This last year had its fair share of ups and downs. But, here’s what went right in 2018.
If there is one thing that everyone can agree on, it’s that good news is hard to come by these days — that’s what mainstream media has led us to believe at least. But, if you do pay attention to your surroundings and you do look hard enough, there is a bountiful amount of good news that has happened in 2018.
As a yearly tradition, we at INKLINE rounded up some of the events that have occurred in the past year that give us more hope not only for the future of news but also for humanity.
December: This undersea robot delivered 100,000 baby corals to the Great Barrier Reef
Researchers have developed an underwater robot called LarvalBot that could address the ongoing struggle to save at-risk reefs. According to NBC, the robot is “designed to move autonomously along damaged sections of reef, seeding them with hundreds of thousands of microscopic baby corals.”
November: ‘Float therapy’ found to help veterans with PTSD
In a report by the Good News Network, American veterans find that floatation therapy, which is an alternative treatment for physical and emotional ailments has helped them with their Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The process involves laying in a pool filled with 10 inches of salt water containing 1,000 pounds of Epsom salt. The atmosphere allegedly creates a meditative environment that helps ease the mind.
October: Commercial fishing became banned across much of the Arctic
A new agreement signed in Greenland declared that commercial fishing will be banned across much of the Arctic. This moratorium on Arctic fishing will ensure the safeguarding of an area about the size of the Mediterranean for at least the next 16 years!
September: Peace deal with rebels signed in South Sudan
South Sudanese rebels have agreed to a peace deal with the government, which will be signed at the regional leaders’ summit. Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed, Sudan’s Foreign Minister, said that the rebels have signed a “key document” that seeks to end the country’s civil war that started almost five years ago.
August: 5,500 churches in the UK switch to renewable energy
According to Christian Aid, a major religious charity in London, more than 5,500 churches in the UK are now using 100% renewable energy to power their operations. The Church of England’s places of worship, along with Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Quaker and Salvation Army congregations, have made the switch to 100% renewable electricity.
July: Missing boys in Thailand cave have been found
A football team composed of 12 boys and their coach had been missing for nine days before two British divers discovered them in the Tham Luang caves in Chiang Rai.
Rick Standon and John Volanthen, the two British rescuers, arrived in Thailand early last week. And in a video posted by the Thai Navy SEAL special forces, it can be heard that the rescuer asked, “How many of you”, and someone replied “Thirteen!”
June: Paraguay certified Malaria-free by WHO
In a press release by the WHO, Paraguay was certified as having eliminated malaria and it became the first American nation to gain this status since Cuba back in 1973.
The WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a recorded statement. “It gives me great pleasure today to certify that Paraguay is officially free of malaria, success stories like Paraguay’s show what is possible. If malaria can be eliminated in one country, it can be eliminated in all countries.”
May: Ireland voted to legalise abortion
A large number of Irish went to the ballot box to abolish the eighth amendment to the Irish constitution which gives equal legal status to the lives of a foetus and the women carrying it. With a two-thirds majority of ‘yes,’ the country has enabled the government in Dublin to introduce abortion in the Irish health service up to 12 weeks into pregnancy.
According to The Guardian, Orla O’Connor, the co-director of the Together for Yes campaign, said it was “a monumental day for women in Ireland”, calling the result “a rejection of an Ireland that treats women as second-class citizens”.
April: North and South Korea to announce an official end to the war
Technically Pyongyang and Seoul have been at war since the 1950-1953 Korean conflict which has now ended with a truce — not a peace treaty. Even though geopolitical tensions have occasionally flared up since the armistice, to date both countries have managed to avoid another devastating conflict. The North Korean premier Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, negotiated the details of a joint statement that outlined an end to the confrontation.
March: U.N. and Vietnam to build storm-proof houses
“There is a really strong link between poverty and being able to accumulate assets, and housing is one of the major assets,” said Jenty Kirsch-Wood, a senior technical advisor at the UN Development Programme (UNDP). “If we can get some of these highly vulnerable people into safe houses, it not only protects their lives but also their assets and small businesses.” The UNDP, together with the Vietnamese government, announced its plan to build 300 houses by the end of 2018, and have a total of 4,000 houses by 2022.
February: Video games can potentially help people with schizophrenia
Researchers from King’s College London and the University of Roehampton found that the part of the brain connected to verbal hallucinations of schizophrenic people can be managed by video games.
As reported by the BBC, in the experiment, patients tried to control their symptoms, particularly verbal hallucinations, by playing a video game whilst being in an MRI scanner. They used their own mental strategies to play the game and this enabled them to turn the volume down on the external voices that they heard in their heads.
January: China banned ivory trade
“The Chinese government’s ban on its domestic ivory trade sends a message to the general public in China that the life of elephants is more important than the ivory carving culture,” said Gao Yufang, a PhD student in conservation biology and cultural anthropology at Yale University and a National Geographic Explorer.
It is believed that China plays a massive role in the slaughter of approximately 30,000 African elephants by poachers and that the country is also the world’s largest consumer of the legal and illegal trade of ivory.
