1. An NHS hospital became England’s first to ban all sugary food and drinks

The policy at Tameside Hospital, Greater Manchester, relates to patients and staff and has been welcomed by campaigners as “trailblazing”. A ban on fizzy drinks comes into force across the health service in July.

2. A bottle and can deposit return scheme got the green light in England

A deposit return scheme for single use drinks containers such as plastic and glass bottles and aluminium cans will be introduced in England, subject to consultation, the government confirmed in March. The move, which supporters hope will boost recycling rates and cut litter, comes amid increasing concern over the issue of single use plastic waste. The deposit will increase prices – but consumers will get the money back if they return the container. Deposit return schemes have increased recycling rates to more than 90 per cent in other countries.

3. Of 35m flights taken in 2017, just two were involved in accidents that caused fatalities, figures showed

Research released in January by aviation consultancy To70, means there was a fatal accident rate of just 0.000006 per cent, or odds of one out of 17.5m, for the year – a record low.

4. A ban on plastic microbeads entered force in the UK

On January 9, a manufacturing ban came into force, meaning that the tiny beads – which harm marine life – can no longer be used in cosmetics and personal care products in the UK. A ban on sales will follow in July.

5. Women in Saudi Arabia were allowed into professional football games for the first time

Until January 12, women in the country which was ranked by the World Economic Forum in 2016 as 141th out of 144 on gender parity, have only been able to watch the sport on television. Saudi women still require a legal guardian for many matters, including participating in the workforce and in public life.

6. There has been a 70 per cent drop in the annual rate of respiratory deaths in China since 1990, it was revealed

The reduction is thought to be due to rising incomes, cleaner cooking fuels and better healthcare. Though air pollution remains a big issue, Beijing enjoyed a record 226 days of ‘good’ air quality in 2017.

The inspiring current affairs magazine, delivered to your door each quarter.

Subscribe to Positive News

7. Latin American countries signed a legally binding pact to protect ‘land defenders’

Officials from 24 Latin American and Caribbean states signed a legally binding environmental rights pact in March. It contains measures to protect land defenders, after almost 200 nature protectors were killed across the world in 2017, 60 per cent of them in Latin America. The new treaty obliges states to investigate and punish killings and attacks on people defending their land or environment.

8. German cities will trial free public transport to cut pollution, it was announced in February

Germany has proposed to reduce road traffic by making public transport free. “We are considering public transport free of charge in order to reduce the number of private cars,” three ministers including the environment minister, Barbara Hendricks, wrote to EU environment commissioner Karmenu Vella in a letter in February. It will be tested “by the end of this year at the latest” in five cities, including Bonn and industrial hubs Essen and Mannheim.

9. Organic food and drink sales have risen to record levels in the UK

Sales of organic food and drink in the UK rose by 6 per cent in 2017 to a record £2.2bn, figures released by the Soil Association in February revealed. The boost has been fuelled by strong growth through independent outlets and home delivery which outpaced sales in rival supermarkets. It represents a sixth year of consecutive growth after sales bounced back after dropping following the recession.

10. The number of cities getting at least 70 per cent of their total electricity supply from renewables has more than doubled since 2015

Data published by environmental impact research organisation CDP in February found that more than 101 of the 570 cities it studied, from Nairobi to Vancouver (below), sourced at least 70 per cent of their electricity from renewable sources in 2017. This is compared to just 42 in 2015. More than 40 cities are currently operating on 100 per cent renewable electricity. These include the US city of Burlington, Basel in Switzerland, and the Icelandic capital Reykjavík.

11. A planned Chinese panda park will be twice the size of Yosemite, it was announced

The Bank of China has pledged 10bn yuan (£1.1bn) to create a huge panda conservation park in south-west Sichuan province, the Chinese forestry ministry announced in March. Construction of the park will be complete by 2023, say backers, and aims to provide the endangered animals with an ‘unbroken range’ in which they can mate with other pandas. Measuring 2m hectares (5m acres), it will be more than twice the size of Yellowstone national park in the US.

12. Progress has been made on HIV/Aids in South Africa, research showed

Since 2010, South Africa – the country with the world’s largest concentration of people with HIV or Aids – has halved the infection rate and reduced deaths by 29 per cent. Nineteen per cent of the world’s population living with HIV or Aids lives in South Africa.

13. The government of the Seychelles created two new marine protected areas in the country’s remote Indian Ocean archipelago

The reserves aim to protect the country’s waters from illegal fishing “for generations to come”. The sanctioned areas will cover more than 81,000 square miles, an area about the size of Great Britain.

14. France announced a plan to make half of all food in public sector organic or local by 2022

In February, France announced that at least half of all food bought by the public sector must be organic or locally produced by 2022. This includes food bought for use in schools, hospitals and prisons. The French agricultural minister Stéphane Travert announced the rules as part of measures to boost the French farming sector, and to improve diets.

Good journalism about good things

Subscribe to Positive News magazine

15. Afghanistan’s deadliest province for landmines was declared free of explosive devices

Afghanistan’s deadliest province for landmines has been declared free of the explosive devices after a decade-long clearance effort, the demining group HALO Trust announced in February. The organisation said it had cleared more than 600 minefields in Afghanistan’s western province of Herat, opening up 40 million square metres, (15.5 square miles), of farmland.

16. Rwanda became the first low-income country to promise eye care for all

All 12 million of the country’s citizens are now eligible to receive eye care, after 3,000 nurses in 502 local health clinics have been trained. It is set to come from a partnership between the government and the organisation Vision for a Nation. Nurses will prescribe glasses and refer those with serious eye problems to national clinics.

17. India announced plans to create the world’s largest government-funded healthcare programme

India has announced an ambitious health insurance scheme, which is designed to be a safety net for millions of people who struggle to afford medical care. It is thought to be one of the largest such schemes in the world. India currently spends a little over 1 per cent of its GDP on public healthcare, one of the lowest in the world. The announcement came in the annual budget, revealed at the end of January.

18. A rare butterfly was found breeding in Scotland for the first time in 130 years

The tiny eggs of an endangered butterfly were found in Scotland in February, suggesting the insect has returned to breed in the country for the first time in more than 130 years. Enthusiasts discovered white-letter hairstreak eggs on wych elm trees at Lennel, Berwickshire, after an adult butterfly was spotted in summer 2017, 10 miles away – the first sighting in Scotland since 1884.

19. Drinking fountains will be installed in London this summer in a bid to reduce plastic waste, it was announced

Twenty drinking foundations will be installed across London in a pilot project this summer, it was announced in January. The plans are part of a proposed three-year, £750,000 initiative from London mayor Sadiq Khan to tackle plastic waste in the capital.

20. The University of Edinburgh divested from all fossil fuels

The University of Edinburgh is dropping all its fossil fuel investments, making it the largest UK university endowment fund to pledge to be free of all coal, oil and gas holdings. The decision, which will take up to three years to enact, was announced in February and followed a long student campaign in the city (pictured below). More than 60 UK universities have now divested from fossil fuels, with the University of Sussex the latest to make the move.

Be informed. Be inspired.

Subscribe to Positive News magazine

The post What went right? January to March 2018 appeared first on Positive News.

1) Living on the bright side

No two neighbouring houses on the Venetian island of Burano are the same colour. Local legend has it that people began painting their homes as brightly as possible so that fishermen could see them even in thick fog and avoid crashing.

2) Blue is the colour

Image: Badder Manaouch

Chefchaouen in Morocco has been given a blue rinse: homes, mosques, government buildings and even its rubbish bins and lampposts. No one is certain why, but one theory is that Jewish refugees who settled there brought with them a tradition of painting things blue to mirror the sky, reminding them of God.

Discover a world of inspiration.

Subscribe to Positive News magazine

3) Painting the town

Image: Flickr user Marissa Strniste

The port neighbourhood
 of La Boca in Buenos Aires, Argentina, faces many challenges: poverty and crime among them. But it’s a mecca for football fans – being
 home to the Boca Juniors team – and features the Caminito street museum of brightly coloured houses. Fishermen once used bright, leftover marine paints, say local guides.

4) Street smarts

Home to some of the best street art in South America, Valparaíso 
in Chile is a labyrinth
 of colourful alleys and avenues. Brightly painted 19th century churches stand next to even more brilliant modern murals. Rather than shunning the street art, city authorities seem to be embracing it as a cultural asset.

5) Miami spice

Known for its art deco heritage, Miami is a visual feast of neon lights, quirky patterns, and palm trees. Known as The Magic City, the palette here is mint green, soft lemon yellow, cyan crashing waves, and hot white sand.

This article is featured in issue 91 of Positive News magazine. Become a subscriber member to receive Positive News magazine delivered to your door, plus you’ll get access to exclusive member benefits

The post A world of colour: five destinations to dazzle the eye appeared first on Positive News.

As a heatwave hit Charlton Park in Wiltshire, with a record full-capacity audience of 40,000, Womad festival was busy and hot. But in the end this only added to what was a spectacular and memorable celebration of world music.

Some acts were so well suited to the sunshine in fact, that it was like they’d ordered it. Catalan ska band Muyayo Rif gave a furiously fun performance on Saturday. Their charismatic lead singer confessed he was terrible at speaking English but he had no problem convincing everyone – from tiny children right up to the borderline elderly – to skank along. Afrobeat collective Yaaba Funk then drew such a large crowd to the small BBC 3 Charlie Gillet stage for their sweltering, energetic, early evening set that the audience was spilling into the food and stall areas.

The crowd-pleasing crown was stolen however, by the reggae soul seven piece Fat Freddy’s Drop, whose reputation proceeded them as thousands packed into the Siam tent. The crowd, itching to go, were excruciatingly teased as the band played an incredibly long intro to their first song. By the time it kicked in, the audience was eating out of their hands. The star of the show was the band’s trombonist, Joe Lindsay, whose neon leggings became almost transparent in the glare of the lights and left the back half of the tent wondering if the guy with perhaps the best dance moves of the whole festival was in fact naked.

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.

Friday night had shown no exception to the quality uptempo music either as one of the highlights, Goran Bregovic and his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra – a Balkan brass band led by a former punk – took to the main stage shouting “If you don’t go crazy, you’re not normal!”

Sunday however, started more peacefully with famed valiha player, Justin Vali and Ny Malagasy Orkestra from Madagascar. The relaxed atmosphere was boosted by promising talent Maz O’Connor’s beautiful folk set, before being punctured by an uncomfortable moment when she introduced Barcelona, a song based on the story of a friend who, when travelling in Spain, got lost and ended up stealing the bike of the passerby who stopped to help him. Unperturbed by the awkward silence that followed, O’Connor soon won the audience with her gorgeous vocals. Having been awarded a creative fellowship with the English Folk Dance and Song Society at London’s Cecil Sharp House, she mixed in some captivating versions of traditional songs among her own originals and proved why folk award nominations are flowing her way.

“Sawhney’s ensemble showed such skill and precision that I was spellbound and left wanting more as they walked off stage”

The pace picked up once again in the form of eight-piece Scottish jig masters The Chair, and the display of musical talent was only set to increase as Sunday’s line-up reached its climax. Nitin Sawhney OneZero was the manifestation of a recent live album of the same name that was cut straight to vinyl and saw a full live band explore Sawhney’s back catalogue of jazz, pop, soul and Indian-influenced tracks. But they took a while to win me over. It wasn’t until the percussionist Aref Durvesh broke one of his tabla drums in a storming rendition of The Conference that the polished act loosened up. Then I really began to understand the hype, and in fact, the whole latter half of the set was pure magic. From the goose bump-inducing vocals of Nicki Wells, to the graceful flute of Ashwin Srinivasan, Sawhney’s ensemble showed such skill and precision that I was spellbound and left wanting more as they walked off stage.

But any feeling of being shortchanged was soon forgotten as the smiliest act of the weekend, Songhoy Blues, took to the Ecotricity in the Arboretum stage. Their grins and rhythmic desert blues were so catching that when they finished their set – even as the their equipment was fully removed from the stage and the stage compare pleaded for the audience’s attention – the cheers for more were relentless.

Far too soon, headliner Sinead O’Connor had sung her last note, and Public Service Broadcasting were closing the festival triumphantly with their sample-ridden post-rock. The words of singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams, who had played beautifully on Saturday evening among the trees of the arboretum, came back to me: “At the end of the festival you really start to think that this could be your life and that this is where you can really be your true self. Then your alarm goes off on Monday morning and it’s all over.” I knew exactly what she meant.

Editor’s pick: Cathrin Finch & Seckou Keita

Wiltshire became the meeting point for Welsh folk and West African tradition on Friday as Cathrin Finch & Seckou Keita closed the evening in the Siam tent. Watching Keita pluck at the galloping strings of his kora as Finch’s hands cascaded across her harp was mesmerising. They connected with an ease that defied the geography between their homelands – but it turns out that traditional Welsh music has similar structures as the Mandinka music of Senegal.

Like a gentle but vibrant cross-cultural conversation between long lost relatives, their set beautifully encapsulated the Womad spirit. And it all got quite dreamy as I saw a large moth fly into the beam of the spotlight around the crest of Finch’s harp before landing for a moment on Keita’s knee. A lush, intricate and hypnotic soundscape of folk, world and classical music, it was like a celtic fairy tale merging with an African proverb. The pair completely absorbed the audience in their soothing Womad lullaby. Seán Dagan Wood

The post Womad 2014 review: spectacular, sundrenched and sold-out appeared first on Positive News.