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 Netherlands pledged $500 million to help conserve tropical forests
The Tropical Forest Forever Facility was launched by Brazil at the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference a year ago to fund long-term conservation of tropical forests.
The TFFF brings together countries that need funding to protect their forests, with investors and donor countries that want to address climate change and biodiversity loss by mitigating deforestation.
And it just got a huge boost: The Netherlands pledged $500 million over the next 10 years to the cause.
Why is this good news? The TFFF could protect 800 to 900 million hectares of tropical forests — an area about 200 times the size of the Netherlands — but it needs to stay funded so revenue will incentivize countries to prioritize permanent forest conservation over unsustainable development, including logging, mining, and ranching.
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One of Australia’s ‘most mysterious animals’ discovered 400 miles from its last known sighting
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The global EV boom has saved countries around $20 billion since March
According to a new analysis, the global EV boom has displaced around 200 million barrels of crude oil between March and August of this year — worth about $200 billion.
The analysis covered 56 countries which, combined, account for over 90% of EV sales and 80% of all car sales globally. China alone has saved $14 billion worth of crude oil. In the EU, Germany and France had the largest savings, around $760 million and $560 million, respectively.
As one analyst put it, “Every EV on the road reduces exposure to volatile oil markets, and as fleets grow — so does the protection against future supply shocks.”
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MapQuest launched a new feature that helps voters easily find their Election Day polling place
For the 2026 midterms, MapQuest and Democracy Works partnered to release a new in-app tool that helps voters find their polling place, see hours, and get directions — without ever leaving the MapQuest app.
The feature shows voters, based on the address where they’re registered to vote, both nearby early voting locations and their Election Day polling place — complete with hours and directions.
Voters won’t have to switch between websites or navigate often cumbersome local election sites, so they can get the information they need quickly and easily.
Why is this good news? People use Google, Apple, and other mapping services to get around nearly every day — but they don’t regularly use voter information websites. This tool brings the information to a platform they already know, making it easy to get to the polls and make their voice heard.
From the experts: How to feel good about voting when things are looking bad
There are a record number of women running for governor across the US
Women make up one third of gubernatorial candidates in the 2026 midterm elections, the most in recorded history. There are currently 14 women governors, and that could increase after this election, with a record 26 women on the ballot.
Four races for governor have women nominees for both major parties, matching the record high set in 2022: Minnesota, Tennessee, New Hampshire, and Oregon. In New Hampshire, it’s the second consecutive election where both major parties have women nominees — a first in U.S. history.
Records were shattered in the primaries too, when 85 women ran as major-party candidates, breaking the previous record of 69 set in 2022.
Virginia voters enshrined marriage equality into the state’s constitution
Virginia voters decisively approved a constitutional amendment to repeal the state’s ban on same-sex marriage and enshrine marriage equality into state law.
Twenty years ago, Virginia voters opted to add a ban on same-sex marriage into the state constitution, though it’s been unenforceable for nearly a decade due to federal precedent.
The newly approved amendment establishes marriage as a fundamental right for consenting adults regardless of sex, gender, or race, and requires the state to equally recognize marriages.
Why is this good news? While federal precedent still protects same-sex marriage rights nationwide, these laws remaining on the books at the state level still cause harm. Plus, if federal precedent were to ever change, Virginia voters made it clear where they stand in protecting marriage equality.
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At least 17 women will serve as governors across the US, a new record
For the first time in history, there will be three Black women serving at the same time in the Senate
In the 2026 midterms, Illinois voters elected Juliana Stratton to the United States Senate. She will be the sixth Black woman to serve in the Senate, the second from Illinois, and will serve alongside current Sen. Tammy Duckworth, making Illinois the first state to have two women of color in the Senate.
Perhaps even more significantly, when she takes office in January, Stratton will join Delaware Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester and Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks — the trio making history as the first three Black women to serve at the same time in the Senate.
It took 235 years from when the Senate first convened to have two Black women serving simultaneously for the first time — just two years later, it will be three. It’s historic progress for representation in a country as diverse as the U.S.
The US approved the cheaper, generic version of a breakthrough HIV prevention drug
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first generic version of Lenacapavir, a twice-yearly HIV prevention drug administered via injection, considered the closest thing the world has to a vaccine.
The approval paves the way for the breakthrough drug to reach millions of people who need it, particularly in the countries hit hardest by the AIDS epidemic.
According to the United Nations, the drug could be the key to ending the AIDS epidemic globally by 2030.
Why is this good news? Manufactured and available in the United States, Lenacapavir costs $28,000 a year, but the generic version will cost just $40 per person per year, and will be made available to 120 low- and middle-income countries through a global partnership.
Trans and nonbinary candidates in six US states just made history
The world is getting more of its electricity from renewable sources
In order to swiftly and effectively fight the climate crisis, the world needs to switch from fossil fuels to low-carbon power: renewables like solar and wind, and nuclear power.
While nuclear is contributing increasingly less to the global mix, renewables are an entirely different story, and the rapid growth of solar and wind in particular has dramatically increased the amount of electricity coming from renewable sources.
In 2000, nuclear and renewables made up a similar share of global electricity — in the last 25 years, renewables have increased to 34% of the world’s electricity, up from around 18%.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted the sentences of all 548 people on death row in California
California Gov. Gavin Newsom told the state’s Supreme Court that he will commute the sentences of all 548 people facing execution, lowering their sentences to life without parole.
Newsom can commute about 40% of the death sentences on his own, but the rest will require the high court’s approval in order to be finalized.
If the California Supreme Court approves the commutations, reducing them to life without parole, it would be the largest mass commutation of death sentences in U.S. history. The number of people sentenced to death nationwide would drop by nearly a third.
Why is this good news? The death penalty is irreversible, and the margin of error is unacceptably high — and after decades of research, there is no evidence that the death penalty is more effective than life imprisonment in reducing crime. Even police say its use is an inefficient use of taxpayer dollars to fight crime.
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You may also like: How to abolish the death penalty in the United States — and why we should
The CO2-absorbing building made of old sinks, windscreens and toilets: Ghent’s £17m design museum is a green marvel
New research found that newborn deaths in Flint, Michigan fell by 50% after Rx Kids launched
A new study found that neonatal mortality, or the death of an infant withing the first 28 days of life, fell by 50% in Flint, Michigan after the launch of RxKids. Early neonatal mortality, death within the first seven days of life, fell even more, by 74%.
Building on previous research, the new data show the life-saving success of providing community-wide financial support during pregnancy and infancy.
Before Rx Kids launched, the neonatal mortality rate in Flint was more than twice as high as the rest of the state — 10.2 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared to 4.0 statewide. Within one year of the program’s launch, it fell to 5.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, while the state was virtually unchanged at 3.9.
More good news of the week —
A hybrid energy project made a Greek island the first to be energy-autonomous. The system includes a wind turbine, solar power plant, batteries, electric boilers, and a district heating network, and is a benchmark for the non-interconnected islands that won’t be connected to the mainland grid with undersea power cables.
A newly created wildlife reserve in Bolivia will protect a vital stretch of the Amazon along the Brazilian border. The reserve will give migrating animals a continuous corridor between protected areas on both sides.
The filmmaker behind “CODA” says she used her Oscar win to get a film about a disability rights icon made. Sian Heder wrote and directed her newest project, “Being Heumann,” which tells the story of disability rights activist Judy Heumann.
An entire Belgian town goes plant-based on Thursdays. “The success story of Ghent is one where we had an amazing grassroots movement, with people asking for more climate action. But the magic happened when politicians actually listened and implemented policy to introduce the Thursday Veggie Day in 2009.”
A new trial system installed in a New York apartment complex is testing how larger batteries power large buildings. The battery system on a Buffalo apartment complex building will store excess energy when it’s plentiful and power the building when the grid is strained and electricity is costly.
More than 7.7 million Texans voted early for the 2026 midterms, surpassing the previous record set in 2018. The record-breaking number came after the turnout rate for the first seven days of early voting lagged behind the 2018 election.
A record 2.8 million Georgians cast ballots during its three-week early voting period. That figure is more than anyone has ever voted early in a midterm and represents 34% of Georgia’s 8.2 million registered voters, a 13% increase over the 2022 midterm elections.
The NAACP recruited more than 50,000 volunteers to help protect voters’ rights during the midterms. The effort is part of NAACP’s Election Protection program taking place across the country, with concentrated operations in 16 priority states.
Patagonia offered customers $100 in store credit to encourage three friends to vote. (Gifted link) The outdoor apparel brand, which sued the Trump administration in September, ramped up its environmental activism before the midterm elections.
Maryland is giving residents free public transit rides to get to their polling places on Election Day. Fares will be waived all day on Tuesday, Nov. 3 for Local Bus, Metro Subway Light Rail, and Mobility transit routes to help eliminate any transportation barriers for voters.
Lime and HeadCount are partnering to give voters free scooter rides to the polls on Election Day. Transportation is still one of the practical barriers that prevents voters from casting their ballot, and the companies made the offer available for early voting, too.
Minnesota’s “Civility Caucus” launched in 2017 and has been bridging partisan divides and bringing members of the state legislature together. By getting to know members of the “other side” as people, rather than as presumed adversaries, more effective, bipartisan legislation gets done.
In September, over half a million voters registered on National Voter Registration Day. It was National Voter Registration Day’s second-most-successful midterm effort since the group began its annual nationwide registration drive in 2012 to encourage turnout.
A record number of Native Americans are running in the 2026 midterm elections. (Gifted link) At least 355 Native American and Indigenous candidates ran or are running in local, state, and federal primary and general elections this year.
Voters in Texas elected Gina Hinojosa to be the state’s first Latina governor. (Gifted link) It was a particularly historic win for representation in a state where Latinos make up the largest ethnic population.
In two other amendments, voters in Virginia also protected voting rights and reproductive rights. Voters said access to contraception, fertility treatments, and abortions should be protected, and that voting rights should automatically be restored for formerly incarcerated people.
In New Hampshire, Chris Pappas made history as the first out gay man to be elected to the U.S. Senate. Pappas was first elected to the House in 2018, becoming New Hampshire’s first out LGBTQ+ member of Congress, and has supported the Equality Act, legislation to prohibit the gay and transgender “panic” defense, and advocacy for LGBTQ+ veterans.
Alabama voters elected the state’s first openly transgender lawmaker to a state house seat. Though Allison Montgomery was outspent and faced attacks on her gender identity during the campaign, she promised to protect public schools, cut corruption, address the healthcare crisis, and more.
Minnesota voters left “I Voted” stickers on memorial sites for Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good. Organizers in the area also deployed “democracy guardians” to visit and monitor polling sites for disturbances or the federal government.
For the first time, at least 100 Democratic women will serve in the U.S. House at the same time. The milestone culminates decades of work recruiting and fundraising for Democratic women by groups like Elect Democratic Women and EMILY’S List, founded in the 1980s.
Voters in at least 38 jurisdictions across the country passed bans or restrictions on data centers in the midterms. (Gifted link) Widespread criticism of the facilities centers on their noise, water use, impact on electric bills, lack of public input, and that they feed into existing economic and political anxieties.
Princeton alumni designed a first-in-the-world device to filter microplastics out of wastewater at scale. Already implemented in Atlantic City, the device mimics hydrophobic plants found in nature, which shed water on contact but also attract microplastic particles.
The plant diversity under a solar farm in Japan is “indistinguishable” from a grassland. The 55 MW solar plant on a former golf course in central Japan has been mowed twice a year for the past five years, and is now home to plant communities resembling forest edges.
Every fall, an entire island goes dark to save young seabirds. Since 2019, Corvo’s around 450 inhabitants switch off the lights for five nights to tackle the disastrous effects of artificial light on Cory’s shearwaters, a seabird endemic to the Atlantic Ocean.
A women-led team is working to bring 13 of Patagonia’s largest birds back to the wild. Working with Rewilding Chile Foundation, the rangers care for the Darwin’s rheas around the clock, facing harsh weather, predators like pumas, illegal livestock grazing, and other threats to the fragile ecosystem.
Dallas just opened its first of 15 planned “pocket parks” in the city. Dallas’ Greening Initiative plans to turn underused, city-owned land into small, neighborhood-designed green spaces in areas with limited access to parks.
New Jersey is putting 10 megawatts of community solar on warehouse roofs. Putting panels on large, flat warehouse roofs gives the same building the job of generating electricity without taking up additional land — and it will help participating households save money on their electricity bills.
The WHO says Barbados has officially eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV. It’s a major public health milestone resulting from years of sustained efforts to ensure babies are born free of HIV.
Denmark will end mink farming by August 2029 after the government dropped plans to pursue an exemption to an EU-wide ban. Denmark was once the world's largest producer of mink fur, but the industry has declined because of global bans on fur farming, a decline in the fur trade, and more.
