Archive for the ‘Good News’ Category.
September 20, 2018, 6:33 am
The reduction in world poverty.
The global population living in extreme poverty has fallen below 750 million for the first time since the World Bank began collecting global statistics in 1990, a decline of more than 1 billion people in the past 25 years.
In a report released Wednesday, the World Bank said the extreme poverty rate had dropped to 10% as of 2015, the latest comprehensive data, and they estimate that the decline has continued over the past three years....
The report highlights the extent to which global poverty has shifted geographically. In 1990, nearly 1 billion of those living in extreme poverty were in East Asia, but decades of rapid economic development in China and other East Asian economies has brought that figure down to 47 million, a decline to a 2% poverty rate from 62%.
South Asia, with most of its population in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, has seen the number living in extreme poverty fall to 216 million from more than 500 million, to 12% from 47%.
Sub-Saharan Africa has made less progress. Its poverty rate has fallen to 41% from 54% since 1990, but population growth has been so rapid that the number of people in extreme poverty has climbed above 400 million, from 278 million in 1990.
I could say something snarky about Western advice given to Africa being pretty much the opposite of what caused much of Asia to escape poverty, but I will leave this a good news story. We have had more articles in a week about what one judge did or did not do 30 years ago in high school than their have been in 25 years about this great good news.
February 1, 2016, 11:42 am
The world can't be that bad of a place if the money and nervous energy of several billionaires has been channeled into competing with each other at space travel.
November 5, 2009, 12:30 pm
I am sick and tired of so many people treating the economic growth of India and China like it is bad news. The astounding numbers of people emerging from almost unimaginable poverty is fabulous news, and perhaps one of the ten greatest events in all of world history. Too many people -- from neo-Malthusians to global warming alarmists to cold warriors looking for the next enemy to trade protectionists -- treat these countries' emerging wealth like it is some sort of disaster.
November 20, 2007, 9:27 pm
Via Its Getting Better All the Time:
"The focus on this year's hunt is the humpback, which
was in serious danger of extinction just a few decades ago. They are
now a favorite of whale-watchers for their playful antics at sea, where
the beasts "” which grow as large as 40 tons "” throw themselves out of
the water.
Humpbacks feed, mate and give birth near shore, making them easy prey for whalers, who by some estimates depleted the global population to just 1,200 before the 1963 moratorium. The southern moratorium was followed by a worldwide ban in 1966...
...The American Cetacean Society estimates the humpback population has recovered to about 30,000-40,000 "” about a third of the number before modern whaling. The species is listed as "vulnerable" by the World Conservation Union.
February 13, 2006, 3:35 pm
Why blog if you can't engage in a little personal vanity? Our company just won our first contract with the National Park Service, to run the Elk Creek Marina and other facilities on Blue Mesa Reservoir in the Curecanti National Recreation Area in Colorado.
Woohoo.
March 28, 2005, 2:30 pm
Michelle Malkin pointed out this AP story:
Census Bureau findings show black and Asian women with bachelor's
degrees earn slightly more than similarly educated white women, and
white men with four-year degrees make more than anyone else.
According to the data, a white woman with a bachelor's degree typically
earned nearly $38,000 in 2003, compared with nearly $44,000 for a
college-educated Asian woman and $41,000 for a college-educated black
woman.
If true, this is really good news. Unfortunately, as I have said in the past, if journalists had been any good at math and science in school, they probably wouldn't have been journalism majors. Never, ever trust stats at first blush in the newspaper. My guess is that the pool of people in these stats is "all women" as opposed to "women currently in the workforce". This would mean that stay-at-home moms would average in as "0", distorting any conclusions one might draw about actual salaries since the prevalence of stay at home moms may vary from race to race. However, this is still good news, especially given the increase in black women going to college.
February 21, 2005, 10:07 pm
My son had a class project to take pictures of things that represented the good things about America, as well as some of its problems. He did it pretty much on his own, and I only really saw it when it was done. Most pictures were pretty typical of such kids' products (a flag, statue of liberty, pretty mountains) while a couple were fairly typical of my son (of eleven pictures, two were of professional baseball stadiums). There was one picture I thought, while probably the most prosaic, was, with his caption, the most powerful. Though its a bit over-dramatic, I actually am pleased that he understands just how different other countries can be (grammar needs some work):
Caption: "People sitting and eating and
joking around that is freedom, not being forced into a wall with a gun at your
back."
October 4, 2004, 9:24 am
Congratulations to Burt Rutan and Co. for winning the X-prize for private space flight. When I was growing up, we thought this kind of thing would be happening much sooner, but better late than never. Also, thanks to Paul Allen and the Ansari family for funding the effort. D. D. Harriman lives!
