What does good governance look like? In this good news section, we share international examples of good governance, from efforts directed at the protection of civil rights to initiatives aimed at the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment.
Vertical farms have been praised for their adaptability in dense spaces as well as low resource use. Another advantage is that they offer locally-grown produce to consumers that live miles away from traditional farmlands. In Jersey City, an innovative scheme is combining these different benefits of Read More...
Last week, Dame Cindy Kiro was formally sworn in as New Zealand’s first Indigenous Māori woman to be named Governor-general. The Māori peoples account for around 17 percent of New Zealand’s population but are still socially and economically disadvantaged. They continue to be Read More...
In Arras, France, a city council member is making history as the city’s public official in charge of inclusion and happiness. Éléonore Laloux is the first and only person with Down syndrome to be elected to public office in the country. Laloux was recently awarded membership in the National Read More...
US-based economist David Card is one of this year’s recipients of the Nobel prize for economics, awarded for his work which helps answer one of the field’s most contested ideas surrounding minimum wage. Card is Canadian born but based at the University of California, Berkeley. So what Read More...
Pitzer was the first college in the US to establish a bachelor’s degree program for incarcerated individuals, but while Pitzer allows students to participate in classes virtually from prison, Cal State Los Angeles' Prison B.A. Graduation Initiative is California’s first in-person bachelor’s Read More...
The U.N. Human Rights Council has finally recognized access to a clean and healthy environment as a fundamental human right, adding it to others─like food, shelter, and freedom from slavery─laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The resolution was first discussed in the Read More...
We recently shared how 130 countries signed on to a global minimum tax rate proposed by G7 finance ministers. This agreement, establishing a 15 percent minimum corporate tax rate, aims to dismantle tax shelters and reduce tax evasion by increasing accountability, but it will only reach its full Read More...
World War Ⅱ ended 76 years ago, but survivors of the Holocaust continue to experience negative health consequences as a result of the devastating persecution of Jewish people in Europe. The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference, has Read More...
Leaders from around the world are preparing for COP26, and we at The Optimist Daily are gearing up to report on the latest climate action surrounding the conference, but today we’re here to share some basic details on what COP26 is and what outcomes it hopes to achieve in terms of curbing global Read More...
Canada celebrated the country’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30. The day, which honors the lost children and survivors of Indigenous schools, comes after more than 1,000 unmarked graves were discovered at former schools this year. Governor General Mary May Read More...