Virtually all of my conversations with friends and family these days eventually descend into “gloom and doom” focused on the state of our politics, the erosion of American liberty and the effect of the administration’s insane policies on the country’s economic health. All of those reasons for despair–and more–are very real, and the need to be persistent in our fight to reclaim the American Idea is urgent, but we really shouldn’t let our obsession with the forces of repression and regression obscure the fact that there are also lots of good things happening.
Take, for example, some welcome news about the nation’s public schools. A recent study focused on the emergence of “community schools”–a movement that has shown great promise in both educational outcomes and community support. The introduction to the study explains what makes a public school a community school:
Community schools are public schools that use the community school approach to transform into a place where educators, local community members, families, and students work together to strengthen conditions for student learning and healthy development. They provide services and support to fit each community’s needs, guided by the people who know students best— families, teachers, and the students themselves. They often partner with outside organizations and local governments to support the entirety of a student’s well-being to ensure they are healthy, well-fed, safe, and in a better position to learn.
The researchers included a number of examples of community schools that have improved student educational outcomes, increased attendance, improved peer/adult relationships and attitudes toward school, and reduced racial and economic achievement gaps. They estimated that for every dollar invested in a community school, the community received $15 back in improved economic performance and well-being, and they offered a collection of stories about community schools that are transforming the way they function and demonstrating progress on a wide variety of outcome measures.
It isn’t only education. The Trump administration may deny the reality of climate change and be intent on enriching fossil fuel companies, but environmental engineers and scientists around the world are announcing breakthroughs every day.
For example, concern about climate change requires significant attention to construction materials. (The concrete and steel industries together are responsible for as much as 15% of global C02 emissions.) But there has been real progress in this area.
Researchers in Australia have created cement from the hundreds of thousands of tons of glass that is no longer being processed in a failing recycling system. They report that the resulting cement is cheaper, stronger and lighter than traditional cement and delivers functional insulation, fire-resistance and a lower emissions threshold. Other researchers are using brown seaweed to create unfired clay bricks as an alternative to conventional fired bricks and concrete blocks, and Swiss researchers are also moving cement-bonded wood products into the realm of weight-bearing wood-based concrete. There are several others.
There’s also good news in the effort to electrify air travel. One solar-powered around-the-world-flight already took place in 2016. And although replacing larger fossil-fuel powered airplanes probably won’t be a reality until at least 2050, there are already electrified short-range planes built for a small number of passengers.
A really exciting innovation is solar glass– windows and doors that can provide electric power to homes and buildings. Researchers at the University of Michigan have invented a solar glass for windows, doors, skylights and other building-related glass applications.
There’s much, much more. We humans continue to demonstrate real brilliance in solving our more technical and environmental problems. I wonder what it would take to apply that brilliance to our political and social life.
That said, even on the political front, there’s encouraging news. The national resistance is growing, and in Indiana, where we’re all too aware of the problems created by one-party rule, an emerging phenomenon is a sign that MAGA can’t take residents of Red states for granted. Indiana has seen a surge in independent candidacies, and those Independents are winning more often than many people realize—52% of those who made the ballot in 2023–24 were successful.
Nearly half of Indiana’s voters identify as independent, and a growing number of Republicans are repelled by Republican candidates who are increasingly MAGA and Christian Nationalist zealots. (Too many of them still can’t bring themselves to vote for a Democrat, but evidently they will vote for an Independent.)
I’m actually going to meet some of these officials and hear why they chose to run as Independents. A group called Independent Indiana is hosting a panel discussion Monday night in Indianapolis, and I plan to attend.
We need to cling to those rays of sunshine in our dark times…..
Add to your list of good news are two more from this week’s NYT.
First, Norway is experimenting with electric powered small airplanes. They have a need for quick transportation to the many small islands off their coast where large planes cannot land. So far their efforts have been successful. This would change the small plane industry and reduce that portion of the CO2 emissions.
Second, the FDA has gone after the pharmaceutical industry and its TV commercials. Cease and desist orders went out that are forcing those companies to clearly and fully list all the adverse effects of their drugs and tone down their claims of “life changing” effects if you take their drug.
Still, there is Jimmy Kimmel…..
I imagine people run as independents largely because rightwing media has poisoned the word “democrat.” It doesn’t matter if the portrayal is accurate or not (and it isn’t) because MAGA has been trained to react to the word like they would to seeing someone strike a defenceless puppy. If you’re a democrat, then you’re a depraved monster. And generally, it’s tough to win an election running as Mr Evil Incarnate.
Yes! Add to the list of positive developments this from the NYT:
“Hard-Fought Treaty to Protect Ocean Life Clears a Final Hurdle
The global High Seas Treaty, decades in the making, will become international law. It aims to create vast maritime conservation areas.”
I like the idea of maintaining a list of positive developments to reflect on during this current crisis. And, if people want to look it up, every Sunday Joyce Vance publishes a list of positive developments on her substack “Chop Wood, Carry Water”.
https://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/
For more good news, check out the frequent news updates about the world wide transition to Hydrogen use for clean energy. Many advances are making it easier and cheaper to create hydrogen. There is a wide array of uses for Hydrogen in clean transportation: Large ships, Tug Boats, Trains, Busses, Trucks and air planes. Cars can use it too but I think the larger vehicles will come first. Unlike bulky heavy batteries that take a LONG time to recharge, refueling with Hydrogen is as fast as filling the tank with gas or diesel. There is NO pollution from Hydrogen – Hydrogen vehicles just drip small amounts of clean water. What an amazing thing. Hydrogen can be used in fuel cells to directly generate electricity or it can be burned in Internal Combustion Engines in place of gasoline or diesel fuel. That is not quite as clean but still much better than fossil fuels. The rest of the world is doing this now. The USA is lagging because the fossil fuel companies control too many US politicians.
This is all sounding good to me! And, speaking of the NYT, a judge has tossed Trump’s suit in what must be record time! He was given, his crop of lawyers was given 28 days to try the BS again.
John H. Your comment about the word democrat has been poisoned made me think they should rebrand to the “Independent” party. I know that’s an oxymoron, but I think your point is dead on.
Rick Steves has shown how the Swiss use the ties on rail lines to generate the power to drive the trains. Australians have trains with solar panels on top of the cars to power the engine.(https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/605477-first-solar-powered-train-in-scheduled-service) Norway is using sea power on a local level for power. The world is full of innovative and successful ways to generate the power needed to drive the engines of safe and reliable living.
Fossil fuels are increasingly a source of pollution and worse, the forced conformity of their use as a job source by those who profit from that forced use. It stifles scientific exploration of new ideas as it sucks the creative juices right out of our educational institutions. While others surge ahead of the U.S. in using innovation and available alternative resources, we are stuck in a dying industry that profits the oligarchy not only here at home but in countries reliant on fossil fuels for wealth and power.
We, the People have much at stake as we hurtle headlong into third world status, led by a mentally deteriorating malignant narcissist who uses mob boss tactics to suborn democracy, all to the delight of his cult. RESIST.
Release the Epstein files.
Yes, the good news is just as real as the bad news. It is possible that the American Idea will emerge from.this crisis stronger than ever. Do whatever you can to make that happen.
As we are seeing in the media world right now, monopoly power kills off innovation and has also done so in the Tech industry. China is blowing us away in tech advances. Have you seen some of their bullet trains and stations?
Americans beg for a Buc-ee’s down the street. LOL
I believe our > $1 trillion military is the single largest user of fossil fuels and is one of the major polluters in the world. You would think we could make some energy advancements in the Pentagon with a little effort.
More good news is that the Republican Party’s threats against free speech are causing the comedians/entertainers to rise up and fight. I heard a snippet of Jon Stewart’s speech at an event, and he’s right on target. Same with our very own David Letterman. He’s starting to get pissed off over Trump and the Republicans.
Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury is asking the right questions and holding truth to power. After a day with former Florida prosecutor Alex Acosta, she realized that Kash Patel was lying to Congress this past week about the Epstein cover-up. No shit! He acted like a complete moron.
I see the light shining through in some areas, while others are still in the dark. Governor Braun and AG Rokita are embarrassing Indiana by creating a network for snitches to blow the whistle on Hoosier educators. At the same time, they want to gerrymander the last two Democratic districts away so we’ll be all Red. They must really be worried about the 2026 elections, so that is excellent news. Come on, California, let’s get busy! 🙂
Many of the technologies that MAGA depends on for donors will reach the end of their useful life cycles, as the technologies that made their big donors wealthy are replaced by better and continuously improving new technologies.
Energy shouldn’t require an intermediary product when it falls freely on everyone daily from the sun, and that is just one source.
Electric vehicles are just a superior technology to crude machines that need fuel. For one thing, they don’t require as much business, which threatens the complete model of retailing and servicing automobiles that Henry Ford and the Dodge Brothers brought to us.
The wealthy are desperate to maintain their privileged status, but what have they done for us lately except limit us?
I am, for one, tired of carrying the load imposed by inadequately contained waste caused by under-regulated Capitalism; waste of labor, resources, a social society, and international relations. We know how to do better, but the baggage of the past weighs us down so heavily that we are being suffocated.
We need to rise, reclaim the freedom to innovate, and overcome the limitations imposed by the wealth accumulated at the top over time.
Thanks to commenter James Todd I discovered TWO great substacks to follow, Chop Wood, Carry Water by Jessica Craven and Civil Discourse by Joyce Vance.
SUPER COLUMN, SHEILA, AND UPLIFTING TOO….CONSIDERING THIS: “A really exciting innovation is solar glass– windows and doors that can provide electric power to homes and buildings. Researchers at the University of Michigan have invented a solar glass for windows, doors, skylights and other building-related glass applications.” I wonder how it is that MAGA can genuinely believe it’s a good thing for the nation to eliminate funding for research at universities when there is so much talent there, at your example from Michigan attests.
In California, I’m going from Dem to No Party Preference, our substitute for Independent. Our local dem politicians are rather corrupt and very wasteful. Many of us who were active Democrats don’t like how the party would rather keep corporate Dem incumbents in office than allow a Progressive to win.
Liz Shopes: I have been following the rise of Andrew Yang’s Forward Party for quite some time now. As appealing as the concept of an untainted nominee might be, voting for third party candidates has historically been a losing effort — one that often leads to a result that benefits nobody. I urge you not to throw your vote away at this crucial moment in American history.