Reasons to Celebrate 2016 
It was a tough year by many measures but 2016 also saw many reasons to celebrate. Here is our compilation of what went right in 2016.

January 11, 2017
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World hunger was at its lowest point for 25 years
US Teen Graduation Rate Reached Historic High
​Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, low-income, disabled, and English-learning students have all accomplished promising gains, creating a whopping 83.2% graduation rate for the nation as a whole.
The Rio Olympics featured more female athletes than ever before

Standing Rock rocked the US 
The resistance offered by the indigenous Sioux people of Standing Rock Reservation who have seen thousands of “water protectors” join their struggle against the drilling of an oil pipeline to carry crude oil beneath Lake Oahe, the reservation’s main source of drinking water.
 
Those involved, were concerned not only about threats to their water supply, but also about the desecration of their sacred sites. The resistance drew on a Lakota prophecy about a black snake that could poison Mother Earth unless it was stopped.
 
The movement became an unprecedented indigenous-led David-and-Goliath fight to stop a $3.8 billion, 1 900km pipeline in a stand designed to contribute to protecting the Earth for future generations. It has been one of the longest and largest confrontations between police and non-violent direct-action activists in the US.
Less people died through armed conflict
Overall, 2016 looks set to have slightly fewer deaths through armed conflict than 2015, when 167,000 people died. Hardly numbers to celebrate.
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But narrow the focus and pockets of progress can be found. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the death toll from the war with Boko Haram in Nigeria has fallen sharply, as Nigerian government troops retake territory.
 
“The group’s operational capacity within Nigeria was weakened,” notes Anastasia Voronkova, IISS research fellow for armed conflict. “At least 4,500 civilians held captive by the group were rescued in 2015 alone; another around 5,000 people were freed by June 2016. 2016 fatalities are expected to be noticeably lower than the 11,000 recorded in 2015.”
 
Death tolls are also expected to be lower from internal conflicts in the Philippines, Myanmar and India, according to the IISS. Mark Rice-Oxley
The Paris Climate Change Agreement came into effect
Under the agreement, all governments that have ratified the accord, which includes the US, China, India and the EU, now carry an obligation to hold global warming to no more than 2C above pre-industrial levels. That is what scientists regard as the limit of safety, beyond which climate change is likely to become catastrophic and irreversible. 
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The Eiffel tower lit up during the Paris climate talks, referencing the 1.5C target that governments have agreed to pursue efforts to hold temperatures to. (Photo: Francois Mori/AP)
For the 24th year in a row, teenage pregnancy rates declined in the UK and US
Halting a century of decline, tiger numbers have risen
According to a 2016 report, the tiger population, estimated to be 3,200 six years ago, has grown 22%. With tiger populations in India, Russia, Nepal, and Bhutan on the rise, there are now 3,890 existing in the wild.

2016 saw other victories among endangered species as well, with giant pandas and manatees both taken off the endangered list after experiencing significant population growth.
The number of women dying from pregnancy and childbirth-related causes has almost halved since 1990
 
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Public smoking bans appear to have improved health in 21 nations
Veteran Homelessness Has Dropped 50% Since 2010
The number of U.S. veterans experiencing homelessness in the United States has been cut nearly in half since 2010, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Interagency Council on Homelessness. The data revealed a 17 percent decrease in veteran homelessness between January 2015 and January 2016—quadruple the previous year’s annual decline—and a 47 percent decrease since 2010.
 
Boston alone was able to cut veteran homelessness by 85% by housing 533 veterans in just 18 months while Connecticut became the second state to end veteran homeless entirely after Virginia‘s success in 2015.
India Planted nearly 50 Million Trees in One Day
The previous world record for most trees planted in one day was 850,000 saplings planted in Pakistan in 2013 – now, thanks to 800,000 Indian volunteers, that record is 49.3 million.
 
And if that isn’t enough to celebrate mother nature, a report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization at the United Nations shows that US has more trees growing now than at any time since the 1920’s.
Italy became the last large Western country to recognize same-sex unions
 
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China installed 20 gigawatts of solar in the first half of 2016
World Poverty Declined
The number of people living in extreme poverty has yet to be estimated for 2016, but the long-term trend is a happy one, describing steep decline.
 
Numbers have more than halved since 1993, despite a growth in the world population of almost 1.9 billion. According to the newest figures, the east Asia and Pacific region accounted for the greatest reduction in extreme poverty over the 23-year measuring period, based on a $1.90-per-day poverty line.
 
The amount of money it would take to eliminate extreme poverty is now lower than the annual foreign aid spend.
California!!!
Statewide minimum wage was raised to $15 an hour.

Farmworkers now receive overtime pay.

The state became a global leader on climate change and the green economy by doubling down on its already-tough carbon reduction targets.

To ensure funds for education the rich are being taxed more to pay for shortfalls in public school and community college funding.

And voters made permanent the  Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. 

Less Carbon Emissions
Carbon is flatlining, and our planet has breathing space. After more than a century and a half of nearly unbroken growth, the quantity of greenhouse gases we pour into the atmosphere each year has stalled for the third year running. Burning fossil fuels and chopping down forests released about 40 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide last year, roughly the same amount as in the previous two years.

Growth in world carbon emissions has stalled for three years.
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A disused mine in Pumarabule, Spain, where the struggling coal mining industry is on its way out. (Photo: David Ramos)
Global population surge showed signs of slowing
In January, the latest figures published by the UN showed that more women than ever are now using some form of contraception. Some 64% of women aged between 15 and 49 who are married or living with a partner are now using traditional or modern forms of family planning, up from 36% in 1970.
 
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Diseases got a kick
The standout news in 2016 was that Sri Lanka had become the latest country to be declared malaria free. More than 30 countries that are collectively home to some 2 billion people are hopeful that they might follow suit in the next four years.
 
The task of reducing the toll of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, which has 90% of cases and 92% of deaths, is hard and needs more resources. But 2016 brought good news from other quarters: the World Health Organization declared that measles had been eradicated from the Americas; death rates fell in the developed world from some forms of cancer, and the number of people getting Aids treatments continued to rise, from negligible levels in 2000 towards a target of 30m by 2020.

The global efforts to eliminate infectious diseases has led to ever longer lifespans: life expectancy is on average 10 years longer in 2016 than it was in 1980.
​United States and Canadian Currency Now Show Refreshing, Diverse New Faces
The United States Treasury Department announced major changes arriving on US currency including Harriet Tubman replacing the face of Andrew Jackson on the front of the twenty. Other changes include the back of the ten-dollar bill, which will soon display historic figures of women’s suffrage like Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul.
 
Martin Luther King Jr. is replacing the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill, along with opera singer Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert at that famous D.C. monument.
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In Canada, Viola Desmond, a civil rights activist who refused to leave the “whites-only” section of a Nova Scotia film house in 1946, is the first woman – apart from the Queen – to be featured on Canadian currency, and will be honored on the one-dollar bill.
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Harriet Tubman will be replacing the face of Andrew Jackson on a $20 bill.
Nations United to Create World’s Largest Marine Reserve in Antarctica
In a groundbreaking agreement between 24 different countries and the European Union, the world’s largest marine reserve will be established in Antarctica’s Ross Sea. The meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources that took place in Hobart, Australia on Friday finally agreed to designate 600,000 square miles as a zone protected from harmful human activity – that’s twice the area of Texas.
2016 Was One of the Safest Years in Aviation History
It was surpassed only in 2013 – which experienced just 265 deaths out of the 3 billion people who boarded planes. 2016 ended with a total of 325 casualties worldwide.
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