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 —
Scientists unveiled a new, effective anti-malaria drug to help fight rising drug resistance
Drugmaker Novartis and the nonprofit Medicines for Malaria Venture unveiled a new antimalarial drug that’s as effective as existing treatments — but could help address rising resistance to those treatments.
Called GanLum, the drug was more than 97% effective at treating malaria in the final-stage trial results. While existing treatments work against malaria, there has been growing resistance to one of the key drugs used.
This new treatment option is the first major advancement in treating malaria in decades, and it works differently from previous antimalarial drugs.
Why is this good news? Malaria still kills more than 600,000 people annually, most of them children under five years old in sub-Saharan Africa. If drug resistance were to continue rising without a new treatment option, it would leave health care providers globally without another option.
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What if every teen graduated with $1K and an investment portfolio? These states are making that a reality
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Rapid expansion of renewable energy has put the world way ahead of the curve to triple capacity by 2030
At COP28 in 2023, over 130 governments pledged to triple the world’s existing renewable energy capacity to 11 terawatts by 2030 — since then, deployment has skyrocketed.
To achieve a tripling, renewables additions needed to increase by 21% every year, but additions have actually averaged 29% annually from 2023 to 2025.
As a result, the world is already way ahead of the curve to achieve triple capacity — additions would only need to rise by 12% annually to still achieve it.
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A city in New Mexico just became the first to tie minimum wage to rental costs
The Santa Fe City Council voted to raise its minimum wage from $15 an hour to $17.50 in 2027, which is good news in and of itself — but how it will determine future increases is even better.
The new ordinance will calculate minimum wage based not on the Consumer Price Index alone, but on the cost of housing, too. That makes Santa Fe the first city to account for housing costs in calculating its minimum wage.
While the mayor-elect said the raise may still not be enough to account for “the increasingly high cost of living,” it was a step in the right direction and “essential to supporting our workforce, promoting stability, and upholding our commitment to a thriving and sustainable Santa Fe.”
Why is this good news? Wages aren’t keeping up with the rising cost of living, and housing costs are a major driver of those rising costs. It’s important that it’s considered in setting adequate wages for workers. Santa Fe is making sure that it is, now and into the future.
This car-free neighborhood could be the future of walkable cities in America
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Thousands of national park workers are still without jobs. So people are ‘adopting’ a park ranger this holiday season
Even before the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, national parks and rangers were strained as a result of federal budget cuts. Sandra Ramos, known as @nationalparkpatchlady on Instagram, wanted to help.
She launched a grassroots “Adopt-A-Ranger” program to connect donors with rangers in need of support during the holiday season.
Her hope was to get around 50 followers to participate in the project, but within just a few days, over 500 people had signed up to support park rangers.
In response to protesters, Brazil created 10 new Indigenous territories during COP30
COP30 host country Brazil announced the creation of 10 new Indigenous territories, which means the areas — one of which is in part of the Amazon — will have legal protections under Brazilian law.
Though not always enforced, it’s an important step for the country’s Indigenous communities, who are sometimes attacked when they try to defend their land from cattle ranchers or groups trying to cut down trees for agriculture.
Brazil also recognized 11 Indigenous territories last year.
Why is this good news? Beyond a deep cultural and spiritual connection to their lands, as one Indigenous activist put it, “Indigenous peoples today protect 82% of the world’s biodiversity,” so if you protect these lands, “you guarantee this area will be protected.” And protecting biodiversity is critical to addressing the climate crisis, the central purpose behind the COP events.
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You may also like: Meet 3 Indigenous women who are leading the way in fighting climate change
To reduce vandalism, these communities installed vertical ‘living walls’ that double as pollinator gardens, clean the air, and more
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An expensive gas bill inspired a developer to build an all-electric affordable housing project that keeps bills low
In 1999, developer AJ Patton’s mother got a $400 gas bill in the mail. Making just $10 an hour, she couldn’t pay it, and “we got our gas shut off and for a year straight had to boil water to take a bath.”
Patton didn’t want others to experience that, so he now builds affordable housing that helps lower electricity costs. His latest project, Humboldt Park Passive Living in Chicago, is all-electric and being built to passive house design standards.
Featuring thick walls and high performance windows to minimize heating and cooling, rooftop solar, and a fast EV charging station, it’s also the largest passive housing development in the city’s history. Additionally, 48 units will be reserved for low-income residents.
Three years after its ‘radical ownership’ restructuring, Patagonia has given another $180 million to nature
Three years ago, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard made an unprecedented move. Instead of selling the multibillion-dollar retailer or taking it public, they created a new trust and nonprofit that would use the company’s profits to fight climate change and protect nature.
It hasn’t changed the day-to-day operations of the company, but the change has amplified its environmental work. While it pioneered the “Earth tax” in the 1980s, giving 1% of all profits to environmental charities, about $10 to $15 million a year.
Since the company restructured in late 2022, Patagonia has far surpassed that, giving $180 million to the Holdfast Collective, the group of five nonprofit trusts that the company created to fund environmental work.
Why is this good news? While so many companies aim for more (and more) profits at any cost, Patagonia’s successful restructuring proves it’s possible to do things differently, with people and the planet as a top concern.
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This Latina mom invented a whole new way for her autistic child to make tamales. It inspired a full-blown business
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Washington’s “Souperman” leads a 6,000-person Facebook group in giving away free, homemade soup to anyone in need
In the winter of 2023, Chris Hyde of Olympia, Washington had recently retired, felt isolated at home, and the dark Pacific Northwest days left him feeling “borderline depressed.”
He started cooking soup, and had an epiphany: he’d make it for his neighbors, too. He started a nonprofit, Souper Sunday, and in a now 5,900-person Facebook group, members post when they have a meal available — and people in need respond to coordinate pickup.
Hyde himself makes about 25 to 35 portions of soup every day, five days a week. It’s grown so much that there are 11 total Souper Sunday Facebook groups in cities across Washington, California, and Montana.
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In a major crackdown, the UK just outlawed reselling event tickets for a profit
Impacting fans across the world, “ticket touting” — or reselling tickets for a profit — has become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, as professionals buy large volumes of live event tickets, from concerts to sports, before relisting them on resale platforms at highly inflated prices.
The U.K. government just announced a major crackdown on the practice: making it illegal for anyone to resell a ticket for anything more than its original cost.
The announcement comes a week after major artists like Coldplay and Dua Lipa called on the government to make good on its pledge to stop “pernicious” touts.
Why is this good news? The government estimates that resale tickets will be £37 cheaper on average and save fans £112 million per year — a huge win for fans and artists alike who just want to see their favorite performers, teams, and more for the intended price.
All 121 houses in this neighborhood include a grass roof: ‘Every single room has access to a garden’
A church in Charlotte hosted an ‘ICE defense’ training to protect migrants in the community
Since 2017, Charlotte nonprofit Siembra NC has been working to prepare community members through “ICE defense” trainings.
The group just hosted a “Safe to Work, Safe to School” training with Dilworth United Methodist Church to train volunteers to help immigrants get to work and school, while fighting against constitutional violations carried out by ICE.
Over 1,000 people registered to attend the training, which helped them understand how to keep a safe distance from agents and how not to incite violence or act in ways that are illegal.
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More good news of the week —
Giant holiday “giving machines” are in over 100 cities around the world, and they’ve already raised $50 million. The kiosks make donating easy and engaging, allowing users to pick a specific dollar amount or item to contribute to a specific charity, like spending $35 to give a solar lamp to a refugee family.
A 20-year-old Kenyan student turned a local fundraiser into a nonprofit serving 600,000 meals a day to kids in school. Nutritionist and food scientist Wawira Njiru is directly tackling a huge hunger issue in Africa, where she says less than 20% of school kids receive daily meals across the continent.
An app that saves surplus food launched discounted grocery bags with Whole Foods to combat food insecurity. Too Good To Go worked with the grocer to roll out seven new categories of bags as millions of U.S. consumers have been struggling with rising grocery prices and inflation.
In a clinical trial, a tiny drug-releasing implant wiped out bladder cancer in 82% of patients. Traditionally, bladder cancer patients “have had very limited treatment options,” and the new therapy is “the most effective one reported to date for the most common form of bladder cancer.”
A large-scale MIT study found several targets for a new tuberculosis vaccine. Using these antigens, researchers plan to develop vaccine candidates that they hope would stimulate a strong immune response against the world’s deadliest disease.
The Weeknd donated $350,000 to help support hurricane relief efforts in Jamaica. The donation will benefit the World Food Programme, for which The Weeknd is an ambassador, as it helps 200,000 Jamaicans who were impacted by the Category 5 storm.
An art festival at Zion National Park raised $100,000 to support the park’s recovery following the government shutdown. The Plein Air Art Invitational is held each year around early November as fall color touches the leaves and the park begins to empty after a summer season that draws as many as half a million visitors a month.
A new vending machine dispenses free prescription drugs to people experiencing homelessness. Clients simply meet with a provider at the health clinic, get a prescription for what they need, then use that prescription to easily access their medication from the vending machine.
An Atlanta nonprofit for rental assistance reopened its grant program for the third year to help families stay in their homes. Typically, FreeRent offers one month or more of covered rent, but this grant program goes the extra mile by providing a year’s worth of rent payments.
A grassroots soccer club in England is helping improve access to the game for deaf children. (May require login) HS Sports made minor adjustments to its communication so that two young players could play alongside their hearing teammates — and it wants other clubs to follow their lead.
A vibrant community fridge in New York City gives free fruits and veggies to hundreds of people every week. The fridge rescues fresh produce from local supermarkets and partners with local businesses to stock fresh-pressed juices and pre-portioned meals when possible.
A report found that renewables could increase developing countries’ GDP by around 10% in 25 years. Already, between 2017 and 2022, renewable investments in the 100 largest developing countries (excluding China) contributed a combined $1.2 trillion to GDP growth — equivalent to 2-5% of GDP for most of these nations.
Scientists are developing alternatives to lifelong drugs for autoimmune diseases. They’re trying a revolutionary new approach to treat rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus and other devastating autoimmune diseases by reprogramming patients’ immune systems.
A doctor in Sudan won a $1 million prize for his “extraordinary courage and steadfast dedication to providing care for those trapped in conflict.” The country’s civil war broke out in 2023, and the United Nations has described tit as the most devastating humanitarian crisis in the world, with over 150,000 people killed and more than 12 million displaced.
A new directory of over 125 tree-planting nonprofits is making it easier to contribute to reforestation around the world. For donors and funders who want to support reforestation efforts, it can be hard to identify which organizations to trust with their money and even more difficult to determine which are effective.
A ‘swimming cap’ is transforming treatment for babies with brain injuries. Researchers are trialing a new technique that could speed up diagnosis and care for children with conditions such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and learning difficulties.
Scientists discovered a new, rare black wolf snake in a biodiversity hotspot and named it after Steve Irwin. The species was found in a moist, evergreen forest on Great Nicobar Island and since the scientists believe it’s limited to this region — at risk from human threats and habitat loss — they recommend the species be classified as Endangered by the IUCN.
With deaths from heat-related causes rising globally, philanthropies donated $300 million to climate health research. The money, announced this week at the COP30 climate negotiations in Brazil, is aimed at developing data and figuring out the best investments for tackling rising risks from extreme heat, air pollution, and infectious disease.
A town in Michigan stopped a massive data center from being built on public land. The company behind the project said it was no longer pursuing it, it was grateful for the community’s engagement, and “it is important to work together as a community when making decisions about the future, even when there is disagreement.”
A new report shows Australia is on track to become the first country in the world to eliminate cervical cancer by 2035. In addition to survival rates improving, in 2021, the national cervical cancer rate decreased to 6.3 per 100,000, compared to 6.6 per 100,000 in 2020. For the first time since records began in 1982, there were no cervical cancer cases diagnosed in women under 25 in 2021.
A startup’s plant-inspired technology keeps hundreds of millions of plastic particles out of the ocean. Tiny fragments of microplastics — from clothes, car tires, packaging, and other sources — slip through most water filters, but not at a water treatment plant on the coast in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Birds in France are showing signs of recovery after a bee-killing pesticide was banned. Four years after the European Union banned neonicotinoid use in fields, researchers observed that France’s population of insect-eating birds had increased by 2%-3%.
