Good News in 2024 (you might have missed)

It's here, the big one, the best good news
stories of 2024,

and what a wild year it's been.

If you're new here, I'm Sam and I make
videos showing good news and solutions

to some of the world's biggest problems.

And I make monthly roundups of positive
stories that you might have missed.

And that's because this year,

the average person may have spent six
to seven days doomscrolling,

so I wanna balance that out a little bit,

and show you there are reasons to feel
hopeful.

If you've been here before, thank you so
much my friend.

And if you've been enjoying these good
news roundups,

tap that like button and I'll keep them
coming in 2025 too.

I've also asked a few friends for their
favourite good news story of 2024,

so keep an eye for who pops up in this
video.

But let's get into it. Here's some good
news from 2024 that you might have missed.

2024 started with news that, after years
of decline,

elephant populations in much of Southern
Africa had stabilized,

and even begun to recover, thanks to
new conservation strategies,

like wildlife corridors, that link
protected areas together,

and provide safe passages for animals.

And a national park in Republic of Congo,

even celebrated their first year without
any elephant poaching.

And groundbreaking research from the
US Department of Energy found that

when you combine solar farms with native
wildflowers,

it can triple insect numbers on that
land in five years.

And one of the awesome things I came
across in January was the Akshar School

in Assam, India, that lets the students
pay the school fees using plastic waste

instead of money.

It was created by Mazin and Parmita, who
wanted to find a creative way to stop the

local villages' toxic bonfires and plastic
waste

that were endangering
their students' health.

Each week, the students must bring over
twenty-five items of plastic from their

homes, or picked from the streets,

and they learn how to reuse this waste
in a bunch of creative ways.

How awesome is that?

Now, onto February. And we'll start with
some wins for our ocean.

Nine countries united to protect
endangered river dolphins

around the world, by signing the Global
Declaration for River Dolphins.

Chile and Palau became the first
countries to ratify the High Seas Treaty,

which is an international commitment to
protect our oceans, beyond the borders

of any country.

The High Seas is an area of ocean roughly
40 miles or more from the nearest country.

It makes up half the planet's surface and
before this treaty,

only 1% of it was protected.

There was some big news for clean energy
in Feb.

A scientist at the UK's jet laboratory set
a new nuclear fusion world record,

generating 69 megajoules in five seconds.

Fusion energy has the potential to
revolutionize the way we power our world,

producing vast amounts of energy, with no
carbon emissions and minimal waste.

While still far from commercial use,
this milestone tripled 1997 results.

And in fact, just last month, it was
announced that Tokamak Energy,

a UK-based nuclear fusion startup,
secured 125 million dollars,

to develop its distinctive egg-shaped
reactor design,

which could bring us one step closer
to unlocking clean, limitless energy.

Countries also started cracking down
on cosmetic companies in February,

as the EU drafted a law to make cosmetics
companies pay for their pollution,

stating that under The Polluter Pays
Principle, they'd have to cover 80% of the

cost of cleaning micro-pollutants
from waterways.

And New Zealand became one of the first
countries to ban Forever Chemicals

in all cosmetic products too.

And it wasn't just countries fighting
against pollution.

A scientist from Nanyang Technological
University in Singapore

developed an artificial worm that can
break down plastics.

These super-worms can digest plastic
thanks to their gut bacteria,

and it offers a nature-based solution
to tackle the global plastic problem.

And an innovator from Ireland, Fionn
Ferrara,

created a way of removing
microplastics from water using magnets.

By simply adding a magnetic liquid
known as ferrofluid into water,

it binds to the tiny microplastic
particles, which can then be drawn out

using a magnet.

It removes up to 85% of microplastics in a
single go,

and the process is still improving.

Before we get into March, here's a good
news story from my friend Nomzamo.

Hey Sam, it's Nomzamo here! My favourite
story of 2024 was seeing

The Earthshot Prize come to the African
continent and make an incredible,

incredible impact. But most importantly,
seeing young people from around the world

be a part of the inaugural youth program
as part of the Earthshot,

and making such incredible impact and
also change. So, that's me!

We marched into March with news that
Pakistan had tripled their mangrove

forests over the last thirty years.

These coastal superheroes not only provide
homes for wildlife,

but also form a crucial shield against the
effects of climate change.

This simple model from Dutch Research
Institute, Deltares,

makes it super easy to understand how
mangroves can protect the coast from the

impact of waves from a heavy storm.

The European parliament passed a
nature restoration law

that aims to restore 20% of the EU's
land and sea by 2030.

This plan includes things like restoring
25000 kilometers of rivers to free-flowing

conditions to help reconnect habitats,
and planting over 3 billion tress across

Europe to recover degraded and deforested
land.

And protecting our natural world isn't
just important as it basically allows us

to live, but we're also discovering new
things about it all the time.

For example, in March, scientists discovered
almost 100 new deep sea species,

living up to 14000 feet under the sea,
in the underwater mountains of Chile.

Moving from the deep sea to space,

a new satellite was announced in March

that is dedicated to tracking methane
emissions and their sources worldwide,

and could play a role in holding big
polluters to account,

as air pollution often flies under the
radar and is a major health problem.

There was some good news in the air
though,

as air quality in Europe has significantly
improved.

According to studies that analyze air
pollution across Europe,

from 2003 to 2019, it showed
significant declines in harmful

particles, and nitrogen dioxide levels,

especially in urban and central regions.

If you're enjoying this video so far,

give that like button a tap. And if you're
feeling extra generous, throw a random

comment down below to help boost the
good news in the algorithm.

Now onto April.

In April, Greece became the first country
in Europe to ban bottom trawling in all

its marine-protected areas by 2030.

And Sweden joined them a
couple of months later.

This is where big, heavy fishing nets
are dragged across the ocean floor,

destroying habitats and releasing carbon
that's stored in the ocean.

And in another win for the ocean, a
landmark treaty was signed by

Indigenous leaders from Aotearoa, Cook
Islands, Tonga, Tahiti, Hawai'i,

and Rapa Nui, that gives whales legal
personhood in the region.

This means that whales will be recognized
as a legal entity with rights,

such as having freedom of movement,
freedom to a healthy ocean, and even

freedom to express their own culture
including their language.

Pre-loved clothing - like this, actually -

8 euros from Paris, continue to take off
around the world.

And in the US, the secondhand clothing
market grew seven times faster than the

brand new clothing market, and the global
demand for secondhand clothes

is expected to double in the next
three years.

The United States took a monumental
20 billion dollar initiative to restore

Florida's everglades, one of the largest
environmental restoration projects

in history.

And another landmark that made history in
April were these lovely ladies.

They're called Senior Women for Climate
Protection, and they took the Swiss

government to court, claiming they were
not doing enough to address

climate change. Which is putting them at
risk of dying during heat waves,

which due to their age and gender they're
especially impacted by.

And this was a violation of their human rights.

And on that note,

here's my friend Alaina's favourite
good news story of 2024.

It's Alaina here. My favourite story of
this year is that the number of lawsuits

filed against the fossil fuel industry
has tripled since the signing of the

Paris Agreement in 2016.

And more people join the fire against
polluting fossil fuel companies,

as Cambridge University became the first
university in the UK to reject donations

from fossil fuel groups, following
pressure from students and staff.

And since then, over 75% of UK
universities have now pledged to ditch

fossil fuel investments.

And Uruguay showed us that a future
is possible without burning fossil fuels,

as it ran non 100% renewables for ten
months straight, generating all of its

electricity from hydro, wind bioenergy and
solar,

and this was on top of news in April that
seven countries now generate of 99% of

their electricity from renewable sources,
and wind power even overtook fossil fuels

in generating electricity in the UK.

Let's start May in Texas, where a new
campaign called Lights Out Texas

encouraged people to turn off their
lights at night to help billions of birds

migrate safely through the state.

By simply making sure that lights are
turned off at night during the spring and

autumn migratory seasons, we can reduce
the confusion caused during the birds'

nighttime ventures, and ease their long
journeys across the globe.

Small steps like this show just how
impactful conservation can be,

and in fact, a study in the same month,
which examined the success and impact of

conservation projects over the last 150
years, has found that conservation

projects are almost always successful, and
we're even getting better at

looking after nature too.

For this next story, I'm gonna pass the
mic over so we can hear about some wins

from the global South.

In May, I also came across Moses West,

who designed a machine that creates clean
drinking water from thin air,

that he gives away to people who need it
for free.

This process is called atmospheric water
generations, and Moses is using it to make

sure that everyone has access to clean
water, no matter where they live,

how old they are, or how much money
they have.

I actually did an interview with Moses
that I posted over on my Patreon that goes

way more into his innovations, so if
you're interested in learning more,

go check that out.

One of the things that makes me feel
hopeful for the future is seeing the next

generations come through with
revolutionary ideas,

and that's exactly how June kicked off,

as two teenagers won 50000 dollars for
inventing a device that can filter

microplastics from water.

17-year-olds Victoria Ou and Justin Huang
from Texas developed a device that uses

ultrasonic soundwaves to filter
microplastics from water,

winning them $50,000 at the Regeneron
International Science and Engineering Fair

that will help them develop the idea
further.

At the same event, 18-year-old Maddux
Springer from Hawaii won a $10000 prize,

after researching why green sea turtles
were getting tumours.

He found that the tumours could be linked
to the turtles eating invasive algae,

that absorbs sewage from local cesspools,
and is now using his prize fund to study

the issue more at college.

In other wildlife news, one of the
world's rarest cats,

the Iberian lynx, was no longer classed
as endangered,

and beavers were back in London for the
first time in 400 years.

One of the biggest breakthroughs in June
happened at the University of Cambridge,

where researchers found a path to make
cement using no emissions.

If cement was a country, it would be the
third biggest source of emissions after

China and the US, so this could help solve
one of the world's

biggest climate challenges.

This new method recycles old concrete by
using an electric chemical process to

extract calcium, which can then be used
to make new concrete.

And I came across a couple of other
innovations this year, helping to solve

cement's massive environmental impact,

such as this building here, which is made
using hempcrete, which is a concrete

alternative made by simply mixing hemp,
water, and lime binder, and it's fire,

pest, and mold-resistant too.

And also, sugarcrete, which as you can
probably guess, is a concrete alternative

made from sugar cane waste.

For the first story of July, I'm gonna let
my pal Megan tell you her favourite good

news story.

In 2024, the Flow Country, which is
located in the north of Scotland,

was relisted as a UNESCO site, some
excellent news,

because it's listed with the protections
alongside the Great Barrier Reef

and the Rocky Mountains. More funding,
more security,

and the Flow Country is the biggest
blanket bog anywhere in the world,

it's so important for storing carbon and
supporting wildlife.

It's an amazing habitat, like a big bouncy
trampoline.

Of course, it's all waterlogged. Peat
forms over thousands of years,

holding in carbon, and it's an
increasingly rare habitat,

so having this new protection could mean
a lot more security in the future.

And talking of unique ecosystems, in
Chicago,

urban rivers have created a one-mile long
floating eco-park called the Wild Mile,

that acts like a wetland where loads of
plants and animals can thrive.

The floating plants send their roots down
into the water,

which helps detoxify the river by
absorbing harmful pollution,

and breaking it down into less harmful substances.

In other news in July, wild horses return
to the planes of Kazakhstan after a

two century absence, thanks to the Altyn
Dala Conservation Initiative.

And a former animal testing lab in
Oklahoma was transformed into an

animal sanctuary called Freedom Fields,

meaning over 200 animals now have a safe
home.

California made a huge leap towards clean
energy with a new geothermal power plant

that could power 350,000 homes.

The company behind this, Fervo Energy,

adapted techniques from the oil and gas
industry,

to harness underground heat more
effectively.

And their new power plant, Cape
Station in Utah,

is set to be fully operational by 2028.

And finally, in July, Indian railways
have now achieved over 90%

electrification across the country.

In just five years, they've electrified
45% of their rail network.

What's more, this transformation is
happening 9 times faster than it was

a decade ago.

Moving into August and possibly one of the
cutest stories of the year,

is that dogs with backpacks are being used
to restore nature

by releasing seeds as our four-legged
friends explore.

It's been trialed by the Railway Land
Wildlife Trust in a nature reserve in

Sussex, England.

Seeds fall out of little holes in the
backpack as dogs explore the park,

aiming to imitate the way wolves or bison
might've helped spread these in the past.

In time, these seeds can then grow into
plants and trees.

60 Siamese crocodiles hatched in
Cambodia's Cardamom National Park,

the largest record of this critically
endangered species

breeding in the wild this century.

In addition to this, a First Nation in
Canada opened the first Indigenous-led

blue park, where they'll demonstrate a
different type of conservation

where humans are seen as part of nature.

And in a possible turning point,

China improved significantly fewer coal
plants in the first half of 2024,

which is a great segue for me to
introduce my next friend Hannah Ritchie

from Our World In Data, so she can tell
you her favourite story.

Hi Sam, it's Hannah Ritchie here.

My good