Reasons to be Cheerful

“I think it’s over there, to the right, but the grounds are so big I’m not sure where it is exactly,” says Anna Massong, director of technical services at Sceaux City Hall, as we study a map beside the grand iron entrance gates of the Lakanal School.  Built in the... The post The French City That Champions Its Trees appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

Jimmy G. was a distracted and disruptive fifth grader.  “In the morning, when he came in, he’d be up in everybody’s business, up and out of his chair, constantly blurting stuff out,” says Amy Young, his science and social studies teacher at Spooner Middle School in the North Woods of... The post Ride It Out: How Cycling Helps Kids Focus appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

This story has been co-published by Reasons to be Cheerful and the Outrider Foundation. The Newberry Volcano in central Oregon is set among a ravishing landscape of ancient lava flows, lakes and pine forests. Every year droves of tourists come to admire the geological phenomenon, which was formed over 600,000 years ago. But... The post Superhot Rock Holds the Energy of the Future appeared first o…

Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Catch-all Microplastics are nearly everywhere, including in about 69 percent of our clothing. When those clothes are washed, the machines discharge microplastics... The post What We’re Reading: A Tiny Device …

This article was originally published by the Daily Yonder, which is dedicated to uplifting the stories of rural people. It was produced with support from the LOR Foundation. LOR works with people in rural places to improve quality of life.  Sarah Jones never thought she’d be a farmer. She grew up in San... The post A Rye Renaissance in Southern Colorado appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

In December 2025, 20-year-old Gamit Vipul chanced upon something interesting while doing what people his age do across the world: scrolling through reels on Instagram. It was a short video made by someone who lived barely seven miles from his village, detailing a government pension scheme available for people with... The post Why an Indian Village Leader’s Welfare Reels Are Going Viral appeared f…

When musician David Byrne, the founder of Reasons to be Cheerful, performed at the sold-out Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles last fall, the entire crowd was on its feet for almost the entire show. I danced enthusiastically for nearly two hours straight, feeling a kind of unfiltered joy that’s rare... The post May Cause Joy: The Full-Spectrum Health Benefits of Dance appeared first on Reasons to be Ch…

Hotter, drier weather, poor planning and a ballooning population are putting enormous pressure on the American West’s water supply. So, to get more out of every drop, some cities and counties are beginning to recycle their water — collecting what goes down the drain, removing the icky stuff and then... The post How the West Could Turn a Trickle of Water Into an Endless Supply appeared first on Re…

Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. In otter news This year marks 50 years since Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) began its efforts to reintroduce otters to the... The post What We’re Reading: Otter-Spotting on Colorado’s Rivers appeared first…

At 10 p.m. on June 27, 1980, Jose Artiga received word that El Salvador’s death squads were hunting him. The then-23-year-old engineering student had been involved in political protests — and for that, he and his friends had a target on their backs. “They had already found the other four... The post Do Sanctuary Cities Work? appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. On a sunny Friday afternoon in October 2023, some 70 children filed into a cool, dark tunnel in the south of Paris to help the city rehearse for its increasingly hot future. The tunnel, part of... The post Paris Staged a Huge Stress Test for Extreme Heat appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

On a cool spring morning in Washington state, the work of saving an endangered species unfolds in an unlikely place: a greenhouse just outside the perimeter of a women’s prison. Inside, trays of host plants line long tables. Tiny eggs cling to plantain leaves. Black, yellow-dotted larvae inch forward in... The post Endangered Butterflies Are Thriving Behind Bars appeared first on Reasons to be Ch…

Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. No mow FOMO We’ve long been sold on the benefits of even very small wild patches — we’ve covered how to restore... The post What We’re Reading: No Mow May Gets Wild appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

For the homeless women who board the Panarosa bus on the streets of Caracas, their first point of contact might be Mariannys Quintero. Quintero, a nursing assistant, welcomes them to the bus, where they will receive gynecological care. She explains what they can expect and emphasizes that they are not... The post The Bus That Brings Reproductive Care to Homeless Women appeared first on Reasons to…

Forget AI — in Iceland, the truly exciting startups are working in fish. From medical bandages to sustainable furniture, the Icelandic fishing industry has learned to extract value from virtually every part of its catch, putting the country at the forefront of a global “blue economy.” It wasn’t always this... The post Could This Fish Be a Notebook? appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

Welcome back to The Spark, our monthly celebration of how people just like you are creating positive change, one meaningful step at a time. The Spark is generously supported by Laura Rice. Sign up to Reasons to be Cheerful’s weekly newsletter here and you’ll get The Spark in your inbox at the... The post The Spark: How Death Teaches Us to Connect appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

This story was originally published by Next City, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on solutions for equitable and just cities. Get Next City’s stories in your inbox: nextcity.org/newsletter. This story is part of In the Shadow of the Server, a Next City series on the fight over urban technology infrastructure — who builds... The post The Small Wisconsin City That Defeated a Giant Data Center appear…

Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Train dreams During his campaign, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised to make city buses free to ride. But what if... The post What We’re Reading: A Better Idea Than Free Buses appeared first on Reaso…

When Martin Aufmuth, a math teacher in Erlangen, Germany, read in 2009 that hundreds of millions of people worldwide suffered from vision impairment but could not afford glasses, he could hardly believe it. “It was the book Out of Poverty by Paul Polak,” Aufmuth remembers, “I thought, ‘This can’t be... The post The $1 Visionary appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful .

When foodies head to Newport, Oregon, one place is always at the top of their list: Local Ocean. Repeat diners rave about the roasted garlic and crab soup, studded with fat lumps of local Dungeness; the lightly battered fried rockfish tacos served with citrus slaw, Huichol mayo and pickled veggies;... The post The Beloved Oregon Restaurant Rewriting the Rules of Seafood appeared first on Reasons …