10 Good News Stories From 2009

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Miracle On The Hudson

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sourced by Barbara McPherson

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  Created by Barbara McPherson | add comment

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  Created by Barbara McPherson | add comment

For what it's worth, here are my offerings of 10 Good News Stories from 2009.  The bad news usually gets the press and there is plenty of it.  Sometimes it is too easy to focus on the dismal and forget that many people around the globe are good and caring and are effective in making positive changes.

This list is entirely subjective.  There are so many more good stories out there.

1. Laura Ling and Euna Lee, journalists who were detained by the N. Korean government were returned to the U.S. in August.
2. Lance Armstrong finished on the podium in the Tour de France following a year away.  He and his team mates provided lots of drama over the three week marathon.  Lance Armstrong uses his fame to help raise huge sums for cancer research.
3. This may be the last year for the Japanese Whaling Fleet.  The Japanese government seems increasingly reluctant to underwrite the cost of this money losing enterprise.
4. The U.S. House of Representatives approved the "Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 (H.R. 2868), making it a whole lot safer for those people living close to plants using toxic chemicals.
5. A village in Saxony, Germany -- Juhnde produces all its electricity and much of its heat from biomass fermentation.  They reached their 2050 goal of carbon dioxide reduction by 2007.  Not only do they produce enough electricity to power and heat their homes, they sell electricity back to the power grid.
6. Nanaimo's campaign to have shoppers carry reusable bags to reduce plastic waste has been a huge success.  I have to get my small town in here somewhere! 
   
7. Swine flu (H1N1) has proved to be - so far - a much milder disease than the regular seasonal flu.
8. A Right Livelihood Award, considered to be an alternate to the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the human rights group Survival, which is an organization that helps defend human rights of tribal people.  They work with tribal people around the world from Brazil to Botswana.
9. Miracle on the Hudson.  The flight of U.S. Air 1549, disabled by birds in the engines was safely set down on New York's Hudson River by Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger with no loss of life.
10. Conservation International worked with others to get an agreement to protect coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses in the south Pacific called the Coral Triangle Initiative.
    

So as 2009 winds down and we start a new decade in the 21st Century, let's look forward to more good news.