1) Boys do cry

“All that ‘real men don’t cry bullshit?’ Yeah, we do. Real people cry,” said this issue’s cover star, ‘gangsta gardener’ Ron Finley, when we interviewed him in Los Angeles via Skype. Ron is just one of the people ‘rewriting the man code’ – redefining expectations of what it means to be a man today. For all the difficulties facing men, from mental health issues to concerns over how the automation of jobs is affecting men’s social roles, there are people working on solutions.

Across a 10-page feature in the new issue of Positive News magazine, we speak to those who are breaking down stereotypes and rebuilding brotherhood. Subscribe to get your copy.

2) Aussies love alcohol-themed emojis, but Russians favour romance

While researching our feature about the surprising positives in emojis, we came across some ?-inducing facts. Australians use double the average number of booze-themed symbols, while Russian speakers use three times as many romantic emojis than most. Which nation tops the chart for their use of emojis? C’est un secret! You’ll have to subscribe to find out.

3) Doggy paddle is an acceptable swimming stroke

This comforting fact surfaced as we put together our feature on the rise of mass participation sports. The Great Swim series has urged thousands of people to dip a toe into wild swimming for the first time, while the parkrun phenomenon has created a new breed of people “who didn’t think they were runners – but they are parkrunners”. Fancy limbering up for an uplifting journalistic marathon? Subscribe here and you’ll be sprinting through all the most inspiring stories of the past three months, in one beautifully designed magazine.

4) We need to know what a beautiful future might look like, as well as what’s wrong

“Our cultural problem isn’t the presence of post-apocalyptic storylines, but the virtual absence of images of a good, decent, beautiful future” suggests nature writer Richard Louv in the new issue. Without knowing what a more fulfilling relationship with the natural world could look like, we won’t reach it, he says.

Trust in good news

As the first media organisation to take good news seriously, we are committed to rigorous standards. Plus we are a media co-op owned by readers and reinvest all profits into our journalism. Support inspiring, trustworthy journalism by subscribing to Positive News magazine.

5) News can be pun-powered

The Positive News pun team were on form this issue, after we created an infographic about the renewable energy revolution. This double page spread, beautifully designed by the Give Up Art studio, mentions ‘green power’s big fans’ – the nations that are most enthusiastically embracing green energy, and describes how Britain is ‘rocking out’ (giving up coal). It also includes a peppering of ‘alternative (energy) facts’ that we’re sure even President Trump couldn’t argue with.

6) A picture tells a thousand words

This issue, we’ve worked with illustrator ‘Pâté’, also known as Paul Pateman: a graphic artist with a quick wit and a strong, simple aesthetic. Paul came up with the striking illustration for this issue’s feature about factchecking, in which he turned the volume down on a certain person well-associated with ‘fake news’. Paul has also worked with the likes of Time Out New York, The Washington Post, Wired Magazine and Transport for London.

And we also worked again with illustrator and printmaker Spencer Wilson, who devised the playful characters for our ‘Change the story, change the world feature. We sent him your feedback about which cliched media narratives you’d most like to see overturned, and Spencer let rip on some great figures that fly in the face of media stereotypes – from a bungee-jumping granny, to a grinning (non-angry) vegan.

7) Carrots may not really be carrots

‘Why do we call carrots that are grown with pesticides ‘carrots’ but organic carrots ‘organic carrots’? asks journalist Lauren Bravo. Why are flesh-coloured tights named so, when they really only refer to white skin tones? And what would happen if we stopped focusing on global ‘development’, and started ‘de-developing’ the world’s richest nations instead? Crunch away at this food for thought in the latest Positive News magazine.

8) It’s time for another summer of love

Our travel editor Aaron Millar donned his grooviest flares and flowers in his hair to catch up with some of the summer of love’s big characters over in San Francisco. They chewed the fat about the 1960s-utopian dream and why it matters in current political times. “Dream big, but then make those dreams real by living them,” advises Carolyn Garcia, the then-partner of Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead. Feeling game for a re-run of the 1967 Human Be-In? Turn on, tune in and sign up to read the feature in full.

9) Investigative journalism is alive and well

As public faith in the mainstream media wobbles like never before, we tracked down five leading investigative reporting outlets. They’re doing inspiring work, from the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism which has influenced changes to British policy on refugees, housebuilding and care homes, to the Storm Lake Times: a family-run local newspaper that won a Pulitzer Prize for uncovering the dodgy funding links between agricultural corporate giants and local government. Scoop-tastic.

10) Our community is positively fantastic

This issue, we catch up with the psychiatric ward that is switching to Positive News. NHS occupational therapist Mal Ure explains why she and her colleagues decided to improve patients’ media diets at the psychiatric ward where she works in Somerset.

While we fire up the coffee machine and toil late into the night to meet our print deadline: your support makes it all worthwhile. Whether it’s investing in a print subscription for yourself, giving somebody a gift subscription, ordering bulk copies to leave in your workplace, doctors’ waiting room or a local cafe, you are helping us change the news for good. Thank you! Now on to issue 91.

Support journalism that shares your values

As the first media organisation to take good news seriously, we are committed to rigorous standards. Plus we are a media co-op owned by readers where all profit is reinvested in our journalism. Support inspiring, trustworthy journalism by subscribing to Positive News magazine.

The post 10 things we learned while making Positive News magazine issue 90 appeared first on Positive News.

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The Positive News team celebrates four editions in the new format as a quarterly magazine

On Thursday evening, 13 October, we gathered with Positive News co-owners and subscribers to celebrate one year in print as a magazine.

With the four issues we’ve created this year lining the walls of a room at the British Film Institute (BFI), and the air thick with conversation and celebration, we felt proud and grateful to you – our growing community – for helping us create and sustain a more inspiring and empowering kind of media.

More than a year ago now, 1,526 readers and journalists from 33 countries supported our ambition of making Positive News the first global media co-operative established by issuing ‘community shares’ through crowdfunding.

Last night, squeezing in to the Drawing Room of the BFI with some of our readers and co-owners, we launched the fourth issue of the new magazine. It was a chance to recognise how far we had come since our #OwnTheMedia crowdfunding campaign, and to celebrate the inspirational people who have filled our pages with their experiences and ideas.

Among the many articles published in the four magazine issues, we have explored the global happiness movement; discovered how domestic workers around the world are reclaiming their rights, and, most recently, met those working to preserve the world’s endangered languages. We have provided constructive angles on issues such as the future of democracy, multiculturalism in the UK, and how to tackle terrorism. And we’ve brought you diverse, inspiring news such as how small businesses are uniting for a fairer tax system; breakthroughs in efforts to prevent Alzheimer’s; and the community projects providing homes and help for refugees.

From rigorous quality journalism to our attention grabbing covers, our magazine makes news beautiful.

One subscriber who came along to the event, Priscilla Silcock, explained how a difficult time encouraged her to improve her media diet. “I joined Positive News because I know that changing the words and images I surround myself with would make a difference in my life. Traditional media was a source of anxiety, even despair, for me and I was craving a reliable source with a positive focus. I hope this is the beginning of a movement that can spread internationally to benefit as many people as possible.”  

Another supporter, Jessica Smulders Cohen, rediscovered Positive News while studying for an MA in sustainable design, and has been “championing it ever since”.

“I began to think about how we needed to find a new way to inspire people. Scaremongering just doesn’t work. I am quite a positive person but I was getting down about the state of the world. I think people want to contribute to improving things and hear about what is going well.”

We’re proud of the magazine as a beautiful showcase of constructive journalism

Our editor-in-chief, Sean Dagan Wood, reflected on the milestone.

“We’ve undergone a big transformation in the past year,” he said, “and been really pleased with the response. We’re proud of the magazine as a beautiful showcase of constructive journalism. With our ownership structure as a community benefit society underpinning this, we have set strong foundations.

“But we’re just at the beginning of our journey as a media co-operative. We are still evolving our business model, and while continuing to focus on reaching more people with our journalism, we’re looking forward to now developing ways for our global community to get more involved.

“It was great last night to meet co-owners, subscribers and supporters, to celebrate, discover what our journalism means to them, and hear their ideas. There is much more still to come, and we’re incredibly grateful for our community’s passionate support.”

In April, we met with Michael Møller, director general at the United Nations Office at Geneva, along with the editors of some of the UK’s largest mainstream media organisations, to discuss the opportunity for a more solutions-focused approach in the media and to hear why the UN was endorsing this. Meanwhile, through our media training workshops, we have been introducing more students, journalists, editors and news organisations to the theories and practices of constructive journalism. Things are changing, and we see you – our co-owners and supporters – as pioneers in this bid to make the media more balanced and useful. 

There remains much work to do and more than ever, we need your help in spreading the word about Positive News and encouraging people to subscribe.

One thing is for sure – to echo the strapline for our latest issue – there are many more stories to come about how #OurWorldIsBeautiful.

Photography by Alexander Walker

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1. Portugal addiction rates halved after community, not jail, is trialled as solution
New findings revealed that addiction rates in Portugal were cut by half following decriminalisation in the country almost 15 years ago.

2. UK’s first ‘share shop’ opens for business
A new kind of shop opened in the summer, aiming to transform the future of retail by lending rather than selling items and fostering more meaningful connections with the things we use.

3. Work less, play more
A look at alternative working models that do away with the idea of the nine-to-five.

4. Eight ways less is more – the art of strategic slacking
Why would taking more breaks and wandering off for walks during the working day help you become less busy and more successful? Because, when done properly, less is more said Christine Carter.

5. In pictures: Elderly athletes show age is just a number
Fed up with the depressing imagery surrounding aging, photographer Alex Rotas decided to document an altogether different side to growing old.

6. Five ways ordinary people are helping refugees in Calais
As the humanitarian crisis in Calais continued to grow, the media increasingly became dominated with tales of savagery and menace in the refugee camps. But the reality couldn’t be further from the truth, said the many ordinary UK citizens who are taking positive action.

7. How voting ‘none’ in May could transform UK politics
In the run up to the UK general election in May, Simon Pardoe argued that an ‘unheard third’ of the population who choose not to vote could help change the system that they seem so dissatisfied with by turning up at the polls, even to vote ‘none’.

8. Action for Happiness’ Happy Cafes spread positivity around the UK
A growing network of Happy Cafes around the UK is helping to counteract the materialistic way of thinking that is damaging to both our mental wellbeing and the planet, said Stan Rosenthal, national coodinator for the Happy Cafe Network.

9. ‘Wonky fruit and veg’ hits UK supermarket shelves
UK supermarket giant Asda trialled a new range of misshapen fruit and vegetables – sold at reduced prices – in an attempt to cut food waste.

10. The mindful media diet: how to consciously consume and digest the news
Understanding how we digest the news has the power to stop us becoming passive media consumers and benefit our wellbeing, argued psychologist Matt Hersh.

The post The top 10 Positive News stories of 2015 appeared first on Positive News.

We love news that inspires us. And we know you do too. For the last 22 years we’ve pioneered journalism that shines a light on kindness, cooperation, creativity, innovation and how people are creating solutions to the problems society faces. We’ve brought stories of positive change to hundreds of thousands of people and increasingly, we’re inspiring other media as well.

But, like every news organisation, we have to adapt. We need to innovate to become financially sustainable and to meet the growing demand for our journalism. And just like we’ve pioneered a more positive form of journalism, we’re now pioneering a new way to run a media business.

Much of the news media is owned by a handful of corporations and proprietors. Instead, by becoming a cooperative, Positive News will be owned by hundreds or thousands of people. We will then be ultimately accountable to you, our readers, ensuring that we always report in your interests.

We’re becoming the first crowdfunded global media cooperative. And we want you to be part of it.

Community shares

Between now and 8 July, our readers, journalists, supporters and everyone around the world (provided they’re age 16 or over) can buy shares in Positive News. By converting into a cooperative and issuing community shares, we aim to raise a minimum of £200,000 to secure and grow the organisation.

Community shares differ from other investments in that they are primarily a social investment – a way for you to financially support our mission, while being a co-owner of our organisation with a say in how it is run.

“Because we’re a cooperative, our profits will be reinvested in achieving the aims of Positive News and serving you, our community.”

Whatever amount you invest, every shareholder will have one equal vote on things like electing the board of directors who will represent your interests and oversee the operation of the publication, meaning it’s a more democratic form of ownership. And because we’re a cooperative, our profits will be reinvested in achieving the aims of Positive News and serving you, our community.

Most importantly, you get to be a proprietor of the kind of media that you want. Only you will have the power to amend the Positive News Charter, which will govern what our news values are and how we strive to put them into practice.

Depending on the reward level you choose when you invest, you can get your hands on some amazing extras, including a 100% organic cotton #OwnTheMedia t-shirt (or two!), a ticket to our relaunch party, your name on the supporters’ wall online, a personalised Positive News cover, and even an exclusive breakfast meeting with our patron Martyn Lewis. Rewards are limited, so make sure to get in quick.

How will the money be used?

Your investment will help cover our costs while we develop a new website, relaunch our print publication, expand our core team and build the audience and the income streams that will sustain us in the long-term.

Although there’s no guarantee we will pull it off, we believe this will be the making of Positive News as we move from a niche publication to something much more influential. All we need is you.

Together, we can change the news for good. We hope you will join us.

We are inviting our readers to #OwnTheMedia. Become an owner now and help us become the first crowdfunded global media cooperative.

The post We want you to own Positive News appeared first on Positive News.

1. Goodwill campaign frees thousands of Americans from $15m of debt
A group of former Occupy Wall Street activists have abolished nearly $15m (£9m) of Americans’ medical debt as part of a goodwill campaign to free debtors at random.

2. Crying for empathy
In thousands of schools around the world, children between the ages of five and 12 take lessons from a newborn baby. The result? Increased emotional intelligence, understanding and empathy towards classmates, and less bullying and aggression.

3. Positive Psychology: Creating a cultural shift in happiness
Taking charge of our life stories brings more joy than amassing the tick-box list of items commonly associated with happiness, says Chris Johnstone.

4. Returning to the quiet intelligence of nature
How can we move towards a society that feels more human, natural and less dependent on money, considers Lucy Purdy, as she spends a week in Devon exploring ‘wild economics’.

5. World’s oldest message in a bottle found
A handwritten message in a beer bottle has washed ashore after 101 years; Danielle Batist shares a heartwarming story of good old-fashioned communication.

6. Tube heat to help warm London homes
More than 500 homes in Islington will benefit from heat captured underground.

7. The social supermarket is a step forward for tackling food poverty
Britain’s first ‘social supermarket’, enabling local people on low incomes to buy food at knock-down prices, is a welcome addition to food banks, says Caspar Van Vark, though more needs to be done to tackle the roots of food poverty.

8. Phone Co-op brings first ethical smartphone to UK market
The sustainably designed Fairphone boasts a range of powerful features and strong environmental credentials.

9. The language of social change is shifting
The increasing number of voices articulating a positive vision of the future – including Russell Brand’s call for “a peaceful, effortless, joyous revolution” at London’s march against austerity – are a welcome antidote to the ‘anti’ approach, says Lucy Purdy.

10. The rise of the sharing economy
Ready to look beyond consumerism? A new online movement is helping people to band together, share their resources, and get by with less.

The post Top 10 Positive News stories of 2014 appeared first on Positive News.

By allowing nature to grow wild and engaging with the natural world and each other, we can create a positive response to the environmental and social crises we face, claimed journalist George Monbiot, speaking at Wilderness festival in Oxfordshire this morning.

Calling for a ‘rewilding’ of the UK, large areas of land should be left alone to grow wild, he said, so that we can “let ecological processes rip,” and allow nature to bring itself into balance and thrive.

The journalist and author of Feral explained that the conditions we try to preserve in the natural world are often based on the conditions of an area when it was first designated as protected. He claimed that usually these habitats – such as moorland heather – were originally created by agriculture, and the ‘invasive species’ we are stopping are in fact largely just trees.

“It’s absurd that we spend millions abroad to try protecting the rainforest from cattle ranching, and yet here we spend millions preserving what agricultural grazing created,” he said.

“We get locked down on a point in history, usually about 100 years in the past,” as our reference point for habitat health he said, but actually Britain’s ecosystems were largely influenced by mega fauna, including elephants. “We live in an elephant adapted ecosystem – the elephant in the forest is the elephant in the room,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience in the Secret Forum tent.

Like what you’re reading? Positive News depends on your support to publish quality inspiring content. Please donate to help us continue pioneering a more constructive news media.

“I’m looking into the future,” he continued. “Rewilding gives us a chance to bring back something very important: hope.”

Speaking out against “monoculture society and it’s focus on economic growth,” Monbiot said he wanted to keep the public mind open.

The neoliberal economic model continues to trudge forward “like the undead,” because of political backing and corporate lobbying he said. But, he added: “we all have an attraction to the magnificence of the natural world and each other,” saying that we also need a rewilding of society.

“What rewilding offers us, alongside ecological benefits, is the possibility that we can replace our ‘silent spring’ with a raucous summer.”

For more highlights from Wilderness festival, follow Positive News on Twitter

The post George Monbiot: “Let’s let ecological processes rip” appeared first on Positive News.

In our readers survey last year, we asked for your views about Positive News and we’ve been using these to help plan our future. Some of the most fascinating information you gave us was about your values.

Put simply, you’re a lovely bunch of people. The most commonly shared values among you were those associated with kindness, inclusiveness, freedom, peace, justice and connecting with nature.

It’s values such as these that led the teenage Malala Yousafzai, as her father Ziauddin recounts, to turn an assassination attempt against her into a deepened effort to empower girls through education, and to continue expanding her compassion.

And it’s compassion even for the natural world, as well as for people, that in our new EcoHustler column, Matt Mellen says is the key to creating more sustainable societies.

The value that sat at the bottom of your choices (drawn from a list compiled from decades of research by psychologists), was wealth. This echoes a YouGov survey, which found that across all of society people say that the nation’s happiness is more important. The economy dominates political discussions, but we need to focus more directly on how to help people live fulfilling lives, say Action for Happiness, who commissioned the poll.

There are practical things we can do as a society to increase our wellbeing, such as creating social equality or developing health services and education. But fundamentally, we also need to “shape economic systems around things which feel right and natural to us,” as Lucy Purdy puts it.

It’s by cultivating our intrinsic values that we can build this foundation. Here, we may find that “the quiet intelligence of nature” that she refers to, is something that also runs through us; that knowing of what really matters.

So I hope the summer issue of Positive News sparks those values you cherish the most. It’s what the world needs.

This editorial appeared in the summer 2014 print edition of Positive News. To receive a copy, please become a member

The post Editorial: What really matters appeared first on Positive News.

Even from my vantage point of immersion in stories of progress and promise, it can sometimes feel like society is stubbornly stuck in outmoded ways of going about things. Change can feel painfully slow. From our current terms of reference, we’re not going to make it.

But that’s the point: we need new terms of reference, a new understanding about what’s possible and how it can be done, if we are to create a more fulfilling world.

The emerging ‘sharing economy’ is one such marker. As Impossible.com founder Lily Cole says in her interview: “Now, given the power of business and the effect of the internet, we can actually opt to be part of different economic structures simultaneously.”

And as gift economy pioneer Mark Boyle reminds us, looking to share, co-operate and connect can be done “just for the love of it”. After all, what better reference point is there for what might be possible, than that which excites and satisfies us most?

There is uncertainty as we move forward with one foot in the ‘old’ and one in the ‘new’. But we should “trust the process,” our positive psychology columnist Chris Johnston advises, and recognise that change involves stages of disbelief before we reach breakthroughs.

So just as rival parties can collaborate to forge consensus on a new, progressive constitution for troubled Tunisia; just as the small Dongria Kondh tribe in India can win protection of their land from a giant mining corporation, we can change our sense of what’s possible. In doing so we change the outcome.

As Nelson Mandela famously said: “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

This editorial appeared in the spring 2014 print edition of Positive News. To receive a copy, please become a member

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Please take a moment to answer this question, and others, in this unique questionnaire, conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

This questionnaire is vital to understanding more about people who visit good news websites, and your opinion is especially important because it will represent the opinions of others like you, who also read Positive News.

The questionnaire will take about 10 to 12 minutes, and in addition to contributing to knowledge about good news, you can also enter for a chance to win a £30 National Book Token.

Share your views here

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