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 —
French Polynesia just expanded ocean protections to cover 30% of its waters
The government of French Polynesia announced it is expanding the extent of ocean where extractive industries like seabed mining and industrial fishing will not be allowed — it means 30% of its waters will now be fully protected.
On June 7, 2026, the country’s president announced a 520,000-square-kilometer (200,000-square-mile) expansion of protected waters near some of its islands, bringing French Polynesian waters under full protection to 1.4 million square kilometers (540,500 square miles), reaching that 30% global benchmark.
The protected area was established by consensus of the communities within French Polynesia, and more than a decade of advocacy from local mayors.
Why is this good news? The new protected zone will help conserve 20 species of sharks including the critically endangered scalloped hammerhead and oceanic whitetip. The new zone is also one of the few known breeding sites for 22 bird species, and will protect 455 mollusk species, 60 open-ocean fish species, and other marine animals.
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Imagine there were no state lines or borders in the US. Here’s how nature would draw the map
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Sales of electric vehicles just overtook petrol cars for the first time ever in the UK
A new analysis found that, for the first time ever, more new electric vehicles have been sold over a 12-month period than petrol cars in the United Kingdom.
In the year leading up to May 2026, consumers in the UK purchased 516,490 new battery-electric vehicles, compared to 504,010 new petrol cars.
The milestone comes amid debate over the country’s “zero-emission vehicle” mandate, which sets a rising target for the share of new car sales that must be “zero-emission vehicles” each year.
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A marathon-running nun has raised $2.6M to feed families in need
Sister Stephanie Baliga was the sixth-fastest freshman runner in the nation at the University of Illinois with dreams of Olympic gold. But when she fractured her foot in her sophomore year of college, her injury set her on a new path, one where she would become a nun at Chicago’s Mission of Our Lady of the Angels.
Baliga still runs, but now her running fuels her faith. For the last 15 years, she has run the Chicago Marathon to raise funds for the MOLA food pantry. Since 2011, she and her team have raised over $2.6 million.
Baliga estimates that their food pantry serves 800 people every week, with the marathon funds being especially critical during the pandemic. This fall, she plans to run her 16th Chicago Marathon with a $500,000 funding goal.
Why is this good news? Chicago’s Mission of Our Lady of the Angels makes a point to serve everyone in its community, regardless of religious affiliation. Father Bob Lombardo, who opened MOLA, said, “We do what we do because we’re Catholic, not because the people we serve are Catholic.”
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Wisconsin has conserved 750,000 acres since 1989. These trail cam photos show why it matters
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After 200 years, scientists are re-mapping Lewis and Clark’s historic route ahead of America’s 250th birthday
In 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set off on a two-year expedition to map the North American wilderness, with Sacagawea travelling with them for 16 months. Their historic route covered more than 4,900 miles of terrain — stretching from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the Pacific Ocean in Oregon — and this year Smithsonian scientists are revisiting it again.
The project, which involves more than 55 academic institutions across the United States, is part of a nationwide effort to understand how the country’s landscape has changed over 200-plus years of human development and environmental changes.
Participating scientist Christine C. Brodsky, a professor at the University of Missouri, said that looking to the past has helped them better understand the future, with the resurvey informing new strategies for “wildlife management and ecological resilience.”
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Every Fourth of July, a California animal shelter invites volunteers to read to anxious pets
As one of Northern California’s largest open-admission shelters, Bradshaw Animal Shelter never turns away an animal in need. And every Fourth of July, as fireworks light up the skies, hundreds of dogs and cats in their care brace for one of the most stressful nights of the year.
That’s why, for the past six years, the shelter has invited the community to celebrate a little differently. Volunteers are asked to spend the evening reading stories, softly playing guitar, or simply sitting with shelter pets to help them stay calm.
“While many of us spend the Fourth of July looking up at the fireworks,” the shelter wrote in a social media post, “our shelter pets are hoping someone will simply sit beside them.”
Why is this good news? The unpredictable sounds of fireworks can overwhelm pets’ senses, triggering a fight-or-flight response. Dogs, especially, can experience pain from loud noises because they hear higher frequencies than humans do. Animals that are calmer and less stressed are more likely to display their natural personalities, helping potential adopters see them at their best.
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Trail cameras show elephants, leopards, and more embracing India’s 7-mile wildlife crossing months ahead of schedule
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An Australian man spent three decades replanting and restoring a subtropical rainforest in New South Wales
The Big Scrub in northern New South Wales was once 75,000 hectares of thriving subtropical rainforest filled with figs, vines, palms, and more, reduced to about 1% of its original expanse.
To restore it, Tony Parkes and his wife, Rowena, not only planted tens of thousands of trees on their own land, but they also co-founded the Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy to unite critical stakeholders to restore the rest of the rainforest over the course of decades.
Parkes left his successful investment banking career to make it happen, and he’s helped protect what’s left of the forest, planted millions of trees, and made restoring Big Scrub a core part of civic life in the region.
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For the first time since the Middle Ages, Italy’s forest cover is larger than its farmland
Italy’s forests now cover a larger area than agricultural land — a feat that has not been met since the Middle Ages. Today, woodlands span 60,000 square miles of the Italian peninsula, primarily in the country’s mountain regions.
Although Italy first achieved this milestone in 2020, the news was only just revealed in a report from the National Union of Mountain Municipalities and Entities.
In the report, researchers emphasized the importance of reforestation, hailing the municipality of Marcetelli in the Province of Rieti as a prime example of how forests are invaluable resources. In Marcetelli, where 94% of the land is covered in trees, the region has seen record rates of carbon storage, water and air filtration, and erosion prevention.
Even better: Beyond benefiting people and the environment, denser forests also provide safer habitats to vulnerable wildlife, including the critically endangered Marsican brown bear, which lives only in the central Apennine Mountains.
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New Jersey makes it illegal to interfere with reproductive or gender-affirming healthcare
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America is more racially and ethnically diverse than in previous decades — and most agree that’s a good thing
Recent Pew Research Center surveys show that three-quarters of U.S. adults think racial and ethnic diversity is a good thing for the country, with 62% saying it also has a positive impact on the country’s culture.
This is true across political parties, too, with 66% of Republicans saying America’s diversity is good, and 86% of Democrats. They differ slightly on how that impacts the country’s culture.
Additionally, majorities across racial and ethnic groups say a diverse U.S. population is a good thing for the country overall and has a positive impact on its culture.
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On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act became the ‘world’s first comprehensive declaration of equality for people with disabilities’
The result of decades of activism, the ADA is one of the most sweeping pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history, providing broad protections against discrimination for an estimated 43 million Americans with disabilities. It set a new standard for the rest of the world.
The Civil Rights Movement brought America immeasurably closer to fulfilling its promise of equality, justice, and freedom for all
Though the Civil War brought an end to chattel slavery, without the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, segregation and Jim Crow Laws, racist voting restrictions, and countless other injustices and human rights abuses might still be a reality today.
🇺🇸 You may also like: Major civil rights moments in every state
The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease in history, saving 25 million lives
Created in 2003, PEPFAR is widely credited with fundamentally altering the trajectory of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, accounting for more than 90% of PrEP initiations globally and over $120 billion in cumulative funding from taxpayers. PEPFAR single-handedly replaced despair with hope in communities all over the world.
The national park system shows America’s commitment to preserving and protecting the immense, unique, breathtaking natural landscapes across the country for generations to come
Yellowstone National Park became the first national park in 1872, designating 2.2 million acres as solely “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” Without these protections, it’s reasonable to believe that they would not exist today. The foresight to protect them is truly incredible and worth celebrating.
🇺🇸 You may also like: These are the 25 oldest national parks in America
Thanks to immigration and immigrants, America’s culture and diversity are unlike anywhere else in the world
While the history of immigration in America is nuanced — from the forced displacement and brutal treatment of Indigenous people, to the transatlantic slave trade forcing emigration from African countries — America today is more racially and ethnically diverse than ever.
And contrary to what the popular narrative might be — it’s something most people think is a really good thing.
The Women’s Liberation Movement achieved transformational gains for gender parity, granting women more economic, social, and legal freedoms
Women now are free to open their own credit cards, get pregnant without fear of being fired, file for no-fault divorce, own property, go to college, play college sports, and so much more. And though it’s since been overturned, in 1973, the Supreme Court granted women the right to an abortion, a life-saving human right that people continue to fight to regain today.
🇺🇸 You may also like: Milestones from women’s history from the year you were born
The 19th Amendment and Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave women and Black people the right to have their voices fairly and equally represented in elections
While the 15th Amendment, which gave Black men the right to vote, was ratified in 1870, discriminatory practices kept them from voting until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 abolished those barriers.
The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, giving American women the right to vote, after a fight for suffrage that dated back to before the Civil War. Although the 19th Amendment enfranchised women on paper, many Black women and other women of color did not gain meaningful voting rights until the Voting Rights Act of 1965, further underscoring its enduring significance in American history.
The U.S. Labor Movement gave us a 40-hour, five-day work week and countless other workplace protections we still enjoy today
American labor organizing has been transformational for the rights of workers since the 1800s, often intersecting with civil rights, women’s rights, immigrant rights, and more. So many of the rights we enjoy today — like protections from discrimination, equal pay, overtime pay, and weekends — are thanks to the efforts and organizing of unions and labor organizers from decades ago.
American inventors, many of them immigrants, have changed the world and raised the global standard of living in countless ways
Thomas Edison’s light bulb brought safe, affordable, and reliable lighting to homes and streets. The Wright brothers gave us previously unimaginable global connectivity.
Albert Einstein invented the theory of relativity after fleeing Nazi Germany. Alexander Graham Bell, a Scottish immigrant, invented the telephone. Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian immigrant, pioneered wireless telegraphy, which eventually evolved into modern radio and communication systems.
American virologist Jonas Salk created the polio vaccine that has helped lead to the near-eradication of the disease globally
Building on decades of research from scientists before him, Jonas Salk developed the first effective vaccine against polio. Following a mass immunization campaign, the annual number of polio cases in the U.S. fell from 35,000 in 1953 to just 161 by 1961. Globally, cases have declined by 99.9% since 1988, from an estimated 242,000 to just over 3,700 in 2023.
The Stonewall Riots catalyzed the modern gay rights movement, achieving historic victories for LGBTQ+ rights
Because a group of people decided they’d had enough with constant police harassment and discrimination, we now have an entire month dedicated to celebrating and fighting for more progress for the LGBTQ+ community.
The riots didn’t kick off the movement, but are widely credited with the impacts and gains seen in the U.S. ever since, from workplace protections and marriage equality to larger cultural shifts.
🇺🇸 You may also like: 50+ years of modern LGBTQ+ history since Stonewall
The public school system has ensured education remains accessible to all children, regardless of economic status or location
In the early nineteenth century, states began to create public schools through legislation, initially serving children in lower-income areas. They gained momentum as a means to promote social equality, were integrated during the Civil Rights Movement, and despite efforts to dismantle the public education system, continue to help ensure all children in the country can access early education.
The Clean Air Act became one of America’s first and most influential modern environmental laws, leading to dramatic, life-saving reductions in air pollution nationwide
This landmark legislation didn’t happen overnight. A series of deadly smog disasters in the 1940s and 1950s revealed the life-threatening impacts of air pollution, decades of scientific research connected the dots, and a wave of environmental activism forced politicians to pass the law, and its subsequent revisions, that still protect Americans today.
More good news of the week —
After a civil rights complaint, Chicago built the nation’s largest air monitoring network. As extreme heat reshapes air quality, the network of 227 monitors is expected to help identify localized pollution hot spots.
Former NOAA scientists recreated a valuable climate information website that was shut down by the Trump administration. The new site, called Climate.us, was launched by scientists who had worked on Climate.gov until they were laid off last year as part of the Department of Government Efficiency cutbacks.
Jet ski riders in Australia cut their tour short to rescue an injured turtle with a “bloody, peeling” shell. She’s now in the care of a nearby sea turtle rehabilitation center, which started a fundraising campaign to help cover the costs of her food and care while she’s recovering and eventually released.
Billionaire MacKenzie Scott single-handedly donated one-third of all “megagift” donations in 2025. Scott made nearly $7 billion in megagifts, bringing her five-year giving total to $26.2 billion.
Cate Blanchett launched a free tool that allows people to protect their likeness from being used by AI. The acclaimed Australian actor presented her Human Consent Registry at the European Parliament.
Colombia passed the first national law requiring beef to be traced back to its origins. The landmark law is designed to stop deforestation connected to cattle ranching, which environmental groups say could provide a model for the wider Amazon region.
The number of loggerhead sea turtles increased 80 times over on Boa Vista, Cabo Verde’s third-largest island. The remarkable conservation recovery comes after a decade of steady decline.
New York City officials announced the first-ever Urban Forest Plan to achieve a 30% tree canopy across the city by 2040. It’s part of a larger effort to achieve the city’s broader goals of advancing environmental justice, mitigating the effects of heat, and improving quality of life.
Musician Dua Lipa is opening a library inside Livraria Lello, one of Portugal’s oldest bookstores. The “Manifesto Library” will prioritize collections of books that have been banned from schools and habitually “restricted from display.”
Ann Patchett will receive the 2026 Library of Congress prize for American fiction for “mastery of the art.” Patchett is also the owner of the independent Nashville bookstore Parnassus Books and founded the Parnassus Books Foundation, which gives books to students at Title I schools in Nashville.
Bloomberg Philanthropies is donating $260 million to help close the ocean protection gap. The investment will help close the gap between ocean protection commitments and action as countries work toward the global goal of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030.
Princess Kate completed a hiking challenge to raise money for the hospital where she received cancer treatment. The Princess of Wales completed the “Three Peaks Challenge,” ascending the highest mountains in Scotland, England, and Wales within a 24-hour period.
Texas just opened a first-of-its-kind wildlife crossing over a 6-lane highway — and people can walk across it, too. In addition to a separate pathway for animals, a 1,000-foot-long elevated “sky walk” winds from the base of the bridge to the treetops.
The second-largest school district in the nation just banned screens for children in preschool through first grade. Under the Los Angeles Unified School District’s new policy, second and third-graders will also be limited to 20 minutes of daily screen time.
Hawaii is giving old fishing nets and recycled plastic a second life by mixing them into asphalt roads. Researchers at the Hawaii Pacific University believe the technology could help tackle both marine pollution and overflowing landfills.
A new Lego-inspired construction project in Colorado transformed a concrete slab into a four-story building in mere days. The project offered a glimpse at how Denver could build affordable housing faster and cheaper.
A critically endangered New Zealand parakeet has seen its numbers surge thanks to a pair of super breeders. Nacho and Trixie were paired up in 2024 at the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust and have since produced 55 chicks, including 33 this year alone, and are responsible for more than 10 percent of the total population.
A 22-year-old engineer is 3D-printing dentures to give lower-income people their smiles back. Connor Gibson is the dental technology manager at a large nonprofit organization in Tennessee that provides free dental, vision, and medical care through volunteer-powered mobile clinics across the United States.
Montana debuted a new license plate design that is projected to raise $100K for state wildlife crossings. Wildlife crossings, from highway overpasses to underpasses, tunnels, and fences, are proven to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions by more than 90%.
Canada prevented 4 out of 5 potentially fatal drug overdoses by providing free naloxone. After British Columbia began offering free, take-home naloxone services, hospitals saw a major drop in opioid poisonings.
Conservationists photographed a “lost” parrot for only the second time in more than 100 years. They spotted the small, elusive blue-fronted lorikeet in the highlands of eastern Indonesia’s Buru Island after a grueling 14-day trek.
A Bay Area apartment complex is providing affordable housing for local educators and city workers. The $88 million, 144-unit development features a fully equipped gym, game rooms, pools, a sauna, and an outdoor barbecue area.
Some of the U.K.’s biggest retailers are planning to start selling plug-in solar panels to help more homes generate their own electricity. “Balcony solar panels” allow households to run their electrical appliances without needing to buy as much power from the grid.
Scientists discovered a family of endangered sea star species thought to have been wiped out by a heat wave. As an infamous marine heat wave ramped up more than a decade ago, sunflower sea stars fell sick and all but disappeared from California waters.
