Our top 5 good news stories of 2023

Revisit stories of hope and optimism from the past year.

Environmental news can be dreary — but let's not lose sight of the progress and the people making it happen when it comes to our health and climate.

Here are five stories from our newsroom over the past year that give us hope.

1. Tracking down a poison: Getting the lead out of spices in Bangladesh and Georgia

Many low- and middle-income countries lack the resources to tackle lead poisoning. Here’s how two countries did it.

2. Toxic insecticides are vanishing from the atmosphere

Some once-common insecticides linked to harmful human health impacts are disappearing from the air in the Great Lakes region, according to research.

3. LISTEN: Dr. Beverly Wright on how to keep environmental justice momentum

Dr. Beverly Wright joins the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast to discuss her journey as an environmental justice pioneer and how to maintain momentum in the movement as administrations change.

4. REI to ban PFAS in outdoor clothing and cookware

Outdoor retailer REI will ban the group of chemicals known as PFAS in all textile products and cookware from its suppliers starting in fall 2024, according to an announcement in February.

5. LISTEN: Meet the teenager upending food and nutrition research

Maria Balhara, a South Florida teen and freshman at Vanderbilt University, joined EHN editor Brian Bienkowski to discuss the role of food and food chemicals on our health.

www.ehn.org

Our top 5 good news stories of 2023

Revisit stories of hope and optimism from the past year.

1. Tracking down a poison: Getting the lead out of spices in Bangladesh and Georgia

2. Toxic insecticides are vanishing from the atmosphere

3. LISTEN: Dr. Beverly Wright on how to keep environmental justice momentum

4. REI to ban PFAS in outdoor clothing and cookware

5. LISTEN: Meet the teenager upending food and nutrition research

Greener inhaler use cuts carbon emissions across OUH

Climate change as a healthcare issue: Implications for physicians and practice leaders

What is an urban heat island? Here's why cities are so much hotter than the countryside

Undercover investigation reveals Europe-wide motorcycle emissions ‘scam’

Cool water releases protect fish but reduce hydropower production

Solar power expected to soon be cheaper than natural gas power in Anchorage

Our warming planet is a petri dish for new and deadly microbes

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.

Pennsylvania health advocates say Trump’s first 100 days in office have caused “100 harms” to local communities

“They're terrorizing these scientists because they want to keep them silent.”

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

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

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

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.”

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

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