Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): With celebrity death and elections taking the media by the nose, it’s easy to forget that this year saw a great many positives. Let’s look.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 1. The Colombian government and FARC rebels committed to a lasting peace, ending a war that killed or displaced over 7 million people.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 2. Sri Lanka spent five years working to exile the world’s deadliest disease from their borders. As of 2016, they are malaria free.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 3. The Giant Panda, arguably the world’s second cutest panda, has official been removed from the endangered species list.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 4. @astro_timpeake became the first ESA astronaut from the UK, symbolizing a renewed British commitment to space exploration.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 5. Tiger numbers around the world are on the rise for the first time in 100 years, with plans to double by 2022.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 6. Juno, a piece of future history, successfully flew over 588 million miles and is now sending back unprecedented data from Jupiter.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 7. The number of veterans in the US who are homeless has halved in the past half-decade, with a nearly 20% drop in 2016.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 8. Malawi lowered its HIV rate by 67%, and in the past decade have seen a shift in public health that has saved over 250,000 lives.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 9. Air travel continue to get safer, and 2016 saw the second fewest per capita deaths in aviation of any year on record.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 10. India’s dogged commitment to reforestation saw a single day event planting more than 50 million trees, a world record.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 11. Measles has been eradicated from the Americas. A 22 year vaccination campaign has led to the elimination of the historic virus.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 12. After a century, Einstein’s theory of gravitational waves has been proven correct, in a ‘moon shot’ scientific achievement.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 13. China has announced a firm date for the end of the ivory trade, as public opinion is becoming more staunchly environmentalist.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 14. A solar powered airplane flew across the Pacific Ocean for the first time, highlighting a new era of energy possibilities.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 15. Costa Rica’s entire electrical grid ran on renewable energy for over half the year, and their capacity continues to grow.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 16. Israeli and US researchers believe they are on the brink of being able to cure radiation sickness, after successful tests this year.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 17. The ozone layer has shown that through tackling a problem head on, the world can stem environmental disasters, together.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 18. A new treatment for melanoma has seen a 40% survival rate, taking a huge step forward towards long-term cancer survivability.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 19. An Ebola vaccine was developed by Canadian researchers with 100% efficacy. Humans eradicated horror, together.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 20. British Columbia protected 85% of the world’s largest temperate rainforest, in a landmark environmental agreement.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 21. 2016 saw the designation of more than 40 new marine sanctuaries in 20 countries, covering an area larger than the United States.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 22. These marine reserves include Malaysia’s 13 year struggle to complete a million hectare park, completed this year.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 23. This also includes the largest marine reserve in history, created in Antarctica via an unprecedented agreement by 24 nations.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 24. Atmospheric acid pollution, once a gloomy reality, has been tackled to the point of being almost back to pre-industrial levels.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 25. Major diseases are in decline. The US saw a 50% mortality drop in colon cancer; lower heart disease, osteoporosis and dementia.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 26. Uruguay successfully fought tobacco companies to create a precedent for small countries looking to introduce health-focused legislation.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 27. World hunger has reached its lowest point in 25 years, and with poverty levels dropping worldwide, seems likely to continue.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 28. The A.U. made strides to become more unified, launching an all-Africa passport meant to allow for visa-free travel for all citizens.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 29. Fossil fuel emissions flatlined in 2016, with the Paris agreement becoming the fastest UN treaty to become international law.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 30. China announced a ban on new coal mines, with renewed targets to increase electrical capacity through renewables by 2020.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 31. One third of Dutch prison cells are empty as the crime rate shrank by more than 25% in the last eight years, continuing to drop.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 32. In August went to the high Arctic with some incredible young artists. They helped open my eyes to the promise of the next generation.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 33. Science, economics, and environmentalism saw a reversal in the overfishing trends of the United States this year.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 34. @BoyanSlat successfully tested his Ocean Cleanup prototype, and aims to clean up to 40% of ocean-borne plastics starting this year.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 35. Israel now produces 55% of its freshwater, turning what is one of the driest countries on earth into an agricultural heartland.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 36. The Italian government made it harder to waste food, creating laws that provided impetus to collect, share and donate excess meals.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 37. People pouring ice on their head amusingly provided the ALS foundation with enough funding to isolate a genetic cause of the disease.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 39. Grizzlies, arguable the least enjoyable animal to meet while swimming, no longer require federal protection in US national parks.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 40. Global aid increased 7%, with money being designated to helping the world’s 65 million refugees doubling.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 41. 2016 was the most charitable year in American history. China’s donations have increased more than ten times since a decade ago.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 42. The Gates Foundation announced another 5 billion dollars towards eradicating poverty and disease in Africa.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 43. Individual Canadians were so welcoming that the country set a world standard for how to privately sponsor and resettle refugees.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 44. Teenage birth rates in the United States have never been lower, while at the same time graduation rates have never been higher.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 45. SpaceX made history by landing a rocket upright after returning from space, potentially opening a new era of space exploration.
Retweeted Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield): 46. Finally - The Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years, giving hope to Maple Leafs fans everywhere. Happy New Year.
