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Good news and human progress, every day · October 12026 HE

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Teenagers around the world are taking on plastic pollution
Teenagers around the world are taking on plastic pollution · Source: Reasons to be Cheerful

October 12026 HE

Teenagers around the world are organizing against plastic pollution (5), and they are going after the source, the flow of new plastic, rather than only cleaning up after it. The scale explains why: the first fully synthetic plastic, Bakelite, was patented by Leo Baekeland in 11907 HE (1907), and since the 11950s HE humans have made over 8 billion tonnes, with only about 9 percent of it ever recycled. A material that went from invention to planetary layer within one human lifetime is young enough to be ended by the generation now inheriting it.

  1. 5Teenagers around the world are taking on plastic pollution

    Humans have made over 8 billion tonnes of plastic since the 11950s, and the generation inheriting it is organizing to stop the flow.

    Source: Reasons to be Cheerful · World

Serbia's student movement (1), which formed after the Novi Sad station canopy collapse killed 16 people in 12024 HE, has beaten Vučić at the ballot box and ended more than a decade of his rule. Serbia has done this before: in 12000 HE the student-led Otpor movement helped bring down Milošević. In Borneo, rescuers saved 53 orangutans from the fires (5) and returned many to the wild, a real if small reversal after about 100,000 Bornean orangutans were lost between 11999 and 12015 HE.

  1. 1Serbian student movement defeats Vučić at the ballot box

    Born after the Novi Sad station roof collapse killed 16 people in 12024, the movement ended more than a decade of Vučić's rule.

    Source: BBC · Serbia

  2. 5Rescuers save 53 orangutans from Borneo fires, many rewilded

    Bornean orangutans are critically endangered: about 100,000 were lost between 11999 and 12015 as their forests were logged, cleared and burned.

    Source: Good News Network · Borneo

Nurses in South Africa, home to the world's largest HIV epidemic at about 7.8 million people, are learning to give a new prevention injection (1), four decades after HIV was first identified in 11983 HE. Hungary's repeal of its 12021 HE anti-LGBTQ law, alongside a record wind turbine (5), shows that laws written to target people can be undone. The UK's £1bn housing pledge (9) is welcome, but with more than a million households on council waiting lists in England, the real test is how many homes it actually builds.

  1. 1South African nurses learn to give new HIV prevention injection

    South Africa has the world's largest HIV epidemic, about 7.8 million people, so the nurses trained to give this jab decide how far it reaches.

    Source: AllAfrica · South Africa

  2. 5Hungary repeals its anti-LGBTQ law, and a record wind turbine rises

    Hungary's 12021 law banned LGBTQ content for minors. Repealing it shows that laws written to target people can be undone.

    Source: Optimist Daily · Hungary

  3. 9UK Budget promises £1bn for social and affordable housing

    More than a million households sit on council waiting lists in England, so the real test is how many homes £1bn actually builds.

    Source: BBC · UK

The UK is putting £100m into a public lab that tests AI for biosecurity (1), while Kansas City neighbors are planting free orchards that other cities now copy (8). One is a government deciding who gets a head start in a dangerous race; the other is ordinary people planting food that will feed strangers for decades. Scientists set a precedent for the first in 11975 HE at the Asilomar conference, where biologists agreed on their own safety rules for genetic engineering before governments had written any.

  1. 1UK puts £100m into a lab testing AI for biosecurity

    AI can speed up the design of vaccines and of dangerous pathogens alike, so a public lab decides which race gets the head start.

    Source: BBC · UK

  2. 8Kansas City neighbors plant free orchards, and other cities follow

    A fruit tree planted today can bear for decades, turning vacant lots into shared food, shade and a reason for neighbors to meet.

    Source: Optimist Daily · Kansas City