Good news for humankind

Embodying our personal values We all have our own genius – the unique creative essence we are born with. I think of genius as having at least three core ingredients: passions, talents, and personal values. In the previous piece, I discussed passions and talents. Here, I unpack personal values Beyond right and wrong Humans from a wide range of cultures and traditions have a long history of dividing the world into “good” and “bad” or “right” and “wrong.” We hold certain beliefs or behaviors as...

Good News for Humankind 🌏 The world's latest milestones for climate, justice, freedom, peace, health, and more 14 April 2025 C.E. #1 Renewable energy now handles 40% of global electricity needs According to a new report from U.K. think tank Ember, clean energy accounted for 40.9% of electricity produced worldwide in 2024. The push past the 40% mark was fueled by an unprecedented growth in solar, significant contributions from wind, a recovery in hydropower, and a small rise in nuclear power....

Good News for Humankind 🌏 The world's latest milestones for climate, justice, freedom, peace, health, and more 7 April 2025 C.E. #1 California now has more EV charging ports than gas nozzles California has steadily amassed its EV charging network with both public and private charging ports over the last few years. In 2024, California boasted 178,500 total EV ports compared to around 120,000 estimated gas nozzles, according to the California Energy Commission. The number of accessible chargers...

Good News for Humankind 🌏 The world's latest milestones for climate, justice, freedom, peace, health, and more 31 March 2025 C.E. #1 Renewables account for 92% of new power capacity worldwide in 2024 Countries added a record amount of renewable power in 2024, according to an analysis from the International Renewable Energy Agency. The analysis found that solar is by far the fastest-growing form of renewable power, amounting to 77% of new capacity, with wind in a distant second at 19%....

Good News for Humankind 🌏 The world's latest milestones for climate, justice, freedom, peace, health, and more 24 March 2025 C.E. #1 India has treated 6.8 million cancer patients for free in seven years India’s Health Minister just reported that a national insurance program has treated an astonishing 6.8 million people for cancer, three-quarters of whom live in rural areas. The cost of the work amounted to $1.5 billion USD. Managed and paid for by the country’s flagship health insurance...

Good News for Humankind 🌏 The world's latest milestones for climate, justice, freedom, peace, health, and more 17 March 2025 C.E. #1 U.K. emissions fall to lowest level since 1872 In a major win for climate action, a new analysis from Carbon Brief has found that the country’s 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...

Good News for Humankind 🌏 The world's latest milestones for climate, justice, freedom, peace, health, and more 10 March 2025 C.E. #1 World's nations back $200 billion a year plan to protect nature Global negotiators concluded an extended session of the United Nations biodiversity conference, COP16, by agreeing on how they would contribute a massive $200 billion a year by 2030 to protect the world's ecosystems. The money includes a plan to raise $20 billion in annual conservation financing for...

Living in our zone of genius Last piece, I talked about genius—the unique creative force innate to each of us. Our genius defines our unique essences as individuals and is also perhaps what makes us human. Now, I’d like to explore what it means practically to live in what we might call our zone of genius. Our journey of change The Hero’s Journey, or “monomyth,” first proposed and detailed by 20th-century American mythology and folklore writer Joseph Campbell, is a template distilling striking...

Good News for Humankind 🌏 The world's latest milestones for climate, justice, freedom, peace, health, and more 3 March 2025 C.E. #1 Global sales of combustion engine cars have peaked To decarbonize road transport and achieve global climate goals, the world must move away from petrol and diesel cars and toward electric vehicles and other forms of low-carbon transport. Fortunately, this transition is already well underway, with global sales of combustion engine cars peaking in 2017 or 2018 and...

What is genius? 3 March 2025 C.E. Today, we usually use the term “genius” to refer to someone with incredible intelligence, talent, or ability. Albert Einstein was a genius. Nina Simone was a genius. Mohammad Ali was a genius. That friend of ours who graduated summa cum laude from Harvard is a genius. We use “genius” to distinguish truly exceptional humans from the rest of us. It’s time we let go of this way of thinking. First, it unnecessarily discourages and diminishes the vast majority of...