Margaret Sadler | Editor-in-Chief , news & views , ARTA

The light persists and in it we find hope . This feature of light is commonly heard at Christmas ; Amnesty International uses a candle as a symbol in its hope-filled human rights campaigns . I ’ m glad that Ronna Jevne is writing in this issue about hope . We can ’ t seem to be encouraged to hope often enough .

I recently heard CBC ’ s Matt Galloway interview Jane Goodall , the conservation icon . You can listen to it online or listen to Jane ’ s podcasts , called Hopecast , watch the latest documentary Jane Goodall : Reasons for Hope , or read any of Jane Goodall ’ s books : The Book of Hope : A Survival Guide for Trying Times ; Harvest for Hope : A Guide to Mindful Eating ; or possibly Seeds of Hope : Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants . Notice what drives Jane Goodall ?

I ’ ve told you before about two email subscriptions I have — “ Reasons to be Cheerful ” and “ Future Crunch ” ( recently renamed “ Fix the News ”). Look for Future Crunch ’ s “ 66 Good News Stories You Didn ’ t Hear About in 2023 ” to read about all the progress that humanity made in 2023 . Yes , we did make progress . Here are a few highlights from Future Crunch ’ s sixty-six stories that they ’ d boiled down from their favourite four hundred of 2023 .

Did you know there ’ s a vaccination for malaria ? It ’ s a stunning achievement after some seventy years of frustrating research . Millions of kids in Africa will receive the vaccination this year .

The world ’ s solar capacity has doubled in the last eighteen months . Imagine that . Solar is likely to be the world ’ s dominant source of energy before the end of this decade .

More girls are getting an education . UNICEF reported that there are fifty million more girls in school today than there were in 2015 .

DOWN

~ 13 %

Most places in the world are safer than they used to be . Crime plummeted in the United States , with initial data indicating that murder rates for 2023 are down by almost thirteen per cent , one of the largest ever annual declines .

In environmental news , the UN High Seas Treaty is the first international agreement on ocean protection since 1982 . In 2023 , deforestation dropped dramatically in the Amazonian countries . Many cities around the world can boast creative and effective greening projects .

As Future Crunch ’ s CEO commented , the media report the planes that didn ’ t land , not all the planes that did . Listening to media reports of wars and disasters , there ’ s a tendency to despair , especially as we age . We ’ ve seen and heard so much calamity , we think we ’ re surrounded by it . But so many planes land , the snow will melt , the gardens will grow again , birds will sing . Let hope motivate you to shine more brightly as spring returns .

news & views SPRING 2024 | 9