Michael Bloomberg launches $500 million campaign to end coal
UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Action Michael Bloomberg has announced Beyond Carbon campaign to close the United States’ fleet of coal plants and halt new gas plants.
Citizens
This archive collects milestones and solutions-focused stories involving citizens — everyday people taking action in their communities, organizing locally, and driving change at the grassroots level. From civic participation to community-led initiatives, these stories highlight what ordinary people accomplish when they work together.
Thousands of Japanese women join campaign to ban workplace high heel requirements
More than 19,000 people in Japan have signed a petition to ban office dress codes which force women to wear high heels to work.
Denver voters approve decriminalizing “magic mushrooms”
Denver voters approved a measure to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms. Psilocybin has been touted for treating a variety of psychological issues, including depression.
Brazilian couple plant 4 million trees in 20 years to restore a destroyed forest
Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado and his wife Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado founded Instituto Terra, a small organization that has since planted 4 million saplings and has brought the forest back from the dead.
Karen Uhlenbeck becomes first woman ever to win prestigious Abel Prize for mathematics
For the first time, one of the top prizes in mathematics has been given to a woman. Dr. Uhlenbeck helped pioneer geometric analysis, developing techniques now commonly used by many mathematicians.
Over 1 million students from around the world walk out of schools to strike for climate action
1.5 million students from all over the world took to the streets on March to demand governments for stronger political action on our current climate crisis.
#TrashTag viral internet challenge is spurring people around the world to pick up tons of trash
An eco-friendly new social media trend is inspiring people around the world to clean up litter. Though the #TrashTag challenge has reportedly been around for several years, it recently became a trending topic on social media.
Electric vehicle sales in Europe jump 67% year over year in January 2019
Fully electric vehicles (BEVs) have been flourishing. In the first month of 2019, all-electrics jumped 67% year over year (YoY), to almost 21,000 deliveries.
More than 8 million U.K. students to strike over climate change
Following in the footsteps of Greta Thunberg, school children across the U.K. have gone on strike for climate change. A new initiative called ‘Fridays for Future’ has been introduced, this will mean that students will strike every Friday until the government respond with an appropriate action.
Plug-in electric car sales skyrocket in China
2018 PEV sales in China ended at over a million units. For some context, 2017 was the first year that plug-ins reached 1 million sales globally.