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.
California city takes lead in ruling out disposable coffee cups
As it becomes increasingly important to change our consumer practices to fight the plastic crisis, Berkeley, California, has started the year off with the right environmental footprint by declaring war on disposable coffee cups. On January 1, the city rolled out the nation’s most comprehensive Read More...
Research shows societal openness and tolerance makes for happier citizens
How do a society’s policies about openness, equality, and privacy affect the citizens who live in it? New research published in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that citizens living in more open and tolerant countries are significantly happier. Researchers from Kyoto University in Read More...
Beijing’s air quality continued to significantly improve in 2019
The Chinese capital of Beijing is a cultural and economic hub for the country, but unfortunately, it is also known for its hazardous air pollution. Seven years after the government launched its “war on pollution” in the city, the area is finally seeing some positive results. The Beijing Read More...
2019 was the best year so far for humanity
If you’re feeling low about the state of the world, consider this: In the long arc of human history, 2019 has been the best year ever. As Nicholas Kristof from The New York Times highlights, since modern humans emerged about 200,000 years ago, 2019 was probably the year in which children were Read More...
This chatbot helps refugees navigate the legal path to resettlement
For a Syrian refugee in Lebanon who is trying to navigate the legal path to resettlement, it can be difficult to find answers—and overstretched humanitarian organizations can take as long as three months to respond to an email when the demand for help is highest. A new chatbot called Mona, Read More...
To prevent algorithmic bias, NYC has created a position to oversee ethics in AI
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has taken a major step forward in ensuring that the city’s AI systems are fair and bias-free after creating a position dedicated entirely to overseeing the ethics of AI and other algorithms. AI systems are based on data, but the problem is bad data can contain Read More...
Red alert: How Extinction Rebellion woke the world up to the climate crisis
In October, the journalist and activist George Monbiot introduced Extinction Rebellion to the British press as a homegrown movement “devoted to disruptive, non-violent disobedience in protest against ecological collapse”. The hope was to turn a national uprising into an international one by Read More...
A community-designed solution: restorative justice arrives in Oakland
The United States has the largest prison population in the world and the highest per capita rate of incarceration. The punitive justice that lands people behind bars often hits communities of color and poverty much harder than other groups. In Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in Read More...
Kansas City becomes first major American city to offer free public transport
For the first time ever, a major American city is offering universal fare-free public transit. That city is Kansas City, and it hopes to boost ridership and improve access for all citizens with the new initiative. The city’s popular streetcar is already free, but the city council and Mayor Read More...
The case for putting speed limits on cargo ships
Should cargo ships start going slower on their journeys across the ocean? This is the question being discussed this week at the UN where officials will hear proposals to cut shipping industry emissions by introducing speed limits. Container ships and other ocean liners in the industry deal with a Read More...