Good News Tuesday

Editor OGN Daily
Nov 18
3 min read

Some tasty bite-sized chunks of upbeat news to brighten the day.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags unfurled in the AUSTRALIAN parliament — Credit: Katie Hall MP

Applause and Tears

In a landmark step toward reconciliation, Victoria has become the first Australian state to enshrine a treaty with First Peoples into law. Passed to applause and tears in parliament, the Statewide Treaty Bill establishes Gellung Warl, a democratically elected Aboriginal body that will be formally consulted on laws and policies affecting Indigenous communities. The treaty also cements the work of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, Australia’s first truth-telling body, which investigates the ongoing impacts of colonisation and systemic injustice against Aboriginal Victorians.

Did You Know?

Overfishing has been almost entirely stopped in the territorial waters of the United States. An unlikely alliance of fishermen and environmentalists has ended competitive fishing and aligned profits with conservation. NOAA reports 50 stocks rebuilt since 2000, with 94 percent of assessed stocks not subject to overfishing today.

Reconciliation Ecology

The Santa Cruz River, once bone-dry, now flows again through Tucson after treated wastewater was redirected into its channel, reviving wetlands and native life. We can thank reconciliation ecology for this - the practice of environmental restoration in human-dominated landscapes. Endangered Gila topminnow are breeding, cottonwoods have returned, and 40 native species have reappeared (so have people, cleaning up trash, clearing invasive plants, or just watching wildlife). “We don’t have to do everything. The river knows. We just have to be down there together.”

LA Olympics Equality

The 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics are still more than two and a half years away, but organizers made a significant statement in the sports world’s continual journey toward equality for women by announcing that the women’s 100-meter track final, not the men’s, will open the first night of medal competition at the Games. The men’s 100 final, which traditionally goes first, will be held the next evening.

Five New Sports Coming to The Los Angeles Olympics

90 Percent

EU member states have backed a binding target to cut greenhouse gas emissions 90 percent below 1990 levels by 2040, a key step toward climate neutrality by 2050, the Council of the EU has announced.

Immunisation Campaign

The UN, WHO, and Gaza’s Health Ministry have launched a life-saving, three-stage immunisation campaign to reach 44,000 children in Gaza who missed their vaccines. The drive will run from November through January, protecting children against measles, polio, pneumonia, and other preventable diseases. More than 450 health workers and 149 doctors will deliver and monitor the rollout.

Repurposing Drugs

We’ve heard of repurposing water bottles, takeout containers, and egg cartons - but what if we could add drugs to that list? That’s a question Dr. David Fajgenbaum, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, set out to answer. In 2022, Fajgenbaum founded Every Cure, a nonprofit that employs artificial intelligence to find safe, new applications for existing medications. It uses 'computational pharmacophenomics' to look for shared connections between the approximately 18,500 globally recognized diseases and the 4,000 FDA-approved existing treatments. The team says it’s already saved thousands of lives via 14 repurposed drugs and Fajgenbaum aims to ensure “that no patient suffers when there’s a lifesaving cure sitting on the pharmacy shelf,” he said in the TED Talk. “And instead of hearing ‘we’ve tried everything,’ they can hear ‘we have something.’”

"Truth is the only safe ground to stand upon." Elizabeth Cady Stanton