UPDATE: It seems like whatever momentum there was around this conversation has died.

I recently attended one of the community meetings discussing whether or not a national open education policy is needed in the US. There were two other meetings I did not attend, so I can’t speak to them. But here are my quick takeaways from the meeting I did attend:

• There was enthusiasm about the idea of a national open education policy. There were very few expressions of doubt about the need for a policy (beyond those I expressed). It felt like everyone who came to the meeting was already on board with creating a policy before we began discussing its merits.
• No one knows what the purpose of such a policy would be. There was no discussion of what the goal would be of creating a national open education policy. There were several times during the meeting when attendees were asked to contribute their thoughts on a range of topics. Each time I asked some version of “what goal would this policy be trying to achieve?” No one seemed interested in discussing the question, neither the session moderators nor the participants. I asked the question repeatedly because it’s impossible to create effective policy without a clear goal that you’re trying to achieve with the policy.
• I predict a national “open education” policy would end up being something like a national zero textbook cost policy. The sense I got is that reducing textbook costs isn’t enough anymore, the advocacy has moved on to eliminating them. For many years now what people call OER advocacy has actually been “zero textbook cost” advocacy. This is partly because policymakers don’t understand openness, but they do understand costs. Consequently, in order to get a grant program created in your department / institution / system / state / country you have to focus on the amount of money the program will save constituents. So for the last decade or so there has been a lot of energy devoted to either “OER programs with a laser focus on cost savings” or “zero textbook cost” programs. The US Department of Education’s Open Textbooks Pilot program is a great example. It “supports projects at eligible institutions of higher education that create new open textbooks and expand the use of open textbooks in courses that are part of a degree-granting program, particularly those with high enrollments. This pilot program emphasizes the development of projects that demonstrate the greatest potential to achieve the highest level of savings for students through sustainable, expanded use of open textbooks in high-enrollment courses or in programs that prepare individuals for in-demand fields” (emphasis added). Expect to see more of this language – probably switching from “highest level of savings” to “eliminating costs” – in any future policy.
• The policy may have little to nothing to do with openness. Because there are many ways to eliminate textbook costs or “achieve the highest level of savings for students“ without using OER (e.g., library resources, traditionally copyrighted resources online, etc.), a national “open education policy” may not actually end up being about open education at all. The one place openness might make an appearance is in language like, “one way to eliminate textbook costs is to adopt OER.” But it seems likely that OER and openness would play a supporting role to the real star of a policy, eliminating textbook costs.
• A national zero textbook cost policy would be the beginning of the end for the OER movement as we know it. I’ve written before about how the adoption of “zero textbook cost” policies undercuts the sustainability models used by OpenStax and other large OER publishers, who sustain their efforts through sales of related products like homework systems and printed editions of their books. If some version of the zero textbook cost policies that exist at institutions were to be implemented nationally, it would be a death knell for major OER producers and maintainers.
• OER advocates may see their national policy work backfire much sooner. Many OER advocates are vocal critics of inclusive access and equitable access models, and the US Department of Education is poised to prohibit schools from automatically billing students for their course materials. However, inclusive access and equitable access aren’t the only models that automatically charge students a fee for their course materials. Many institutions charge students a fee associated with their OER courses as a way of funding the institutions’ OER efforts. For example, Kansas State University’s Open/Alternative Textbook Initiative course fee is a $10 fee that is payed by students in courses that use OER and other free, traditionally copyrighted resources. But this fee, and others like it that have helped sustain institutional OER efforts for many years, will likely be prohibited under the new rule. These are very plainly fees for course materials that are automatically billed to students. The main difference between these fees and inclusive access models being that with inclusive access its possible to opt out. (It’s almost like every time the OER community finds a sustainable model, the OER community turns around and undercuts it!)
• There was not a single mention of generative AI. I wrote at length a few weeks ago about how generative AI completely changes the future of OER, and specifically spelled out what that meant for a potential national policy on open education. I purposefully didn’t raise the topic of generative AI in the meeting because I wanted to see if anyone else would raise it. Generative AI wasn’t mentioned a single time. Creating a national open education policy in 2024 that didn’t account for generative AI would be like creating a national transportation policy centered around horses and buggies. If zero textbook cost policies and prohibitions on models like inclusive access don’t kill the OER movement, a determination to ignore generative AI for the same cost-related reasons definitely will.

Buying non-perishable products like tea, cookies, chocolate and soap from UK online retailer Love Health, Hate Waste has not only saved eco-conscious shopper Sylvia Tillman nearly $320 over the past year, but buying products that would otherwise go to landfill also puts her mind at ease.

Love Health, Hate Waste sells products that are past their “best before” date, but not deemed to be expired and so still safe to consume, at up to 90 percent off the original retail price. Some of the packaging is slightly damaged too, but the products are unopened.

None of this bothers Tillman, who is based in Ramsgate, UK. In her work as a tension release exercise coach, she is always on the lookout for health food bargains, which Love Health, Hate Waste specializes in. The only downside, she says, is that its stock changes regularly, so shopping on the site can take some time. But Tillman actually appreciates this for the novelty it brings.

“I’m generally eco-conscious, and don’t waste resources anyway,” says Tillman. Courtesy of Sylvia Tillman

“As I love exploring new products that I’d never tried before, I love this aspect alongside the potential savings in money or of food to landfill,” says Tillman.

Buying flawed packaged products seems like a natural extension of the imperfect fruit and vegetable movement, which UK shoppers have embraced since supermarkets like Sainsbury’s and ASDA launched related promotions — the latter collaborating with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver in 2015. The term “wonky” has since become synonymous with products that have aesthetic flaws, but are otherwise fit for consumption. 

Wonky fruit and vegetables have become a no-brainer in the UK as a way for farmers and retailers to cut down on food waste. Meanwhile, shoppers save money buying less-than-perfect produce that, a decade ago, would not have ended up on shelves at all.  

Seventy-seven percent of UK adults YouGov surveyed last November said they’d be likely to purchase wonky produce next time they went shopping, with 72 percent driven by lower prices. Sixty-three percent are motivated to reduce food waste, with conservation group WWF finding that around 2.9 million metric tons of edible food is wasted on UK farms each year. 

Often, what makes goods wonky is barely noticeable, like the slightly damaged lid of this instant noodle container. Courtesy of Love Health, Hate Waste

The trend is now extending beyond fresh produce, giving a new life to goods whose packaging has been bumped and bruised, leaving the inside item unharmed. For example, selling excess, obsolete and imperfect beauty products at half price or more, Boop launched its online marketplace in November 2023. Wonky Coffee, previously known as Odd Coffee, sources its flawed pods from a number of big brands and is said to have rescued around one million of these from landfill in 2021, its first year of business. It plans to reach 50 million by 2025. Earth and Wheat rescues wonky bread from its partner bakeries. And Amazon even opened a pop-up seconds store in London last year, selling returned goods at up to half price.

In the US, meanwhile, salvage stores, which stock damaged, discontinued, surplus and close-to-expiration-date items, are more popular than ever as grocery bills continue to rise, the New York Times reports, while rescuing $161 billion of food going into landfill each year. Shoppers are also finding deals on returned and surplus products on sites like Liquidation.com and Bulq, with some offering auctions on entire pallets.

What wonky means for retailers

Hema Stewart, founder of London-based recyclable wrapping paper brand Curlicue, introduced wonky gift wrap kits to Curlicue in 2019 as an avenue for selling wrapping paper that became slightly damaged after being transported for sale to market stalls. Sold at a 60 percent discount, the wonky kits include paper, tags and twine that have slight damage or are simply shorter than the ideal retail length. The kits now make up around 10 percent of Curlicue’s sales. 

Curlicue’s wonky wrapping paper, tags and twine are very slightly damaged or just not the ideal retail length. Courtesy of Curlicue

“We had been looking at the wonky fruit and veg campaigns that had been going on, and now the ‘wonky’ phrase has really caught on in society. Our wonky kits became an easy way for me to make sure there wasn’t product wastage, and that we were offering something at a slightly lower price point for people,” Stewart explains.

Stewart has observed how the popularity of secondhand platforms like Vinted has normalized giving overlooked items a new lease on life, with shoppers incentivized by sizable discounts, as mainstream prices continue to rise.

“That shift has had an important effect on how people are buying, and a lot are going back to a more traditional mentality of how you reuse things, and make them last longer,” she says.

Crushed by negative news?

Sign up for the Reasons to be Cheerful newsletter.
[contact-form-7]

Likewise, rather than disposing of cosmetically damaged returns, bubble kit maker Dr Zigs offers a wonky range at half the usual price, also making up around 10 percent of its sales. And like Stewart, owner Paola Dyboski has noticed a change in shopper mindsets.

“People are wising up to the way brands have put a veil over our eyes to make us believe we have to have something that’s perfect. Now people think more about reusing and upcycling,” Wales-based Dyboski says.

The best part, she adds, is being able to help budget-impacted customers.

Half-price wonky bubble kits make up about 10 percent of Dr Zigs’ sales. Courtesy of Dr Zigs

“I’ve had so many messages, especially around Christmas, from customers saying they had always wanted to buy our bubbles but couldn’t afford it, and this has made it possible. That kind of feedback makes it worthwhile,” she says.

Helping people embrace the “perfectly imperfect”

Sustainable shopping expert Jennifer von Walderdorff confirms that the wonky shopping movement is helping people embrace the “perfectly imperfect” and move away from the social media-fueled desire to buy things to achieve a certain influencer approved look and lifestyle.

“Buying into this movement is not only smart but sustainable,” von Walderdorff says.

She notes, however, that culturally, there is still an element of wanting to hide that imperfection, meaning wonky products may reach a limited audience.

“Serving a meal with chopped-up wonky vegetables is one thing, as they can be concealed, as can the packaging you purchase your makeup in. But wearing a garment with an uneven hem, or having homeware that has decipherable imperfections is where the adoption may be harder,” she says. “If ‘wonky’ retail can be concealed, it will be the bargain of the century, but trying to sell this en masse may be tough.”

For that reason, Yasmine Amr, founder of beauty brand Boop, is focused on educating consumers about what it means to buy wonky. For example, two-thirds of the 300 UK women the company surveyed last year weren’t aware that it’s common practice in the beauty industry to destroy excess stock, products with damaged external packaging and unopened returns.

“A key challenge will always be consumer trust. Shoppers want to be sure they’re getting the real deal and their products will deliver results, even if the external box is missing or there’s been a misprint on the label,” says Amr.

Become a sustaining member today!

Join the Reasons to be Cheerful community by supporting our nonprofit publication and giving what you can.

Join

To tackle this, Boop only sources directly from brands to make sure all products are safe, haven’t been tampered with, and are within their best-before dates. The company layers its own quality control checks over this, too.

“We’re focused on educating customers about product waste and how using platforms like Boop can help them lead more sustainable lives without sacrificing quality and luxury. For instance, changing a shampoo’s name due to a brand marketing decision shouldn’t be a reason to destroy thousands of units if the actual product is identical,” says Amr. “If consumers are aware of that, they’ll see there’s nothing truly wonky about these products.”

For Silvia Tillman, it’s about a wider approach to not wasting resources throughout her everyday life and tasks. “I’m generally eco-conscious, and don’t waste resources anyway. I’m impressed by and always keen to learn more of old-fashioned household hacks, like cleaning with vinegar or bicarbonate of soda, and doing laundry with soap nuts or ivy leaves,” she says.

The post Shopping ‘Wonky’ Keeps Imperfect Goods From Going to Waste appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.

by Daniel Wortel-London

Members of a women’s cooperative in Cameroon. (UN Women/Ryan Brown, Creative Commons 2.0)

Can businesses become sustainable? Certainly—at least in theory. In recent years, new business models have emerged that attempt to place business on an ecologically healthy footing. The doughnut economy, the regenerative economy, sufficiency enterprises, and postgrowth and degrowth businesses: These and other experiments represent ways of doing business that not only create customer and firm value, but address social and environmental needs as well.  In a context of limits to growth, such experiments are excellent vehicles for providing the goods and services people need, within boundaries set by nature.

But relatively few businesses are adopting these models. On the contrary: Businesses drive resource extraction and erosion of natural capital and therefore are key drivers of our planet’s environmental crisis. For example, just 100 corporations account for more than 70 percent of global carbon emissions on earth.

Presumably the primary reason businesses aren’t embracing more progressive models isn’t ignorance, greed, or a lack of commitment. It’s a question of design. The way businesses are governed and incorporated tends to promote unsustainable production and consumption and blocks them from undertaking activities that can make a net-positive impact on our environment.

But these designs can be changed—and more and more firms are changing them. Business leaders are broadening business governance to include different voices, expanding corporate charters to include environmental responsibilities, and reforming how their businesses distribute profits. The enterprises emerging through these reforms, from B-corps to worker cooperatives to nonprofit enterprises, are addressing head-on the task of reducing our economy’s environmental impact.

Misaligned Incentives

The way businesses produce, the way they encourage consumption, and the way they design products and choose suppliers have enormous environmental implications. Environmentalists have looked to government intervention to curb bad practices and encourage good ones—through regulations, taxes, subsidies, reporting requirements, and other measures.

A Walmart shareholders meeting. (Walmart, Creative Commons 1.0)

Regulation creates, at best, a hostile relationship between businesses and government (and environmentalists). But the bigger problem is that regulatory tools don’t touch incentives internal to businesses. To change the way businesses make things and deliver services, we need to think first about how businesses are designed.

For example, corporate law in the USA imposes fiduciary duties on directors to act in the best interest of their shareholders. A corollary to this principle is that corporate directors must act to maximize shareholder value, defined in terms of distributed profits. In pursuit of maximized profits, corporate directors can ignore the health of the environment, labor, or local communities in their decision-making. In fact, they can be held legally liable if caring for the interests of these other stakeholders depresses profits.

Alternative Designs             

Other ways of designing businesses go to the heart of their operations.

First, we can change the purpose of businesses to incorporate or even prioritize environmental benefits. Most states have adopted legislation creating new legal forms of enterprise, such as social purpose corporations and benefit corporations, that specify that corporate managers must take social or environmental considerations into account when making decisions. These businesses, such as Patagonia, continue to function in many ways as conventional firms. They have products, services, customers, expenses, and revenues like any other business. The difference is that shareholders can’t sue them if these firms decide to forgo profits in favor of environmental protection.

Second, we can change the way businesses are governed. Currently, most answer to a relatively narrow range of investor shareholders. But other ways of governing firms can “embed” environmentalism and worker protection into decision-making. In cooperatives and mutual associations, for example, local workers can ensure that business decisions benefit communities threatened by environmental deterioration rather than  geographically distant shareholders. Open-source and commons-based enterprise open the doors to environmental protection even wider. The business “Faith in Nature” has even appointed a “Nature Guardian” to its board. Its job is to give nature a voice and a vote in business strategy. Such governance structures provide an additional internal incentive—and legal grounding—for businesses to take environmental and social considerations into account.

Alternative ways of designing a business to encourage sustainability. (Financestrategists, Creative Commons 2.0)

Finally, we need to take on the elephant in the room: profit. If businesses aim to maximize profit, they will be compelled to maximize production and consumption. This dynamic is difficult to balance with any environmental commitments a business might otherwise have made.

But there are other ways of doing business; nonprofit enterprises are a good example. While these firms buy and sell services like any other, the profit they make is legally required to be used for social or environmental purposes, rather than being distributed to private owners or shareholders. Growth is not the goal; maximizing the firm’s positive environmental impact is. And if making additional profits threatens to reduce this impact, profits are sacrificed.

Together, these reforms of the purpose, governance, and profit orientation of businesses can dramatically shift their orientation toward sustainability. They will be incentivized to respect planetary boundaries not by government fiat but using their own by-laws. Moreover, they could welcome government sustainability initiatives to the extent that those initiatives make their own job easier. All of this can help make an economy more resilient—and more just.

Real Potential for Real Change

Businesses with a progressive orientation do in fact exist. There are currently 6,000 certified B corps in 60 countries around the world, up from 2,500 in 2018. In the EU alone there are more than 2.8 million “social and solidarity economy” firms—more than 10 percent of all businesses!

Moreover, these alternative firms are very successful. Cooperatives routinely demonstrate a lower failure rate than traditional corporations or small businesses: About 10% of cooperatives fail after their first year, compared to 60–80% of traditional businesses. And the potential to convert other conventional businesses to alternative models may be greater than one might expect. Most businesses in America and elsewhere are small and don’t necessary want to expand dramatically. A recent survey of German firms found that only two percent were “growth-driven.” Despite the absence of a growth ambition among the other 98 percent, they operated successfully enough to remain in business.

Most businesses are small, and don’t seek to grow dramatically. Laws should help businesses like these. (Roman Bozhko, Unsplash)

Environmentalists might wonder whether promoting these new forms of business risks generating a “rebound effect” in which reduced consumption in one economic sector is outweighed by the broader growth of that sector. But we need to keep our eye on the goal: reducing the growth of our economy as a whole. We still want to shrink the highest-impact sectors, like energy and agriculture, while increasing product durability as a way of lessening throughput. But increasing product durability will generally increase production costs, which in turn could reduce profits. If we want businesses to adapt to this era of lower profits, we need to encourage new models of enterprise that will help them do so. That’s where public policy comes in.

What’s Next?

Public policy could better support the new kinds of businesses that our environment and economy need. Incorporation laws that enable the formation of these businesses are ad hoc and vary wildly. Governments could procure from, or contract with, existing social enterprises through tools like “community wealth building.” Public bodies could better publicize and promote the role these enterprises can play in addressing our planet’s challenges.

Luckily, campaigns across the world are attempting to change this. More and more U.S. states are providing support to worker cooperatives and B-corps. A coalition to promote “impact-oriented businesses” received the support of three American senators and eighteen representatives in the House. Meanwhile, a campaign in the UK to require corporations to consider social and environmental concerns in decision-making has received the support of 2,000 businesses.

Creating an economy that works for all requires that all step up. (Joe Piette, Creative Commons 2.0)

Too often, however, these campaigns silo themselves from each other. Nonprofit enterprises act separately from cooperatives, who work independently of B-corps. To encourage businesses to transform the way Earth needs them to—to transform their purpose, governance, and relation to profit—these firms need to be working together. And ecologists need to join them.

Not that business reform is by itself sufficient for sustainability. The economy grows as an integrated whole, ultimately limited by agricultural and extractive surplus at the base. (That is the essence of the “trophic theory of money.”) In other words, not all businesses can be truly “green,” even if most can become “less brown.” That’s why there is a limit to economic growth and a fundamental conflict between economic growth and environmental protection. Therefore, macroeconomic policies to cap the size of the economy are a prerequisite to sustainability.

Yet even with steady-state macroeconomic policy, we can’t solve our planet’s environmental crises without the help of business. We need to reform businesses so they adopt environmental protection goals on their own. This means encouraging new legal forms of business: ones that allow the purpose, governance, and role of profit to align with the steady-state goal.

Daniel Wortel-London is a Policy Specialist at CASSE.

The post Redesigning Business for Sustainability appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

Happy New Year! And welcome to our annual look back at the brightest, boldest ways the world improved, evolved or otherwise changed for the better. This epic list is a cornucopia of hopeful facts pulled from our stories throughout 2023, and we hope it cheers you and energizes you for the year ahead.

Cover illustration by Emma Lucille McCabe and motion graphics by Nishant Chandrasekar.

(Note: Some of these items link to “Fixer” columns, which contain multiple stories. In those cases, you may need to scroll down a bit to find the story you’re looking for.)

The ozone layer will be completely recovered within the next 40 years. 

The Inflation Reduction Act set aside $1.5 billion for urban tree planting in 2023.

Four-day work weeks helped reduce commuting hours by 10 percent in the UK and 27 percent in the US, leading to a decrease in carbon emissions.

All 140 whisky distilleries in Scotland have pledged to be carbon-neutral by 2040.

More than 15 million people living in Brazil’s densely populated favelas are getting street addresses. 

Volunteers have given new life to more than 100,000 abandoned bicycles, shipping them across the globe to people who need them.

Working Bikes donations at Doffa Shop in Tanzania. Credit: Working Bikes

Eighty percent of new cars sold in Norway are electric.

The biggest dam removal project in US history — currently underway on the Klamath River — will open up 400 miles of fish habitat. 

A New York program switching public housing tenants from gas to electric stoves led to a 35 percent drop in indoor NO2 concentrations.

Every winter, 130,000 flamingos visit Mumbai, a remarkable display of urban wildlife that has sparked a uniquely charismatic conservation movement.

Sixteen schools in Braunschweig, Germany, include happiness as a subject in their curriculums.

US solar and wind capacity continues to grow at a pace that keeps the country on track to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

In Lagos, Nigeria, 115 students are paying their school tuition with recyclable plastic bottles instead of cash.

Sales in The Body Shop’s stores with open-hired employees have risen by over 10 percent. 

The Slow Flowers directory, a guide to florist shops that work with local farmers, has 850 entries.

Slow Flowers Society member Hometown Flower Collective held a pop-up Valentine’s Day sale at the Empire State Building, to promote fresh flowers sourced from New York and New Jersey growers. Credit: Empire Trust Realty

Washington is the first US state to put money toward climate change education in K-12 public schools — and at least 11 other states are following suit.

Sales of wine in aluminum cans — a more climate-friendly alternative to glass bottles — are expected to double.

In Oregon, 33,000 acres of grasslands were converted into the Zumwalt Prairie Preserve, the largest private nature sanctuary in the state.

The Civilian Climate Corps has turned 1,700 New Yorkers into skilled workers for green jobs. 

Volunteers with Black Joy, an organization fighting for social justice through joyful celebration, have visited 170 towns across Oregon.

Cancer fatalities in the US are down 33 percent from 1991, amounting to 3.8 million deaths avoided.

In Jaipur, India, 40 single moms receive a guaranteed basic income that allows them to improve their lives.

At Arizona University, 260 senior citizens are living in an on-campus retirement community.

Amsterdam built an underwater garage for bicycles with space for over 7,000 bikes.

In Minnesota, more than 1,500 seniors signed on for a state agency’s free online fitness program.

On a list of the 10 US counties with the biggest increases in gross domestic product, seven have seen major wind farm construction. 

A 300-unit affordable housing complex in Oakland will be built, in part, with mushrooms.

A temporary three-tower structure for MoMa was built with mycelium and hemp bricks that were later composted. Credit: The Living

Co-buying increased by an estimated 771 percent between 2014 and 2021, helping more people buy their first home.

In California, a 400-acre oil field is being transformed into a nature preserve.

Within a month after setting up sustainable dams, one Himalayan mountainside area had at least 15 percent more vegetation.

The Inflation Reduction Act allocates $3 billion for improving roads and “removing, replacing, or retrofitting highways and freeways to improve connectivity in communities.”

A Philadelphia program that helps renters facing eviction ensured 38 percent of them got free legal representation. 

Denver made 5,000 electric vehicles available to residents thinking about buying an EV.

Crushed by negative news?

Sign up for the Reasons to be Cheerful newsletter.
[contact-form-7]

Twenty-seven states allow students to earn industry credentials at public schools. In one South Carolina school district, 8,745 students received industry certifications in 2022. 

Thirty long-dead lakes have been revived in India’s Bengaluru district.

Every public library in El Paso has a banned book section.

A program aimed at diversifying USC’s architecture program increased the percentage of Black students from 4.2 percent to 8 percent and Latino students from 15.4 percent to 26 percent.

Curved blades in next-gen hydroelectric turbines allow 99 percent of aquatic life to safely swim through them.

At one Florida school, 35 of the 147 teachers are former students.

Over 1,000 turtle eggs have been saved by a single former poacher.

The Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve spans more than nine million acres (15,000 square miles) — and is currently the largest dark sky certified place in the world.

Deep sky photography taken from Howard Energy Partners land outside of Orla, Texas. Credit: Jeff Perry

Glass Half Full Nola has recycled 3.2 million pounds of glass in the past three years.

Five thousand students at Technological University Dublin live in toasty warm dorms thanks to excess heat from a nearby data center.

A 5,000-square-mile Peruvian national park is setting an example of how to care for both nature and people.

Students at a Rhode Island high school received $10,000 to upgrade their school — and a great lesson in direct democracy. 

Over 10,000 physicians across Canada have written “green” prescriptions instructing patients to spend more time in nature. 

In France, anyone who opts to repair their clothes can now get a bonus of up to 25 euros.

Using timber to expand a Stockholm landmark instead of building anew with concrete and steel reduced carbon emissions by an estimated 85 percent.

Drones are planting seeds in Canadian forests at a rate of five pods per second, helping wildfire-scarred areas recover quickly.

In 2022, the Apparel Impact Institute ​​cut 316,451 tons of emissions and saved 2,903,575 cubic meters of water by helping fashion brands be more sustainable.

People on bikes represent 40 percent of non-pedestrian rush hour traffic in London.

When given the choice to sell their farms for commercial development or continue growing crops, 94 percent of Tokyo’s farmers decided to keep farming.

The Law on Productive Green Areas is why over a thousand farms continue to produce crops in Tokyo today. Credit: Martin Egbert

Forty two-way electric vehicle chargers are sending leftover power from EV batteries back into the electrical grid when the cars are parked at the end of the day.

Jersey City had zero traffic fatalities on city streets in 2022.

The Hunger Project is serving about 35,000 people in Uganda — fighting hunger by teaching them how to grow their own food.

A nonprofit group has removed almost 3,000 crab traps from Mississippi waters.

In an Indian village, 111 trees are planted for every newborn girl. Now, a forest is growing there. 

An organization of Fukushima moms is monitoring the area’s radiation level’s by processing 2,000 samples annually of everything from home gardening produce to vacuum dust.

A 30-story apartment building in Manhattan will prevent the release of 60 percent of its boilers’ CO2 by cooling it to a liquid and mixing it into cement.

The UK government offers parents 30 hours of free childcare per week.

A Tunisian school’s solar panels produce four times the power the campus needs, allowing the school to sell energy back to the grid, which funds classes in robotics.

Fifty students are currently enrolled in a program that helps trafficking survivors attain a college degree.

Thanks to the deconstruction approach, 148,000 pounds of materials have been diverted from landfills.

The East Coast Greenway is home to 50 million car-free outings yearly.

The Belle Isle Suspension Bridge in Richmond, Virginia. Credit: East Coast Greenway Alliance

Volunteers have helped more than 70,000 amphibians to cross New Hampshire roads. 

At a Swedish apartment complex, intergenerational tenants agree to interact for at least two hours per week.

After New Jersey banned single-use plastic bags, 37 percent fewer ended up on its beaches.

Recovery high school students’ graduation rate is 21 percent higher than their peers at traditional schools. 

A 1,500-square-foot Boston greenhouse that yields 2,000 pounds of produce a year is fully powered with geothermal energy. 

Slovenia’s child poverty rate has dropped 31 percent since 2014.

A sailing group cleaning plastic waste from England’s coast has removed over 70 tons of rubbish — and recycled 85 percent of it.

Five hundred students have re-enrolled at Detroit’s Wayne State University after the school offered partial debt forgiveness.

With small emergency rent payments to avoid evictions, a Portland shelter kept nearly 100 families out of homelessness last year.

The number of US high school students taking community college courses doubled in the last decade.

Over 2,000 companies are using a platform that connects those with plastic waste with those who want to recycle it.

In February 2023, Virginia state trains broke ridership records, carrying almost 54 percent more passengers than in February 2019. 

Gas processed from New Yorkers’ decaying food scraps has produced enough renewable energy for about 2,500 homes.

During the 2023 season, 268 gray whales visited the San Ignacio Lagoon — among the only places where they seek human contact — creating a natural attraction and helping the environment.

Credit: The Malibu Artist – Carlos Gauna

A restaurant in Minneapolis has employed 48 “fellows,” all of them formerly incarcerated.

Barefoot College started as a way to help impoverished Indian villagers learn advanced skills — today it has 250 night schools operating in 10 Indian states.

Norway has built the world’s longest purpose-built bicycling and pedestrian tunnel, with a length of 1.8 miles. 

In one Los Angeles neighborhood, cool pavement is keeping the ground 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit cooler on average.

A company in the UK rents out 1,000 living Christmas trees each year so they don’t end up in landfills.

Over 200 nursing homes and assisted living centers, the majority of them in rural areas, offer telehealth mental health consultations to their residents.

Veja, a sustainable sneaker project, sells more than two million pairs of shoes a year. 

In Costa Rica, 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) of forest are protected thanks to an alliance between the government and landowners.

Twenty-seven young members of the A’i Kofán Indigenous community are working to protect the Amazon, with a key assist from technology.

Forty percent of Dutch train passengers ride a bike to the station.

Low-tech restoration projects — like the one happening on a river near Crested Butte, Colorado — increase vegetation around the area by up to 25 percent.

Biochar has the potential to take up 1.36 to 3 gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere yearly.

Pastureland that includes trees can sequester five to 10 times more carbon than treeless farms.

About 6,000 women in India have been examined for breast cancer thanks to visually impaired women who work as Medical Tactile Examiners.

Wuhan, China’s sponge city projects sequester 725 tons of CO2 a year and reduce temperatures by more than three degrees Celsius.

Interlocking finger waterways in Hainan’s Sanya city. Credit: Turenscape

Forty-three percent of the fabrics used in eco-friendly fashion brand Paskho’s apparel are reclaimed. 

Warm Showers, the couch-surfing platform for bicyclists, has over 180,000 members in 160 countries.

As part of a plan to become a more “bio-climatic” city, Paris has pledged to plant 170,000 trees by 2026. 

In just the first year after passing major housing reforms, Portland built 3.4 times more multi-family “middle housing” units than single-family homes. 

A women-led company is recovering between 100 and 200 metric tons of waste monthly from Lagos’ waterways.

New York City students are practicing two to five minutes of mindful breathing daily.

Three thousand Men’s Sheds scattered around the world are helping men talk about their emotions and overcome mental health issues.

The Indian government has developed 1,050 “water villages,” where water conservation is key.

Hundreds of parents have been able to clear arrest warrants thanks to one-day clinics that also offer child care.

At least 6.3 million students in the US have access to school health centers.

A new collective that supports Black founders has already invested $25 million.

Homeowners in Massachusetts can receive incentives up to $16,000 for heat pumps and weatherization through the state’s utility-supported Mass Save program.

After becoming a protected species in 1977, northern sea otters have rebounded to about 100,000 otters in North America.

Thirty-five New Orleans restaurants participate in an oyster shell recycling program.

Credit: Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana

Since 2005, the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians has enabled over 6,700 musicians in the five-county area around Austin to access $144 million worth of health care services.

App-based delivery workers in New York City have been paid $17.96 per hour since July — and will be paid nearly $20 per hour by 2025.

Amsterdam’s new blue-green roofs can capture up to 97 percent of extreme precipitation, and then put the water to good use during droughts.

Over 370 community radio stations operate in districts across India, each one reaching dozens of villages with thousands of listeners.

Employees participating in workplace mental health programs report 25 percent fewer missed workdays.

Five hundred athletes from around the world participated in the 2023 Homeless World Cup.

Clients with the Financial Empowerment Center in Tulsa increased their savings by $3,000 on average and reduced their debt by an average of $2,400.

Ex-offenders who find steady jobs within six months of leaving prison are nine percent less likely to commit further crime.

Leopard numbers have tripled in Zambia’s Kafue National Park over the last four years.

Three hundred students in foster care had their tuition paid thanks to a NYC program. 

More than 30 shady green corridors connect green spaces throughout Medellín, Colombia. 

New Zealand banned the use of single-use plastic produce bags – preventing the use of an estimated 150 million plastic bags annually.

Six US states recently passed legislation for universal free meal programs.

A child care system that costs an average of $10 a day is rolling out across Canada.

Thanks to ice climbers and miners working together, the Ouray Ice Park had 215 routes open in 2023, compared to 150 routes in the previous year.

With more routes open, the ice park didn’t receive any complaints about crowding this past season. Credit: Abreham Gebreegziabher

Germany saw almost 100,000 fewer daily car trips in June 2023 than it did in June 2019.

Up to five million gallons of wastewater are recycled into crystal clear potable water every day in Oceanside, California.

Twenty “care blocks” are making life easier for caregivers in Bogotá’s poorest areas.

A community garden at the site of a former mine serves approximately 2,000 people per month. 

Thirty-nine projects are being developed in Barcelona thanks to the money coming from tourism taxes.

The Coast Miwok Tribal Council in California’s Marin County purchased 26 acres of rural land on what was historically Coast Miwok territory.

Detroit has reduced veteran homelessness by approximately 60 percent since joining the Built for Zero program in 2015.

Over seven million trees have been planted to reforest the area surrounding Jharbagda, India. 

The Good Grief Network has more than 50 climate support groups nationwide.

The first utility-scale solar panel recycling plant in North America can process up to 7,500 panels per day.

More than 80 Black climbers have joined Oakland’s Black Rock Collective.

Seventy-three fountains, some of which provide cooling mist in the summer, will supplement the 1,200 water points available in Paris streets, cutting out the need for huge amounts of plastic. 

A recent report shows that renewables could supply 50 percent of electricity worldwide by 2030. 

TeleHelp Ukraine has facilitated over 1,400 virtual consultations to Ukrainians in distress, in sessions often conducted by providers thousands of miles away. 

The average stay at a retreat in Japan for those seeking to reintegrate into society is 11 months.

Surf therapy, a unique mental health treatment, is offered in 30 countries.

Credit: Zack Harper

In India, 130 to 400 children of informal laborers receive care at Sangini childcare centers.

There are now 158 protected ocean ‘Hope Spots’ around the world. 

A nonprofit offering pro bono therapy has served over 3,500 Black men in the last 5 years.

In 2020, over 50 percent of Oregon’s electricity came from renewable resources.

Maine has already blown past its goal of installing 100,000 heat pumps by 2025.

Around 500 adults in five states have earned their high school diplomas thanks to the Goodwill Excel model. 

Over the course of 10 years, two Indian activists — with help from their network of over 2,000 informants — have prevented 4,500 child marriages. 

Zero Foodprint has funded 96 projects impacting over 7,000 acres with a benefit equivalent to restoring over 80,000 tons of emissions. 

In Lima, fog catchers collect between 200 and 400 liters of water a day.

Become a sustaining member today!

Join the Reasons to be Cheerful community by supporting our nonprofit publication and giving what you can.

Join

Up to 300 Kenyan kids learn about space at each of astronomer Susan Murabana’s monthly “Star Safaris.”  

Activist Diane Wilson collected 2,400 samples in ziplock bags, containing an estimated 26 million plastic pellets, to help her win a major settlement against an industrial polluter.

In a conservation effort, the US Herbarium completed a seven-year project, uploading 3.8 million images that are now freely available for anyone to peruse. 

Among California’s 25 largest school districts, more than two-thirds now serve non-meat, non-dairy entrees a minimum of once a week.

There are 140 We Rock the Spectrum gyms — specially designed for children with sensory processing disorders — in eight countries.

At least 14 million trees have been planted across the world using the Miyawaki method, spanning 19 countries and 2,700 projects.

Desert-dwelling pastoralists are embracing hydroponics to grow crops with 95 percent less water than conventional farming.

Credit: Desert Resource Centre

Zion National Park’s 26 shuttle buses are being replaced by an all-electric fleet.

Three hundred incarcerated people are the judges of a new major US book award.

More than 15 cranberry bogs in Massachusetts are being restored to wetlands.

A tech firm helping disadvantaged people to learn job skills using VR has 30 partnerships in 18 states.

About 1,500 life stories of elderly patients have been produced to help their caregivers get to know them better.

Over 500 people have learned to build artificial glaciers that help farmers in high altitudes get through seasonal droughts. 

Nearly 200 people in rural Colorado have been trained in how to intervene when they notice someone in a vulnerable mental state.

There are now 76 bears spread across some 5,700 square kilometers of the French Pyrenees mountain range — the highest number for a century.

An organization that helps people coming out of foster care, incarceration and homelessness to find jobs in the film industry has more than 270 alumni.

A Seattle-based program will provide monthly cash assistance to 150 Indigenous families.

Hundreds of community fridges bolster access to food in cities all over the US.

Wetlands can filter almost 50 percent of nitrate runoff from farmland before it enters waterways.

In a flood-prevention victory, Hoboken, New Jersey’s ResilienCity Park collected more than 1.4 million gallons of rainwater during a storm last fall. 

An organization focused on depaving has worked on 75 projects in Portland’s schoolyards, churches and other community spaces.

In 2022, FoodCycle’s pop-up cafes served nearly 500,000 meals to 62 communities across the UK, saving 209 metric tons of food from going to waste. 

Over 2.5 million people living on river islands in the Indian state of Assam access health care thanks to boat clinics.

A pregnant woman slowly climbs down from the boat clinic after her checkup. Credit: Rishabh Jain

One hundred fifty hairdressers in West and Central African cities have become “mental health ambassadors.”

Thanks to a program that provides internet access, 3,100 migrant and seasonal farmworkers in North Carolina can get health care and contact their families.

After a guerilla art campaign resurrected El Paso’s streetcar, the system is now serving upwards of 50,000 passengers per year.

Nearly 40,000 bamboo homes have been built for Pakistanis displaced by flooding. 

One organization that helps student networks provide emergency contraception has worked with students at more than 200 college campuses. 

A 1,100-panel solar farm is saving the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe $10,000 per year.

Connecticut became the first state where those in prison can make calls for free, saving families $10 million a year.

Thanks to a massive dam removal project on the Penobscot River, 2,000 miles of habitat opened up for salmon and other species.

A partnership between public defenders and advocates keeps close to 90 percent of clients out of jail.

All the timber used in the new Portland International Airport roof came from less than 300 miles away.

Two kiwi hatchlings were found in the wild near the city of Wellington — for the first time in years.

The post The Year in Cheer appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.