It seems to me it has become depressingly easy to be discouraged these days, both on a personal level
(our good friend who faces cancer) and a global level (multiple countries torn apart by war) and so
to discover a group of Australian researchers whose aim is to publish all the good things that are
happening around the world feels like a miracle. My friends, please say hello to Future Crunch
(website: futurecrunch.com)
This is what they do: "We curate a fortnightly email newsletter, full of good news from around the
world, incredible scientific and technological breakthroughs, and our favourite parts of the internet.
More than 50,000 people subscribe, and our readers support us in a number of charitable initiatives".
Each newsletter is full of specific things that have gone right(!) in the world. Their latest newsletter
dated Jan 25/2024 has a headline that says: Good News on Malaria Vaccines, Reforestation in China,
and Poverty in India and the newsletter before that, dated Jan 18, 2024 had the headline: Good
News on Cancer in Canada, Elephants in Africa and Batteries in China.
Below is a paragraph from the introduction to their Jan 18 newsletter;
"The answer is that cynicism and negativity are easy, and they make you sound smart. If you keep on
predicting disaster, you're never wrong, because eventually it will happen somewhere; and if it doesn't,
nobody will hold it against you. Optimism is more vulnerable, more courageous. It opens us up to
criticism, to the possibility of disappointment.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't try though. A lot that could go right this year too. Clean energy is
accelerating everywhere, inflation is subsiding as supply chains shake off the last effects of the
pandemic, it's looking like another bumper year for global health, we're expecting some big wins for
human rights (especially in Asia), and democracy might turn out to be more resilient than most people
think.
Hope is allowed. [My italics]
We'll be here documenting it for you."
So, TPW's, what are you waiting for? Sign up for their free bi-weekly newsletter and join me in
remembering all the good that's being done in spite of everything.
