The good news from 2023

Redwoods in California show new shoots after a forest fire. Photo by Melissa Enright — US Forest Service

“Sometimes I think heaven is just a new pair of glasses…if I put on the better pair of glasses, I really notice what’s still working [well in this world].” ~Anne Lamott

As I look around at our world plagued by war, the climate crisis, and a seemingly endless stream of difficulties, I’ve been thinking a lot about Anne Lamott’s quote about putting on a better pair of glasses and operating from that lens. It doesn’t mean I’m ignoring the challenges and their scale; I’m seeing them alongside the progress, joy, and good news that’s alive in the world. A sampling of good news if you need a boost:

- Transplanted corals in the Caribbean showed a 98% survival rate

- A newly discovered bacteria eats carbon dioxide at an astonishing rate and if scaled, could be a partial solution to our climate crisis

- Brightline, the first new privately-held train company in the U.S. in 100 years, began operations in Florida

- In 2023, the U.S. spent $8.2 billion USD for new rail projects in 44 states, including the first bullet train that goes from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in 2 hours

- Electric car sales are up 68% over last year

- The FDA approved the first medication for postpartum depression and the first over-the-counter birth control pills, improving access to necessary healthcare for millions of women. New treatments for Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and obesity were also released, along with the use of AI to find breast cancer at its earliest stages when it is often missed in traditional mammograms.

- The new President of Brazil has slowed deforestation by 48% in only the last 8 months

- A 10-year project turned Latin America’s largest landfill into a thriving mangrove forest

- The California wildfires in 2023 damaged numerous redwood trees that can live for 2500+ years. However, in the process we learned these redwoods have always had a backup plan — new green shoots of new redwoods, harbored for centuries in the damaged trees, have sprung to life and carry the hope of repopulating those forests.

- AI has also been used to identify the beginning of wildfires before any people ever knew they were happening, allowing them to be extinguished before they burned out of control.

- A hole in the ozone layer is on track to completely disappear

- A universal flu vaccine begins trials

- Southern white rhinos are now back in the Congo after 17 years

- A new drug to treat Parkinson’s begins Phase III trials