Good News

Our top 5 good news stories of 2020

Because we could all use a little more cheer.

We can all agree that 2020 was a challenging year.


Good news feels hard to come by lately. And when you work in environmental news, it can seem even more rare.

Yet, the year was not without progress (yes, seriously!). Check out five good news stories from our newsroom that you may have missed below.

1. A Northeast US climate initiative has had a major side benefit—healthier children

Researchers estimate a climate effort in the Northeast U.S. helped the region reduce toxic air pollution and avoid hundreds of asthma and autism cases, preterm births, and low birth weights.

2. Roadmap points Europe toward safer, sustainable chemicals

EU Commission releases ambitious strategy for getting hormone-disrupting chemicals out of food, products, and packaging.

3. Solar power on the rise at US schools

Report finds an 81% increase in K-12 schools using solar power over the last 5 years.

4. Pittsburgh’s Black farmers work to grow a new future

A small group of new farmers have seeded a movement to change the local food industry.

5. Derrick Z. Jackson: A Rhode Island city gets serious about climate justice

In its climate action plan, Providence, Rhode Island, is giving frontline residents' health equal billing with carbon reduction. Other cities should pay attention.


Banner photo: Ebony Lunsford-Evans, owner of FarmerGirlEB in Pittsburgh, helps a customer. (Credit: Brian Cook)

A view of solar panels and wind turbines in the background

‘Not based in reality’: Climate groups pan study added to Maryland's major energy bill

The Maryland Utility RELIEF Act cost study draws criticism for bias against wind and solar energy, while supporters say it clarifies costs for ratepayers.

A view of an oil refinery at sunset

Climate hopes dim in New York even as Western states join on cap-and-trade

Even as California and Washington state prepare to merge their cap-and-trade climate programs, New York's retreat from creating a similar program has sparked renewed debates about energy costs.
A view of a street with houses with cracked facades

'Shrinking-swelling’ phenomenon is putting 12m French homes at risk. Is climate change to blame?

More than half of the detached houses in France are under threat by rising temperatures, spurring the government to fight back.
Three firefighters fighting a wildfire

These maps show exactly where the West might burn this summer

Drought, low snowpack, and a winter heatwave have left every state in the Western U.S. facing an above-average risk of summer wildfires.
A pile of red and green coffee beans

Brazilian researchers remix coffee varieties to confront climate challenge

Researchers in Brazil are crossbreeding arabica coffee with rare, more resilient species to help the crop survive rising temperatures, drought and disease.

A female scientist standing at a lab table looking into a microscope

Opinion: One year in, the anti-science agenda of the Trump administration is evident

We are now more than a year into President Trump’s second stint in the White House, establishing a grim and undeniable record of attacks on science.

Poster reads "The UN Summit of the Future is the Summit of Our Future
Credit: UNICEF/Unsplash

Global climate panel faces strife, potential funding crunch

Major reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are still on track, but procedural gridlock and a looming funding shortage hint at future problems.
From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

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