This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Western chapter.
As 2016 is coming to an end, it seems like everyone is complaining and criticizing all the bad things that happened in 2016. Our phones exploded, your favorite celebrity may have died, and a man who uses the phrase “nasty woman” became President of the United States. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are full of pictures, posts and memes making fun of how horrible this year was. Although like any other, this year was plagued by devastating events, there were also many positive things that happened throughout the year. Below is a list of 35 positive things that happened in 2016 to help us see the good in the past year.
1. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio finally won the Oscar for Best Actor
2. It was announced that black rights activist Viola Desmond will be the first Canadian woman on the $10 Canadian bill
3. Sports Illustrated featured its first openly transgender cover model with Caitlyn Jenner
4. Lebanon picked a leader after 45 failed tries
5. Norway banned deforestation
6. The Paris Agreement to limit global warming is now an international law
7. Gambia voted out a dictator
8. Thanks to the Montreal Protocol which came into effect nearly 30 years ago, The Antarctic ozone layer hole is finally starting to heal
9. Researchers found genes that may help to cure ALS
10. West Africa is Ebola free
11. Gambia and Tanzania banned child marriage
12. The tiger population rose for the first time in over 100 years
13. Pandas are no longer endangered
14. Kakapo parrot numbers have risen
15. The largest protected area on the planet was created in Hawaii, protecting reefs, marine life and other resources
16. Measles have been eradicated from all of the Americas, including Canada
17. World hunger reached its lowest point in 25 years
18. Ontario announced a $100 million initiative to prevent violence against Indigenous women
19. The Pan African Parliament endorsed a continent-wide ban on female genital mutilation
20. Canada announced a ban on transgender discrimination
21. There was no growth in global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels for the third year in a row
22. The conflict in Colombia ended and a peace agreement was made
23. All of the war in the world is now limited to an arc that contains less than a sixth of the world’s population
24. The death penalty has become illegal in more than half of the world’s countries
25. One-third of the prisons in Holland are now empty due to record low crime rates across the country
26. India planted 50 million trees in one day
27. The global manatee population is no longer endangered
28. The Columbian white-tailed deer, as well as green sea turtles in Florida and Mexico were taken off the endangered list
29. Sea World agreed to stop breeding captive killer whales
30. Germany took in 300,000 refugees
31. U.S high school graduation rates reached a record high
32. Although she did not win, Hillary Clinton’s success throughout the 2016 presidential election was a milestone in women’s progress
33. Patagonia donated all the proceeds from their in-store and online Black Friday sales to grassroots organizations and local environmental charities
34. The Dakota Access Pipeline is no longer in danger of poisoning the water source of the Standing Rock reservation
35. Despite possible health issues, money problems, fights, and losses, everyone reading this made it to see another year!
