Positive News Magazine

The Solutions Generation: the young people putting purpose first

Young western adults today are stereotyped by some as ‘snowflakes’: a group of entitled, politically correct, selfie-obsessed and emotionally vulnerable souls with no grip on the realities of the world. We think it’s time to smash those stereotypes. Meet the generation with a fire in its belly for creating a better society

Other features include: Emergency humanitarian internet • Post-mastectomy tattoos • When tenants fight back: improving renting • When social progress gets fast-tracked • Smallholder farmers • The Italian community that united to save its beloved mountain

The EU is introducing legislation that obliges manufacturers to make their products longer-lasting and easier to repair. But fearless fixers and tenacious tinkerers have long been going further, from running thriving community repair groups, to spreading tips via social media and YouTube. They fix up and spread their smarts: meet the repairers.

Other features include: Sustainable dining • The resurgence of independent UK booksellers • Celebrating black men • Ageing joyfully • The unlikely friends who brought LGBT education to Scotland • Standing up for human rights in Brazil

United Kingdom of Solutions: the people driving progress

At a time when many citizens, as well as people around the world, are feeling down on the UK, we zoom in on the progress that is happening here. From Birmingham to Belfast, where are people unearthing solutions to the challenges facing society?

Other features include: The couple who drove 20,000 miles to unite Europe through love songs • The rewilding transformation of Knepp estate • Getting kind online • The doctor who prescribes money to low-income patients • Fighting for the future of wild fish • The ‘say yes more’ movement • Going underground with nature writer Robert Macfarlane

Know Your Neighbour: how co-housing could make us better citizens

High quality homes, decisions made by consensus and people who pull together at a time of crisis – in a divided Britain, do co-housing communities offer a blueprint for a better society?

Other features include: Treating depression with magic mushrooms • Positive approaches to justice • The coffee company salvaging scrap machinery • Employee-owned businesses • The vaccine biting back against malaria • Natalie Fee: the water refill revolutionary • Getting creative with gun metal

Hope 100: the people and organisations creating hope for 2020 and beyond

To celebrate the 100th issue of Positive News, we’re shining the spotlight on 100 inspiring people and organisations that are pioneering positive change across society. From business leaders rethinking capitalism, to musicians tacking a stand against inequality, they’re all driving progress and creating hope for the future.

Other features include: Meet the Welsh Youth Parliament • Can the ad industry ever be ethical? •  Discovering the hidden superpowers of neurodiversity • The joys of being single in later life • A natural laboratory for saving coral reefs • Urban orchards uniting communities

Together, we will thrive

After Covid-19, we face a new normal. But that doesn’t have to mean worse. From greener economies to united communities and welfare that works, this issue uncovers the opportunities for progress in the wake of the crisis and makes some hopeful predictions for the future.

Other features include: A turning point for Black Lives Matter • Rutger Bregman on why most people are kind • The podcast teaching children how to be resilient • Life floods back to Iraq’s Mesopotamian Marshes • How social media is helping women get financially savvy

Published in July 2020