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A Post-Election Day Poem

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Assembled from words sent by you, the Reasons to be Cheerful community.

Introducing ‘Living Paradigms’

2 min read

A series about how the cultural practices of others, past and present, can teach us how to prevent or solve problems.

What We’re Reading: Better Bike Maps, Floating Wind Power and More

2 min read

Check out this week’s edition of our new behind-the-scenes series.

What We’re Reading: Bird-Safe Architecture, a Finnish Mental Health Treatment and More

2 min read

We’re trying something a little different: a weekly behind-the-scenes peek at what our team has been reading, learning and discussing.

The Year in Cheer

13 min read

177 ways the world got better in 2023.

Our Editors Discuss Solutions and Storytelling

& 4 min read

At the end of this busy year, Reasons to be Cheerful’s editors are taking a moment to reflect.

How Solutions Journalism Is Sparking Change

7 min read

Many people say they actively avoid the news. A new approach to journalism offers an antidote.

How I Got Hooked on Solutions Journalism

6 min read

Evidence-driven stories about solutions shed light on what’s possible, helping readers to overcome feelings of helplessness.

Ask Me Anything! Our New Editorial Director Rebecca Worby

5 min read

Founding editor Christine McLaren talks to RTBC’s newest team member about hope for the climate, her time in Texas and the correct pronunciation of that thing that keeps your beer cool.

Welcome to Waterline

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Stories at the nexus of water, climate and food.

How Rural Mental Health Respites Fit into the Health Care Puzzle  

4 min read

At peer respite facilities, patients who don’t need immediate medical care can get help without feeling judged.

Wind Power’s Explosive Growth Is Blowing Past Green Energy Goals

5 min read

The production of wind energy keeps breaking records, and its potential for expansion is as wide as the oceans.

The New Livestock Farm Is a Forest, Too

6 min read

Silvopasture, the ancient practice of integrating trees and pastureland, is making a comeback as a way for farms to improve animal health while benefiting the climate.

The Right Way to Repair a Mountain

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A locally driven push to restore a Himalayan paradise preserved an economy, a community and an ecosystem all at once.

The Year in Cheer

14 min read

183 ways the world got better in 2022.

In the Container Village of “Poliopolis,” a Vaccine Trial Like No Other

6 min read

For nearly a month, 30 strangers locked down together to test the first major update to the polio vaccines in decades.

Become a Member of Reasons to be Cheerful Today

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Introducing our membership program, a chance to support solutions journalism and help us grow for the future.

Our New Membership Program Launches This Week!

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How does it work? What are the perks? Is this a paywall? In a short video, David Byrne answers questions about our new membership program.

Brooklyn’s New Food Hub Sells from Black- and Brown-Owned Farms

2 min read

“This is a hyperlocal model that supports the people who live in the area.”

Liberia’s Beekeepers Harness the Power of Simplicity

5 min read

“Once you have the skills to build one beehive, you can make 100.”

The Year in Cheer

15 min read

192 ways the world got better in 2021

We’re Almost There! Help Us Reach Our Fundraising Goal

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We don’t have ads or paywalls — we only have you. Will you support us?

Our 5 Most Popular Stories of 2021

2 min read

From shorter work weeks to repairable computers, here’s what you loved to read about this year.

Should We Protect Children or Privacy?

5 min read

Technology exists to scan people’s devices for evidence of child abuse. Should we use it?

Every Battery Is a Treasure Box

4 min read

A tsunami of spent EV batteries is coming, and the effort to recover the valuable materials inside them is already underway.

Ask Me Anything! Our New Contributing Editor Peter Yeung

2 min read

What makes Paris special? Any tips for learning French? You asked, Peter answered.

Ask Me Anything! Our New Contributing Editor Michaela Haas

3 min read

From the farmlands of rural Bavaria to the beaches of Southern California, our new colleague’s life has been a fantastic journey.

Ask Me Anything! Our New Contributing Editor Tolu Olasoji

3 min read

How has the pandemic changed your life? What’s an average day like in Lagos? What is your favorite Beyoncé song? You asked, Tolu answered.

A Centuries Old Idea That’s Making Cities More Affordable Today

4 min read

Before being zoned out of existence, boarding houses gave less privileged city dwellers a place to live. Some places are bringing them back.

An Indigenous Modeling Agency Puts Representation in Focus

2 min read

“Culture, community and land-based wisdom” form the pillars of a new modeling agency that’s elevating representation above profit.

The Year in Cheer

10 min read

112 bits of good news that kept us sane in 2020.

Pictures of Our Strange New World

2 min read

Life looks a little different these days.

Empathy Is a Muscle You Build

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A system for turning “they” into “we.”

Building a Kinder, Gentler, Smarter Social Media User

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How a platform that rewards informed opinion and civil debate is changing our behavior.

The Nature of Polarization Is Changing

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Stanford researcher Jan Gerrit Voelkel explains why a more passion-fueled form of partisanship is on the rise – and how it’s reshaping politics.

Check Out Our New Project!

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For the next six weeks, Reasons to be Cheerful is doing something a little bit different.

I Am One of Our Stories

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If we can hold up a mirror to ourselves and change, that’s a reason to be cheerful.

The Evolution of Trans Health Care

5 min read

“Trans-competent” health care services — often staffed with trans doctors and nurses — are enhancing a medical system that has been slow to change its ways.

How to Keep Going

4 min read

Embracing uncertainty may be the survival tactic that gets us through this.

Wine Country’s Farmworkers Are Staying Healthy Against All Odds

6 min read

Populated by seasonal laborers, Oregon’s Willamette Valley could have been devastated by the coronavirus. Instead, it’s become a model for how to keep workers safe.

The Work Is Working

5 min read

The wins we rack up are meaningful beyond the policies they change — they are bursts of propellant that move a long and grueling struggle onward.

How the Media Can Fix Its Protest Coverage

4 min read

Step one: Cover anti-racism rallies more like women’s marches.

Now Anything Is Possible

5 min read

In a new series, we explore how the Covid-19 pandemic is making changes once dismissed as pipe dreams happen seemingly overnight.

The World Is Changing — So Can We

4 min read

The pandemic is revealing the many ways our lives intersect. Is this an opportunity for us to reimagine what we can be?

The Media Can Help Beat the Coronavirus

4 min read

If the press can learn from the mistakes it made during the Ebola outbreak, it could become one of our best assets in fighting the current pandemic.

We Are Not Doomed

4 min read

Seeing painful events as signs that we’ve lost our way misses the point. The truth is, we are less lost now than when we were comfortable.

The Fixer: Fighting Pollution Like a Mother

3 min read

In this week’s news briefing: moms get mad, journos shack up and cash for cops finds a new home.

The Decade in Cheer

9 min read

Homicides fell, green space grew and your weather forecast got a lot more precise. The last 10 years were filled with positive change—really! Read our list…

The Fixer: Water under the Bridge

3 min read

In this week’s news briefing: the need to hydrate brings peace between rivals in Darfur, and renewable energy gets some unlikely proponents.

The Fixer: Welcoming in the Formerly Incarcerated

3 min read

In this week’s news briefing: housing former prison inmates in people’s homes, building bird-friendly skyscrapers and solving an equestrian community’s poop problem.

RTBC holiday cards: DIY!

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From us to you, to yours. Give your loved ones a reason to be cheerful this holiday season.

The Fixer: If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Buy ‘Em

3 min read

In this week’s news briefing: buying up housing to keep it affordable, crunching the data on opioids and stopping storm surges with sand.

The Fixer: CPR Training With Curves

3 min read

In this week’s news briefing: CPR dummies finally get breasts, lettuce becomes natural gas and an ancient air conditioner cools New Delhi.

The Fixer: Turning Farm Workers into Farm Owners

3 min read

In this week’s news briefing: incubating a new generation of agri-preneurs, soaking up stormwater and canceling carbon.

The Fixer: Darkening the Sky to Reveal the Heavens

4 min read

In this week’s news briefing: bridges help disadvantaged university students get ahead, Holland brings back the night sky and an end to scooter segregation.

The Fixer: A Japanese City’s Brazilian Lifeline

3 min read

In this week’s news briefing: Brazilians put down roots in Japan, Jamaican gardeners cultivate coral and medical care arrives on the islands of Bangladesh.

The Fixer: An Insurance Giant Embraces ‘Housing First’

4 min read

In this week’s news briefing: ending homelessness for profit, coffee saves the rainforest and rural America takes on climate change.

The Fixer: A Power Plant You Can Ski

3 min read

In this week’s news briefing: healing Israel’s overcrowded hospitals, healthier snacks for condors and a ski slope that converts waste into energy.

The Fixer: Guiding India’s Wanderers

4 min read

In this week’s news briefing: helping India’s “wandering” people find their way home, a broader lens on bikeability and a plan to keep teachers from walking away.

The Fixer: Picasso Over Prosecution

3 min read

In this week’s news briefing: a choice between art class and prison, engineers without bathroom borders and license and voter registration, please.

The Fixer: A Cool, Refreshing Glass of Fog

3 min read

In this week’s news briefing: Pulling drinking water from the mist, post-prison seniors and hyper-humane malaria eradication.

The Fixer: Who’s Afraid of Collectivism?

3 min read

In this first edition of RTBC’s weekly news briefing, stories of street redesign in Amsterdam, solar systems in California and cooperative farming in China.

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