Reasons to be cheerful … our world may seem uncertain, difficult, fragile … but we’ve made incredible progress in human wellbeing and economic prosperity over the last 20 years:

December 12, 2022

“Problems are inevitable. Misery is a choice” said Ann Landers, the American 1940s journalist.

From the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan to the rise of Omicron, from stagflation to strained global supply chains, the mainstream media is all too eager to sell you an apocalypse-themed view of our future.

We have huge challenges.

The IPCC’s “code red” for our last chance to fight climate change, before 1.5 degrees is no longer a viable target at which to retain carbon emissions, is real, and deadly. Overshooting by half a degree could destroy twice as many animals on earth, see huge increases in sea level rises, global warming and much more.

We need to act, and act fast.

We need to focus out science and tech megabrains on these moonshot challenges, in order to rethink how to solve these problems while also sustaining a growing population, a fair and positive life for everyone, where everyone can equally pursue their dreams and ambitions .

But we’ve proven a fairly resilient species over time.

  • The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and has survived at least 5 major ice ages and 5 extinction events
  • The ozone later has reversed, particularly through the elimination of most CFCs,, and reverse impacts
  • Electric cars are getting better, cheaper and faster. With a little nudge most people will drive one in 10 years
  • Vertical farming is being embraced rapidly, with efficient use of resources, closed nutrient loops.
  • Energy is rapidly transitioning to wind and solar, with more efficient production, and rapid adaption.
  • Young generations, particularly GenZ and Alpha, care even more about our world, and love nature.
  • 100 companies are said to responsible for 70% of carbon. Investors are now driving rapid transformation.
  • We could be optimistic, we could be pessimistic. Why wouldn’t you be an optimist?

Global achievements in 2022

2022 was not an easy year – the Russian invasion of Ukraine, high inflation, supply chain shortages, and the threat of food insecurity for many nations – but it was also a year of milestones toward a better future, scientific breakthroughs, and stories of hope. TIME magazine brought together 10 stories of human progress from the last 12 months:

1. Civilization reached peak agricultural land

For nearly all of human history, producing more food required more land. But starting in the early 1900s, and continuing through the next 100 years, four powerful forces—synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, synthetic pesticides, hydrocarbon-powered mechanization, and improved genetic selection—allowed humanity to produce more food from less land. Between 1900 and 2000, agricultural land—that is, the sum of cropland and pastoral land used for grazing livestock— increased dramatically and consistently year after year.

But the latest data released in 2022 suggest that while land use for crops is still increasing, total agricultural land use appears to have peaked in the year 2000, and is now in decline. Peak agricultural land use has been driven in large part by changing the way we feed the animals we eat, shifting from grazing livestock to feeding them crops we’ve grown. The change has helped reduce the amount of land that must be converted from wilderness to pasture, which has, in turn, reduced the pressure on wildlife habitat. Progress forward is, however, not progress completed, and to continue to reduce pasture land allocation and turn the tide toward peak cropland, we must continue to improve crop yields.

2. A malaria vaccine for the first time

Between the years 2000 and 2020, global malaria deaths declined by roughly 30%; however, in 2021, there were still an estimated 247 million cases and 619,000 related deaths. The hard-won progress thus far has been driven in large part by the expanding use of insecticide-treated bed nets and antimalarial drugs. The most powerful tool in the war against malaria, a safe and effective malaria vaccine, has remained out of reach.

But this year, for the first time, the World Health Organization recommended the use of a malaria vaccine: the RTS,S/AS01 Mosquirix shot, which the WHO said should be deployed to protect children living in regions with moderate to high transmission. By April 2022, more than 1 million children in Africa had received the world’s first malaria vaccine. The WHO estimates that the shot could save the lives of roughly 40,000 to 80,000 such children annually.

In addition, another malaria vaccine, the R21/Matrix-M developed by Adrian Hill and the University of Oxford, also continued to show promise. According to a study published in The Lancet in early December, the vaccine provided 80% protection against the disease in human trials. If approved, the plan is for the R21 malaria vaccine to go into production with the Serum Institute of India, with a target of 200 million doses annually, and may be sold at less than half the price of the RTS,S malaria vaccine.

3. James Webb telescope sees the universe 

Through the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope had a successful launch, essentially flawless deployment and calibration, and began returning its first images. The next-generation telescope took nearly 26 years and $10 billion to make happen. But it appears the gamble is going to pay off, as Webb brings into focus the way galaxies looked just a few hundred million years after the formation of the universe.

The first images from Webb, released in July of 2022, captured the imagination of the world, instilling a sense of both wonder at the magnitude and beauty of space, and also our small and seemingly insignificant place within the greater universe.

The focus in 2023 will turn to the telescope’s primary missions: studying the early galaxies of the universe, observing star formation, and observing the chemical properties of planetary systems, inclusive of the solar system in which we reside. This year there were hundreds of ways that Webb could have gone wrong, and only one way for the mission to go right. Against all odds, Webb performed flawlessly.

4. Beavers and bison rebounded in Europe

Across Europe, many wild animals are making a comeback, returning to the region’s oceans, forests, and rivers. A reduction in habitat loss and conservation, along with reintroduction programs, offer hope for a future where many native species to the region can once again flourish.

For much of the 20th century, hunting and habitat loss reduced large animal populations throughout the European continent. But over the last 50 years, many species have made an incredible comeback, with stable and self-perpetuating populations of large animals, from whales to bison, rebounding.

At least 19 species had an average relative change in abundance greater than 100%, while at the top end of improvements, European bison and Eurasian beaver populations grew by an astonishing 16,626% and 16,705%, respectively.

5. The first large-scale genetically engineered “golden” rice crop in the Philippines

One of the best stories of progress this year unfolded quietly in 17 rice fields in the Philippines this October. For the first time in world history, farmers in the Philippines harvested golden rice on a large scale—some 74 tons that had been cultivated over the previous year. That’s relatively insignificant when compared to the annual production of conventional rice for the country, a little over 13 million tons in 2022; it is, however, a milestone for genetically engineered rice. While golden rice has been around for decades, this is the first time it has been made legally available.

Golden rice is a powerful tool in the fight against vitamin A deficiency, a condition that claims the eyesight and lives of hundreds of thousands of children annually. In 2009 the WHO estimated that “250,000–500,000 children who are vitamin A-deficient become blind every year, and half of them die within 12 months of losing their sight.”

Often, this condition affects children in low- and middle-income regions with a high dependency on standard rice, which lacks vitamin A. Golden rice is a version of the staple grain genetically engineered to produce vitamin A, and in theory, could reduce or eliminate vitamin A deficiencies without requiring a major change in dietary habits.

6. Guinea worm disease reached near-eradication levels

In 1989, there were 892,055 cases of Guinea worm disease, a dreadful and debilitating waterborne parasitic infection historically endemic to Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. In 2022 there were just 15 cases globally—a decline of 99.998%.

This astonishing decline in infection rates was driven not by a new vaccine or breakthrough technology, but through community education programs, effective isolation of infected persons from water sources, expanding access to improved and treated water sources, and basic water filtration. Thanks to these largely low-tech mitigations there is now hope that it may be possible, perhaps within the next few years, to declare the disease truly eradicated,

7. India developed a cervical cancer vaccine

The Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, announced the development of India’s first domestically developed and manufactured cervical cancer vaccine—but it’s the price that is the true breakthrough. The newly-developed vaccine will provide broad protection against the human papilloma virus (HPV), types 16 and 18, which are responsible for at least 70% of cervical cancers, as well as types 6 and 11.

While there are already two highly effective HPV vaccines available in India—Gardasil, from Merck, and Cervarix, from GlaxoSmithKline—they are both prohibitively expensive for many low-income families in India, with each dose costing Rs 2,800 (about $34) and Rs 3,299 (about $40), respectively. The price point for the new domestically-manufactured HPV vaccine is expected to be between 200 rupees and 400 rupees ($2.42-$4.85), ultimately helping more girls across India access the potentially life-saving shot. The Serum Institute is targeting to produce approximately 200 million doses over the coming two years.

8. Lab-grown meat got the green light from US authorities

Lab-grown meat has been on the horizon for over a decade, with the world’s first lab-grown burger eaten in 2013. In 2022, the technology had a milestone breakthrough, when California-based Upside Foods’ meat cultivated directly from chicken cells was given a green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA basically says Upside’s cultivated chicken is safe for human consumption; the next step is to get approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. After that, it would be the first lab-grown meat to be sold in the U.S.

The technology, while still in its infancy, could help transform how we grow and consume meat, providing a sustainable alternative to the modern factory farm. If developers can effectively scale and market lab-grown meat effectively, it could help to offset the high inefficiency losses in using living animals to turn energy into delicious protein, reducing resource consumption and credulity.

9. The Covid-19 vaccine saved millions of lives

In light of the hardships experienced by billions of people globally, you would be forgiven for overlooking the silver lining that was the rapid research, development, manufacturing, and deployment of the four primary COVID-19 vaccines. A study published in June in The Lancet concluded that SARS-COV2 vaccination had already prevented between 14-20 million COVID-19 related deaths across 185 countries globally.

The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation, estimates that the administration of the roughly 655 million doses covering 80% of the U.S. population has prevented more than 18 million hospitalizations and 3 million deaths. The vaccine deployment saved an estimated $1 trillion in medical costs, to say nothing of the social and emotional devastation it helped avoid.

10. CRISPR for cancer had a major breakthrough

This year has been replete with news of advancement in medical and agricultural applications for the genetic engineering tool CRISPR.

Among the most powerful stories about CRISPR was its breakthrough effect in the treatment of a 13-year-old girl suffering from aggressive leukemia that was unresponsive to conventional treatment. The teenager had her immune cells genetically altered via CRISPR to seek out and destroy cancer; she now has no detectable cancer within her body.While it may be too early to hail the new treatment as a readily deployable cure, it’s unquestionably a major breakthrough, possibly a watershed moment in the history of how humanity treats cancer.

Doctors and researchers are now working toward engaging another 10 adolescent patients for further trials of the treatment.The breakthrough was part of the larger story of progress in the use of CRISPR for the treatment of cancer, with research advancing on a number of fronts, including most prominently a promising personalized T cell modification which would allow for the body’s own immune system to fight solid cancers, and with the FDA lifting its ban on CRISPR base editing for cancer treatment.

Think about these facts, brought together by FreeThink

  • Since 1998, average global life expectancy grew by nearly seven years through 2019 (the last year of data available), while global GDP per capitarose by over 50%, even counting the 2020 recession. This means that a third of the increase in standard of living that human beings have ever attained – measured as income per person – was achieved in the last 24 years.
  • Extreme poverty decreased faster than ever, from 30% in 1998 to below 10%. On average — for two and a half decades — over 120,000 people have escaped extreme poverty not annually, or even monthly, but daily. While 2020 saw a rise in the number of people living in extreme poverty, the trend began to decline again in 2021, according to the World Bank.
  • Since 1998, global child mortality — the share of children who die before the age of five — was reduced by over half, from over 8% each year to below 4%. There are more children living today than ever, and yet five million fewer children die each year. And, according to UNICEF, child mortality continued to decline through 2020.
  • The proportion of the population with access to meaningful electricity jumped from 72.6% in 1998 to over 90% by 2019, while outdoor and indoor air pollution-related deaths fell by more than a million annually through 2017.

When you zoom out, the overall trend of human progress is unmistakably positive.

To quote Max Roser of Our World in Data, “The world is much better. The world is awful. The world can be much better. All three statements are true.” It’s an apt quote for the year as it draws to a close.

McKinsey’s superb Pixels of Progress report is another source of optimism, insights and inspiration. It takes a zoomed-in view of the world by considering more detail, rather than averages. Again, the outputs are about decades of progress:

More reasons

Some great anecdotes about the ways in which the world has made great progress over recent decades from The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, who put together a list of 50 ways markets and technology have helped reduce our impact, feed more of the planet’s population, and actively reverse past harms humans have caused to our environment.

1. NUTRITION

Many people in developing nations rely on rice as their primary food source. But a typical rice grain does not provide them with beta carotene, a healthful red-orange pigment found in many fruits and vegetables like carrots, and a material that our bodies naturally convert to Vitamin A. Some people who lack sufficient Vitamin A, especially small children and pregnant women, struggle with depressed immune response and blindness as a result. But through a gene-modifying technology, food scientists have developed crops like Golden Rice and Golden Promise barley. In rice, this technology effectively “turns on” two genes that naturally occur, allowing the rice grain to produce enough beta carotene to supply people with the Vitamin A they need. The presence of beta carotene also turns the rice grain a gold color – thus the name. The result: Millions of lives across the planet have been saved or improved. Sadly, however, this technology has encountered fierce opposition from anti-GMO activists and groups like Greenpeace.

2. DISEASE PREVENTION

Mosquitos that have been “bred [in a lab] to carry Wolbachia,” a bacteria that is common in insects but harmless to humans, are helping to reduce the spread of dengue fever in tropical nations. Researchers have not pinpointed the cause, but they do know the bacteria keep the disease from being transmitted when these insects bite. So the mosquitos may still be annoying, but their bite is not necessarily life-threatening anymore. As a side benefit, researchers report that the bacteria may also help reduce the number of mosquito eggs that hatch. One study of an Indonesian community reported a 76% decrease in the spread of dengue there since the release of Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes in 2016.

3. FIGHTING WILDFIRE

New computing and mapping technologies are helping firefighters in their battle to reduce the costs and impacts of wildfires. Where it used to take a day or more to prepare maps, we can now fly over a fire and have a detailed map in a few minutes. Supercomputers are also now able to combine meteorological, topographic and other data to predict the likelihood of a wildfire.

4. WILDFIRE 2.0

Building on the same theme, the amount of land affected by wildfire has gone down 25% since 2003. Improved mapping and satellite technology, along with far greater societal wealth, has given forest managers the ability to spot, target and extinguish fires before they can burn out of control. This is especially helpful in remote and thinly populated northern forests.

5. CHEAP, RELIABLE COMFORT

Since 1952, free-market innovations and improved efficiencies have decreased the price of air-conditioning by 97% for the average family. Many other household appliances that also help to reduce costs, reduce risks, and improve human well-being and comfort have experienced similar price declines over the same periods. According to the website HumanProgress.org, Walmart sells a 6,000 BTU air-conditioning unit (with a remote control) for $178. Today an average blue-collar worker earns about $32 an hour. That person, then, would have to work 5.56 hours to afford this appliance. In 1952, a 5,500 BTU unit cost about $350 and the average blue-collar worker, earning $1.72 an hour, would have had to work 203 hours to pay for a less efficient A/C. Workers today can enjoy a far better quality of life as they work fewer hours to afford what would have been luxury items a few decades ago. And the appliances they can purchase use far less energy today to do the same job. For example, the SEER rating (or seasonal energy efficiency ratio) of an air conditioner measures the amount of electricity that it uses to produce a given amount of cooling, expressed as a ratio. The higher the rating, the more efficient the system. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute reports that minimum SEER ratings for home A/C units were between 8 and 10 in the late 1980s. In 2015, the average system had a minimum SEER rating of 14, and some more expensive systems can be as high as 23.

6. ABUNDANT FOOD

Green groups often quote academics like Thomas Malthus and Paul Ehrlich to warn that human populations will soon outstrip the Earth’s ability to produce food, leaving billions to starve. In the real world, however, we’re producing more food and feeding more people than ever before. Human populations increased from 5.588 billion in 1993 to 8 billion in 2022. However, worldwide global hunger, depicted by the Global Hunger Index(which tracks hunger on a global scale and ranks it from zero — no hunger — to 100 — extreme hunger) dropped from a “serious” value of 31.5 in 1994 to a “moderate” value of 17.2 in 2016. Sadly, the mix of a global pandemic, conflicts like Russian aggression in Ukraine, and restrictions on the development of reliable and affordable energy sources like natural gas, have forced progress on the GHI to a standstill. The 2022 edition of the Global Hunger Index report indicates a worldwide score of 19.1. The best way for world governments to resume improvements in the GHI and increase food production is to ensure the production and use of reliable forms of energy and fertilizers.

7. INCREASING WEALTH

Despite growing human populations, the number of people living in extreme poverty has decreased dramatically. The U.N.’s 2015 Millennium Development Goals Report notes that, “In 1990, nearly half of the population in the developing world lived on less than $1.25 a day; that proportion dropped to 14% in 2015.” World Bank numbers mirror this report. The World Bank explains that, in 2015, only 10% of the world’s population experienced “extreme poverty,” which they define as living on less than $1.90/day. This means that 1.1 billion fewer people — a 36% reduction — live in extreme poverty than did in 1990.

8. LONGER LIVES

Human life expectancy has also gone up significantly over the past several decades, primarily due to advances in medical science and agriculture, especially in the developing world. CDC statistics indicate that life expectancy in OECD countries has increased from 1980 to 2015. In the United States, average life expectancy at birth was 70.0 years for men and 77.4 for women in 1980. But by 2020, those numbers had increased to 74.2 and 79.9 years, respectively.

9. VACCINES WORK

Improving medical technologies include the production and use of vaccines, which have eliminated or radically decreased the prevalence of many deadly diseases. The CDC estimates that, for children born between 1994 and 2013, vaccines will help to avoid more than 21 million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths. Vaccines have already brought about a 79% reduction in measles-related deaths, essentially eradicated small pox, and ensured the US has been polio free since 1979. CDC predicts that widespread vaccine use will save $1.38 trillion in total costs to society.

10. CHEAP, RELIABLE, AND CLEAN ENERGY

One of the reasons we have the ability to clean our environment and produce better medicines and food is the easy availability of affordable, reliable and increasingly clean energy. The advent of improved exploration and fracking technologies means that, even though we’re using more, we actually have far greater accessible reserves of natural gas and oil than we’ve ever had. EIA data indicates that while American natural gas production has increased by more than 79% from 2007 to 2021, our proved reserves of natural gas have increased from 211 trillion cubic feet in 2006 to over 473 Tcf in 2020.

11. NATURAL GAS

In the U.S., and around the world, we’ve been making good use of these fuels. Worldwide consumption of natural gas, the cleanest burning fossil fuel, has increased by more than 600%since 1965. Despite the increased use, prices for this essential fuel remain relatively low. Natural gas prices were at around $4.40/million Btu in early 2022, compared to $13.33 in June 2008. A clean burning and affordable fuel leads us to our next point.

12. CLEAN AIR

While some may argue that increased use of fossil fuels entails more air pollution, our air is much cleaner today than it has been in the past several decades. EPA data show that national levels of the six “criteria air pollutants” tracked by federal regulators have decreased by an average of 78% from 1970 to 2020. Today all six of these pollutant levels are below the EPA’s national standards.

13. SAFER VEHICLES

We’re using more energy to move ourselves around, but improved technologies in automobiles — air bags, stronger and lighter metal alloys, the addition of crumple zones, etc. – mean that the number of vehicle traffic fatalities has dropped dramatically: from a rate of 3.35 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1975 to 1.36 in 2021.

14. MORE EFFICIENT

At the same time as we are using more energy, our use of that energy is becoming far more efficient. In just one example, the Department of Energy reports that people voluntarily switching to LED lighting will save the U.S. as much as $30 billion and 348 terawatt-hours of electric power (compared with traditional incandescent lights). Those savings come (in part) from the fact that LEDs consume 75 percent less energy and last 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

15. CO2 CAPTURE

We have repeatedly questioned the so-called consensus narrative on climate change. But for those who remain concerned that human-caused climate change presents a potentially catastrophic challenge to our continued survival, one new technology should provide you some comfort. This new technology, which is being developed by researchers at M.I.T., is much like a large battery that absorbs carbon dioxide from the air as it is being charged. It can then be discharged by releasing and capturing the CO2. The captured CO2 gas can be used in medical or industrial processes and food production.

16. OZONE REPLENISHMENT

The ozone hole: In the early 1980s, scientists discovered that, each spring, a hole was opening in the ozone layer over the Antarctic due to destructive interactions between human-made chlorofluorocarbons and ozone in the stratosphere. The ozone layer is essential because it blocks a portion of the UV-B light that comes from the sun, protecting people, animals, and plants from potentially damaging exposure to too much UV-B radiation. In 2019, NASA found that the ozone hole was the smallest ever recorded. When growing in the spring, the hole is as large as 8 million square miles, but in 2019, it reached a maximum size of 6.3 million square miles and then shrank down to less than 3.9 million square miles. While the size of the hole expanded to 9.5 million square miles in 2021, researchers reassured readers that this recent expansion is temporary and “does not mean the longer-term aim to close the ozone hole is off track.”

17. CO2 IS PLANT FOOD

NASA also reports that, “From a quarter to half of Earth’s vegetated lands have shown significant greening over the last 35 years largely due to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.” Furthermore, the greening of the planet is benefitting developing nations the most. The research, a collaborative effort among 32 authors and 24 institutions in eight countries, found a 14% increase in green, leafy biomass, or plants, over the past three decades. They estimated that 70% of the increase is due to increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.

18. GENETIC LIBRARY

To speed up responses to pathogens — pests and diseases — in agricultural crops, a genetic “library” has been created by researchers at the John Innes Centre in the U.K., with help from researchers in the U.S. and Australia. Together, they have developed a technique called AgRenSeq that uses genetic material from wild plants known to be resistant to a variety of pests and diseases. Researchers can insert the disease-resistant genes into domestic relatives and then speedily clone crops that have a defense against many pathogens the crops might encounter.

19. COSMIC CRISP APPLES

After being designed and bred for more than two decades, the ‘Cosmic Crisp’ apple is now being sold commercially. The apple has been in development since 1997, with generation after generation carefully selected to grow in all of Washington state’s microclimates. Even more impressive is the fact that, once picked, it can last up to a year in the refrigerator. So far, the new variety has been very popular; over 15 million individual trees have been planted across Washington state.

20. PESTICIDES

While they are often vilified, pesticides have been used for decades to protect crops and significantly increase yields in both industrial and smaller organic farming. When used properly, these pesticides can help reduce losses of fruits and vegetables by between 50% and 90%. That means more food is produced on fewer acres of land. Additionally, new technologiesallow farmers to reduce overall pesticide use, while still maintaining productivity.

21. GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY

This technology allows for more accurate pest detection and more effective and targeted use of pesticides. Additionally, as noted above, genetically engineered crops can now have built-in protection against pests and diseases. Both technologies help protect crops from predation, saving around $60 billion in the U.S. from 2002 to 2008.

22. HEALTHIER, MORE PRODUCTIVE CROPS

The enset, a banana-like staple food crop that grows in a wide variety of conditions, is being genetically engineered by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Ethiopian researchers to resist bacterial wilt. Scientists are sequencing the DNA of hundreds of varieties of enset to determine how best to spread the use of this beneficial crop to other areas of the world that need it the most.

23.AQUACULTURE

In eastern Indiana, AquaBounty Technologies is growing the first genetically modified salmon, “creating sustainable fishing and getting fresh seafood closer to consumers.” The company edited genes in Atlantic salmon so the fish grow to market size almost twice as fast as wild varieties. By isolating their operations in an inland setting, they can also reduce disease spread and address concerns about these fish influencing wild populations.

24. POLAR BEARS

Contrary to claims that accompanied a heart-wrenching 2017 video of a starving polar bear, the species is not being driven to extinction by climate change. In fact, according to The State of the Polar Bear 2021, prepared by Dr. Susan Crockford for the Global Warming Policy Foundation, the wild population has increased from about 5,000 in the 1950s to the current “global polar bear population [of] at least 32,000.”

25. HALTING EXTINCTIONS

Scientists are working to halt the impending extinction of the northern white rhinoceros. The last remaining male of the species died of old age in 2018. But scientists preserved sperm from that individual and have harvested ten eggs from the remaining two females. A joint effort, involving the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo & Wildlife Research, Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic, and the Kenya Wildlife Service, is using IVF to breed offspring. This extraordinary attempt may save the near-extinct species, and provide a ray of hope for other threatened and endangered species.

26. MOSQUITO CONTROL

Researchers at the University of Maryland teamed up with African colleagues to genetically modify a species of fungus that naturally infects the Anopheles mosquito. The modifications cause the fungus to produce a toxic venom once it is ingested by the mosquitos. In testing, researchers built a small, artificial village and enclosed it with mosquito netting. They added 1,500 mosquitos to a portion of the study area that contained the fungus. Within 45 days, only 13 mosquitos remained; 99% had succumbed to the fungus.

27. LAZARUS SPECIES

“Lazarus species” — more than 20 separate species that were thought to be extinct have been rediscovered, many in remote locations or deep beneath the ocean surface. One of these species is the small elephant of the Indonesian island of Java. This species survived because of the elephant trade in Asia decades ago; the tiny elephants were considered valuable by traders, so they were captured and bred in captivity before poachers could reach them.

28. LAZARUS RIVER

The Thames river and its tributaries in the United Kingdom appear to be showing a remarkable improvement in biodiversity and wildlife numbers, despite London becoming increasingly urban and populated. The U.K.’s Center for Ecology & Hydrology found that the river is “starting to reach levels one might expect to find in a river without any wastewater.” Modern sewage treatment systems, mixed with other technological improvements and restrictions on dumping pollutants, have allowed the river to revive. Considered biologically dead in 1957, the river system has regained 125 different species of fish, as well as many other plant and wildlife species. Recreational and commercial fisheries have returned.

29. RECOVERING ENDANGERED SPECIES

Even the progressive activists at the Center for Biological Diversity recognize that endangered species are doing much better in the United States than in earlier years. Their 2012 paper, “On Time, On Target” says that 90% of the species protected under the Endangered Species Act have been recovering at rates proposed in federal recovery plans. The center says that habitat preservation and captive-breeding programs have helped to increase the populations of sensitive species like the peregrine falcon, wood bison, and sea otter, among others. Populations of several species, like the black-footed ferret or the El Segundo blue butterfly, have increased by several thousand percent. Of the bird populations covered by the Endangered Species Act, 85% have increased or stabilized.

30. FULL BELLIES

The U.N.’s Millennium Goal #1 for 2015, announced in 2000, was to reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. But the world actually met that target five years early! The New York Times and the U.N. annual hunger report both note that from 1990 to 2015, the number of people who lived in a state of hunger dropped by more than 200 million — from 991 million to 780 million.

31. IMPROVING PLANT PRODUCTIVITY

Using science to improve food production has helped reduce hunger. One recent example comes from the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency research project, in which researchers are taking the higher photosynthetic capacity of algae and inserting it into crop plants. Doing this allows these plants to convert CO2 into sugar more efficiently and to better transform light energy into chemical energy. Together, these improvements could increase the productivity of plants by up to 60%, while helping them use water more efficiently.

32. HIGHER CHILDHOOD SURVIVAL RATES

Unicef reports that the worldwide mortality rate of children under five years old has been cut to less than half its 1990 total, dropping from 93 deaths per 1,000 live births, to 37 in 2020. And the number of children who died before reaching their fifth birthday dropped from 12.7 million in 1990 to about 5 million in 2020.

33. CONTROLLING HIV

HIV.gov reports that thanks to new treatments and better education, the spread of HIV and AIDS has been reduced by about 31% since 2010. Additionally, the number of people living with HIV but receiving antiretroviral therapy increased from 800,000 in 2003 to 28.2 million in 2020.

34. CONTROLLING MALARIA

W.H.O. numbers show that malaria-caused mortality dropped by 38% from 2000 to 2019, due to rapidly expanding interventions and better treatments. Sadly, the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the battle to limit the spread of malaria. Total cases jumped from 227 million in 2019 to 241 million in 2020. Global deaths increased from 558,000 in 2019 to 627,000 in 2020. The number of malaria deaths should resume their declines as we learn to live with SARS-CoV-2 virus.

35. MORE TREES – MORE FORESTS

Our World in Data reports that tree planting — or afforestation — and the natural expansion of forests have decreased the global rate of deforestation. The net loss of forests around the world has been reduced from an annual average of 7.8 million hectares in 1990 to 4.7 million hectares per year in the decade since 2010. Additionally, many developed nations are actually adding to their forested lands. For example, the United States increased its forested area by 153% from 1990 to 2010.

36. SAFE DRINKING WATER

The United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals include one goal to reduce by half the proportion of people around the planet who lack “sustainable access to safe drinking water.” Initially, the U.N. had hoped to meet that goal by 2015, but it was achieved five years ahead of schedule. Between 1990 and 2015, the percentage of people who obtained access to “improved drinking water sources” jumped from 76% to 90%.

37. SANITATION

In a related benefit, the U.N. also aimed to increase worldwide access to basic sanitation. From 1990 to 2015, 2.1 billion people gained access to improved sanitation. Since 1995, the percentage of worldwide population relying on unsafe sanitation dropped from 57% to 33%. Given the value of handwashing in reducing the spread of diseases and pathogens, continued improvement in this area is essential.

38. BATTERY PRICES

International Energy Agency data indicate that prices for lithium batteries, which are used for energy storage and in many electronic devices, have dropped significantly. From 2010 to 2018, utility scale battery prices decreased from approximately $4,300/kWh to $1,600/kWh, a 63% decrease. The research firm BloombergNEF explains the price declines by noting that, “factory costs are falling thanks to improvements in manufacturing equipment and increased energy density at the cathode and cell level.” Growing demand for lithium ion batteries for personal electronics, electric vehicles, and utility scale batteries is currently pushing prices for lithium and batteries up. It remains to be seen whether world governments will allow rapid permitting of lithium mines or other innovative battery technologies to help reduce prices.

39. BATTERIES 2.0

While they still face substantial barriers related to price, supply, and environmental impacts, lithium battery installations grew by 45% in 2018. The World Energy Council reports that pumped hydroelectric storage currently supplies over 96% of worldwide energy storage, but battery storage has the most potential for growth. They predict that “as much as 250 GW of energy storage [will be] installed by 2030,” and that the costs of battery storage could drop by 50-66% by 2030.

40. SAVING HUMAN LIVES

Despite many frightening headlines about deaths from extreme weather, deaths from natural disasters have actually dropped significantly since 1900. In the early 20th century, annual deaths from natural disasters — earthquakes, famines, tornadoes, flooding, etc. — often exceeded one million. More recently, there are fewer than 20,000 annual deaths caused by natural disasters, a 98% reduction. Often this number is below 10,000, and has not gone over 500,000 since the 1960s. This dramatic decrease in deaths caused by natural disasters has occurred despite the addition of more than two billion people to the planet over the past 25 years.

41. ELECTRIFICATION

The global electrification rate has now reached 89%, as 153 million people gain access to electricity each year. Worldwide, the number of people who lack access to electricity dropped to 770 million in 2019. Once again, the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed this positive trend and some areas are seeing growing numbers without access to electricity. However, we expect numbers to resume their declines as we learn to live with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

42. SAFER FISHING

Improved fishing methods have increased the fish catch off the coast of Mexico while also reducing the percent of sea turtles caught in fishing nets. Grupo Tortuguero is a coalition of groupsin the region researching changes to fishing practices to reduce the bycatch and unintended deaths of sea turtles, while maintaining or increasing the fishing success of local fishers. Hanging lights on fishing nets decreases the number of turtles caught and increases the number of fish, for instance. Researchers from Duke University have found conservation efforts like these have led to a “90-percent reduction of sea turtles as bycatch since 1990.”

43. BIO-LOGGERS

Specialized devices that record animal behaviors and habitat conditions are playing a valuable role in wildlife and habitat conservation. Research published on Intechopen.com indicates that these devices use GPS and other instruments to track animal movement patterns and “measure the animals’ physiology, behavior, demographics, community interactions, and the environment [the] animal inhabits.” With improving technologies and reduced battery sizes, it is now possible to bio-log the activities of a broad range of organisms — from insects to blue whales.

44. CLEAN, BASELOAD ENERGY

Researchers at Michigan Tech University have created a process to clean and revivify coal-fired electricity generation plants that have been targeted for closure. Ezra Bar-Ziv’s research uses a process called “torrefaction” — heating biomass and plastic waste in oxygen-free conditions — to create what he calls “biocoal.” Bar-Ziv explains that, while they are still working on sourcing sufficient supplies of affordable biomass, he believes his process could keep existing baseload plants open, maintaining jobs and reducing overall emissions.

45. BREWING BEER WITH BURNT IRON

A family brewery, based in the Netherlands, has begun burning very finely ground iron powder to heat its brewing process. When burned, this inexpensive, easily transported and stored fuel can produce a great deal of heat. Where other heating processes produce various pollutants, this process is reported to produce heat and rust (iron oxide). The rust can be regenerated into iron powder using electricity and then reused in the heating process, with the claimed benefits for the fuel focusing on energy storage. It’s still very early in the development of this technology, but there are plans to expand to a 10 MW system by 2024 and to replace an existing coal-fired plant by 2030.

46. IDENTIFYING RARE SPECIES

Identifying rare species is becoming easier as Expeditionlab’sportable “GENE” field labs are moving the technical abilities of an established laboratory into a field setting. The GENE system allows field researchers to “extract, amplify, and sequence DNA” and has proven especially useful in remote areas. It can analyze the DNA of plants and animals to aid in the rapid identification of rare and hard-to-find species.

47. ARTIFICIAL REEFS

Artificial reefs are being built around the world in an attempt to encourage the growth of marine life and reverse the loss of coral reefs. As a result of reef-building efforts in Australia, 50 species of fish have moved onto one artificial reef, where only 12 had been before. While not all attempts to build artificial reefs are successful, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that “more than 3,750 planned public artificial reefs have been placed in state and federal waters off Florida’s coast,” and many of those will succeed.

48. GREENER GREENHOUSES

Automated greenhouses are cheaper to run. Automation is allowing greenhouse operators to grow a wider variety of plants and produce a more consistent product year-round, regardless of location or outside climate. Contemporary greenhouses are increasingly tech-reliant, using LED grow-lights, sensors and computer automation to monitor and increase production. These newer technologies allow greenhouses to save on energy and production costs.

49. OYSTER CASTLES

The Chesapeake Bay Program, a partnership of government, academic, and nongovernmental organizations, was established to improve water quality, educate the public, and sustain the local economy. As part of its efforts, the program is working to rebuild oyster populations that declined due to, among other things, increased harvesting. Typically, oyster shells are sent to landfills after the oysters have been eaten. This practice actually reduces oyster populations because juvenile oyster larvae rely on the shells of their forebears to anchor and establish themselves. The Chesapeake Bay Program is building “living shorelines” made up of plants, sand, rock, and a mix of concrete and oyster shells as a way to provide a habitat for juvenile oysters. As each new generation of oysters becomes established on these castles, the living shorelines will also help reduce shoreline erosion, improve water quality and restore wetlands.

50. TREE PLANTING WITH DRONES

Drones are now being used to speed up the planting process for trees and crops. One company that has developed drones, and the software to replant areas that have been logged or impacted by wildfire is called DroneSeed. Its specially equipped drones can plant up to 800 tree seed vessels per hour, compared to the entire day it takes an effective human tree planter to do the same work. Various agriculture startups have created drone systems that help to map out planting areas, improve crop spraying systems, monitor crop growth, and even “decrease planting costs by 85 percent,” according to work done by PwC.

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