Reasons to be Cheerful
Reasons to Be Cheerful is an online magazine founded by musician and activist David Byrne. It shares inspiring, solutions-oriented stories highlighting positive developments and innovative approaches to global challenges. The platform covers a wide range of topics, including environmental sustainability, social justice, urban design, health, and culture, emphasizing practical, replicable solutions that are making a difference. Reasons to Be Cheerful aims to counterbalance the often negative news cycle by showcasing stories of progress, resilience, and creativity. The website encourages readers to engage with and support these initiatives, fostering a sense of hope and empowerment. It also offers a newsletter to deliver uplifting content directly to its audience.
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What We’re Reading: Why Young Entrepreneurs Are Flocking to Britain’s Old-School Markets
Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Marketable skills With few jobs available, youth in the U.K. are taking their skills to market — literally. That’s according to a Positive...
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How Utah Is Looking Out for Kids Who Lose a Parent
“My kids lost their dad in 2020,” says Ashlyn Stone. Her partner, Hayden Hansen, died on the way to the hospital after a car accident in Kaysville, Utah. Though she has two children, Stone says that no one, including those working for public agencies, reached out to offer support for...
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Nobody Taught Them to Adult — So They’re Teaching Each Other
Across the world, 18th birthdays are a time for celebration. But in India, an estimated 30,000 teens reach this threshold in childcare institutions (places that offer shelter and protection to vulnerable youth) every year, and age out of care to become “nobody’s responsibility,” as one person who works to support...
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Letting a River Act Like a River
This story was originally published by New Mexico Rivers Rising, an independent project dedicated to covering New Mexico’s waterways and wetlands and the challenges they face in a warming world. For river ecosystems to survive dry times, they need their floods — and big, messy floodplains. In a case study recently published...
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Inside Germany’s ‘Schools Without Racism’
Above the entrance of a high school in Renningen, Germany, a promise is written in large letters: School without Racism – School with Courage. Inside, that promise is tested. On a cold day in January, 10th- and 11th-grade students spend hours moving through workshops on racism, bystander intervention and sexualized...
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What We’re Reading: Denver’s Newest Clean Energy Source Will Be Sewage
Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Filthy clean energy Denver’s goal is to reduce its greenhouse gases to zero by 2040, which means throwing everything it possibly can...
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The French City That Champions Its Trees
“I think it’s over there, to the right, but the grounds are so big I’m not sure where it is exactly,” says Anna Massong, director of technical services at Sceaux City Hall, as we study a map beside the grand iron entrance gates of the Lakanal School. Built in the...
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Ride It Out: How Cycling Helps Kids Focus
Jimmy G. was a distracted and disruptive fifth grader. “In the morning, when he came in, he’d be up in everybody’s business, up and out of his chair, constantly blurting stuff out,” says Amy Young, his science and social studies teacher at Spooner Middle School in the North Woods of...
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Superhot Rock Holds the Energy of the Future
This story has been co-published by Reasons to be Cheerful and the Outrider Foundation. The Newberry Volcano in central Oregon is set among a ravishing landscape of ancient lava flows, lakes and pine forests. Every year droves of tourists come to admire the geological phenomenon, which was formed over 600,000 years ago. But...
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What We’re Reading: A Tiny Device That Keeps Microplastics Out of Oceans
Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Catch-all Microplastics are nearly everywhere, including in about 69 percent of our clothing. When those clothes are washed, the machines discharge microplastics...
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