Well, that escalated steadily for four years. As much as we’ve tried to stay away, US politics is pretty much the only story on the internet right now and let’s be honest - with reports of further insurrection looming ahead of a presidential inauguration, the National Guard being deployed in force and a second impeachment on the table, who’s got time for stories of human progress anyway? Amazingly as it may seem, there have already been plenty of good news stories from around the world this year. You’ll find them a little further on. First though, we've got something to say about what happened in Washington last week.
As you know, the beat of this newsletter is good news, mind-blowing science and the best bits of the internet, but we’re also interested in the news media itself, and we think we've got something important to add about their culpability in all of this. To understand why, and to make sense of how we got here, it helps to turn to Tolkien (and yes we know you’re not supposed to use Lord of the Rings metaphors once you’re over the age of 15 but we’re unrepentant nerds so give us a chance to stick the landing here).
Wormtongue Inc.
Good news
Renewable energy production in Germany, the world's fourth largest economy, exceeded that of coal, natural gas and oil combined for the first time last year. Wind alone produced more electricity than all of the country’s lignite and hard coal plants, heralding "the end of coal,” and emissions fell by 80 million tonnes meaning the country has reduced emissions by 42% since 1990. It is possible.
Norway has become the first country to record more sales of cars powered by electric engines than cars powered by petrol, diesel and hybrid engines over the course of a year. Battery-electric vehicles made up 54.3% of new passenger-car sales in 2020, up from 42% in 2019, putting the country on track to ban new petrol and diesel cars by 2025. Market Watch
Southeast Asia, the last great hope of the coal barons, radically reconsidered its commitment to coal last year. Four of the region’s largest emerging economies – Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam – cancelled nearly 45GW of coal power in 2020, equivalent to the total installed capacity of Germany. Energy Tracker Asia
Argentina has legalized abortions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, becoming the largest Latin American nation to give women autonomy over their bodies. "When I was born, women did not vote, we did not inherit, we could not manage our assets, we could not have bank accounts, we didn’t have credit cards, we couldn’t go to university. When I was born, women were nobody. Now, for all the women for fought for those rights and more, let it be law." NYT
The Dominican Republic has definitively banned child marriage. Previously, girls from the age of 15 were allowed to marry, and 36% of Dominican girls and adolescents married before the age of 18, the highest rate in Latin America and the Caribbean. Men or family members who now attempt to force a child to marry will be imprisoned for five years and the marriage annulled. Euro Weekly News
The Philippines has lifted the age of consent for sex from 12 to 16 after decades of lobbying from children’s rights activists. Campaigners say the legislation is a major milestone in efforts to protect the country's young people from sexual abuse, and where 500 teenagers get pregnant and give birth every day. “This is a victory for Filipino children." SCMP
Women’s rights activists in Iran have campaigned for a bill against gender-based violence for 16 years, and now the government is taking a stand on the issue. Hassan Rouhani’s administration passed a bill on the 4th January this year that protects women against domestic and other forms of gender-based violence. Al Jazeera
Denmark has passed a law recognizing that sex without consent is rape. It is the 12th country in Europe to do so, as momentum for change builds in other countries. “This historic day did not come about by chance. It is the result of years of campaigning by survivors who, by telling their painful stories, have helped to ensure that other women do not have to go through what they endured.” Amnesty
Kazakhstan has abolished the death penalty, making permanent a nearly two-decade freeze on capital punishment in the authoritarian Central Asian country. More than two-thirds of the countries in the world have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice, according to Amnesty International. EJI
After a two-year legal battle, Bolivia has recognized its first same-sex civil union, after the country's constitutional court agreed that by refusing to recognize the relationship, Bolivia’s civil registry was practicing discrimination. Gay marriage has become increasingly accepted in Latin America, and activists hope the ruling will pave the way for full legalization in Bolivia. Reuters
As of the 1st January this year, single use plastics have been banned in Mexico City, home to 9 million people. The ban, which includes single-use containers, forks, straws, cotton swabs, plastic cups, plastic stirrers, single-use coffee capsules and balloons, comes as Mexico's capital strives to revamp its image as an eco-friendly, sustainable city. DW
Remember this story the next time someone tells you a circular economy isn't possible at scale. In 2020 Adidas, the second largest shoe manufacturer in the world, produced 15 million pairs of shoes made from ocean plastic waste collected from beaches and coastal regions, and this year, will use recycled polyester in 60% of its products. BI
Japan used to be the world's biggest consumer of tropical logs. Now, thanks to efforts by both Malaysia and Papua New Guinea to protect their forests, imports have dropped to almost zero, and the country's biggest importer will go out of business this spring. "The impact of United Nations-set sustainable development goals on procurement has hurt us like a jab." Nikkei
One of the Trump administration’s biggest energy initiatives has suffered a stunning setback after a 40 year push to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge attracted just three bidders. The Alaskan state was the only bidder on nine of the tracts, and two small companies each picked up a single parcel. Half the offered leases drew no bids at all. Alaska Public
A coalition of more than 50 countries has committed to protect 30% of the planet by 2030 to halt the destruction of the natural world and slow extinctions of wildlife. The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, which includes countries from six continents, made the pledge in Paris on Monday. C'mon Straya. Guardian
Indistinguishable from magic
Fifty years ago, a Japanese astronomer named Yoshiaki Sofue theorized the existence of a huge pair of bubbles straddling the heart of our galaxy. He was right. Scientists now have evidence of two humungous lobes extending 20,000 light-years above and below the galactic plane. That means that something huge exploded in the center of the Milky Way 20 million years ago, around the time hyenas and weasels were emerging on Earth. Quanta
Scientists have confirmed the the oldest known animal drawing in the world, a 45,500 year old depiction of a hairy, warty pig on a cave wall in Indonesia. The red mineral ochre painting includes the outlines of two human hands above the pig's rump, providing further evidence that the first rock art traditions did not arise in ice age Europe, as long supposed. Live Science
Engineers from Marseille have figured out a way to do laser sintering (a form of 3D-printing) with glass. The technique, which until now has only been possible for metals and plastics, uses a laser beam to harden a liquid precursor into solid glass, allowing them to create a variety of silica objects such as miniature models of a bike and the Eiffel Tower, without any pores or cracks. The Engineer
Until now, cicadas were thought to be the only animal with long periodical life cycles, emerging every seven and 13 years. A study that's been running in Japan since 1972 has now discovered a second periodical species that emerges every eight years: train millipedes, so-called because they frequently obstruct trains in the mountainous region of Honshu. Royal Society
In what is believed to be a medical first, researchers from Johns Hopkins have enabled a quadriplegic man to control a pair of prosthetic arms with his mind. In January 2019, surgeons implanted six electrodes into the brain of Robert 'Buz' Chmielewski. Two years later, he is able to cut food and bring it to his mouth using signals detected from both sides of the brain. Medical Xpress
Information superhighway
Claire Bushey, the FT's Chicago correspondent, unpacks loneliness, and finds that what feels shameful is often simply structural. "I may endure the consequences of living in a society that values working 10 hours a day and fetishises marriage at the expense of all other relationships, but just because it’s my problem doesn’t mean it’s my fault. Maybe if loneliness is not my fault, then I don’t need to feel so ashamed. Maybe none of us do." FT
Maybe it's the lockdowns, but there's something ab0ut this one that scratches our itch for an adventure. Reading like one of those 1970s National Geographic stories, it's about an expedition to Cueva de los Tayos — Cave of the Oilbirds, and includes mysterious footprints, a Scottish-Ecuadoran explorer determined to continue her father's legacy, an actual Altar of Light, and Neil Armstrong. Outside
Dan Wang's annual letter is one of the best traditions on the internet, and this year's edition is particularly good. Having spent 2020 living in Beijing, he's got some on the ground observations about China. Covers tensions between control and dynamism, the CCP's surprising adaptability, technological buildup, and the myriad misperceptions from Western media. Read it.
One of the hottest ideas in urban planning from the last decade is the 15-minute city, a decentralized urban area that allows residents to meet their daily needs within a quarter hour walk or bike from their homes. Now make way for the 1-minute city, a project in Sweden bring the modular magic of online games like Minecraft and Roblox into the real world, allowing communities to become co-architects of their own streets’ layouts. Maximum Scandi coolness. City Lab
Not only is cricket the best sport on the planet; it also produces the best sports writing. Case in point, this profile of Murali Muralitharan, arguably the greatest Sri Lankan to play the game, a man with no ego who found himself swept up by the larger currents of his time - racism, civil war, bigotry and intolerance - and somehow still emerged with his legend intact. Cricket Monthly
(If you don't believe that claim about the best sports writing go and read Beyond a Boundary by CLR James and then come back and argue with us).
Humankind
Meet Tae Hoon Kim, a 45 year old man in South Korea who fosters 10 North Korean boys between the ages of 10 and 22, providing them with a loving home after they defected from North Korea without adults or family connections.
Tae never imagined that he would become a foster carer. While working in publishing, he began volunteering for Hanawon, a government-run resettlement facility in Seoul where defectors live for three months to prepare them for integration into life in the south.
While he was there, he met a North Korean mother could not take care of her 10 year old son. Tae offered to take care of the boy and continued taking in more North Korean children, one by one, until he officially registered as a ‘group home’. With six fridges to stock, two washing machines running and constant vacuuming, Tae is unable to hold down a regular job and although he’s eligible for handouts, has chosen to open a small café to gain some financial stability.
Despite the volume of household chores, Tae refuses ask the boys for help, arguing that the most important thing is that they are nurtured. "I don't ask them for anything other than to grow up with decent manners. That's how I was raised by my parents."
That's it for this edition, we're so pleased to be back in action and are very grateful for your patience over the holiday season. Looking forward to navigating what will no doubt be another insane year together, thanks for being a part of this ride.
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Much love,
FC HQ
