Global Good News Round Up
- Editor OGN Daily
- Aug 31
- 4 min read
Quick summary of all the top good news stories from last week.
Health & Wellbeing
The Divya: The hand-cranked washing machine (no electricity required) that is transforming thousands of lives, particularly for girls and women.
New Ultrasound Tool: Doctors could soon use high-resolution ultrasound devices to identify meningitis in babies, replacing spinal taps. Physicians in Spain were able to detect meningitis in the youngest patients with 94 percent accuracy, thanks to a deep learning algorithm. The ultrasound tool could limit unnecessary antibiotic use and lead to earlier diagnoses.
Antigua's Solution: A new Caribbean desalination solution has opened in Antigua. It will eventually provide up to 3 million imperial gallons of drinking water per day - securing the island's water supply for the next 12 years. Similarly...
Santa Monica Bay: California to turn Pacific Ocean into drinking water.
Huge Charitable Gift: Co-Founder of Nike, Phil Knight, has opened his bank account and his heart in order to set a record for the largest charitable gift ever handed to an American university. $2 billion has been given to a cancer institute bearing his name at the Oregon Health & Science University.
AI Guardrails: Illinois became the first state to block AI apps from diagnosing or giving therapy advice. In addition to placing landmark guardrails on how mental health professionals can use AI to support care, the new law also closes a loophole that allows unlicensed persons to advertise themselves as “therapists.”
Wildlife & Conservation
Game Changing: New 'superfood' - anything that's good for honeybees is good news for humanity too. A new study shows that bee colonies that ate the supplement during trials had up to 15 times more baby bees that grew to adulthood.
Say Hello to Pluto: This tiny Philippine spotted deer, a new addition to the U.K.’s Chester Zoo, may stand at just under a foot tall, but the fawn represents a big win for the endangered species. Only about 300 Philippine spotted deer remain in the wild due to threats from habitat loss and hunting.
‘Biocultural Corridor’: Mexico, Guatemala and Belize launch tri-national reserve to protect the Maya forest. The countries’ three leaders announced a ‘biocultural corridor’ spanning an astonishing 57,000 km² across southern Mexico, northern Guatemala and Belize. That’s the size of the US state of Iowa - making it the biggest protected area in the Americas after the Amazon.
Nature’s Pest Control: Cotton farmers are turning to nature’s own pest control. Developed by entomologist Robert Mensah, a simple mix of yeast, sugar, and water lures in ladybirds and lacewings - predator insects that feast on crop pests. It also helps protect farmers’ health while cutting pesticide use.
Land Restoration: Land in California's San Fellipe Valley is being returned to an Indigenous tribe to support Indigenous led conservation in biologically diverse areas across the state. “The return of these 1,107 acres of Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel ancestral land is more than a restoration of territory, it is a restoration of identity, responsibility, and healing.”
By The Numbers
13.4 Million: Number of Mexicans lifted out of poverty between 2018 and 2024
Zero: Helsinki has gone a full year without a traffic death, the result of lower speed limits, more traffic cameras, and better infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists.
27 Percent: In the first seven months of 2025, a new report found that there was a “robust” 27 percent increase in global electric car sales over the same time period last year.
91 Percent: A new study has found that a 2020 ban has reduced single-use plastic bag use by 91 percent in Vermont.
581: Miles driven by an electric SUV (a Polestar 3) on one charge, a new world record.
Climate & Renewables
Has China Peaked? China's carbon dioxide emissions fell by one percent during the first half of 2025 and continues the downward trend that began in March 2024, according to Carbon Brief. The declining trend opens the possibility that China's emissions may already have reached their peak, years before the "before 2030" target. As the world's largest emitter of CO2, this is very good news.
Solar Surge: As of mid-August, the UK has generated more electricity from solar than it did all of last year. Meanwhile, in Germany, wind and solar are generating 57.5 percent of the electricity, twice as much as they did in 2020 - and this in the world’s second most important industrial power, and third largest economy.
Big Oil Halted in SA: South Africa’s courts have brought Big Oil’s offshore plans to a halt. A high court has blocked Shell and TotalEnergies from drilling off the country’s Wild Coast. The ruling builds on a series of legal victories where judges have prioritised cultural and environmental rights over fossil fuel expansion.
Northern Lights: World's first commercial carbon storage facility has opened in Norway.
Markets Matter: Big banks are pivoting from fossil fuels to green energy, says the IEA, and now the playbook continues its shift as Bloomberg reports that hedge funds have started shorting oil stocks. Simultaneously, commodity traders are switching their attention from oil, gas and metals to buying, storing and selling energy back into grids, especially in Europe, where capacity is set to rise sevenfold by 2030.
And Finally...
Horticultural Titles: In very good news for a gardener from England, as he wins four world records in one season.
