North & Central America

This archive covers progress stories from North and Central America, spanning the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the nations of Central America. Readers will find reporting on health, environment, community resilience, and policy advances across the region.

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 / / 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.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug susceptibility test., for article on antibiotic resistance

U.S. scientists restore a last-resort antibiotic’s power over superbugs

By / / Good News For Humankind

Drug-resistant infections already kill more than a million people a year worldwide and contribute to nearly 5 million deaths — a toll projected to climb toward 10 million annually by 2050 if nothing changes. Now researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York and Scripps Research and in California have found a way to fight back without inventing new drugs: a small companion molecule, pghi-4, that disables a key bacterial defense and lets vancomycin kill resistant bacteria again in lab tests. The approach is years from clinical use, but restoring the antibiotics medicine already has could eventually save millions of lives.

Close up of brown eye, for article on trachoma elimination

El Salvador becomes first Central American country to eliminate trachoma, WHO says

By / / Good News For Humankind

El Salvador’s trachoma elimination shows what’s possible when basic health infrastructure finally reaches the communities most often left behind. Trachoma — the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness — thrives where clean water and health care are scarce, so clearing it signals those foundations have genuinely taken hold. The achievement came through three years of community outreach, expanded sanitation, and trained health workers catching cases early. Global elimination by 2030 remains ambitious, with several neighboring countries still mapping where the disease even exists. But El Salvador’s path from suspected cases to full certification offers a credible model for the region.

Mendocino coast, for article on Indigenous land return

California returns 136 acres of coastline to Indigenous tribes in a state first

By / / Good News For Humankind

Indigenous land return in California just reached a milestone that could open doors for tribes across the state. Three Pomo nations will now steward Blues Beach and its surrounding bluffs in Mendocino County — a stretch of coastline their ancestors lived on, gathered from, and held as sacred. A new state law made this possible, creating the legal pathway for Caltrans to transfer land to tribal governments for the first time. The tribes plan cultural camps, ecological surveys, and careful stewardship on their own terms. This is what land justice can look like when policy catches up with principle.

Wind turbines, for article on SunZia wind project

Largest-ever U.S. renewable energy project comes online, supplying power to 1 million homes

By / / Good News For Humankind

SunZia is now the largest wind energy project in U.S. history, and its scale changes what Americans can imagine building. Its 916 turbines generate more power than the Hoover Dam, delivered through one of the first major long-distance HVDC transmission lines completed in the country in decades. Over 30 years, the project will send $1.3 billion directly to local governments, schools, and landowners in New Mexico and Arizona — communities that have long watched energy wealth flow elsewhere. It’s proof that transformational clean energy infrastructure can actually get built, and a model other regions will be watching closely.

Abstract visual, for article on LSD-based drug

Single dose of LSD-based drug shows significant depression relief in key Phase 3 trial

By / / Good News For Humankind

A single-dose LSD-based drug has just cleared one of medicine’s highest evidentiary bars — offering meaningful, durable relief from major depressive disorder in a rigorous Phase 3 trial. DT120 ODT, a pharmaceutically refined lysergide compound, produced an 8.1-point improvement on the standard depression scale compared to placebo, with nearly all side effects mild and resolving the same day. For the millions who cycle through daily antidepressants without real relief, a single-dose model represents a genuinely different kind of hope — and a signal that psychedelic-assisted medicine is maturing into a serious contender in mainstream psychiatric care.

EV charging stations at night, for article on public EV charging ports

U.S. now has 250,000 public EV charging ports, more than doubling since 2021

By / / Good News For Humankind

Public EV charging in America has doubled since 2021, and the milestone reveals just how fast the country’s clean transportation backbone is growing. The U.S. now has over 250,000 public charging ports — and thousands more are already in the pipeline. Fast chargers are spreading along major travel corridors, while libraries, restaurants, and retailers are quietly adding chargers that work while you live your life. Every country watching this buildout sees proof that large-scale EV infrastructure is achievable — and that momentum, once established, is hard to stop.

Person giving blood, for article on blood donation ban

Canada removes ban on blood donations from gay men

By / / Good News For Humankind

Canada’s shift to behaviour-based blood donation screening closes a 30-year chapter in which gay and bisexual men were turned away not because of anything they did, but because of who they are. Starting September 30, 2022, donors will be assessed on individual risk behaviours — the same standard applied to everyone else. More than eight countries, including the U.K., France, and Brazil, have already made similar moves, signalling a global reckoning with policies that lagged far behind the science. This is what it looks like when health systems finally catch up to both the evidence and human dignity.

School bus on the road, for article on electric school bus mandate

New York enacts first-in-nation plan to electrify all state school buses

By / / Good News For Humankind

New York’s commitment to electrifying all 50,000 of its school buses sets a new standard for what statewide climate and children’s health policy can look like together. More than two million students — disproportionately from low-income communities — currently ride to school in diesel buses linked to asthma, reduced lung development, and cognitive harm. At least $500 million in state funding, paired with federal support, gives districts a real financial path forward. For advocates working to make clean air a guarantee rather than a privilege, this is a proof of concept other states can follow.

Stethoscope on top of a stock of hundred dollar bills, for article on medical debt cancellation, for article on medical debt cancellation, for article on medical debt cancellation

Connecticut has erased $513 million in medical debt for 250,000 residents since 2024

By / / Good News For Humankind

Medical debt relief is reaching Connecticut residents automatically — no application, no paperwork, just a letter confirming the debt is gone. The state partnered with a nonprofit that purchases debt portfolios at steep discounts, meaning every $6.5 million in public funding has erased roughly $100 in debt for every dollar spent. Relief flows automatically to residents earning under 400% of the federal poverty level, or whose medical debt exceeds 5% of their annual income. Because medical debt falls hardest on people already facing barriers to care, this model — now spreading across multiple states — points toward something genuinely replicable.