Thanks to a new technique using electrical stimulation, three paralyzed patients have been able to walk again; Palau becomes the first country to ban the sunscreen chemicals damaging coral reefs; and thanks to a robust vaccination program, rubella in Australia has been officially been eradicated.
With the help of microloans millions of marginalized families in India have started and expanded businesses, purchased essentials during emergencies, and supported their children’s education; Alabama’s Auburn University is giving its students a unique homework assignment: building homes for rural communities; and Worldwide Buddies provides a quarterly box with books, toys, and games about one specific culture to help kids embrace and empathize with those from different backgrounds.
250 organizations such as PepsiCo, Unilever, and H&M have made a pledge to fight plastic waste and work with governments in order to increase recycling; from just 23 left at the turn of the 20th century, bisons are ready to return to their home once agains; and students created bio-bricks out of sand, bacteria, and urine, disposing of waste while also drastically reducing the energy and pollution required for the production of regular bricks.
Members of parliament elected Sahle-Work Zewde to become Ethiopia’s first female head of state; the European Parliament overwhelmingly voted to ban common single-use plastics; and researchers found a social media app that connects neighbors in disaster-prone communities across Indonesia, thus saving lives and reducing financial losses.
The Isle of Man is showing the world how working together as a community can result in eliminating plastic from local beaches in just a decade; coffee company Change Please is hiring and training homeless people to become baristas; and in the world’s largest refugee camp solar energy is helping the HOPE Foundation for Women and Children of Bangladesh be more efficient in delivering aid to Rohingya refugees.
The city Winchester, Virginia, has built a reputation for coming together as a community as a response to addiction; research by the UN Population Fund attributes the dropping unplanned pregnancies rate in India to better reproductive rights support and girls’ access to education; and in southern India, indigenous people are planting millions of fruit trees to shade their coffee crops.
A new scheme has resulted in a 50% drop in violence against women in Tajikistan; Jamaica will introduce a ban on single-use plastic bags, straws, and styrofoam starting next year; and Peruvian scientists found several tree species that can survive adverse conditions and fill in the gap caused by mining and other methods of deforestation.
The Asian Development Bank will devote about $2 billion annually to improving water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions across the Asia-Pacific region; Babban Gona is helping Nigerian farmers find economic opportunity by doubling yields and tripling the income of its members; and in Ethiopia’s new cabinet, women will head defense, trade, transport, labor, culture, science and revenue.
Scientists have managed to turn coffee waste into electricity, hoping to help farmers curb pollution in the developing world; Seoul now provides free menstrual products in an attempt to support women from low-income communities; and a new material absorbs air-borne carbon using solar power and carbon dioxide in order to grow.
Colombia’s tropical forest national park Serranía de Chiribiquete is the size of Denmark and has one of the highest biodiversity rates in the northern Amazon; Australian company CERES Fair Food actively hires asylum seekers; and nearly 500 UK supermarkets introduce a ‘quieter hour’ in order to provide a calmer shopping experience for autistic customers.
Swedish researchers have created a new molecule that can store solar power for up to 18 years; Guinea-Bissau helps refugees find a new home, offering equality and citizenship; and an appeals court forces the Dutch government to reduce emissions quicker than originally pledged.
Thirty years after the world’s worst nuclear disaster, renewable energy surges in Chernobyl; Tesco will remove ‘best before’ labels on fruits and vegetables hoping to reduce food waste; and the Ibn Rushd-Goethe mosque in Berlin has recently begun a deradicalization workshop for students to take into German schools.
Nine jurisdictions, including the U.S., the E.U. and Russia have agreed to stop commercial fishing in the Arctic for the next sixteen years; despite global warming-induced flooding, floating schools are bringing education to one of Bangladesh’s poorest locations; and the Muslim Council of Britain is training women to become leaders in mosques and communities.
With her pioneering work on laser pulses, Donna Strickland became the third woman winner in the award’s century-long history; Wintures is working on an affordable and sustainable system that can turn salt water potable; and thanks to screenings and school immunization, cervical cancer will become a rarity in Australia.
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