Every day the Good Good Good team collects the best good news in the world and shares it with our community. Here are the highlights for this week!
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The Best Positive News We’re Celebrating This Week —
The first gray wolf was detected in Sequoia National Park in more than 100 years
After traveling hundreds of miles across the state in recent months, a gray wolf was detected in Sequoia National Park for the first time in over 100 years.
Gray wolves were “extirpated” from the state in 1924, largely through government-backed programs driven by concerns among locals over livestock losses and perceptions of wolves as threats.
They are now listed as a protected, endangered species under state and federal law, and wolves like the female seen here are considered to be “pioneering individuals” for the species slow reestablishment in California.
What’s the nuance? Communities in Northern California have started raising concerns again about wolf activity, like livestock killings near homes, and some county officials have issued emergency resolutions.
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New campaign challenges men to hold themselves accountable for childhood trauma: ‘She is not your rehab’
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Teenage pregnancy rates have fallen across the world in the last few decades
Since 2000, teenage pregnancy rates have fallen across all regions for women aged 15 to 19.
Globally, rates have fallen by more than one-third, with even steeper declines in some regions, such as Central and South Asia, where they dropped by more than three-quarters.
According to the United Nations, birth rates have also decreased among adolescent girls aged 10 to 14, where pregnancy poses even greater health risks.
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‘Off Campus’ star Belmont Cameli donated a kidney to a stranger, saving the lives of 7 people in a ‘transplant chain’
In the latest hockey romance to grace the silver screen, 28-year-old actor Belmont Cameli, who plays hockey star Garrett Graham, is seen shirtless on a myriad of occasions, and viewers were quick to notice that the actor has two scars on his abdomen.
They are the result of Cameli’s decision to donate a kidney in 2018. Cameli was tested as a donor after learning his childhood friend needed a transplant, and while he wasn’t a compatible match, he joined a paired kidney exchange program.
He ended up donating his kidney to a stranger and became part of a 14-person transplant chain that saved seven lives, an experience that Cameli said would never leave him.
Why is this good news? More than 90,000 people in the U.S. are currently waiting for a kidney transplant, often waiting years for a “deceased donor kidney,” or becoming too sick before one becomes available. Living donor kidneys also often last longer, work immediately, improve survival, and more.
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NYC ‘queer garden’ is filled with non-binary and sex-changing plants
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Stunted child growth — a consequence of malnutrition — has fallen dramatically in the last century
A child is considered stunted if they are too short for their age. Typically, the condition is an indication that a child’s development has been hindered by malnutrition or frequent exposure to disease.
Fortunately, childhood stunting has dramatically decreased in 122 countries since the 19th century.
Japan has shown the greatest improvement in child stunting. At the beginning of the 20th century, more than 70% of Japanese children were stunted. Today, that number is just 5%.
In addition to reducing food insecurity and increasing access to high-quality proteins after World War II, experts say that Japan achieved these dramatic results by expanding access to clean drinking water and effectively eliminating hookworm, ascariasis, and malaria.
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A record number of dams were dismantled across Europe to restore nature and help wildlife thrive
Last year, a record-breaking 602 dams were removed across Europe, up 11% from the year prior and part of a larger, global trend to restore rivers and allow the surrounding ecosystem and wildlife to thrive.
With 2,324 total miles of rivers reconnected through the dam removals, the EU is a step closer to its goal of restoring 15,500 miles of river to their natural flow by 2030.
Since the first official count in 2020, removals have increased sixfold, with Sweden leading the way with 173, Finland with 143, and Spain with 109. Iceland and North Macedonia removed their first barriers in 2025.
Why is this good news? For centuries, communities around the world used rivers for economic growth, redirecting them to improve navigation or damming them to harness power, but that came at an enormous ecological cost. This massive effort is a critical corrective step in the right direction.
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New study: Most people are not actually worried about trans women in women’s bathrooms
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Violent crime rates continue to plunge in America’s biggest cities
New data from 67 of the nation’s largest police departments revealed a sharp nationwide decline in violent crime rates. The decline can be seen in every major region — from Portland to Baltimore — continuing a downward trajectory that began after crime rates spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to homicides dropping by 17.7%, robberies fell 20.4%, sexual assaults declined by 7.2%, and aggravated assaults decreased by 4.8%.
The cities that saw the most sizable percentage drops in homicide were Washington, D.C. (64.7%), Philadelphia (54%), and Memphis (34.4%), with New York City not far behind at 31.7%.
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The largest wind energy project in the U.S. is coming online next month, despite Trump’s attempts to stop it
The SunZia wind project in New Mexico is considered the “largest clean energy installation” in the U.S., capable of powering around 1 million homes every year, is on track to come online next month.
The project includes a 550-mile transmission line that will help connect wind power to neighboring Arizona, too.
The Trump administration has cut off federal tax incentives and held back permits for renewable energy projects — around 5,000 turbines are on hold for federal approval. This milestone marks a major step in the clean energy transition in the U.S.
Why is this good news? Not only will the size and scale of this project add clean electricity supply, it will also help reduce strain during peak demand times, like when air conditioners run non-stop in the summer, reduce reliance on much dirtier, pricier fossil fuel sources, and help stabilize prices for customers and businesses.
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Ever wanted to live above a library? In Oklahoma, that dream is becoming a reality
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Solar is set to overtake coal on the Texas grid for the first time this year
Texas will have no new coal power plants built in the state this year, while developers are building more solar in the state than anywhere else in the U.S.
As a result, the federal government is projecting that the state’s power market will receive 78 billion kilowatt-hours from solar in 2026, and 60 billion from coal — the first time ever that solar has overtaken coal on the grid.
The milestone comes despite the Trump administration’s efforts to position coal and gas as the solution for “energy dominance” and “independence.”
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More good news of the week —
Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” charity auction raised nearly $2.5 million for World Central Kitchen. Colbert launched the auction to do some good ahead of the show’s finale on May 21, and presented a (tiny) check to the organization’s founder, Chef José Andrés, during the second-to-last episode of The Late Show last week.
Scientists used DNA from poop to save the world’s rarest marsupial. The technique is becoming increasingly popular in wildlife research because it allows scientists to study animals without disturbing them.
A new app helps Seattle residents find “little free food pantries” and communicate with one another about sharing food. The pantries supply residents with more than 4 million pounds of food per year.
Colorado lawmakers passed two bills aimed at reducing the state’s prison population. One changes how earned time is calculated; the other provides early release options to people who committed a felony offense before age 21.
Australia created a “living bank” of at-risk marine life forms to safeguard them against extinction. It’s one of many biobanks across the country that store everything from native plant seeds to the tissues of threatened mammals.
After winning its “encore contest,” the USPS is reissuing beloved “Mister Rogers Neighborhood” stamps. When they first printed in 2018, the USPS ordered about 12 million, and they sold out within a few weeks.
A single GoFundMe fundraiser inspired 28,000 people to donate $1 million and help veterans in all 50 states. Samuel Weidenhofer is a self-described “kindness influencer,” who helped December 88-year-old veteran Ed Bambas retire, and the act of kindness reached a scale he never imagined possible.
A new whale detection network launched in San Francisco to alert ships in real time and protect whales. The system, called WhaleSpotter, scans the bay around the clock for whale blows and heat signatures up to 2 nautical miles away.
A new drug has the potential to slow — and even reverse — the progression of a rare form of ALS. In clinical trials, the drug slowed muscle degeneration by targeting a rare mutation in 2% of ALS patients.
Scientists in Galway just found evidence of a “molecular goldmine” inside coral reefs. These newly discovered microbes produce an array of chemical compounds that could prove vital to future medicinal breakthroughs.
A new autonomous reef robot uses underwater microphones to detect marine life. Using visual and acoustic data, the robot can follow the sound of fish calls and “shrimp snaps” to map new marine zones.
The longest-running guaranteed income program gives Black mothers in Mississippi $1,000 a month. According to the organization’s report on the third cohort, 82% of participants felt more hopeful about their children’s futures, and 79% felt more hopeful about their own futures.
Conservationists are celebrating the birth of a rare wild horse, proof that the last “truly wild” horse in the world is no longer extinct. On April 21, the Bronx Zoo welcomed a new foal to its herd of endangered Przewalski’s horses.
An Oregon city created a first-of-its-kind $1 billion clean energy fund to help the city’s most vulnerable residents. The Portland Clean Energy Fund is also aimed at reducing carbon emissions and has distributed more than 20,000 free air conditioning units, funded energy efficiency retrofits for 3,100 homes, and more.
Scientists invented a new immunotherapy treatment that kills cancer cells — and it can be administered in under two minutes. The injection, which was just rolled out in England, is expected to help thousands of cancer patients.
The Oregon Symphony just performed lullabies written by parents who are incarcerated or experiencing homelessness. The Lullaby Project was designed to help parents who are physically separated from their children connect with them in a new way.
The level of “forever chemicals” in Canadian seabird eggs dropped dramatically in the last 55 years. Conservationists hailed the decline as a clear sign that environmental regulations can create real change.
A first-in-the-nation “dementia village” is a tiny town built just for residents with memory loss. The new model aims to maintain the best possible quality of life for its residents and help “normal” life last longer, even as their illness progresses.
After Hawaiians noticed “graffiti” on sea turtle shells, a 600-person project is helping improve protections. The NOAA’s Honu Count encourages locals to document any sightings of turtles with white alphanumeric etching on the right side of their shells to help biologists understand the foraging habitats, migration, distribution, and survival status of these turtles.
Papua New Guinea announced its largest-ever marine protected area. The country declared a UK-sized no-take marine protected area in the Bismarck Sea, forming part of a new regional conservation network and advancing its commitment to protecting 30% of its waters by 2030.
A nonprofit that connects dogs with temporary foster care while their owners are on deployment has served military members in all 50 states. (May require login) Operation Foster is the only nonprofit in the U.S. that provides free, long-term foster care for the pets of members of the military and hospital patients.
New radar technology could improve identification and tracking of key pollinators, closing a gap in conservation efforts. While pollinator declines have received widespread attention in recent years, most monitoring efforts focus on counting insect numbers rather than the diversity of species, and the distinction is important.
A study found that beavers are quietly turning rivers into natural, powerful carbon sinks. The researchers discovered that wetlands created by beavers stored carbon at rates up to ten times greater than nearby systems without beavers.
