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)

Indigenous Amazon land management
Credit: Climate Alliance Org/Flickr/

The Ashaninka’s cultural revival is reshaping the Amazon region

The Ashaninka tribe, once displaced by deforestation and cattle farming, has restored its territory and is now leading efforts to expand its land management strategies across 12 Indigenous territories in the Amazon.

Fabiano Maisonnave and Jorge Saenz report for the Associated Press.

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Senator Whitehouse & climate change

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.
petrochemicals Texas
Credit: Danielle Villasana/The Texas Tribune

EHN reporting collaboration wins Lion Publishing Award

An investigation co-produced by Environmental Health News into toxic pollution in communities along the Houston Ship Channel has won a Lion Publishing Sustainability Award award for best collaboration.

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Europe struggles with energy transition
Credit: Jens Cederskjold/Flickr

Europe struggles with high energy costs and fading industries

European manufacturers are facing a new normal of high energy costs, while global competitors thrive on cheaper power.

Carlo Martuscelli and Victor Jack report for Politico.

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Harris shifts stance, backs domestic oil expansion amid fracking debate

Vice President Kamala Harris supported U.S. oil production during the presidential debate, highlighting a shift from her earlier stance on fracking and appealing to moderate voters.

Anna Phillips reports for The Washington Post.

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Humanity's future depends on sustainable living and global equality, study finds

A new report from the Earth Commission warns that unless global consumption patterns shift and resources are distributed more fairly, the planet's capacity to support a prosperous future for all is rapidly shrinking.

Jonathan Watts reports for The Guardian.

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Hurricanes like Francine are more dangerous as the Gulf Coast sinks
Credit: Pixabay

Hurricanes like Francine are more dangerous as the Gulf Coast sinks

Hurricane Francine slammed southern Louisiana with 100 mph winds and an intense storm surge, made worse by climate change and subsidence along the Gulf Coast.

Matt Simon reports for Grist.

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B.C.'s forests struggle to recover as logging and wildfires take their toll

As British Columbia grapples with the effects of over-logging and wildfires, experts warn that the province’s forests are rapidly depleting, leaving the forestry industry in crisis.

Zoë Yunker reports for The Tyee.

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From our Newsroom
U.S. Steel Pennsylvania pollution

As Biden prepares to block the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, pollution concerns persist in Pennsylvania

“Pennsylvania steel communities have lived with dangerous air quality for generations. That needs to end.”

environmental justice

LISTEN: Elijah Hutchinson on New York City’s push for climate justice

"Environmental justice itself is for the first time in the title of the climate office."

CNX Shapiro fracking

A Pennsylvania fracking company with more than 2,000 environmental violations selected for federal environmental justice funding

CNX Resources is slated to receive Justice40 dollars for self-monitoring. Health and justice advocates are outraged.

Cancer Alley Louisiana

Op-ed: “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you” — disabling environments in Cancer Alley and the Ohio River Valley

For communities plagued by energy extraction and petrochemical buildout, struggles of environmental justice often fall on deaf ears.

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