Politics
Having a difficult time finding positive news about national and global politics? Search no further! From public policy to positive leadership to democracy efforts, find the latest good news stories in the world of politics at The Optimist Daily.
How car-free streets unite communities: A firsthand account from Oakland
The Optimist Daily has never been shy to support urban planning that favors pedestrians over motorists. Not only does it make the streets safer, but it can also clean up the air in a city dramatically. But beyond all this, perhaps the biggest benefit of clearing the streets of cars is that it turns Read More...
How Phoenix is feeding the hungry and saving local businesses
Like most cities around the world, Phoenix, Arizona had its restaurant and hospitality industries ravaged by the pandemic. When the city received its federal CARES Act relief, it decided to allocate $951,000 towards an ambitious goal: saving the city’s farms and restaurants and providing food to Read More...
Deb Haaland slated to be first Native American Interior Secretary
In 2018, Deb Haaland, alongside Sharice Davids, became the first Native American woman to serve in Congress. A longtime advocate for the environment in her home state of New Mexico, Haaland is now slated to become the first Native American Interior Secretary. If confirmed, Haaland, a member of Read More...
New LA district attorney introduces sweeping reforms
Los Angeles County has a new district attorney and he is making some big changes in the county’s criminal justice system. Newly sworn-in George Gascón reports that the district attorney’s office will no longer seek cash bail for any misdemeanor or non-violent, non-serious felony Read More...
The Optimist View: Best of 2020
"Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else." - Fred Rogers While 2020 has felt like a long, strange “fever dream”, to quote one of our staff members, there were lots of positive solutions to be found. Whether it was advances in medicine, Read More...
Filter designed for the ISS will provide clean drinking water on Earth
From LED lights to digital cameras to GPS, innovations designed for the purpose of space exploration have long benefitted life here on Earth. Now a company that designed a water-purification system for the International Space Station (ISS) aims to use that technology to help solve the global water Read More...
Optimist View Special Feature: Uplifting Stories by Ione Butler
“If you want to improve your mood, a great place to start is by shifting the narrative.” - Ione Butler, Author Uplifting Stories As we all hunker down to await the end of this pandemic, connecting with our usual holiday cheer is tough. Quarantine fatigue is getting us down, but the Read More...
These gas pump stickers aim to make drivers more eco-conscious
In a bid to help its residents shift away from internal-combustion engines and towards cleaner modes of transportation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, will be using gas pumps across the city as a means to do this. Now how exactly can gas stations, the existence of which is in itself a threat to our Read More...
The Supreme Court has fully restored DACA protections
The federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was fully restored this week after the US Supreme Court ruled the program to be constitutional in June. DACA protects people who immigrated to the US with their guardians as children, shielding them from deportation, regardless Read More...
UN reclassifies cannabis as a less dangerous drug
In 1961, The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs classified marijuana as a Schedule IV drug, the most dangerous category. Now, cannabis has been removed from the list per the World Health Organization’s recommendation. The drug’s declassification opens up the door for more research Read More...