The Goodnewspaper The Do Good Edition

HELLO HELLO! Ever since we created and printed our first Goodnewspaper in 2017, Good Good Good has existed with one simple mission: To help readers feel more hopeful and do more good. We've always been inspired by Mister Rogers' iconic quote: “When I was aboy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say tome, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” To me, this quote points out the idea that no matter what bad, scary thing might be happening in the world (and there is certainly no shortage of bad, scary things happening in the world), there are always going to be people who respond by filling the world with more good. Sometimes those moments of good — those stories…

Contrary to the popular belief that society is growing further apart, a research study published by the American Psychological Association found no indications of a decline in people's willingness to cooperate and work with one another. Instead, they saw a slight increase, which could help open doors to solve present and future problems. Researchers surveyed and synthesized 511 experiments conducted in the U.S. between 1956 and 2017, with more than 63,000 participants. To their surprise, the results revealed a small increase in the rate of cooperation, from 0.38 in 1956 to 0.46 in 2017. “U.S. society may have become more individualistic, but people have not,” Paul Van Lange Ph.D., co-author of the study and professor of social psychology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, shared in a press release. This small, gradual…

Sandy beaches, rugged hiking trails, and tall grasses are some of the great pleasures of being outdoors in America's public lands, but visitors with mobility challenges or disabilities have long been unable to access these spaces. In recent years, however, a number of state public parks (and some national parks) have begun to offer Action Trackchairs. These specialty mobility devices are equipped with tank-like tracks that can traverse all kinds of terrain. Cory Lee, an outdoor enthusiast who travels the world as a wheelchair user, has been to Antarctica and Morocco, but the state parks in his hometown in Georgia were inaccessible until this technology was introduced. “I'll finally be able to go on these trails for the first time in my life,” Lee told the Washington Post. “The trails…

Since the early 1990s, violent crime in the United States has been on a steady decline, according to Our World in Data. Homicide rates have decreased, too, taking a sharp downturn after 1965. So, in a country that remains rife with conflict and violence, how do these numbers make sense? And how can we keep up the trend? Researchers at the Brennan Center for Justice reviewed more than 40 years of data from all 50 states and the 50 largest cities to analyze the crime decline. They concluded that although there was a rise in over-harsh criminal justice policies during that time, increased incarceration was not the main driver of the decline. Rather, social and economic factors, like growth in income, were more important. The introduction of CompStat, a data-driven…

GOOD Follow creators like Disabled & Outdoors (@disabled-noutdoors) and Curb Free with Cory Lee (@curbfreeco-rylee) to learn more about the real experiences of outdoor enthusiasts with disabilities. BETTER Support organizations making the outdoors more accessible. All Terrain Georgia (allterraingeorgia.org) and Disabled Hikers (disabledhikers.com) are great organizations to uplift. BEST Advocate for more accessible policies and initiatives at nearby public parks! You can reach out to your state's parks department by visiting its website or calling its main offices.…

Jessica Wade, a 33-year-old London-based physicist, is empowering more girls to study and work in STEM. This call to action started when she began creating Wikipedia entries for unknown women scientists who never got their due. After years of adding entries, her list now tops 1,600 biographies, and she's been recognized by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, and the late Queen Elizabeth, who awarded Wade with the prestigious British Empire Medal. Wade stresses that girls don't need to be persuaded into being interested in science, but rather need the resources and mentorship in place to succeed and stay in science. According to the American Association of University Women, women make up only 28% of the U.S. STEM workforce and earn an average of $25,000 less than their male counterparts…