Good News for Humankind ๐
The world's latest milestones for climate, justice, freedom, peace, health, and more
17 March 2025 C.E.
In a major win for climate action, a new analysis from Carbon Brief has found that the countryโs planet-warming emissions fell by 3.6% to 371 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2024, the lowest since Queen Victoria's reign. Last year's decrease was largely driven by a drop in coal use, led by the closure of the UKโs last coal-fired power station and one of its last blast furnaces. Other contributors included a drop in demand for oil and gas and a nearly 40% rise in electric vehicles on the road.
Since November 2024, government agents have carried out 523 actions, destroying 90 camps, 15 vessels, 27 heavy machinery, and 224 engines. The coordinated government effort caused losses of $1.9 million USD to criminals. The 5.9-million-acre Munduruku Indigenous Territory, home to 6,500 people, is one of the lands that has been hardest hit by illegal mining in the country. During Bolsonaroโs administration, there was a 363% increase in the area degraded by mining which brought diseases, mercury contamination, attacks, and deaths to communities.
An annual injection designed by California's Gilead Sciences to guard against HIV has completed an important early safety trial, researchers report in The Lancet medical journal. Lenacapavir stops the virus from replicating inside cells. For the trial, 40 people without HIV were injected into the muscle with lenacapavir, with no major side effects or safety concerns. And after 56 weeks, the medicine was still detectable in their bodies. If future trials go well, it could become the longest-acting form of HIV prevention available.
A crackdown on the illegal trade in Malagasy tortoises has led to a series of recent arrests. Following the arrest of a Tanzanian national with 800 tortoises in December 2024, officials said a major investigation had uncovered a major international trafficking network that led to the arrests of more than 20 people in Madagascar and Tanzania. Wildlife trade monitoring watchdog TRAFFIC says more than 30,000 trafficked radiated tortoises were seized between 2000 and 2021.
The population of eastern monarch butterflies โ which migrate from Canada and the US to Mexico during the winter โ has nearly doubled over the last year, according to a recent report commissioned in Mexico, generating optimism among nature preservationists. The growth in numbers for the orange-and-black butterflies follows years of ongoing conservation efforts โ and perhaps provides a sliver of optimism after otherwise discouraging long-term trends for the species.
The U.K. government has announced a legally binding commitment to hit a 78 percent emissions reduction target by 2035, as compared to 1990 levels, on the way to net-zero emissions by 2050. For the first time, this target includes aviation and shipping. The U.K.'s carbon emissions peaked at around 900 megatons per year in 1991, and the 2022 figure is on pace to be below 500 Mt, representing around a 45% emissions reduction achievement since 2002.
After years of aggressive investment in wind and solar farms, the closure of coal plants and other high-emissions infrastructure, and campaigns to incentivize climate-friendly business and consumer practices, the U.K. draws close to its ultimate goal of 100% zero-carbon electricity generation and net-zero carbon emissions. The milestone solidifies the U.K. as a global leader in climate action and provides a template for countries around the world to follow suit.
These milestones have been added to the Archive of Human Genius - our database of social change milestones โ past, present & future.
From Indivisible: Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate will be back on your home turf beginning Saturday, March 15 through Sunday, March 23. Indivisible has compiled everything you need to know about why recess matters, our demands, and the top actions weโre recommending to get their attention. If youโre ready to join the fight, sign up for updates and ways to take action against the Trump-Musk coup and the Republican tax scam. Get updates.โ
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Weekly reflection
Hi beautiful people,
In modern Western culture, we are so often told we are special. We are different from the others. We have extraordinary potential. We can do something truly great.
The intent is good, I think: Our parents, friends, teachers, etc., want us to feel like we are capable of the world. They want us to push past our insecurities and self-imposed limitations so we can shine as brightly as possible. They really love us and see something remarkable in us.
But in my experience, the belief that we are special usually causes more insecurity and shame than it does inspiration and empowerment. It creates an expectation to be great and do the impossible that we can never actually fulfill. It makes us feel like a disappointment to those who have deemed us special. Ultimately, it leaves us with a deep sense of failure, inadequacy, and hollowness for never living up to that label.
Here's my truth: You are not special.
You are unique. You are beautiful. You are whole. Just like everyone else.
Put down any sense of needing to live up to something. Set yourself free from these impossible standards and expectations. Embrace the reality that you are just one flawed, limited human, humbly offering what you actually have to offer โ nothing more, nothing less.
Love,
Peter
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Peter Schulte
Leadership Coachโ
Bellingham WA, USA / Lummi & Nooksack lands
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