Good News Headlines 12/18/2023

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Detroit Debuts America’s First Wireless Charging Road For Electric Vehicles

by Theara Coleman, The Week

Detroit recently celebrated another milestone in automotive innovation by installing the nation’s first electrified wireless-charging public roadway for electric vehicles. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the city of Detroit opened the segment of 14th Street in Detroit’s Michigan Central as a “mobility innovation district,” per Axios. The roadway will enable EVs to charge their vehicles without stopping to plug them in. Detroit has a reputation “around the world as the leader in transportation innovation,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, according to a press release. Thanks to an initiative launched by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the city “can add the nation’s first wireless-charging public roadway to that list of innovations.”

‘Huge’: 1,600+ Institutions Holding $41 Trillion In Assets Have Now Divested From Fossil Fuels

by Olivia Rosane, Common Dreams

More than 1,600 institutions like universities, pension funds, and governments that hold more than $40.6 trillion in assets have now divested from fossil fuels, the Global Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement announced Friday. The announcement comes days after the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference wrapped with a call for “transitioning away from fossil fuels” but stopped short of agreeing to the stronger “phaseout” of oil, gas, and coal backed by climate advocates and frontline communities. “This number is huge,” Amy Gray, Stand.earth climate finance associate director and coordinator of the Climate Safe Pensions Network, told Common Dreams. To put it in perspective, $40.6 trillion is equal to a little less than half of global gross domestic product.

Flax: Bringing Back The Historic Crop Which Could Make Fashion Greener

by Kevin Keane, BBC

Flax was widely grown 100 years ago to make linen for garments and for ships’ sails. But its decline was triggered by a move towards cheaper man-made fibres, which were often imported, and a shift away from sailing. Now climate change is making linen an appealing option again as fashion houses increasingly demand natural, locally-grown fibres. Now trials are taking place in Scotland to see how modern varieties of flax cope with today’s climate. Soil Association Scotland believes that increasing demand for linen means an entire supply chain could be developed within a decade. The trials were conceived by teams at Edinburgh College of Art, where students have been looking for low-carbon alternative fabrics.

‘Take It Down And They’ll Return’: The Stunning Revival Of The Penobscot River

by Kea Krause, Reasons to Be Cheerful

About a week before the removal of the Great Works Dam on the Penobscot River in Old Town, Maine, Dan Kusnierz dragged his sons to the riverside to take their picture in front of the aging structure. They had just come from a little league game. “They were being goofy and didn’t understand it,” Kusnierz, the water resources program manager for the Penobscot Indian Nation, recalls. It was 2012, and with the dam’s removal imminent, the river — New England’s second-largest — was about to transform. For nearly two centuries, the Penobscot had been choked with logs and pulp as the timber and paper industries — both long-standing cornerstones of Maine’s economy — used it both as a lumber byway and waste receptacle.

Violent Crime And Homicide Falling Across Major US Cities, With Detroit On Track For A 60-Year Low

by Andy Corbley, Good News Network

After a special task force was created to address a criminal case backlog in Detroit, the city is on pace for the lowest homicide rate in 60 years, with violent crime in general falling at combined rates of 56%. By the end of the government-enforced lockdowns of the criminal justice system in Wayne County which includes Detroit, there were 4,000 felons awaiting trial; the special task force has reduced that number to 1,400. As a result of their various efforts, which really just amounted to budget increases and allowing judges and others to work from home, three metrics of violent crime from the first 11 months of 2023 compared with 2022 went down dramatically, with the homicide rate down 18%, and carjackings down 36%.