Milestones from Today (2017 C.E. - 2025 C.E.)

Vultures, for article on Asia's vulture recovery

20 years after 99.9% decline, Asia’s vultures are now recovering

By Peter Schulte / August 13, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Asia’s vultures are making a genuine comeback after one of the most dramatic wildlife collapses ever recorded. The turnaround traces to a coordinated ban on veterinary diclofenac — the painkiller quietly killing vultures through scavenged livestock carcasses — alongside breeding programs, drug monitoring, and community-level Safe Zones. Nepal’s populations have shown real, if partial, growth, while India’s numbers have stabilized but remain far below historical levels, and problematic large diclofenac vials are still manufactured. This story shows that science-led, cross-border conservation can reverse declines once thought permanent.

Roll of American $100 bill, for article on student loan forgiveness

170,000 Americans get student loan debt erased in historic settlement

By Peter Schulte / August 11, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

A federal court has refused the Department of Education’s bid to delay relief by 18 months, unlocking $11 billion in cancellations for borrowers who filed borrower-defense claims during a 2022 filing window. The Sweet v. McMahon class action, filed in 2019, targeted the government’s failure to process claims from students defrauded by collapsed for-profit schools like Corinthian Colleges. Advocates call it the largest settlement against the U.S. government in history — a model for winning relief through litigation, not executive action. Still, millions of borrowers fall outside it, and the $11 billion is a sliver of the $1.66 trillion Americans owe.

Canadian flag, for article on sperm donor restrictions

Canada ends sperm donor restrictions for gay and bisexual men

By Peter Schulte / August 10, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Gay and bisexual men in Canada can now donate sperm without facing blanket behavioral screening — a shift driven entirely by one man’s refusal to drop a lawsuit. Medical experts confirmed in court that modern HIV testing carries effectively no residual risk, making the old restrictions scientifically indefensible. The change may also help ease Canada’s persistent sperm shortage, though the ban on paid donation remains the deeper structural cause of that gap. When individual plaintiffs hold institutions to their own stated values, the legal record they build can pressure similar policies worldwide.

Solar panels and wind turbines generating clean electricity for an article about renewable energy capacity, for article on 3-terawatt solar milestone

Humanity quietly crosses massive 3-terawatt solar power milestone

By Peter Schulte / August 7, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Solar power’s three-terawatt milestone tells a story of acceleration that’s hard to fully absorb — the third terawatt arrived in under two years, faster than any previous phase of the boom. Countries like Pakistan, Nigeria, and the Philippines are now seeing real solar growth, and the number of nations with at least one gigawatt installed nearly doubled between 2020 and 2025. But the technology’s falling costs haven’t been matched by accessible financing in lower-income countries, leaving millions still waiting. Whether this transformation reaches everyone — not just the wealthiest nations — is the question the next decade will answer.

River in Africa's Sahel, for article on Sahel groundwater

After decades of drought, groundwater is rising across Africa’s Sahel

By Peter Schulte / August 6, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Water tables across much of Niger have climbed roughly 13 feet, refilling aquifers that farming families rely on for drinking water and irrigation. Lake Chad — a vital source of fish, water, and grazing land for the region — swelled past 9,000 square miles in 2024, nearing its 1960s extent, while 200 million regrown trees are anchoring soil and reviving wildlife habitat. Returning rains and farmer-led restoration are rebuilding food and water security across the region. The catch: the same fierce storms driving this recovery are killing people and destroying homes, and whether the aquifers can outpace a fast-growing population remains uncertain.

Tiger running in the snow, for article on Nepal tiger population

Nepal’s wild tiger population climbs to 429, nearly quadrupling since 2010

By Peter Schulte / August 5, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Nepal’s wild tigers now number 429 — already exceeding the country’s estimated habitat carrying capacity of around 400, which means the recovery itself is generating new pressures like human-tiger conflict and habitat strain. Getting here took 15 years of patient, community-rooted conservation, with local buffer zone committees and forest user groups driving anti-poaching efforts alongside government enforcement. Nepal now ranks third globally for wild tiger population, just ahead of Indonesia. This story shows what’s possible when communities lead conservation — and why expanding habitat must keep pace with the animals returning to it.

Houseless man on the street, for article on veteran homelessness, for article on veteran homelessness

New Jersey declares “functional zero” on veteran homelessness

By Peter Schulte / August 4, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Veteran homelessness in New Jersey is no longer a chronic reality — it’s now rare, brief, and recoverable, meeting the “functional zero” benchmark that only a handful of states have reached. Since launching the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative in 2024, a coordinated network of state, federal, and local agencies has permanently housed more than 2,500 veterans. Officials are candid that sustaining this takes ongoing funding and staffing — and that affordable housing supply remains a real pressure. Still, New Jersey has proven that ending veteran homelessness isn’t idealism. It’s an operational problem that coordination and political will can actually solve.

Coal mine, for article on China coal share

China’s coal power falls below 50% of electricity for first time ever

By Peter Schulte / August 3, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

The remarkable part isn’t the coal number — it’s that China burned more coal than ever in the first half of 2026, yet clean power grew so fast that coal’s grid share still slipped to 49.7%. Wind and solar alone now supply nearly a quarter of electricity in the world’s largest power market, with renewables together topping 40%. Beijing is racing to keep up, lifting energy-storage investment 74% in a single year. The harder task still ahead: cutting the absolute amount of coal burned, not just its share.

Saiga antelope, for article on saiga population recovery

Once critically endangered, Kazakhstan’s saiga rebounds to 4.6 million

By Peter Schulte / August 2, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Kazakhstan’s 2026 spring aerial census, flown by two biplanes over 215 hours, counted saiga across three herds — the largest, the Ural population, alone reaching 2.7 million, up 17.4% in a single year. Two decades ago the entire national population had crashed below 25,000. The rebound is now so complete that farmers report herds trampling crops and crowding pastureland, and the conservation effort behind it won the 2024 Earthshot Prize. It stands as proof that a species written off as nearly gone can return in the millions.

Solar panels, for article on Africa renewable energy capacity, for article on California solar milestone

California becomes first major economy powered over 50% by solar

By Peter Schulte / August 2, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

For the first five months of 2026, California generated more electricity from the sun than from natural gas — the fuel that dominated its grid for decades. The tipping point came in May, when solar carried clean power across a full month at a scale that dwarfs most national grids. Grid-scale batteries made it possible, storing midday sunshine and releasing it into the evening peak. The shift is real but unfinished — July heat waves pushed gas back up — yet analysts say this could be the first year solar beats gas outright.