Monday's Positive News

4 hours ago
3 min read

Ensuring the week gets off to an uplifting start with today's global collection of positive news nuggets.

The Milky Way above the Very Large Telescope in Chile’s Atacama Desert — Credit: Julien Looten | Milky Way Photographer of the Year 2026

Sodium Milky Way

This scene was captured at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile’s Atacama Desert, under exceptionally pure observing conditions where the boundary between Earth and sky feels almost seamless. The Milky Way stretches across the sky, with its dense central bulge rising prominently overhead. Subtle airglow adds another layer to the scene, a natural emission produced by chemical reactions in the upper atmosphere. In the foreground stands the VLT, situated at 2,635 meters above sea level. The observatory consists of four primary telescopes and one of them projects four sodium laser beams into the sky, creating artificial guide stars at an altitude of approximately 90km. These reference points enable adaptive optics systems to correct for atmospheric distortion in real time, significantly enhancing the clarity and precision of astronomical observations.

Megan Boxhall opening a bottle of Champagne on Sizewell beach — Photo courtesy of an OGN reader

200 Marathons

At 08.30 on Saturday morning, Megan Boxhall finally returned to the spot where she started from. In the intervening seven months, she has run 5,240 miles - the equivalent of a marathon every day for 200 days - around the entire coastline of Britain. In doing so, she raised money for charity (The Samaritans - who had previously helped her through difficult times) and smashed the previous record by 94 days. She told the BBC she was looking forward to "doing nothing for a while."

Lights On

The global number of people without electricity has declined by more than half since the year 2000, even as the world’s population has increased by a third, reports Our World in Data.

Wild jaguar, partly concealed behind a bush — Credit: Tompkins Conservation

Conservation Success

50 wild jaguars now roam Argentina’s Iberá wetlands - a species return once thought impossible. Jaguars disappeared from Corrientes province more than 70 years ago, but a reintroduction effort in 2012 by Tompkins Conservation has now resulted in the birth of the 50th wild cub in Iberá National Park. The milestone is helping drive a broader “Jaguar Corridor” aimed at reconnecting ecosystems and restoring top predators across South America’s river basins.

Over the years, Kris and her late husband Doug Tompkins (who co-founded North Face) have helped conserve 14.7 million acres of land and 30 million marine acres, spending hundreds of millions of dollars buying enormous parcels of land in Chile and Argentina aimed at restoring vast tracts of grasslands, forests, and waterways. The latest project is a vast New National Park at The Edge of The World to protect endangered wildlife and unique ecosystems.

Wai Tan, Shanghai, China - at night — Wai Tan, Shanghai, China

Zero Waste City

Shanghai (home to 30 million people) is moving toward a citywide circular economy, with industrial recycling rates now approaching 98% and household recycling rising from 35% to 45% since mandatory sorting began in 2019. Kitchen waste is being converted into fertiliser and biodegradable plastics, while companies are recycling 130,000 tonnes of aluminium a year into new automotive materials and beverage cans. On the other side of the world, there's an entire country that sends only one percent of is trash to landfill. Hats off to Sweden.

India's Trajectory

India is skipping China’s coal boom, and heading directly for green energy. India’s economy has reached roughly the same income level China occupied 15 years ago, but its energy trajectory looks very different. Solar and wind generation per person are already five times higher than China’s at a comparable stage, while India’s more service-driven economy requires less electricity per unit of GDP. Analysts now expect India’s future growth to be powered primarily by renewables and batteries, with coal expansion peaking far below China’s.

“So. Monday. We meet again. We will never be friends - but maybe we can move past our mutual enmity toward a more-positive partnership.” Julio Alexi Genao

On This Day

11 May 1068: Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror, is crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London. Following the 1066 conquest, William felt secure enough in 1068 to bring Matilda over from France to be officially crowned, highlighting her political importance. Shortly after her coronation, she traveled north and, while near York, gave birth to her son Henry (the future King Henry I).