Good News for Humankind

The world’s latest milestones for climate, justice, peace, health, and more

August 5 – 11 2024 C.E.

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​Zambia’s free schools lead to surge in student numbers​

The Zambian government introduced free primary and secondary school education in 2021. Three years later, an additional two million students are filling classrooms across the country. The overall increase in enrollment reflects a trend across sub-Saharan Africa, with more children in school than ever before, according to UNICEF.

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​India increases number of EV charging stations by 800% in last two years​

India has grown from 1,800 charging stations two years ago to 16,347 today, a greater than nine-fold increase. While this is great progress, the country will need more than one million stations to keep up with the 50 million EVs expected on the road by 2030.

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​Mexico City passes law requiring harsher sentences for anti-trans murderers​

Mexico City has passed a local law banning murders against transgender women, a practice referred to in the country as transfemicidio (transfemicide). Murderers convicted under the law would face between 35 to 70 years in prison. Nearly 600 trans people in Mexico have been murdered between 2008 and 2021. At least 10 trans women have been murdered this year in Mexico City alone.

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​Michael Bloomberg gives $600 million to four Black medical schools’ endowments​

Black Americans fare worse in measures of health compared with white Americans, an Associated Press series reported last year. Experts believe increasing the representation among doctors is one solution that could disrupt these long-standing inequities. In 2022, only 6% of U.S. physicians were Black, even though Black Americans represent 13% of the population. Almost half of Black physicians graduate from the four historically Black medical schools, Bloomberg Philanthropies said.

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​Disneyland unions agree to ‘historic’ 31% pay raise​

Master Services Council, which represents 14,000 Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, and Downtown Disney employees from four unions, announced its members had voted to accept a new contract that provides a 31% pay raise over the next three years. The “biggest wage increases ever” for Disneyland resort employees will raise hourly pay more than $6 over three years from the current $19.90 to $24 in 2024 and $26 in 2026, according to the unions.

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​Humans create the world’s first formal school (~3000 B.C.E. ???)​

Though the exact date and location of the world’s first formal educational institution are likely lost to time, the first schools likely cropped up in different places around the world in the 2nd, 3rd, and perhaps 4th Millennia B.C.E., including in Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and China.

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​For the first time in history, 99% of children worldwide complete their primary education (2036 C.E. ???)​

After decades of global campaigns, humanity achieves the monumental milestone of educating nearly every child around the world at at least a primary (or elementary) education level, helping them secure greater economic opportunity and intellectual and creative horizons. In 2021, this figure was at 87% worldwide up from 85% in 2015.

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These milestones have been added to the ​Archive of Human Genius​ – our database of social change milestones – past, present & future.