[Sundaycommunity] Fwd: Good News on Guinea Worm, Divorce, Ivory and Tigers

[Catherine Walther]

If you like reading good news stories, read on:

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Future Crunch <info at futurecrunch.com.au>
Date: Fri, Feb 4, 2022 at 4:59 AM
Subject: Good News on Guinea Worm, Divorce, Ivory and Tigers
To: <catherine.walther at gmail.com>


Plus, cancer declines in the EU, conservation wins in Costa Rica, a fur ban
by Dolce & Gabbana, and 752 miles on a single charge.

<https://futurecrunch.com/>
Good News on Guinea Worm, Divorce, Ivory and Tigers
<https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-on/>
By Future Crunch – 04 Feb 2022 – View online →
<https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-on/>

When Guinea worm is eradicated, it will be the first disease to be removed
from the planet without the use of a vaccine.
Plus, cancer declines in the EU, teen pregnancy falling in India,
conservation wins in Costa Rica, a fur ban by Dolce & Gabbana, and 752
miles on a single charge.
------------------------------

*A fortnightly roundup of good news from around the world. This is the free
edition. For the full experience, you can upgrade
<https://futurecrunch.com/#/portal/account/plans> to the weekly premium
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<https://futurecrun.ch/charity>.*
Become a paid subscriber <https://futurecrunch.com/#/portal/account/plans>
------------------------------
Give a damn


We recently discovered an wonderful charity in Nigeria called Safe Child
Africa <http://www.safechildafrica.org/>. They provide refuge for children
in the Niger Delta accused of witchcraft; children who would otherwise have
nowhere else to go. Their Emergency Accommodation Centre provides a place
for children to stay for seven nights, while alternative secure care or
longer term foster care is sought.

*We're sending them $5,000*, which they're going to spend on kitchen
equipment, computers, bedding and clothing, and other supplies. These
people are doing amazing work, and hopefully this donation will make their
lives, and the lives of the kids they're helping, a little easier. Thank
you so much to all of our paying subscribers for making this possible.
------------------------------

Also, in October 2020 our paid subscribers helped us buy a drone for the
Uru-eu-wau-wau people in the Amazon. Since then it's become a crucial tool
in their protection of the forest. Sundance Festival recently screened a
documentary called *The Territory*
<https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-territory-sundance-review/5166883.article>
*,* which follows Bitaté, a young leader of the Uru-eu-wau-wau who uses
technology to protect his culture and territory. During the first part of
the film you can see Bitaté using the drone donated by Future Crunch to
monitor invasions and deforestation, and later on, teaching his people how
to fly it. If you get a chance check it out the doco!
------------------------------
Good news you probably didn't hear about


Jimmy Carter's dream of making Guinea Worm the third ever disease to be
fully eradicated is within reach. Only 14 cases were recorded in 2021.
Decades of health campaigns to improve access to safe drinking water in
Africa have dramatically decreased the disease, which, 35 years ago was
infecting 3.5 million people in 21 countries. Al Jazeera
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/26/guinea-worm-cases-drop-to-14-close-to-jimmy-carters-goal-of-0>
*To say that we only have 14 human beings on a planet of almost eight
billion people is a phenomenal track record.*
*Adam Weiss, Director of The Carter Center’s Guinea Worm Eradication
Program*

New research has shown that nearly 5.4 million cancer deaths have been
avoided in the EU between 1989 and 2022. Since 2017 alone, the cancer death
rate has fallen by 6% in men and 4% in women, and in 2022 it's estimated
there will be 369,000 fewer deaths compared to the peak back in 1988.
Medical.net
<https://www.news-medical.net/news/20220127/Death-rates-from-ovarian-cancer-are-predicted-to-fall-by-2022-in-EU-countries.aspx>

The WHO just published new data on global access to cooking fuels. In 1990,
53% of humanity used wood, charcoal, kerosene or dung to cook their food.
By last year, that proportion dropped to 36%. In actual numbers, that means
that in a single generation, an extra 2.48 billion people are now cooking
with electricity or clean stoves.

India just completed its fifth National Family Health Survey, and hidden
deep inside some impenetrable PDFs is a whole lot of truly extraordinary
data (keep in mind this is a country of 1.38 billion people). Between 2015
and 2020:

   - The proportion of women with ten or more years of education increased
   from 35.7% to 41%.
   - Contraceptive use increased from 54% to 67%.
   - Teen pregnancy declined from 51 to 43 per 1,000 women.
   - The neonatal mortality rate declined from 29.5 to 24.9 per 1,000 live
   births.
   - Under-five mortality rate declined from 49.7 to 41.9 per 1,000 live
   births.
   - The fertility rate decreased from 2.2 to 2.0, and is now below
   replacement levels in 23 of India's 28 states.
   - Access to improved sanitation skyrocketed from 48.5% to 70.2%.
   - Access to electricity increased from 88% to 96.8%.
   - Households using clean fuel or electricity for cooking increased from
   43.8% to 58.6%
   - Households with at least one person covered on a health insurance
   scheme increased from 28.7% to 41%.

Seems like an appropriate place to leave this tweet:
<https://twitter.com/twitter/status/1483539496222150659> Stewart Brand
@stewartbrand <https://twitter.com/twitter/status/1483539496222150659>
<https://twitter.com/twitter/status/1483539496222150659>
Interesting: how much bad news is anecdotal and good news is statistical.
(And how invisible the statistical is.)

Still, if only one of the two can be good news, I would rather it be the
statistical. It accumulates toward qualitative change that lasts.
<https://twitter.com/twitter/status/1483539496222150659>
8:39 PM • Jan 18, 2022
<https://twitter.com/twitter/status/1483539496222150659>
779 likes • 162 retweets
<https://twitter.com/twitter/status/1483539496222150659>

New legislation in Pakistan has significantly strengthened protections for
women in the workplace. The law expands the definition of harassment to
include “discrimination on the basis of gender, which may or may not be
sexual in nature” and will protect domestic workers and students, as
neither group were covered previously by law. HRW
<https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/20/pakistans-new-law-aims-protect-women-workplace>

A landmark court ruling in India will give sex workers identity documents,
allowing them to access social welfare, bank accounts and voting. Although
prostitution is legal, the lack of identification papers within the sex
industry has left many workers vulnerable to trafficking and poverty. The
reform comes after a decade of petitioning by a collective of sex workers
in Kolkata. NYT
<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/15/world/asia/india-sex-workers-benefits.html>

Papua New Guinea has abolished the death penalty because "it’s not an
effective deterrent to serious crime.” The country abolished capital
punishment in 1970 but reintroduced it in 1991. Amnesty
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/04/death-penalty-in-2020-facts-and-figures/>
says 144 countries have now abolished the death penalty in law or in
practice, and last year saw the lowest number of executions globally in
more than a decade. SBS
<https://www.sbs.com.au/news/thou-shall-not-kill-death-penalty-to-be-abolished-in-papua-new-guinea/0efdc0db-6d4f-4a73-8cde-fe242591bbab>

Divorce is getting less nasty in wealthy countries. Legal reform and access
to mediation have made the process cheaper, faster, and less traumatic for
children, and cultural shifts have helped too - with more mothers in the
workforce and fathers actively involved in child-raising, shared custody
agreements are on the rise. Economist
<https://www.economist.com/international/2022/01/22/divorce-in-the-rich-world-is-getting-less-nasty>

Thailand is on track to decriminalize marijuana, with a proposal to remove
the plant from the list of controlled drugs. Currently, the plant is a
category-5 narcotic drug and possession can lead to hefty fines and up to
15 years jailtime. Medical cannabis is already legal and can be used in
foods and cosmetics. SCMP
<https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3163871/thailand-drop-jail-terms-and-fines-it-decriminalises>
A worker inspects marijuana leaves at a farm in Thailand. Photo: Reuters
------------------------------
The only home we've ever known *
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO5FwsblpT8>


The world’s largest oyster restoration has been achieved on the Piankatank
and Great Wicomico rivers in Virginia with over 1,000 acres improving water
quality and habitat for other wildlife. The initiative is part of the 2014
Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement which aimed to fully restore oyster
populations in the bay's tributaries by 2025. So far, four of the six
targeted tributaries have met their restoration goals. Nature Conservancy
<https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/virginia/stories-in-virginia/oyster-restoration-in-va/>
💡
*We’re recognizing that natural resources are infrastructure, and they need
to be taken care of just like we would roads or buildings.*
*Ralph Northam, former Governor of Virginia*

Indigenous farming practices are starting to gain serious momentum across
western America. In Arizona, there were 291 farms with a Native American
farm operator in 2002; today that number has expanded to more than 11,729
farms. Indigenous practices focus on “trying to reconnect with place by
developing sustainable, organic produce for community members.” Civil Eats
<https://civileats.com/2022/01/21/a-return-to-native-agriculture/>

The US federal government has committed over $1 billion to the restoration
of Florida’s Everglades. The mammoth project will increase protection for
hundreds of endangered plant and animal species and maintain the crucial
source of drinking water for Florida’s eight million residents. Miami Herald
<https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article257471158.html>

The EU has taken its first steps towards banning live animal exports, and
enforcing stricter rules to ensure humane transportation for slaughter,
fattening or breeding. New rules will target overcrowding, food and water
supplies and cap journey times at eight hours for domestic animals, and
four hours for pregnant ones. World Animal News
<https://worldanimalnews.com/breaking-eu-implements-new-rules-for-the-transport-of-animals-during-live-export-may-this-be-a-step-to-ending-the-archaic-practice-in-the-future/>

A forestry company in Finland is at the helm of a huge new rewilding
project to restore ecosystems impacted by decades of logging. Although 77%
of Finland is forested, commercial plantations have destroyed almost all of
the old growth. The restoration work will involve nine river basins and
focus on recreating old spawning grounds for fish and rebuilding
sustainable ecosystems. Guardian
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/22/finland-restoring-river-ecosystems-rewilding>

Africa’s Great Green Wall is the world’s most ambitious reforestation
project, with funding to match. 15 years in, has the project lived up to
its hype? In Niger at least, the answer is yes. As of 2020, nearly 400,000
ha of desert has been restored, with the improved soil supporting an
abundance of crops. Hundreds of communities are now working together to
create economic opportunities from their thriving landscape. NYT
<https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/23/opinion/great-green-wall-niger.html>
Nomao Alkali, a standing on near his farm in the Great Green Wall.

A big win for mangrove conservation in Mumbai, with 53% of mangrove cover
legally declared a forest by the end of 2021, a 30% increase from the
beginning of the year. Mangroves play an important role in mitigating the
impact of climate change, and a further 3,000 ha will be protected in
2022. Hindustan
Times
<https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/mumbai-news/53-of-state-s-mangrove-area-now-legally-a-forest-101641048599993.html>

After decades of conservation efforts, the Channel Islands, off the coast
of Southern California, have been successfully restored. The islands are
now home to a healthy population of bald eagles and other formerly
threatened species including the island fox, peregrine falcons and the
island scrub jay are thriving. The islands also now host the largest seal
and sea lion rookery in the world. HCN
<https://www.hcn.org/articles/photos-wildlife-see-the-the-channel-islands-stunning-ecological-recovery>

Conservation efforts on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula are working. In the
1990s, populations of pumas, tapirs, and peccaries fell to almost zero, but
protected reserves gave many species a chance to recover completely.
Conservationists are now focused on creating and protecting wildlife
corridors, for jaguars and other roving species to roam and grow. Mongabay
<https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/massive-camera-trap-study-shows-conservation-efforts-are-working-on-costa-ricas-osa-peninsula/>

Speaking of wildlife corridors, they're gaining momentum around the world.
Wildlife bridges and crossing structures are allowing animals to safely
cross highways, reducing the risk of vehicle collisions. Banff National
Park in Canada boasts the most wildlife crossings in the world, with 38
underpasses and 6 overpasses. Now Toronto
<https://nowtoronto.com/news/david-suzuki-wildlife-corridors-from-divide-and-conquer-to-connect-and-restore>

A record 247,000 Western Monarch butterflies overwintered in California
last year, a dramatic increase from just 2,000 in 2020. The boom has been
linked to an increase in native plants and reduced pesticide use. Efforts
to protect the butterfly’s habitat are also underway with transportation
and energy companies agreeing to 'rights-of-way' corridors and wintering
sites across the US. Mongabay
<https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/western-monarchs-make-a-spectacular-comeback-in-california/>

Also.... enough with all the drawings of dead butterflies
<https://www.emilydamstra.com/please-enough-dead-butterflies/>!

Dolce & Gabbana has banned fur and angora from all future collections. It's
a huge win for campaigners who fought for this for decades. The
announcement follows other luxury brands like Moncler, Gucci, Alexander
McQueen and Balenciaga who have also recently gone fur free. Vogue Business
<https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/dolce-and-gabbana-goes-fur-free-following-moncler>

After more than 150 years, the legal ivory trade in Hong Kong has come to
an end. Landmark legislation has banned the sale of ivory products. The new
rules ban the 'import, re-export, and commercial possession of elephant
ivory' but exclude antique pieces dated before 1925. Wild Aid
<https://wildaid.org/legal-ivory-sales-are-coming-to-a-close-in-hong-kong-but-we-need-to-keep-the-door-shut/>

New Zealand’s fur seal population has bounced back from near extinction,
with 200,000 seals now thriving along the coastline. The victory has led
conservationists to an unexpected problem, as they now face questions
around how to manage the interactions between the seals and their human
neighbours. Guardian
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/30/riot-shields-and-good-balance-managing-new-zealands-booming-fur-seal-population>

As we enter the Year of the Tiger, the WWF has released a report showing
the century-long trend of wild tiger decline has finally been reversed.
Highlights from the report include the creation of the world’s largest
tiger protected area in China, a national park in Russia, and the
transformation of a transboundary corridor between India and Nepal from 115
hectares to 3,800 hectares of forest, encompassing over 6,000 community
members and stewards of the land. WWF
<https://www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/this-year-of-the-tiger-wwf-spotlights-both-progress-and-urgency-for-tiger-recovery>
*Wild tigers have made remarkable progress over the past 12 years. The
species had been in continual decline for about a century until the
historic reversal of that trend in 2016.*
*Ginette Hemley, Senior Vice President, WWF-US*
------------------------------
Saving the world is cheaper than ruining it


The 27 countries of the European Union installed 25.9 GW of new solar
capacity last year, an increase of 34% over 2020. That makes 2021 the best
year for solar in Europe's history. All EU states are now on track to reach
their 2030 solar goals, with Latvia and Estonia already across the line,
and Poland, Ireland, and Sweden expected to reach their targets next year.
Yale360
<https://e360.yale.edu/digest/for-the-european-union-2021-was-a-banner-year-for-solar-power>

Germany is ramping up its decarbonisation plans. The new government of
Europe's powerhouse economy is proposing 2% of total land area for wind
power, will oblige all new commercial buildings to install solar, is
targeting 50% of all building heating to be carbon neutral by 2030, and
aims to cover 80% of total power demand with renewables by that date. PV
Magazine
<https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/01/12/new-german-government-presents-new-package-of-measures-to-support-pv/>

China built more offshore wind capacity in 2021 than the rest of the world
managed in the last five years put together. Just to put that in context,
the UK previously had the most offshore wind, with 10GW. China has just
built 1.5x that in a single year, and twice as much as the IEA
<https://t.co/GM4fjzsAbF>forecast in… December 2021. CCTV
<https://news.cctv.com/2022/01/25/ARTIip5cn2B8lVD7PrfpUVMF220125.shtml?spm=C94212.P4YnMod9m2uD.ENPMkWvfnaiV.147>
Source: @DrSimonEvans
<https://twitter.com/DrSimEvans/status/1485977349669769219>

China is also reforming its national electricity market, with new
regulations
<https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-01-29/China-aims-to-build-unified-electricity-market-system-by-2025-17dtRfeYYSs/index.html>
that will force all of the country's coal-fired generation to compete with
renewables by 2025. This comes on top of news that non-fossil fuel energy
sources such as wind, nuclear, solar and hydro are on track to make up more
than half of China's total power generation capacity by the end of 2022.
Reuters
<https://www.reuters.com/world/china/non-fossil-fuels-forecast-be-50-chinas-power-capacity-2022-2022-01-28/>

Eastern Pacific*, *one of the largest privately-owned ship management
companies in the world, has just announced it will no longer carry coal.
"This is intended to be a message to the maritime industry that
decarbonisation isn’t exclusive to how we move ships - what we move also
matters." Marine Log
<https://www.marinelog.com/legal-safety/environment/eastern-pacific-we-wont-carry-coal/>

In the home of cheap fracked gas, gas is proving to be not so cheap after
all. Clean energy in the United States is now definitively less expensive -
which is why gas powered generation is being replaced by wind and solar.
Solar capacity is now 20 times greater in the US than it was in 2011, and
wind capacity has more than doubled. Economics, not ideology, is driving
the transition. EIA <https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=50918>

A federal judge just invalidated the biggest offshore oil and gas lease
sale in US history - 80 million acres of drilling leases issued by the
Biden administration — stating that it acted “arbitrarily and
capriciously”. Instead of updating an environmental study performed during
the Trump administration, the Biden administration simply repurposed the
study without any changes. Reuters
<https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-annuls-gulf-mexico-oil-lease-sale-over-climate-impact-2022-01-28/>

White flag time at Southern Company's Georgia Power, one of the United
States' biggest utilities, and once one of the most adamant coal-burning
utilities/lobbying forces. It plans to close its entire coal fleet by 2028,
replacing it with renewables and fossil gas. The Hill
<https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/energy/592308-georgia-power-plans-to-retire-all-coal-fired-power>

The world spent $755 billion
<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-27/energy-transition-drew-record-755-billion-of-investment-in-2021>
on low carbon solutions last year, up from 27% in 2020, and 14% of all venture
capital
<https://www.morningbrew.com/emerging-tech/stories/2022/01/13/cleantech-investment-exploded-in-2021-and-that-momentum-could-continue>
now goes into climate tech, 2.5x pre-pandemic investment levels. While it's
exciting to see the money finally pouring in, we’ve still got a way to go -
McKinsey estimates
<https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUduOhCAM_ZrhTcNtHH3gYV_2NwxiVbIKEyhj3K_fsiakIW1PzqXOIqwxXeYdM7JaRrzeYAKceQdESKxkSKOfjdTiqTs2Gz2L_tkzn8clARzW7wZTAfYu0-6dRR9D3VdaKs0246wdOHDdDXYR3CohXa9mySfX9x0IuFltmT0EBwY-kK4YgO1mQ3znh_p6yG9653m2h_vxIcPVunhQayrZB8i5WUpwlTdTM5eM1gc7-d3jRY1YUkMov25Y57hBAy6GeHjXYLIhLzEd_7Kbc7PYnLHsc-M2G1YgYFMBAbD5hRRvgK_LzBvJpeRCCSE4V30rW_0i13x6qqmTyg1Du3XJeoHlofmxyjaXicS5n6qfJUMMJdNoKVgSuEQutjpqbalpjvQ9SiAXI5CfHeY7aLyv9R_9uEKARFecR4tGdFp1shvUIGR_B0uX0K_hxfWTM6KfI6GCcbsny4Dgto_7Ax9ztDE>it's
going to take $9 trillion a year to get to net zero by 2050, or 12 times as
much as the world is spending today.

We're still in the early days of the energy transition...
------------------------------

Fossil-free steel is coming sooner than anyone thought. Sweden’s SSAB
<https://www.ssab.com/news/2022/01/ssab-plans-a-new-nordic-production-system-and-to-bring-forward-the-green-transition>,
a pioneer in making steel from hydrogen, is bringing forward the closure of
its coal-fired furnaces from 2045 to 2030. This will eliminate eight
million tonnes of carbon a year, reducing Sweden’s carbon emissions by 10%,
Finland’s by 7%, and with the European carbon price at around €90 a ton,
looks like a clever financial decision too.

Last year, an electric car sold more units in Switzerland than any other
car (gasoline, diesel, hybrid, etc.). The Tesla Model 3 didn’t just rule
all electric sales, but all types of cars. Comparing November 2021 to
November 2020, new car registrations for electric vehicles grew by +63%. Clean
Technica
<https://cleantechnica.com/2022/01/23/is-switzerlands-electric-vehicle-story-a-preview-for-the-rest-of-the-globe/>

Tesla’s factory in California is now the most productive auto plant in
North America. Last year it produced an average of 8,550 cars a week, more
than Toyota's juggernaut in Kentucky (8,427 cars a week), BMW's Spartanburg
hub in South Carolina (8,343) or Ford's iconic truck plant in Michigan
(5,564). Bloomberg
<https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-tesla-factory-california-texas-car-production/?srnd=hyperdrive&sref=B9VwE2e5>

The electric equivalents of the Ford F150, the Honda CRV, Lexus RX and the
Toyota Corolla - some of the most popular cars in the United States - are
now officially cheaper
<https://www.fastcompany.com/90717196/these-evs-are-cheaper-to-own-than-their-gas-powered-counterparts>
than
their petrol-powered counterparts. Also... 1,200 km on a single charge
<https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/tesla-battery-electric-car-b1994523.html>?
Better move those goalposts, range anxiety-ists.
  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWj2YCdoc9A&feature=emb_title>
------------------------------

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