We are building the world’s largest database of social change milestones, from the first fire to today’s good news. Change is not only possible, it has happened consistently throughout human history.
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Era
- Tomorrow (2025 C.E. - ???)
- Today (2017 C.E. - 2024 C.E.)
- Post-modernity (1945 - 2016 C.E.)
- Modernity (1500 - 1945 C.E.)
- Post-classical (500 - 1500 C.E.)
- Civilization (3000 B.C.E. - 500 C.E.)
- Agriculture (10000 - 3000 B.C.E.)
- Prehistory (250000 - 10000 B.C.E.)
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2020 C.E. August 26
Africa declared free of wild polio in ‘milestone’
Africa has been declared free from wild polio by the independent body, the Africa Regional Certification Commission. Polio usually affects children under five, sometimes leading to irreversible paralysis. Death can occur when breathing muscles are affected.
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2020 C.E. August 25
Android phones to become the world’s biggest earthquake detection grid
Google has started using the vast number of Android smartphones across the planet to help detect and warn people about seismic events. Your phone will begin transmitting accelerometer data if it detects something similar to an earthquake.
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2020 C.E. August 25
Cameroon cancels plan to log half of the Ebo Forest
The 170,000 acre ecosystem is one of the last intact forests in central Africa and a biodiversity hotspot, harboring hundreds of rare plant and animal species, including the tool-using Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee, western gorilla, and giant frogs.
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2020 C.E. August 25
Germany is beginning a universal-basic-income trial with people getting $1,400 a month for 3 years
120 volunteers will get monthly payments of €1,200, or about $1,400, as part of a study testing a universal basic income. The study will compare the experiences of the 120 volunteers with 1,380 people who do not receive the payments.
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2020 C.E. August 24
India extends crucial incentive for solar and wind power projects
The Ministry of Power recently extended the expiry of waiver of inter-state transmission charges available to solar and wind power projects. All such projects that are commissioned before 30 June 2023 will not be required to pay any inter-state transmission charges for a period of 25 years.
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2020 C.E. August 24
Hyundai KONA Electric sets range record of 1,026 kilometers
Hyundai Motor successfully demonstrated its leadership in electrified mobility as three KONA Electric vehicles set a new range record. All vehicles used in the test were factory-spec and unmodified, equipped with standard Nexen N Fera SU1 low rolling resistance tires in the 215/55R17 size.
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2020 C.E. August 24
U.K.’s first full heroin-prescribing scheme extended after reductions in crime and homelessness
Campaigners celebrated the first “dramatic” results from Middlesbrough’s scheme, which found a vast reduction in re-offending rates and use of street drugs, and significant improvements in participants’ health and quality of life, including seeing those homeless at the outset placed in accommodation.
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2020 C.E. August 14
A million people in the U.K. have quit smoking since the start of the pandemic
More than one million people in the U.K. have given up smoking since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study by the nonprofit Action on Smoking and Health. Almost half (41%) said it was a direct response to heightened health concerns due to COVID-19.
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2020 C.E. August 14
Solar-powered fridges are reducing food waste and hunger in Nigeria
ColdHubs installs 100 percent solar-powered walk-in cold storage rooms at Nigerian markets to help farmers and vendors cut down on spoilage and boost profits. So far, ColdHubs serves 3,517 users and their 24 Hubs have saved over 20,000 tons of food from spoilage.
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2020 C.E. August 14
Record number of women of color running for U.S. Congress in 2020
At least 266 Black, Latinx, Asian, Native American, Middle Eastern and North African women are running for the House and Senate, shattering 2018’s numbers.
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2020 C.E. September 25
Online tool helps mobilize Native American communities to go out and vote
The website aims to help Native Americans navigate roadblocks to the ballot box, by supplying specific, scrupulous details for registering, voting in person, and voting by mail, in all relevant counties and Indian tribal lands in the US.
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2020 C.E. September 23
Berlin opens giant city-run department store for second-hand goods
While the state-run store is meant to redirect useable goods away from landfill sites, the idea is also to use the stores to “anchor the re-use of used goods in urban society” by functioning as centers to educate and spread tips on re-use.
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2020 C.E. September 23
Universal Hydrogen and Magnix building world’s largest hydrogen plane
A new LA-based fuel logistics startup, Universal Hydrogen, has embarked on a project to develop a retrofittable hydrogen powertrain for existing airliners, and will test it with a 40-seat De Havilland Canada DHC8-Q300, commonly known as the Dash-8, that will become the world's largest hydrogen-fueled commercial aircraft.
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2020 C.E. September 23
New Jersey passes bill to protect poor communities from pollution
The New Jersey Law will require the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to deny permit applications for a new project if it determines it will have a disproportionate impact on a certain community already facing environmental or health stressors.
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2020 C.E. September 22
Ann Arbor, Michigan decriminalizes all psychedelic plants and fungi
The city will now allow banned substances including ayahuasca, peyote, mescaline, and psilocybin, better known as “magic mushrooms,” in the area.
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2020 C.E. September 22
Norway shows rapid transition from diesel to electric cars
Today, no Norwegians are buying diesel Golfs. Instead, 97% of new Golfs sold in Norway are electrics. The shift is so dramatic that Volkswagen no longer sells the Golf with a diesel engine in Norway.
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2020 C.E. September 22
Older people today are smarter, stronger and faster than 30 years ago
A compelling new study from researchers in Finland has compared the physical and cognitive performance of a group of older people in 2017 with a similarly aged group three decades earlier. Improvements were seen in almost every test.
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2020 C.E. September 21
Michigan is compensating essential workers with free college education
Michigan is recognizing the commitment and sacrifices of their state’s 625,000 essential workers by offering them free education at any community college in the state.
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2020 C.E. September 21
Zero-emission trucks set to make New Zealand a world leader in hydrogen energy
Kiwi company Hiringa and Hyzon Motors—a U.S. manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cells—signed a “heads of agreement” that would allow Hiringa’s hydrogen-powered electric vehicles (HPEVs) to start hauling freight as early as 2022, positioning New Zealand as a world leader in hydrogen vehicle infrastructure.
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2020 C.E. September 21
The startup Running Tide is planting on the seafloor to offset carbon emissions
Running Tide is using seaweed to sequester carbon off the coast of Maine while raising sustainable shellfish. Planting on the seafloor offers even more carbon sequestering capabilities than planting trees on land because kelp that sinks to the seafloor can hold carbon for centuries.