Hawaii shuts down its last coal-fired power plant
In 2020, Hawaii’s Legislature passed a law banning the use of coal for energy production at the start of 2023.
Today (2017 C.E. - 2025 C.E.)
This archive spans the years 2017 through 2025, a period marked by rapid advances in clean energy, medicine, technology, and social equity. It collects documented breakthroughs, policy wins, and scientific achievements from the present era. If you want evidence that progress is real and ongoing, this is where to look.
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court strikes down ban on buggery
The Offenses Against the Person Act, imported from England, criminalized “unnatural offenses” and carried a maximum penalty of 10 years with hard labor.
Indonesia announces plan to protect 10% of its seas by 2030, and 30% by 2045
Indonesia’s marine protection plan is one of the most ambitious ocean commitments any nation has made — a two-phase expansion that would eventually shield nearly a million square kilometers of some of Earth’s most biodiverse waters. The country’s eastern seas sit within the Pacific Coral Triangle, home to more reef fish and coral species than anywhere else on the planet. Experts are cheering the target while urging the government to prioritize genuinely effective, community-centered management over coverage alone. If Indonesia gets this right, it could become a model for tropical nations across the Indo-Pacific.
California bans new combustion car sales from 2035
The California Air Resource Board expects this move to slash vehicle emissions – the top source of anthropogenic carbon emissions – by 50% in 2040, paving the way for a race to zero emissions by 2050.
Togo achieves ‘major feat’ of eliminating four neglected tropical diseases
Togo’s elimination of four neglected tropical diseases is a powerful proof of concept for what sustained political will can achieve in global health. These diseases — which still affect roughly 1.7 billion people worldwide — trap communities in cycles of poverty and disability, yet Togo wiped out all four within eleven years. The WHO called it a model for the entire continent, and with 46 countries having now eliminated at least one NTD, momentum is clearly building. Togo shows the world’s 2030 elimination goal is genuinely within reach.
Singapore to repeal colonial-era law against sex between men
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has announced the repeal of the colonial-era Section 377A of the penal code, under which sex between men is punishable by up to two years in prison.
Sierra Leone passes new laws to boost landowners’ rights
Sierra Leone’s parliament has passed two laws that lawyers say will help boost the rights of rural landowners and women against land grabs by big mining and agribusiness firms.
New study offers hope that pill can cut hereditary cancer risk by 60 percent
The double-blind longitudinal study followed nearly 1,000 patients with Lynch Syndrome, an inherited genetic condition that increases the individual risk of several cancers, for almost 20 years.
Indigenous Shuar community in Ecuador wins decades-long battle to protect land
Ecuador’s National System of Protected Areas now includes the 13,583-acre ancestral Tiwi Nunka Forest in the country’s south.
U.N. General Assembly declares access to clean and healthy environment a universal human right
The resolution, based on a similar text adopted last year by the Human Rights Council, calls upon States, international organizations, and business enterprises to scale up efforts to ensure a healthy environment for all.