Peru will end the production, distribution, and consumption of single-use plastic bags; a new law in Niger protects people fleeing violence, natural disasters, and famine; and Victoria’s new cabinet is made up of 11 men and 11 women.
Researchers have found a way to use iron for the production of solar panels, replacing so-called rare-earth metals; a network of local credit unions is helping marginalized in the US communities thrive; an online game aims at helping people understand the challenges faced by migrants.
Ever since major supermarket chains phased out plastic bags, Australians have used an estimated 1.5 billion fewer bags; an Indonesian NGO is helping poachers stop their illegal trade instead of focusing on punitive measures; and as a result of global warming, beekeeping provides an unusual alternative to fishing.
Chile will now allow people over the age of 14 to officially change their name and gender; Madrid bans polluting vehicles from the city centre; and the Swedish mall ReTuna is the world’s first secondhand shopping center.
A pop-up shop set up by Help Refugees and Glimpse allows Londoners to buy Christmas gifts for refugees; an agroforestry system gives cocoa farmers in Brasil more autonomy and helps preserve biodiversity; and the UK reboots its carbon capture and storage program.
The world’s wealthiest countries are set to raise $100 billion to aid vulnerable states in their fight against climate change; new waterless toilets attempt to tackle the overuse of water and the problems linked to the disposal of urine and feces; and Britain made will make the largest ever investment to fight female genital mutilation.
South African platform ForGood works like an online dating platform, but matches skills and services for the NGO sector; medical supervision in so-called ‘fixing rooms’ is saving lives by ensuring that addicts get the help and medical care they need; and the first-ever solid-state aircraft uses no moving parts, pointing to a carbon-neutral future.
46 million women from the 69 poorest countries have been getting access to contraception over the past six years; UNESCO has praised Chad and Uganda for providing education to refugees; and in South Africa, FoodForward SA is recovering surplus food from the consumer goods supply chain in order to provide children with healthy meals.
Same-sex couples in Costa Risa will be allowed to get married by mid-2020; an app helping farmers identify poor quality seeds could save African farmers hundreds of millions of dollars annually; and researchers at Rice University discovered that a moth-infecting virus and nanomagnets can be used to prevent genetic diseases.
Wind power met 98% of Scotland’s electricity demand in October and also surpassed national demand on over half of the days; scientists have found a bacteria that can pull 100% of the carbon present in any type of organic waste, turning it into hydrogen gas that can be used for fuel; and indigenous communities in Indonesia are protecting their customary forests from mining and palm oil plantations by reclaiming them from state control.
Researchers from Duke University have developed a technology that can generate clean, reusable water from poop as an alternative to the current costly off-site biological treatment; Spain will add 3 gigawatts of solar and wind power capacity every year for the next decade, so as to use 100% renewable energy by 2050; and Tajikistan is using agroforestry in order to fight soil degradation and boost livelihoods.
Paris’s regional transport agency will offer rentals of 10,000 e-bikes in September 2019, with plans to expand the program to 20,000; braving frostbite and the Taliban, Hanifa Yousoufi scaled Afghanistan’s highest peak, Mount Noshaq, striking a blow for gender equality; and state schools in Scotland will be required to include LGBTI inclusive education in the curriculum.
More than 100 women are projected to join the US House and Senate following the US midterm elections; Flood-proof clean energy; the worst floods in a century hit Kerala state in August, but India’s first floating solar panels managed to escape unscathed; and testing fish-friendly wave power, Bombora Wave Power is on its way to producing renewable energy without harming sea life.
Thanks to the Montreal Protocol of 1987, the ozone layer will fully heal by 2050; philanthropists and 10 governments pledged $1 billion for newborn and childhood nutrition, access to contraception and key maternity services in poor countries; and thanks to a record number of women running for office, the U.S. hit a few important milestones during the midterm elections.
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