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The Best Things That Happened in 2015
Last edited Tue Jan 5, 2016, 04:13 PM - Edit history (1)
I got this in a newsletter this morning and had to share it somewhere.
THE BEST THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN 2015
Slate has created a compendium of the best things that happened each day in 2015. Here are ten of the best:
1. Nigeria bans female genital mutilation.
2. HIV protection is effective in African women.
3. Hunger has become much less severe in the past 15 years.
4. States' juvenile prison populations drop.
5. Homelessness declined 11 percent in the U.S. from 2010 to 2015.
6. Reforestation effort in Ecuador breaks world record.
7. Africa has its first polio-free year.
8. New Ebola vaccine is highly effective.
9. Energy storage technology, which is crucial for solar power, is making great progress.
10. People taking pre-exposure prophylaxis are staying HIV-free.
See the best events of the other 355 days: tinyurl.com/qaa74jp
+
SIX HOPEFUL BREAKTHROUGHS IN 2015
From the brilliant Yes magazine:
1. The world set ambitious goals for climate stabilization, and real leadership came from the grassroots.
2. Black Lives Matters changed hearts, minds, and policing practices.
3. Bernie Sanders forced inequality and the power of Wall Street into the national debate.
4. The politics of scapegoating ran short of scapegoats.
5. Americans reassessed the U.S. role abroad.
6. The United States began a turn away from a prison state.
Read more: tinyurl.com/nwl9vpo
+
AN ABUNDANCE OF GOOD NEWS
"There are fewer wars. Inter-state war has virtually disappeared. More countries around the world are democratic; more provide basic services like health care, clean water, and immunizations to their citizens; most adhere to a basic set of global rules and norms, participate in international institutions, and are integrated into an interdependent global economy."
tinyurl.com/pgaevfm
+
THINGS ARE ACTUALLY GETTING BETTER, DESPITE WHAT THE MEDIA WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE
"The news is a systematically misleading way to understand the world," Steven Pinker says.
"Wars are far less common and deadly than in the recent past, terrorism is rare, and the European refugee crisis is nothing new.
"In the past five years alone, conflicts have ended in Chad, Peru, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, India, and Angola, and if peace talks currently underway in Colombia are a success, war will have vanished from the Western hemisphere.
"Attacks of the kind that killed civilians in Paris, Ankara, California, Beirut and Garissa in Kenya this year are big news because they are rare.
"Rampage shootings generate a huge amount of media publicity but account for a relatively tiny number of deaths."
More: tinyurl.com/ouoxkv4
+
THE U.S. IS SAFER THAN ANY MAJOR POWER HAS EVER BEEN
"When Americans look out at the world, they see a swarm of threats. China seems resurgent and ambitious. Russia is aggressive. Iran menaces our allies. Middle East nations we once relied on are collapsing in flames. Latin American leaders sound steadily more anti-Yankee. Terror groups capture territory and commit horrific atrocities. We fight Ebola with one hand while fending off Central American children with the other.
"In fact, this world of threats is an illusion. The United States has no potent enemies. We are not only safe, but safer than any big power has been in all of modern history."
Read more: tinyurl.com/zmf6a2s
+
OVERREACTION TO TERRORISM IS MUCH MORE DANGEROUS THAN TERRORISM
"Why do otherwise intelligent people keep saying silly things, like, 'We are probably in the most serious period of turmoil in our lifetime.'?
"Overreaction to terrorism is the true threat"
tinyurl.com/ocrm7tc
+
SOURCES OF UNDER-REPORTED GOOD NEWS
reddit.com/r/UpliftingNews
goodnewsnetwork.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Slate has created a compendium of the best things that happened each day in 2015. Here are ten of the best:
1. Nigeria bans female genital mutilation.
2. HIV protection is effective in African women.
3. Hunger has become much less severe in the past 15 years.
4. States' juvenile prison populations drop.
5. Homelessness declined 11 percent in the U.S. from 2010 to 2015.
6. Reforestation effort in Ecuador breaks world record.
7. Africa has its first polio-free year.
8. New Ebola vaccine is highly effective.
9. Energy storage technology, which is crucial for solar power, is making great progress.
10. People taking pre-exposure prophylaxis are staying HIV-free.
See the best events of the other 355 days: tinyurl.com/qaa74jp
+
SIX HOPEFUL BREAKTHROUGHS IN 2015
From the brilliant Yes magazine:
1. The world set ambitious goals for climate stabilization, and real leadership came from the grassroots.
2. Black Lives Matters changed hearts, minds, and policing practices.
3. Bernie Sanders forced inequality and the power of Wall Street into the national debate.
4. The politics of scapegoating ran short of scapegoats.
5. Americans reassessed the U.S. role abroad.
6. The United States began a turn away from a prison state.
Read more: tinyurl.com/nwl9vpo
+
AN ABUNDANCE OF GOOD NEWS
"There are fewer wars. Inter-state war has virtually disappeared. More countries around the world are democratic; more provide basic services like health care, clean water, and immunizations to their citizens; most adhere to a basic set of global rules and norms, participate in international institutions, and are integrated into an interdependent global economy."
tinyurl.com/pgaevfm
+
THINGS ARE ACTUALLY GETTING BETTER, DESPITE WHAT THE MEDIA WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE
"The news is a systematically misleading way to understand the world," Steven Pinker says.
"Wars are far less common and deadly than in the recent past, terrorism is rare, and the European refugee crisis is nothing new.
"In the past five years alone, conflicts have ended in Chad, Peru, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, India, and Angola, and if peace talks currently underway in Colombia are a success, war will have vanished from the Western hemisphere.
"Attacks of the kind that killed civilians in Paris, Ankara, California, Beirut and Garissa in Kenya this year are big news because they are rare.
"Rampage shootings generate a huge amount of media publicity but account for a relatively tiny number of deaths."
More: tinyurl.com/ouoxkv4
+
THE U.S. IS SAFER THAN ANY MAJOR POWER HAS EVER BEEN
"When Americans look out at the world, they see a swarm of threats. China seems resurgent and ambitious. Russia is aggressive. Iran menaces our allies. Middle East nations we once relied on are collapsing in flames. Latin American leaders sound steadily more anti-Yankee. Terror groups capture territory and commit horrific atrocities. We fight Ebola with one hand while fending off Central American children with the other.
"In fact, this world of threats is an illusion. The United States has no potent enemies. We are not only safe, but safer than any big power has been in all of modern history."
Read more: tinyurl.com/zmf6a2s
+
OVERREACTION TO TERRORISM IS MUCH MORE DANGEROUS THAN TERRORISM
"Why do otherwise intelligent people keep saying silly things, like, 'We are probably in the most serious period of turmoil in our lifetime.'?
"Overreaction to terrorism is the true threat"
tinyurl.com/ocrm7tc
+
SOURCES OF UNDER-REPORTED GOOD NEWS
reddit.com/r/UpliftingNews
goodnewsnetwork.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Source: https://ezezine.com/ezine/archives/3_11/3_11-2016.01.04.01.42.archive.html
