One of the things I look forward to at this time of year is Future Crunch’s annual list of the good news stories we didn’t hear about in the past year. This time, it is called 66 Good News Stories You Didn’t Hear About in 2023.

“What if I told you that 2023 was the best year ever for global health, conservation and clean energy and one of the best years ever for economic and social justice?” asks Gus Hervey in the accompanying email.

“Understandably, you wouldn’t believe me. Read any annual review and you’ll see it’s been a year of grief and disaster…..

“It will be the same, just a bit worse,” French author Michel Houellebecq predicted about the world after the pandemic, and this year seems to have proved him right.

Except he was wrong.”

And that’s what I like best about this year-end list. It sums up the developments of the year in a way I find hard to do for myself, even though I read the Future Crunch newsletter throughout the year. It’s a summary of what’s been working well, worldwide, this year.

Number nine on the list of 66 is this one: 

“Polio is now restricted to just seven districts in Pakistan and two provinces in Afghanistan, the Taliban has reversed course and decided that elimination is now a priority, and in December, world leaders committed $59 million for ‘last mile’ efforts, with a view to complete elimination by 2026. Meanwhile, only four cases of Guinea Worm were reported worldwide in the first nine months of this year, putting the goal of eradication tantalizingly close.”

When Jimmy Carter’s foundation began battling Guinea Worm in 1986, Guinea worm disease afflicted an estimated 3.5 million people a year in 21 countries across Africa and Asia. In 2022, just 13* human cases were reported. Working closely with the countries and with support from donors and partners, The Carter Center leads the battle to eradicate the disease.

I also got another lovely present in my inbox – a trio of stories about solutions journalism from Reasons to be Cheerful, which I finally got around to joining this week. Like the Future Crunch newsletter, I avidly gobble up the stories that RTBC shares weekly. They are so well told, and so inspiring.

So if you are thinking about New Year’s resolutions already, here are two for you to consider – subscribing to Future Crunch, and to Reasons to be Cheerful.

And as we get close to the solstice and the end of another calendar year, may I thank you for reading and sharing Hopebuilding, and wish you all good health and good cheer and warmest wishes for 2024.

Cover image: Matheus Bertelli, Pexels