, sales tripled to a 28.9% share, and now, just two years later, it’s already over half of sales.
The world’s largest wildlife crossing just had its first animal visitor, weeks before it officially opens
Cameras just captured a coyote using California’s Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, weeks before it’s set to be officially completed on December 2. It’s the first large mammal to use what will be the world’s largest wildlife crossing.
Spanning 10 lanes of freeway, the $114 million project will reconnect fragmented habitats for wildlife in the area, and will help reduce animal-vehicle collisions.
One of the biggest goals for the project is to assist the area’s mountain lions, which are facing critically low genetic diversity as close relatives mate, expanding their territory to find food and mates.
Why is this good news? Research continues to prove the effectiveness of wildlife crossings — and this coyote visitor shows animals are ready for them, too. This bridge in particular will save both human and animals’ lives, and help area wildlife thrive.
→ Read more
You may also like: The world’s largest wildlife overpass is coming to California this year. It will help animals safely cross 10 highway lanes
For every anti-trans bill that passed in 2026, seven times as many failed: ‘It’s grueling work, but it makes a difference’
→ Read more
The share of the global population living in extreme poverty has declined
Set at just $3 per day, the World Bank’s International Poverty Line is an extremely low bar. The share of the global population living below this line has declined in the last generation, from 36% in 2020, to 10% in 2024.
But even progress against higher poverty lines has been significant: The share of the global population living on less than $5 a day has declined from 57% to 25%, and on less than $10 a day, from 74% to 53%.
While this is incredible progress to note and celebrate, it’s important to also acknowledge that 81% of people in the world still live on less than $30 a day, about $900 a month.
More good news of the week —
An apprenticeship program has trained hundreds of college and high school students to become bilingual healthcare workers. States across the country face a healthcare workforce shortage, but the need is particularly high in rural areas and within Spanish-speaking communities like New Mexico, where 32 of its 33 counties face a shortage.
After three months lost at sea, five survivors were rescued on a remote island. (Gifted link) A boat missing since July ran ashore on the Pacific island nation of Kiribati, more than 3,000 miles from its intended destination.
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini launched “Musicians On Call” at Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital. The program brings live, volunteer musicians to perform at patients’ bedsides.
Offering hope for the species, scientists discovered an unexpected baby right whale off the coast of Canada. It puts the number of baby right whales discovered from the most recent birthing season at 24, the most productive year for the endangered whales since 2009 and the fourth-highest count on record.
Portable solar kits are providing essential power for cooking, electricity, and education in disaster zones. Experts say solar energy is increasingly becoming part of disaster relief as technology improves, costs fall, and humanitarian organizations recognize its fundamental need.
Sherri Shepherd made history as the first woman to play the Genie in “Aladdin” on Broadway. (Gifted link) Shepherd had previously appeared on “The Masked Singer” and “Dancing with the Stars.”
New Mexico is years ahead of schedule on its clean energy transition. While other states struggle to meet current energy demand with cleaner sources, New Mexico is building more clean energy to keep pace with an expected 40% growth in consumption by 2032.
The family of former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki launched a YouTube channel to fight against lung cancer. Wojcicki, a mother of five, died at age 56 in 2024, two years after she was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer.
A California city transformed a highway into a green, leafy oasis. The BLVD in Lancaster was redeveloped and is now home to public and private establishments, from banks, tattoo shops, and restaurants to museums, a performing arts center, and a public library.
Italy created a $2.2M fund to rescue dogs from fighting rings, and prepare them for “the happiest years of their life.” The government-backed fund supports shelters and rehabilitation facilities that provide the care and behavioral training necessary to re-home traumatized dogs.
Minnesota announces “effective end” to veteran homelessness, achieving decades-long goal. State officials said Ramsey County became the final community needed to effectively end veteran homelessness statewide, announcing the milestone on Tuesday.
In a “hugely significant milestone,” a golden eagle chick has fledged from a nest on a grouse moor in the U.K. Beaky Junior is one of five golden eagles successfully fledged in southern Scotland this year as part of a conservation effort to restore the species.
NHS patients will be offered blood tests designed to check for multiple cancers at once in some surgeries in England. The aim is to detect hard-to-diagnose abdominal cancers, including liver, ovarian and pancreatic cancer, much sooner. These cancers are often found only after they have spread.
Thanks to a “long-term approach to nature recovery,” wildlife are thriving at a UK estate despite a drought. A country house and farming estate in one of England's driest and most nature-depleted areas has an “abundance” of wildlife with more than 5,000 species recorded.
More than 1.5 million people have watched the “NAZA” documentary on killings in Gaza in less than two months. The award-winning documentary, which details Israel’s mass killing of civilians in Gaza, was released in cinemas across the world last month and has quickly become one of the year’s most-watched.
Ohio State launched the first American Sign Language major among all Big Ten universities. Ohio’s high schools played a role in forming the major, after the university learned that 180 high schools in Ohio offer ASL.
Pope Leo XIV visited a home for people with disabilities in Argentina, telling them their lives were a blessing, not a burden. In addition to hosting a Mass that drew 2.5 million people, the Pope called for the country to care for its most vulnerable, a symbolic rebuke of the president’s budget cuts.
A medical breakthrough is offering hope to people with stiff person syndrome. Some patients in a trial for the autoimmune condition, which impacts Celine Dion, have been able to return to work and resume hobbies.
Kenya’s government secured a $160 million conservation investment. Signed in partnership with a group of donors, the program aims to protect 17.3 million hectares of some of the most complex and least disturbed natural environments on Earth.
