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.

Anchorage, for article on Alaska abortion access

Nurse practitioners can provide abortions in Alaska, judge rules

By / / Good News For Humankind

Reproductive healthcare in Alaska took a meaningful step forward when a Superior Court ruling allowed nurse practitioners and physician assistants to provide medication abortion, and the change has reshaped daily life at clinics. Planned Parenthood’s Anchorage and Fairbanks locations went from offering abortion services one day a week to every day of the week, a shift that matters enormously in a state where reaching a provider can mean flying hundreds of miles. The Alaska Supreme Court is now weighing whether to reinstate the older physician-only rule, with justices openly questioning how geography shapes what counts as a burden. However the court rules, the case is a powerful reminder that healthcare access depends on who’s allowed to help — and where they live.

South Korean flags, for article on catch-up vaccination

‘Major milestone’ immunization campaign begins in North Korea with support of UNICEF

By / / Good News For Humankind

North Korea’s vaccination comeback is reaching every corner of the country — all 210 counties at once, with pregnant women included alongside children for the first time. Backed by UNICEF, more than four million doses arrived in July 2024 to jumpstart the effort, covering everything from measles to polio to hepatitis B. Over 7,200 health workers have been trained to deliver shots and respond to any reactions, and new freezers and cold boxes are keeping vaccines viable in remote areas. Before the pandemic, immunization coverage topped 96%, rivaling wealthy nations — a reminder that rebuilding what’s been lost is possible. Stories like this one show how patient, coordinated global health work can quietly restore protection for an entire generation.

Salmon run, for article on Klamath River salmon

Salmon will soon swim freely in the Klamath River for first time in a century once dams are removed

By / / Good News For Humankind

Klamath River salmon are swimming freely past the sites of two demolished dams for the first time in over a century, just in time for fall Chinook spawning season. The breakthrough completes the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, a victory the Karuk and Yurok Tribes spent at least 25 years fighting to secure. Already, salmon have been spotted at the river’s mouth, beginning the upstream journey their ancestors couldn’t make. Ecologists point to Washington’s Elwha River as proof that rivers heal themselves once obstacles fall away. Beyond restoring a vital ecosystem, this moment shows what sustained Indigenous-led advocacy can accomplish — reshaping policy, moving concrete, and reopening a relationship between people and place that was interrupted but never broken.

Aerial view of a turquoise French Polynesian atoll for an article about French Polynesia marine protected area, for article on debt-for-nature swap, for article on coral reef protection

$35 million debt-for-nature deal aims to protect Indonesia’s coral reefs

By / / Good News For Humankind

A $35 million debt-for-nature swap between the U.S. and Indonesia will channel money that would have gone toward sovereign debt payments into coral reef protection over the next nine years. It’s the first agreement of its kind focused specifically on coral, and it targets nearly two million acres of reef across the Coral Triangle — the most biodiverse marine region on Earth, holding close to two-thirds of all known coral species. Indonesian nonprofits and local communities will guide the work, with a grant committee including civil society voices. As warming oceans threaten reefs worldwide, deals like this offer a model for tying debt relief to the ecosystems millions of people depend on.

Helsinki, for article on air-to-water heat pump

World’s largest air-to-water heat pump to warm 30,000 homes in Finland

By / / Good News For Humankind

Helsinki’s new heat pump can warm 30,000 homes on renewable electricity alone, even when winter temperatures drop to -4°F. Built by MAN Energy Solutions for Finnish utility Helen Oy, it’s the largest air-to-water heat pump in the world, and it uses carbon dioxide as its refrigerant instead of the harmful gases most pumps rely on. Once it switches on for the 2026–2027 heating season, it’s expected to cut around 26,000 tonnes of CO2 each year compared to fossil-fueled heating. Cold cities everywhere have been waiting for proof that district heating can go fully renewable without sacrificing reliability through deep winters. If Helsinki’s machine delivers, it offers a blueprint Scandinavia, Central Europe, and beyond can actually follow.

clean energy concept, for article on wind and solar energy

Wind and solar energy production in U.S. surpasses coal for the first time in history

By / / Good News For Humankind

Wind and solar quietly outproduced coal across the U.S. for the first seven months of 2024, the longest such stretch ever recorded by the Energy Information Administration. What makes this moment different is that renewables held the lead straight through summer, when air conditioners push the grid to its limits. In Texas and California, grid operators credited wind, solar, and battery storage with keeping the lights on during record-breaking heat. The shift has been a long time coming: U.S. wind capacity has grown from 2.4 gigawatts in 2000 to more than 150 gigawatts today. It’s a hopeful signal that the clean energy transition is becoming structural, not seasonal — and that what’s working here can work elsewhere too.

Medical researcher in a lab examining vials related to asthma and COPD treatment and mRNA vaccine development, for article on benralizumab injection, for article on mRNA lung cancer vaccine

World’s first mRNA lung cancer vaccine enters human trials in seven countries

By / / Good News For Humankind

A landmark mRNA lung cancer vaccine is now being tested in human patients for the first time, marking a historic milestone in cancer treatment. BNT116, developed by BioNTech, uses the same messenger RNA technology behind COVID-19 vaccines to train the immune system to recognize and destroy non-small cell lung cancer cells. The phase 1 trial spans 34 sites across seven countries, with roughly 130 patients enrolled. Unlike chemotherapy, this approach targets only tumor cells, potentially offering a more precise and lasting defense against the world’s deadliest cancer, which kills 1.8 million people annually.

Medications, for article on Medicare drug price negotiation

The U.S. negotiates Medicare drug price cuts that will save billions for U.S. citizens

By / / Good News For Humankind

Medicare drug price negotiation just delivered its first results, and the projected savings land at roughly $6 billion a year once new prices take effect in January 2026. After nearly six decades of being legally barred from bargaining with drugmakers, Medicare negotiated discounts on 10 widely used medications, including the blood thinner Eliquis and the diabetes drug Januvia. Some prices dropped by as much as 79%, with the deepest cuts going to drugs that faced the least competition. Around 9 million enrollees use these medications, and a new $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket drug costs adds further relief. Beyond the dollars, this shifts what’s politically possible — moving the U.S. closer to how most wealthy democracies have long approached medicine pricing.

Charging an EV, for article on municipal fleet electrification, for article on tailpipe emission standards

Major new commitment from nearly 350 mayors to accelerate U.S. electric vehicle transition

By / / Good News For Humankind

Nearly 350 U.S. mayors just pledged to electrify at least half their city vehicle fleets by 2030, from police cruisers to garbage trucks to buses. They’re also committing to grow public EV charging fivefold by 2035, with 40% of those new chargers going to neighborhoods that have long breathed the dirtiest air. The bipartisan Climate Mayors network behind the pledge has grown from three founders a decade ago to more than 750 mayors representing close to 60 million Americans. When cities buy electric at this scale, they don’t just clean up local streets — they send a signal that reshapes what manufacturers build, proving that climate progress can move forward city by city, even when Washington stalls.

Kim Coco Iwamoto, for article on Hawaii transgender lawmaker

Kim Coco Iwamoto to become Hawaii’s first trans lawmaker

By / / Good News For Humankind

Hawaii just elected its first transgender state lawmaker, and she did it by unseating the sitting House Speaker. Kim Coco Iwamoto won her Honolulu Democratic primary with 49.3% of the vote, edging out Scott Saiki by about five percentage points without the backing of the party establishment. A longtime civil rights attorney and former Board of Education member, Iwamoto ran on a platform that includes the Green New Deal, affordable housing, and stronger protections for LGBTQ+ youth in foster care. At a moment when transgender Americans are facing a wave of legislative attacks, a win like this — built on years of organizing and persistence — offers a hopeful reminder of what representation can still look like.