Happy one year anniversary of good news everybody!

In our twelfth rendition of THE WORLD IS AN EXCELLENT PLACE, ACTUALLY, I am once again here to round up all the good news I could find in 45 minutes of consistent effort and present it to you, the reader, in the hopes of a) making your day a little better, b) brightening your outlook on the state of the planet, and c) encouraging and fostering a love and appreciation for the people who care and are trying their best to give us all something to believe in.

For the one-year edition of Monthly Good News, here’s the core messages:

• PEOPLE DON’T SUCK
• PEOPLE ARE ALL WE HAVE
• LOVE IS STORED IN THE PEOPLE

So without further ado, grab a drink, relax a little, and take a few minutes to find out about the excellent things going on over the last month. Including all of the incredibly exciting news coming out of India right now.

• India becomes the fourth nation to touch down on the moon! And the first nation to touch down on the South Pole!
• A new study says that horses can see emotions in our face and voice – and they have a preference!
• A commercial cargo ship is the first vessel to be retrofitted with two WindWings – high tech sails that will let ships use less fuel
• Scientists create a new material that’s five times lighter and four times stronger than steel
• India approves $7 billion for 10,000 electric buses to cut down on air pollution in 170 cities
• An old London railway to be converted into a “park in the sky”
• India’s leopard and tiger populations are increasing!
• New Zealand bans cigarettes for all those born after 2008 in an effort to wipe out smoking in the country by 2025
• The first hydrogen-powered train has launched in Germany
• Latest ocean cleanup has removed 856,973kg of trash from the ocean
• The tiny Greek island of Tilos has gone completely zero waste
• Ecuadorians voted to stop an oil-drilling project in the Amazon
• The tiny river stonefly species, the scarce yellow sally, has been rediscovered after being assumed extinct for 28 years
• Lego is to begin selling bricks coded with braille to help vision-impaired children play
• Youths of Montana, US, win a climate lawsuit against the state for failing to protect their right to a clean environment
• Millions of Mexicans (8.9 million to be exact) have been lifted out of poverty by a minimum wage boost and increase to pensions
• A new study believes that the problem of plastic in the ocean has been overstated, perhaps by up to 100 times
• AI was used to record and analyse 3,000 hours of wildlife audio in attempt to improve conservation and habitat management on Network Rail land
• A new tampon brand, Sequel, has changed the design of the tampon to include a spiral that should be more comfortable and prevent leakage
• An elderly retiree in Yemen created a free, daily Swedish Gymnastic club, which has spread fast across the country as it improves mental wellbeing
• West African Gabon announced a $500 million debt-for-nature swap; financial institutions will pay off their debt in return for them paying out on conservation over the next 15 years
• Fusion energy feat of getting producing more energy than is put into it has been successfully repeated, with an even higher energy yield than last time
• Golden lion tamarin monkey has come back from the brink of extinction
• Sharks are making a population comeback in the US
• The US President has officially safeguarded tribal territories surrounding the Grand Canyon by adding them to a list of more than 130 protected sites
• Taiwan is funding £2.5 million into free menstrual products in schools and universities to tackle period poverty
• Climate leaders revealed what made them hopeful in the face of a record-breaking summer
• A new analysis reveals that the health benefits of walking kick in at 2,300 steps, while 4,000 a day is enough to cut the risk of premature death, rather than the magical 10,000 goal
• Wild camping in Dartmoor has returned after the January ban was successfully appealed!
• US gender pay gap now narrower than ever
• India and Bhutan’s tiger numbers are clawing their way back
• UK crop yields rose last year, despite a sharp decline in fertiliser use
• England’s plastic bag charge has been marked as a success after a 98% reduction in single-use plastic bags

There. Don’t you feel a bit better now? A bit calmer? A bit like you want to go to the corner shop and buy a little treat and maybe have it yourself but maybe also share it with the nearest friend you can find so you, too, can experience love and human connection? Find yourself an orange or something. Share it. Read a poem about sharing an orange. Be happy.

I’ll see you next month ✌️

By Bethany Climpson, Sustainability Engagement Assistant